Sega's Gaming PC and Its Dark Secrets

[TannerMcCoolman]

Did you know Sega made gaming PCs? Well, they do, they're modern, and they have been building machines like this for well over a decade. But there's more to the story than just that! Did you know these PCs are used in arcades, run Windows, and have always on DRM that makes Denuvo look like child's play, and it has lead to clandestine networks of arcade operators outside of the games' native regions? How does it work? What caveats are there? Will this be your next sick rig?

[Shin-Gouki]

Crazy Taxi was Naomi (Dreamcast Based) it was Crazy Taxi 3's arcade release that was on Chihiro (Spent most of my life before going over to standard IT in the Arcade Industry and actually worked for Sega when the Naomi and Chihiro were being used)

[themrsbusta]

Intellectual property is a monopoly of an idea and not a real propriety, piracy is just the natural competitor created by the own market. 100% support for these people making clandestine networks, sales model by IP that is wrong.

[Hay1tsme]

Hope the ALLS doesn't shoot up in price on second hand market :^). I find it hilarious they shouted out TP, an (imo) crappy loader written by an asshole that has a big chunk of it's supported games patreon-locked.

[mbilker]

Hello there! I happen to help operate one of the "private networks" mentioned in the video. Linus Tech Tips got pretty much all of the details about the online with revenue sharing games correct, including what is done to get these games talking to unofficial servers in the first place.

However, many games shipped on the SEGA ALLS platform and SEGA's older platforms (e.g. Nu, RingEdge, RingWide, Lindbergh) can run offline with no connection to SEGA. Notably, these can be (generally, as usual there are exceptions, like WACCA) identified by their black colored keychip. The red, blue, and yellow colored keychips indicate the different tiers of revenue sharing with SEGA. Sometimes, games will receive an offline patch and/or offline-specific keychip so the cabinets can still be run when their online services end instead of turning into paper weights. Some examples of this happening are WACCA, crossbeats Rev., and SEGA World Drivers Championship. WACCA and crossbeats Rev. shipped with black keychips straight from the factory as they did not have revenue sharing with SEGA. SEGA World Drivers Championship required revenue sharing but if an arcade purchased the offline conversion kit, they were shipped a black keychip to install, which disabled all the online functionality and unlocked all modes instead of requiring you to play each one, which is very nice since there are dozens of stages.

Overall, this is a decent video of the world of getting these games working outside their official service areas.

[nzgamer41]

Hi there, former TeknoParrot Developer here, cool to see an LTT video on it! Haven't had a chance to fully watch yet but cool to see it sounds like they did a good job covering it!

 

5 hours ago, Hay1tsme said:

 I also find it hilarious they shouted out TP, a crappy loader written by an asshole that has a big chunk of it's supported games patreon-locked.

Lol you realize there's a team of developers right? Not just Reaver?

[MarcLmao]

6 hours ago, Hay1tsme said:

Oh boy.... Hope the ALLS doesn't shoot up in price on second hand markets. There's also a lot of "yeah that's kinda right I guess?" information in the video, not outright misinformation, but it makes me wonder what members of the community they actually talked to. I also find it hilarious they shouted out TP, a crappy loader written by an asshole that has a big chunk of it's supported games patreon-locked.

Never seen any other loaders, Can you send me a couple either in pms or a list here?

[Shin-Gouki]

6 hours ago, mbilker said:

Hello there! I happen to help operate one of the "private networks" mentioned in the video. Linus Tech Tips got pretty much all of the details about the online with revenue sharing games correct, including what is done to get these games talking to unofficial servers in the first place.

However, many games shipped on the SEGA ALLS platform and SEGA's older platforms (e.g. Nu, RingEdge, RingWide, Lindbergh) can run offline with no connection to SEGA. Notably, these can be (generally, as usual there are exceptions, like WACCA) identified by their black colored keychip. The red, blue, and yellow colored keychips indicate the different tiers of revenue sharing with SEGA. Sometimes, games will receive an offline patch and/or offline-specific keychip so the cabinets can still be run when their online services end instead of turning into paper weights. Some examples of this happening are WACCA, crossbeats Rev., and SEGA World Drivers Championship. WACCA and crossbeats Rev. shipped with black keychips straight from the factory as they did not have revenue sharing with SEGA. SEGA World Drivers Championship required revenue sharing but if an arcade purchased the offline conversion kit, they were shipped a black keychip to install, which disabled all the online functionality and unlocked all modes instead of requiring you to play each one, which is very nice since there are dozens of stages.

Overall, this is a decent video of the world of getting these games working outside their official service areas.

Cool insight. I left the industry around the time The Rings were launching

[nzgamer41]

Now I've actually watched the whole video, figured would explain a couple of things that LTT weren't sure about. This is mostly from memory so forgive me if there's errors.

The Serial Ports are used for things like the Card Reader (used to read AIME/Amusement IC account cards), lighting boards, and depending on the game, other hardware like Touchscreens or input devices.

 

Most modern SEGA games use SEGA's USB I/O board, which converts the buttons and sticks (or things like wheels & pedals, or more odd controls like the Chunithm panel thing). Other manufacturers (and SEGA on their older boards) use the JVS input standard, which is an RS-485 Serial connection. Namco and Taito both have other input standards, like Namco's USIO and Taito's FastIO.

 

I don't know too much about bootlegged boards on the more private networks, but I know for emulation what's often done is the actual Keychip/Security Dongle hardware is emulated in software to trick the game into thinking the hardware is connected, and I know on SEGA's older RingEdge/RingEdge2 systems, the free multi-boot floating around emulates the Keychip on real hardware.

 

 

[GodAtum]

50% cut. That's insane and developers complain about Apple!

[bhop_monster_jam]

20 minutes ago, GodAtum said:

50% cut. That's insane and developers complain about Apple!

Smaller independent arcades are regularly going out of business, it's no surprise as to who the culprit is. Unless they manage to carve a niche in running old games (99% dont) then they are going out of business sooner or later. And if the payment rates don't get them, then the landlords will.

[Ezzy-525]

Wanted to watch this, but turns out "I bought a SEGA Gaming PC" means James is going to be the one presenting with talking head Linus not actually being involved in the hands-on video and filming separately just giving his talking points.

 

Should've been "We bought a SEGA Gaming PC" and had James holding it in the thumbnail. 

 

Bait and switch thinking Linus is the one doing the hands-on from the thumbnail.

 

Just be honest with your titles and thumbnails please guys. That's all we ask please.

[Hay1tsme]

On 8/8/2023 at 8:23 PM, MarcLmao said:

Never seen any other loaders, Can you send me a couple either in pms or a list here?

The main one that's used is called Segatools (TP piggybacks off it for some games)

[Hay1tsme]

On 8/8/2023 at 7:15 PM, nzgamer41 said:

Lol you realize there's a team of developers right? Not just Reaver?

Yes, and I have no issue personal issues with the other devs.