Showing posts with label Bernie Stolar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bernie Stolar. Show all posts

Bernie Stolar has passed away aged 75

Bernie Stolar has sadly passed away at the age of 75. The news of the former Sega of America president's passing broke over the last few days, and we thought it only right to mention it here on a Dreamcast-centric blog. Stolar was president of Sega of America from 1996 to 1999 and famously sat in the hotseat during the Dreamcast's formative years, before leaving the role to make way for Peter Moore.

Prior to working at Sega, Stolar was instrumental in the creation of Sony Computer Entertainment America, and later he worked for toy giant Mattel and then later gaming service ZOOM Platform alongside friend of the Junkyard Jordan Freeman (pictured below).

We were lucky enough to welcome Bernie to the Dreamcast Junkyard back in 2018 when he agreed to answer some of our questions about his time at Sega of America, the Dreamcast and - most importantly - his favourite Dreamcast games. Mentioning that Rush 2049 was one of his favourite games gave me a huge sense of vindication, waxing lyrical as I do about it being one of the finest games on the Dreamcast - if the former president of Sega of America and father of the Dreamcast agreed, that's good enough for me!

The sad news of Bernie Stolar's passing comes mere weeks after the news of former Managing Director Hidekazu Yukawa's death in 2021, and this marks a very poignant time for fans of the Dreamcast. 

Our thoughts and best wishes go to Bernie's friends, family and colleagues.

An Interview With Bernie Stolar

There are few people who are more intrinsically linked with the history of the Dreamcast than Bernie Stolar. Along with personalities such as Peter Moore and Hidekazu 'Mr Dreamcast' Yukawa, Bernie Stolar is extremely well known and was the man who kicked the whole party off. Here, in this candid interview we welcome Bernie to the Junkyard and pick his brains on the history of our favourite console and the current trends in the Dreamcast community.

DCJY: Hi Bernie, firstly let me just say how much of an honour it is to have you grace our site with your virtual presence! As huge fans of the Dreamcast, it’s quite awesome to have the opportunity to speak with you first hand. Never did I think way back in late 1999 when I picked up my first Dreamcast, that in 20 years' time I'd be conversing with the man who helped create the console!

Bernie Stolar: No problem, thanks for asking me. I consider it an honour that a product I helped create still has a loyal fanbase to this day. Thank you for keeping the 'Dream' alive.
Bernie delivering the Dreamcast keynote at GDC 1999
To kick things off, I wondered if you could enlighten those readers who may not be familiar with who you are and what your role was with the Dreamcast?

I was President and Chief Operating Officer at SEGA of America from July 1996 to August 1999. I was hired by SEGA of Japan CEO, Hayao Nakayama. I conceived the idea of Dreamcast and hired Peter Moore, Chris Gilbert, and the entire product development team.

You were at Sega of America from 1996 to 1999, all the way through the Dreamcast’s most important and formative years - can you recall the very first time you heard the name ‘Dreamcast’?

I believe it was called 'Dural' and later 'Katana' at one point. I want to say May of 1998 was when I first heard the term 'Dreamcast.'
On the topic of the early days of Dreamcast, can you recall which came first - Dreamcast or NAOMI? Or were they developed in tandem?


I believe NAOMI was released first. If I remember correctly, Dreamcast came about at a time when we were switching from Model 3 arcade hardware to NAOMI. I remember this because, I was disappointed with the fact that the Dreamcast would not really be able to support ports from both arcade units. I had wanted ports of several licensed units, including Star Wars Trilogy and The Lost World: Jurassic Park series. I felt these would be very popular, especially in the American market. To answer your question though, yes they were developed in tandem, definitely with the thought in mind that many of the games such as Crazy Taxi and House of the Dead 2 would be ported to Dreamcast. As a side note, I believe we also licensed the NAOMI architecture to Capcom, Namco, and Taito.
Early Dreamcast concept designs
Just sticking with the origins of the Dreamcast, were there really two different concepts for the Dreamcast in development? There are plenty of forum posts and articles online that state that there were competing projects - one from SEGA of America called Black Belt which was 3Dfx based, and another from SEGA of Japan called Dural which was NEC PowerVR based. Can you comment on these projects and how it was decided that the Dural concept was the one that won? If so, how different do you think the 3Dfx system would have been?

I believe SEGA of America wanted the 3Dfx version and SEGA of Japan wanted the NEC PowerVR. Both made sense for different reasons. With 3Dfx, there were more resources and documentation available for development in the US and Europe. That and it was understood that development would be easier, especially for PC ports. The NEC PowerVR made NAOMI ports simple and was easy to program, however, it was not as well supported (yet) in the US. I doubt Model 3 games would have worked too well on either. Although there was a PowerVR chip shortage when the Dreamcast launched in Japan, both chips had their pluses and minuses. In the end, I'm not sure it would have made too much of a difference.
Famously, you moved from Sony’s PlayStation division to work with SEGA of America in 1996. You're quoted in a VentureBeat interview as stating that the Saturn needed to be killed off as soon as you arrived. What were your initial thoughts on the fledgling successor to the Saturn? Did you envisage that the Dreamcast would become a huge success based on the hardware specs?

When I went to SEGA, they needed a new hardware system because the systems that they had were not selling – all eight of them. Saturn was not being supported by SEGA the way it should have been. When I showed up, it was my idea to develop a new hardware system that had the ability to play online. Before signing with SEGA, I racked my brain on a way to salvage Saturn, but it was just too far gone and too expensive and difficult to develop for. SEGA was nearly bankrupt, they needed a new console and they needed it quick. The only options were to go big or go home.

For Whom The Bell Tolls...

Question: What is the greatest piece of video game music ever written?

Answer: The Justice Ray, by Hyakutaro Tsukumo
This is the face of unparalleled musical genius. Truly.
What do you mean you've never heard of it? It's Tsukomo-san's magnum opus, and its legacy is entwined with Sega's own destiny. Before we skip ahead though, lets start at the beginning - the very beginning.

The Gaming Historian takes a look at the Dreamcast - part 1

I think we have all heard this before, but still, it's always fun to watch a new Dreamcast themed video. He does a decent job editing his videos which is more than most can say.

Plus it's always fun to point out all the stuff people get wrong!

For example the graphic he sets up says that the Dreamcast only had 56k modem and did not have broadband capability. Wrong. You could buy a broadband adaptor for the Dreamcast just like you could buy a broadband adaptor for the PS2.

See if you can spot any other errors.



Oh and the other thing that bothered me is that he mentioned Bernie Stolar but didn't mention any of the horrible mistakes he made, including needlessly cutting the initial Dreamcast price in the US by $50. People would have paid the extra $50 and Sega could have got a ton of extra profit. I dunno. Why drop Stolars's hated name if you are not going to discuss any of that stuff?

(Not to mention all the mistakes Stolar made with the Sega Saturn)