Genesis of success: 20 years of Sega’s dark horse console

Sega Genesis

Straight from Ars Technica: “…That “seriousness gap” provided yet another opening for Sega to exploit. Tom Kalinske, President and CEO of Sega of America, charged headfirst into Nintendo’s blind spot, doing everything possible to position Sega as the cultural polar opposite of Nintendo. When Nintendo would be kid friendly, Sega would provide bloody, violent games. When Nintendo would specialize in whimsical fantasy RPGs, Sega would focus on realistic American sports simulations endorsed by professional athletes. Even the company color schemes stood at opposites: contrast Sega’s black and red versus Nintendo’s light gray and purple—you get the idea.

Then came the “Sega scream,” a key part of Sega’s smart, witty advertising campaign that cast the Super NES as the dorky kid on the playground. It worked, and the Genesis attracted a large 18-and-older user base. Before long, even Nintendo couldn’t ignore this growing segment of the market; it shot back with its own “Play it Loud” advertising campaign. The top end of the market had grown up, and it has continued growing ever since.”

We’re spreading the wealth, just not to you!

Obama Nation

Obama campaign workers angry over unpaid wages

“Indianapolis – Lines were long and tempers flared Wednesday not to vote but to get paid for canvassing for Barack Obama. Several hundred people are still waiting to get their pay for last-minute campaigning. Police were called to the Obama campaign office on North Meridian Street downtown to control the crowd.

The line was long and the crowd was angry at times.

“I want my money today! It’s my money. I want it right now!” yelled one former campaign worker.

A former spokesman for the Obama campaign said 375 people were hired as part of the Vote Corps program and said people signed up to work three-hour shifts at a time. Three hours of canvassing got workers a $30 pre-paid Visa card.

The workers showed up to get their cards Wednesday morning at 10:00 am.

“There was a note on the door saying 1:00 pm and then at 1:20 pm everybody was like why is nobody here. They just got here and they’re trying to get it organized,” said Heather Richards, a former campaign worker.

The large gathering of around 375 people prompted police to call in extra officers and set up temporary barricades. The barricades helped keep the crowd from spilling out onto Meridian Street. Police say the several hundred people in line were for the most part orderly.

“No arrests. Some of the people were upset at first because the line wasn’t moving as fast as they thought it should. But we really haven’t had any problems,” said Major Darryl Pierce, Metro Police.

Eventually people did start getting paid, but some said they were missing hours and told to fill in paperwork making their claim and that eventually they would get a check in the mail.

“Still that’s not right. I’m disappointed. I’m glad for the president, but I’m disappointed in this system,” said Diane Jefferson, temporary campaign worker.

“It should have been $480. It’s $230,” said Imani Sankofa.

“They gave us $10 an hour. So we added it. I added up all the hours so it was supposed to be at least $120. All I get is $90,” said Charles Martin.

“I worked nine hours a day for 4 days and got paid half of what I should have earned,” said Randall Waldon.

Some people weren’t satisfied with filling out a claim form for money they felt was still due to them.

“They say that they gonna call you or they going to mail it to you, but I don’t know. We’ll see what happens,” said Antron Grose.

“Talking about they’ll mail it to us. I ain’t worried about that, man. They’re not going to mail nothin’,” said Martin.”