EA sets aside $80 million to make... Mega Drive and SNES games?

They say it's for Generation 4 consoles. We're not reading it wrong, are we?

Words: Justin Towell on May 8, 2012

Electronic Arts has been doing that terribly interesting thing that companies do where they count up their pennies, tell everyone how many they have, then have a guess at how many more they'll be spending and earning in the coming months. You could call it a financial report, if you were boring. You could also call it a goldmine for sneaky tidbits of information about the next generation. Indeed, the company states in black and white that it is setting aside $80 million for the development of… what's this? 'Gen4 consoles'?

That's weird. Generation 4… ah yes, here it is. That was the period in gaming history that saw the Sega Mega Drive and Super Nintendo Entertainment System having a good old barny. It also saw the PC Engine and Neo Geo, which while comparative bit-part players both had their charms. Basically, this is fantastic news. About as expected as the Spanish Inquisition announcing it's nearly completed work on Shenmue III, admittedly, but just as welcome.

Not least because the 16-bit era was full of absolutely stonking EA classics. Road Rash, Desert Strike, Skitchin, Mutant League Hockey… imagine what gems the company could create with a budget of 80 million dollars!

Above: There it is, in black and white

Unless of course by 'Gen4' it's starting counting at PlayStation 1, in which case that would make Generation 2 the PS2, Gen3 PS3 and… Oh. That's what they're doing isn't it? They're budgeting for the development of games for Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4.

We're almost disappointed.

Source: MCV

Platforms:

PS Vita, Wii, 3DS, PSP, PC, Xbox 360, PS3

Topics:

next-gen, Retro

27 comments

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Pacific - May 9, 2012 1:15 a.m.

Occasionally EA does come out of its shell of endless sequels and try and do something a bit different (Mirror's Edge, Dead Space). Certainly, there are some great concepts on the 16bit machines that have never been re-visited, but deserve it!
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forestfire55 - May 8, 2012 6 p.m.

YOU GOT ME EXITED THEN SAD!!! ... thats not funny...
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TheFabricOfTime - May 8, 2012 3:23 p.m.

This disappoints me, but got me thinking... what could they do with the console?
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Darkhawk - May 8, 2012 11:56 a.m.

You know what WOULD be a good idea? An official SNES emulator for DS/3DS? No bullshit charging $10 per Virtual Console download. Just a one-time $50 fee to access and download the complete SNES library? (And, if they want to make me happy, make it accessible on DS as well. A special limited edition cartridge with every SNES ROM ever.)
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samsneeze - May 8, 2012 12:42 p.m.

Except, you know, Nintendo is a business and that wouldn't be very profitable.
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talleyXIV - May 8, 2012 9:56 p.m.

Yeah $50 for thousands of brilliant games is awesome but too outrageously awesome. Maybe a $5 subscription fee per month with unlimited downloads along with a base payment of $20? When you don't pay your fee, your games stop working.
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laurenhiya21 - May 8, 2012 11:53 a.m.

Aw, I thought EA was being awesome for once :/ Oh well...
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DarthPunk - May 8, 2012 11:28 a.m.

[pedantic] I thought Micro Machines was Codemasters [/pedantic]
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MetroidPrimeRib - May 8, 2012 9:27 a.m.

Guess the best console ever never existed
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NanoElite666 - May 8, 2012 9:23 a.m.

Dammit, I want my $80 million iteration of Desert Strike!
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ncurry2 - May 8, 2012 7:37 a.m.

So does that make the older generations Gen-1 and Gen0?
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J-Fid - May 8, 2012 7:17 a.m.

I am thoroughly confused as to what they are thinking.
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dtp11 - May 8, 2012 6:25 a.m.

boooooooo you got me all excited!
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archnite - May 8, 2012 5:44 a.m.

So TalkRadar was right the PSone is the first console, to bad it never came out in America we totally missed out on Pong.
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bass88 - May 8, 2012 5:39 a.m.

Does this mean we are getting a new Road Rash?
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taokaka - May 8, 2012 5:13 a.m.

Sega Mega Drive for the win, all you nintendo fanboys don't know what you're missing. SMD's blast processing lets the pixels move at twice the speed of your inferior console and is the pinnacle of computing power. We also have sonic, streets of rage, shinobi, streets of rage, sega soccer, streets of rage, alex kidd and did I mention we have streets of rage. Viva La Sega ......Oh wait this battle ended a while ago, damn you Justin you had me thoroughly tricked into thinking that the 4th gen was still relevant. I was ready with my best weapons to bring down those nintendo fanboys and prove once and for all Sega is the greatest console manufacturer in the World, Ever!!!!
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SpiritTemple - May 9, 2012 12:14 a.m.

If Sega were the greatest console manufacturer in the world, than they would still be making consoles. All I have to say is that Sega went software only for a reason.
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taokaka - May 9, 2012 1 a.m.

Sega's the console manufacturer this city deserves, but not the one we need right now. So we'll hunt them because they can take it because they're not console manufacturers, they're a silent guardian, a watchful protector Those blokes who made sonic.
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Pacific - May 9, 2012 1:13 a.m.

Wow, thought I was reading the letters page in Mean Machine magazine for a moment then! Thanks for the trip down memory lane.. :)
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SpiritTemple - May 9, 2012 4:35 a.m.

The Dark Knight ^_^
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