One of the biggest things one must get accustomed to here at SEGA is that not everything is quite as it seems. This was a truth I experienced firsthand a few weeks ago, when I returned to my desk one morning to find my cup of coffee missing – and, in its place, a small, golden ring.

At any other office, finding a golden ring where your coffee used to be would probably be interpreted as some entirely nonsensical proposal for marriage. Here at SEGA, it can mean only one thing: your hard-earned, oven-roasted, delectable, warm-brewed coffee was just swiped (and probably quickly consumed) by none other than one especially speedy and fiercely fast hedgehog. …At least, that’s who I think it was.

It’s been almost three months since I started working here at SEGA, and time certainly has flown by quickly. In the world of PSU things have been just as fast paced – big events, billing issues, scamming, updates, and the ever-crowded live support.

Yesterday we moved most of our stuff into our new offices, got everything set up, and then noticed a little later that Clumsy had the camera out, and was taking pictures! (This was the cue for Sonic and Shadow hats, which you’ll probably get to see in a blog post by Clumsy in the future.) Overall things went pretty smoothly and all seems to have gone well in the initial stages of the move.

If you’ve read the blog lately, you may have also noticed that SEGA has been giving away a lot of nice stuff recently due to the move – games at discounted prices, Sonic comics, and even a massive matted NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams poster, which I grabbed just before leaving for the break last week. It was a hard choice deciding whether to have it moved or take it home, but after thinking twice about carrying an admittedly bulky and thick poster of some flying purple dude home on the thirty minute walk and forty minute train ride, I decided it would probably be easier just to have it sent to the new office. Still, if you’re ever walking in or around San Francisco someday and see a guy lugging around a big NiGHTS poster – it’s probably me.

Speaking of NiGHTS, I managed to snag a copy of the original at the games sale last week, and was really stoked to have gotten a copy in time. I played the original way back in the Saturn days and loved it, but a certain little brother of mine spilled stuff on it and left it without cleaning it – the result was a (mostly) ruined original NiGHTS disc, so getting a new copy was a great surprise. More on the intrinsic evil nature of little brothers in another blog entry soon to come – we’re just getting started on that topic.

In the next installment of the working at SEGA blogs, we’ll take a trip down memory lane to a little under four months ago: the job interview. Be prepared for excitement, horror, suspense – and cake. (…I’ve been playing too much Portal lately.)

That said, back to my cup of cof –

Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.

So it’s been about a week since we launched the Sonic Chronicles website and I wanted to make a general posting on our web work as well as kick a few things around that I like about websites in general.  I love the internet, we’re friends. I’m pretty much on a PC on the internet a good portion of every day.  When I leave work, I’m browsing over my phone, checking in on forums and new sites.  Once home, I’m on some of my favorite community pages or looking up new games to play.  I’m always looking for something new to pique my interest.  Anything  from a new website, to a new forum, to a new game.

This leads me to the Sonic Chronicles website.  I like the Sonic Chronicles website, I’m a sucker for it because I love the way it gets you into the game.  In general, I’m a fan of sites that take a different spin on the way they discuss content (in this case games).  The site designer feels the same way, he’s always looking at our projects and trying to blur the lines between site and game.  I think he’s succeeded quite well with this release.

The Chronicles reminds me a lot of the Mario DS website that came out pretty recently and I can’t help but think it was an inspiration.  I got to thinking on sites I enjoy, and would like to see as a web user.  I really like the movement towards mini-game oriented websites, more interactive and interesting, where I’m actually doing something, rather than just reading about the content in a static page.  Plus, I like hidden content- both as a site viewer and a site creator- it’s fun to stick hidden stuff in for people to find.

So where am I going with this?  I’m glad you asked – I’m curious what our readers and fans enjoy about websites, both our sites and other company sites, for any industry.  I certainly love the push towards more interactivity, but perhaps this type of material is not up everyone’s alley.  So here’s my proposal, take a few sites you like and post about what you think makes them cool.  I’ve already done my Sonic Chronicles, and I’ll post two more to get the ball rolling; one music related, and another web-game related.

http://amontobin.com/field/
I’m into electronic music and have been a big fan of this guy for some time.  Fans of the Splinter Cell series will likely pick out the name, as he crafted the bleepto the Chaos Theory game.  His website is always pretty unique, pulling in a lot of high concept offerings.  Last revisions have had a flash based sequencer that allowed viewers to remix his music on the fly, and present previews of the songs at the same time.  The most recent revision adds a unique way of offering samples from his upcoming release.  In an underwater setting, you ‘browse’ the site by searching for creatures that once analyzed offer a music sample. The site is really reminiscent of the game Flow.

I love the site, but can’t help but wonder if impatient people would simply not take the time to find the creatures and enjoy the music.  As an artist’s site, it doesn’t need to be anything but a presentation of the music, which often feeds off the mood of the site itself. 

http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/
This is a productivity killer, I warn you. As this is an article about sites I enjoy, I can’t help but point back to a flash game site.  The site is not amazing in presentation; the individual games steal the show.  Very casually minded, the games are calming to the eyes and offer some challenges that you might not expect.

So what sites do you visit and which pages do you find to be the most interesting among all that exist on the internet?  I’d love to hear your feedback on the Sonic Chronicles website, and also your picks for top sites.

I’m not sure if everyone knows this or not, but we’re relocating SEGA to a new building. The new building isn’t terribly far, it’s actually a short walk from our existing building. In our current building, we have a storage area that I’ve happened to see a few times with boxes and boxes of games. I’m talking everything from SEGA, trapped behind an iron gate, but visually enticing from afar. Pretty much every time I go to mail a letter, I find myself eyeballing the Activator box in the closet and wondering why on earth we still have this in the building.

So today we had a treat, a sale of our games in the lunch room for 1$ a pop. Having seen the space downstairs, I wasn’t sure what would be available. At 2:45pm we had a small mob waiting to get their hands on the offerings and see what was available for purchase. Cameraphone in hand, I was able to document some of the chaos, which I’m happy to post below.

So what did everyone come up with? I’m happy to say I saved a few gems and grabbed some old favorites that I’ve since lost. I’ll let the photo speak for itself: