Talk:Game Gear/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: ChrisGualtieri (talk · contribs) 19:09, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

• I'll be taking this one. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 19:09, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

• Before I get into the actual review I have some concerns. Sega was juggling 7 incompatible consoles at the time, with Game Gear being just one of them. Also didn't Sega halt the Game Gear to push Nomad? Sources like, "Innovation and Marketing in the Video Game Industry:

Avoiding the Performance Trap" should be consults for this, because while it had its own negative points, the Game Boy didn't really dominate because of any single factor and it was a big part of Nomad and the other constant incompatible hardware swapping did Sega in. We got some quotes from the industry to back it up, and I think missing this out is a bit "revisionist history". It has a distinct lack of coverage on marketing, release, sales history, and development phases. It is glossed over very briefly, providing little detail expected of a GA console article. This simply must be addressed in order to get a full review. I am placing it on hold for now until the lack of content can be addressed. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 03:28, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Surprisingly I found very little about the Game Gear in my research... which is odd for a handheld that sold over 11 million units and competed well with the Game Boy. What I have here is the best I could put together with the sources I had. I will look for more over the next week, but I ask that you do give me that time; I work an abrasive job that puts me at work over 12 hours a day, so I will need the time to complete more research. I'd like to see this source that you're mentioning as well, as they would be useful to the article. Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 00:34, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

(update) I just found an issue of Retro Gamer that should serve as an excellent source to help in these fundamental weaknesses. D'oh, how did I miss that in my research? Retro Gamer's "Retroinspection" series is an excellent resource for these older console articles. Again, I'm sure I'll still need the time and anything you can throw at me, but that should make this patch job much easier. Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 00:49, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Another note (and hopefully this should be the last one): Surprisingly, no, nothing I've found has shown that Sega halted the Game Gear to push Nomad; in fact, every source I've seen including the RetroGamer article and Allgame says that Sega supported the Game Gear until 1997, when the Nomad itself was also suspended. IGN's "History of Sega" article has indicated that there was a full successor planned, but Sega scrapped it, which left the Nomad as the only successor (and I'm planning to redo the Nomad article within a month or two). Just wanted to note that point because it was specifically mentioned, and each article I have found has pointed to one or two things as to where the Game Boy beat out the Game Gear; although there is no single thing, there are several small things such as the Game Gear's battery life and lack of software. Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 01:05, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

• No worries, I will give you time. Though page 85 of the book source does mention about "retiring", but not cutting support for the console.[1] I dunno, the lack of information to meet the broad criteria is a problem, I cannot justify passing an article as a GA just because online sources have been exhausted in the process - I am positive the material exists in dozen of magazines and company releases from the era. This will also be lacking in English sources, fyi, Sega pulled this with the Mega CD as you know. Sorry if I seem tough. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 03:27, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

• I'm not worried about seeming tough; I'd prefer a tougher GA review that helps to fully exhaust an article's quality rather than one that skims by and does not provide help with the article. For some reason Game Gear just hasn't had the coverage out there for a major console, but I'm sure it's there. When I redid this, I formatted it similar to my works in the now-GA Sega 32X and the likely soon-to-be-GA Sega CD, but I think this one has proven to be more challenging than either of them. Finding era resources, though, is the tougher problem; much more common are the reliable retro review sources, like IGN and 1UP.com, and for whatever reason IGN's articles on Sega CD and Sega 32X are pretty in-depth but shallow on Game Gear, imo. Certainly I think I can expand this reasonably within the next few days, but it'll be up to you whether or not it's enough. Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 02:33, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

• I am glad you are able to expand it so much with some added work. Here is a link to a google translate of the Japanese article. It has some additional detail on special releases and variants of the Game Gear. Might be worth adding.[2] Other than that, unless we can get a behind the console type interview I think it we may end up exhausting our sources in English. Japanese sources would be hard to get, but I think it will meet the broad criteria with the added info, so I can begin the review when you are confident in it. Pushing just a bit harder yielded major results, but I think you are happy to have clarified and expanded so much of it, right? ChrisGualtieri (talk) 00:47, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

• Absolutely, very proud to have it expanded. In fact, this would've been a great day for me on Wikipedia if what had happened at Talk:Sega CD, my other GA nom, hadn't happened. I'm actually still surprised there isn't more about the Game Gear, but if the Retro Gamer article is to be believed, then Game Gear falls right in with Sega CD, Sega 32X, and Sega Nomad as being undersupported by Sega, which may explain the lack of coverage a bit. Even a book by Steven L. Kent called The Ultimate History of Video Games, which has been far and away one of the most useful references I've used in the last couple of months, had absolutely nothing to say about Game Gear. Most I really got out of console development was the idea of competing with the Game Boy and that to save time and money they duplicated a large part of the Master System's hardware. I'll look at the Japanese source tonight and see if I think I can use it, but otherwise, I think we're ready to begin the review and start fine-tuning any minor details remaining. Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 01:34, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

• I originally was going to take both reviews of the consoles, I had already printed and hand checked the work, but I did not tag them in time. That IP editor is incorrect. Even FA does not require different articles on a subject from around the world. I'm removing the tag and going to deal with the issue. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 02:08, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

• Thanks for helping, you might have just saved that review and a lot of effort for me ;) Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 04:41, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

• Are you ready for a re-review in light of changes, or are you done? ChrisGualtieri (talk) 12:45, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
  • It's ready now. I apologize for the delay; my work schedule has me with an equal number of days off as I have on, but I work 12 hours each day I'm on, meaning I'm essentially unavailable while I'm on a working day. I'll periodically check Wikipedia but don't have time to undertake projects on these days. Anyway, that fact aside, while doing the research to add on to Sega CD last week, it turns out the same issue of Retro Gamer I used for that also had a feature on the Game Gear, another one that isn't part of the "Retroinspection" series, and it had some interesting facts that weren't in their other article, so I had to add those in and use it for touch up. We're ready to review now. Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 14:53, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
    • I feel more confident that the broad aspect has been met now, while deep details about Sega's development processes are secretive I do not believe that readers will be at a loss for an encyclopedic overview of the console and will have a better grasp then most sources can provide. Congratulations, it passes. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 03:01, 1 August 2013 (UTC)