Sega Rocks the House of Sonic Blues
From Sega Retro
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| Sega Rocks the House of Sonic Blues |
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| Date: 1996-05-15[1][2] |
| Location: 8430 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, California 90069, United States[2] |
| Organizer: Sega of America |
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Sega Rocks the House of Sonic Blues was a press event hosted by Sega of America to coincide with their presence at E3 1996. Promoting both the Sega Saturn and its upcoming games, it took place in May 1996 at the House of Blues Sunset Boulevard restaurant and music venue in Hollywood, California[3], and featured a night-long performance by American guitarist Brian Setzer.[1][2]
Event
Sega Rocks the House of Sonic Blues was one of many press parties thrown by gaming companies surrounding E3 1996, hosted as a means to educate the press about upcoming games. Held in the House of Blues Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, the event was attended by members of Sega AM2, as well as executives from both Sega of America and Sega Europe. Partygoers were required to RSVP via dedicated telephone number by May 9, and were encouraged to dress in "casual blue" attire. The event began at 8:00pm the night of the 15th, with Sega both providing free valet parking and shuttling over other attendees via three bus pickups at the nearby Biltmore Hotel.[2] Sonic the Hedgehog himself was also present, giving out "golden rings" and Sonic tattoos to partygoers.[3]
Later, Tom Kalinske walked onto the stage dressed as one of the Blues Brothers, dancing in the group's trademark fashion to a cheering crowd. He then gave a speech, announcing that 1996 would be an aggressive year for Sega, that the company would win that Christmas' console war, and that there would eventually be a Sega console in every American home.[3] He went on to claim that the Saturn would ship 1.5 million units by the end of the year, with sales predicted to outpace those of the Genesis - something reportedly met with applause from the listening press.[3]
Kalinske goes on to specify that the Saturn's internet capabilities, achieved through the new Sega NetLink adapter, could transform it into "the infamous under $500 computer everyone's talking about"[3] (referencing a contemporary desire for cheaper, internet-ready computers). He clarified that online networking technologies were a central tenant of the Saturn's ability to compete with the PlayStation and Nintendo 64.[3]
It was also announced that ten new in-development Saturn games would be available around Christmas, with a number of these featuring online capabilities. Several development companies were also announced as supporters of the platform, including GT Interactive, Westwood Studios, Interplay, and Accolade.[3] The upcoming software was hyped as being far better than anything the PlayStation could offer, but admittedly at the cost of dealing with the Saturn's complex development environment. NiGHTS into Dreams was also mentioned as potentially "doing for Saturn what Sonic did for Genesis."[3] Curiously, Sonic X-treme (whose likeness the event seems to be modeled after) did not receive received much, if any press coverage at the party itself.
Nearing the end of the announcements, Kalinske ended the night by announcing a port of Virtua Fighter 3 to the Saturn[4], concluding his speech by saying "you won't get that on Sony or Nintendo!"[3]
Magazine articles
- Main article: Sega Rocks the House of Sonic Blues/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
Expression error: Unexpected < operator. File:SegaRockstheHouseofSonicBlues invitation.pdf
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.woodstock1999.com/static/bands/gallery/index.html (Wayback Machine: 2023-10-17 02:27)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 File:SegaRockstheHouseofSonicBlues invitation.pdf, page 2
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Sega Saturn Magazine, "July 1996" (UK; 1996-06-20), page 6
- ↑ Edge, "July 1996" (UK; 1996-06-xx), page 10