Disconnected: The TeleGenesis Modem

[Melf]

You love Xbox Live, and you're eager to see how the Playstation 3 and Wii will measure up. You probably play PC games online and most likely had a ton of fun on SegaNet with your Dreamcast. But why not see where it all began? Before the Sega Channel and the Xband, there was the TeleGenesis modem, perhaps Sega's most famous piece of vaporware. Why wasn't it released in the U.S.? What was the service like in Japan and which games were available? Ah my friend, for that you'll have to read our complete retrospective Disconnected: The TeleGenesis Modem. Enjoy!

[Joe Redifer]

Interesting. I always thought the modem would be used for direct Genesis-to-Genesis phone calls only. No network to go through and bog things down. I figured the modem would work like an extra controller plugged in. I figured there wouldn't be any lag... if I say "hey" on the phone, the person on the other end hears "hey" pretty much right when I say it. And since the modem works with analog noises, beeps and buzzes, I didn't understand why it wouldn't be good enough for remote two-player play as long as the line quality was clean. It all seemed very simple to me, and there would be absolutely no expense in creating a network. Oh well, I guess my idea of online play was too good for it's time. Sure, long distance phone calls would be a problem, but who has friends outside of their own area code? NOBODY! Why not just go over to this person's house instead if they are so close? Maybe it is a school night, or maybe you fear taking the public bus, or maybe you are sick or in jail for murder.

I'm surprised there aren't any pictures of the TeleGenesis Modem in the article, only the Mega Modem. Tel Tel Stadium was shown in the US as TeleGenesis Baseball.

[Flash1087]

Another article I actually knew something about beforehand. I've had something of an interest in those early nuggets of online gaming ever since the Lost Levels article about the canceled NES modem.

Bless Sega for innovation, but it was perhaps faaaar too ahead of it's time to be of much use to anyone. Maybe if they'd gone with the Sega Channel concept earlier on, their online gaming market could've picked up more steam.

[David J.]

The Gamenokan collections for the Mega CD are pretty much complitations of the Meganet games...

It's funny that Fatal Labyrinth, and Flicky (yes it is true) where SGL games in japan, but released on carts in the US/EU. And I am 99% sure that Putter Gold is releated to the GG/SMS Putt and Putter.

[Melf]

I'm surprised there aren't any pictures of the TeleGenesis Modem in the article, only the Mega Modem. Tel Tel Stadium was shown in the US as TeleGenesis Baseball.

I was unable to find any pictures of the American modem. The only place I've seen it is in those early posters, and it looks the same. Were there any clean pics of it of the baseball game?

[Joe Redifer]

The pic you showed of the baseball game is the same pic of TeleGenesis Baseball I saw in the mags. The modem looks the same, yes, but with a "TeleGenesis" logo on it instead... if I recall correctly.

[Rusty Venture]

My parents couldn't even afford a (then) modern PC or Mac let alone drop the $$ for a game system and modem.

I think that game systems going online was a fine idea (even the Atari one) but it was an idea that was far ahead of it's time.


Sorry to go a bit off topic here...

Melf, have you ever been able to get a hold of someone who worked at that ad firm that did the Sega Commercials?

[evildragon]

i seriously want to get one of those things.. though it may be useless now, i can sure find a hack for it..

only problem: My genesis doesn't have the port on the back.. it does have the solder pads though, so i may just add it..

[Joe Redifer]

I see 'em all the time on eBay from sellers in Japan.

[Melf]

Melf, have you ever been able to get a hold of someone who worked at that ad firm that did the Sega Commercials?

I have the contact info for the ad agency, but I'm not sure the people who were responsible for the commercials are still there. I'd love to interview the guys who did the Sega Scream ads.

[megadriveworld]

This kind of idea was too ahead of its time in the early 90s. The speed would have been very slow, with long delays which are described in the article.

Online gaming for consoles only ever materialized when you got to PS2's online service and especially Xbox 1's Xbox Live. There was the Dreamcast online service but that was what... a 28k modem lol, very slow.

Only broadband could have made online console gaming a success, and it did - When ps2 and Xbox’s online capabilities were coming into play broadband was very available and in many homes, making the online console play all the more successful.

[evildragon]

dreamcast was 56k..

(but all 56k modems have 33k upload speeds)

[megadriveworld]

56k, still not the ideal connection for online gaming. 28k/56k not a huge difference right there, both are old technology these days and they just don't compare to broadband speeds.

That's why console online gaming only ever really took off later on when broadband connections were hugely available.

[evildragon]

56k, still not the ideal connection for online gaming. 28k/56k not a huge difference right there, both are old technology these days and they just don't compare to broadband speeds.

That's why console online gaming only ever really took off later on when broadband connections were hugely available.

i used to game on a 33k modem, and never had a problem..

you do realize it don't send and receive much, right? i would play Unreal Tournament on my PC with the 33k back in the days, never had lag.. (all that ever transmitted was XYZ coordinates for plays, XYZ cordinates for shooting, current weapon, and current model (sent once), that's all really).. it's not like it sends graphics and music...

im not familiar with modern games, but it should be the same.. if not, they need to optimize..

[megadriveworld]

i used to game on a 33k modem, and never had a problem..

you do realize it don't send and receive much, right? i would play Unreal Tournament on my PC with the 33k back in the days, never had lag.. (all that ever transmitted was XYZ coordinates for plays, XYZ cordinates for shooting, current weapon, and current model (sent once), that's all really).. it's not like it sends graphics and music...

im not familiar with modern games, but it should be the same.. if not, they need to optimize..

evildragon, I have always known that a 33k or even a 56k modem does not send or recieve a great deal of data. These days, a 33k or 56k modem is considered terrible when it comes to online gaming due to the poor ping time.

Your somewhat lucky for not getting lag on Unreal Tournamant on a 33k modem. If you did not have lag you would have still unfortunately had a fairly high ping around the 200 - 400 range, which is very poor because of poor reaction time. You usually do not tend to notice when you are playing but each shot on your enemy actually registers about a second after you've actually hit him.

33k and 56k are now technologies of the past, didn't you know that? They can still be used today but compared to broadband they are rather horrible and slow.

In newer games you will find a 56k modem will have deep trouble due to the extra, more powerful coding that now goes into the network side of games. 56k modems, also will give users a horrible high ping putting them at a disadvantage against broadband users who have a lower ping.

The higher the ping, the slower your shots or actions in a game will register. Today, 56k will also leave a lot of users with lag due the heavy network load in games in this day and age.

A 33k modem will give you around 3/4k a sec of download speed. A 56k modem will give you around 4 - 8k sec. Broadband on the other hand can now give users up to 200k a sec download speed and faster.

Please, in your future do not assume that I do not know that old modems recieve little data. I am now growing tired of your posts where you try to belittle a user's mindset, somehow assuming I do not know a great deal about certain things and that you know everything. This is getting very tireing.

You are also wrong in your post above about network side of things only having to deal with X and Yz co-ordination in shooters. It has to deal with other players that are in the network game, it has to download all of their information to show you where they actually are on the screen. You as the user also has to upload data to the other clients to show them where you are in the network game.