Multiple Choice: What does the following quote mean?
"the general public ... in the South Hall"
A. Long lines,
B. Incredibly limited playtime,
C. A fire hazard,
D. All of the above.

Seriously though, this is going to be far more packed than E3. I think I'll start praying for the guys organizing the event.

I recognize one of those names. Bernie Stolar.

Working Designs is supposed to have some sort of grudge against him that they never talk about these days.

Apparently, back in the 16-bit days, WD used to be "multiconsole", but they were partial to CD-based systems, because you had to risk less money developing for them. Of course, that meant their only options were the TurboGrafx and Sega CD systems.

Then Sony came out with the PSX and WD thought it was a great opportunity. They wanted to translate Arc the Lad, since SCEA said they weren't going to do it. But when they went to SCEA to get permission, Stolar told them that Sony "didn't need or want any damn RPGs" on the Playstation, and refused to give WD a developers permit.

Then Sony in Japan hooked up Square, and suddenly SCEA thought that RPGs were the greatest thing since sliced bread, and that the PSX was "the RPG system". WD took it personally and moved into self-imposed exile on the Saturn.

A couple years later, Stolar left Sony and joined Sega, where he was supposed to turn the Saturn's fortunes around. But, instead of turning the Saturn around and making WD a pile of money, he signed it's cancellation papers, which did wonders for WD's over-budget "Magic Knight Rayearth", which ended up being the last game made for the Saturn in North America.

They decided that Bernie Stolar was the source of all their problems, and decided that their new console stance was that they'd develop for any CD-based console that Bernie Stolar wasn't involved with.

WD dropped Sega (and it's upcoming Stolar-launched Dreamcast) and signed up with Sony and the now Stolar-free PSX. They later got a chance to translate Arc the Lad 1 to 3 and release them as "Arc the Lad Collection".


It's funny because people tend to get WD's stance on Nintendo wrong because of all this. WD appeared to be "Sega exclusive", and then switched to become "Sony exclusive". But they were actually multiplatform, just dodging Stolar and the whole N64/SNES cart-based thing. They've said from the beginning that they're excited about the GameCube being disk-based, and that they're just waiting for the right GameCube game to go without a translator before they jump in and do their thing. And they've even warmed up to carts a little, and are willing to give the GBA a chance, if the right game comes along.


Anyways, that's just the rumors as I've heard them.

Please note though, that I don't intend to insult anyone with this. The last time I mentioned this stuff (on another board), some guys started arguing, saying I was an ignorant troll trying to falsely ruin the reputation of one of the fathers of our industry, blah blah Dreamcast legend blah...

I'm not saying anyone's evil or a bad person or anything. I just like odd rumors. Heck, I wouldn't know Bernie's name if it weren't for this rumor. People just don't have enough fueds these days. If we were really, like, at war or something, I'd have more important stuff to talk about. But we're not. Or at least I'm not. Because I'm Canadian and we're a bunch of wussies.

You're assuming that these companies are driven by personality. While that may be a small part of it, most corporate decisions are made on the basis of money. Working Designs may be a small company, but I'm sure most of this drama you describe was motivated by the bottom line.

Wow, that's a lot of info to be just a 'rumor.'

UGE sounds promising, and now we the common folk can revel in gaming bliss...Or something. All you need is some cash, patience, and more patience. Some backbone wouldn't hurt either

Well, there were only really two "decisions" that could've been affected by this.

1: Staying away from the early PSX. (Although that decision was sort of made for them.)

2: Not giving the Dreamcast a chance. (A lot of companes felt "burned" by Sega's hardware decisions and shyed away from them at one time or another. Just with WD it may have had more to do with knowing the people behind the decisions.)


Anyways, here are some links I found.

Here's an interview with Victor Ireland (the president of Working Designs) where he mentions Arc 1 and "the Stolar regime".

Here's a message board thread where Vic calls Bernie Stolar a hobo.

And here's another thread where he says he has "fewer bad feelings" toward Peter Moore (the Sega president who cancelled the Dreamcast and sold out Shenmue 2 to Microsoft) than he does toward Stolar.


Anyways, I'm not sure how serious it is. I kind of figure that Bernie Stolar is a guy Working Designs loves to hate.