Sega

[Slothy]

Ever since the Dreamcast failed, they've had a hell of a hard time making a game that doesn't suck. There's the rare exception nowadays like VF5...

Not a "rare exception"

I hate having to repeat myself.

Basically, inside Sega there are several internal "AM" development teams. Each teams do their own things and are fairly unrelated to each other.
Although all but one of these entities have since changed their name. For example, AM8 became "Sonic Team", AM7 became "Overworks", AM6 became "Smilebit" and so on.

AM2 has kept it's original name throughout it's entire life and with "Sonic Team" is one of Sega's biggest developing divisions.

Now looking at recent games by AM2:
Virtua Fighter 5/4, Afteburner Climax, Outrun 2006/Outrun 2, Shenmue 1/2

Are all gems.

Although they may not be the fastest developers, I really can't remember the last bad game they've made.
Infact, pretty much all of Sega's good, post-dreamcast games can be attributed to AM2, and possibly Smilebit.

Considering the number of games Sega as a whole has put out since the end of the Dreamcast, I would call those rare exceptions. I'll point out that I haven't played After Burner Climax (on account of it being an arcade game, and arcades going heading the way of the dodo, particularly in this part of the world), and haven't played those recent Outrun games.

I'm well aware that AM2 is responsible for pretty much their only good games in recent years, but they're few and far between. In the meantime, we have Sega feeding us utter crap like the recent Sonic and Shinobi games. In fact, their ability to ruin some of their classic franchises as of late has me hoping they don't revive a number of older franchises until they can get their act together.

[Maxico]

Words

Rare, yes.
But not exceptions.

Also, missing out on Outrun 2 is totally your loss.

Playing a 4 player linked cabinet with friends is a really cool experiance.