SegaSoft, originally headquartered in

Redwood City, California Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area of Northern California, approximately south of San Francisco and northwest of San Jose, California, San Jose. The city's population was 84,292 accor ...

and later

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, was a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

and CSK (Sega's majority stockholder at the time), created in 1995 to develop and publish games for the PC and

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...

, primarily in the North American market. SegaSoft was responsible for, among other things, the Heat.net multiplayer game system and publishing the last few titles made by

Rocket Science Games Rocket Science Games was a video game developer and publisher that created games for video game console, consoles and personal computers from 1993 to 1997. The company released ''Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine'', ''Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: ...

History

In 1996, SegaSoft announced that they would be publishing games for all viable platforms, not just Saturn and PC. This, however, never came to fruition, as in January 1997 SegaSoft restructured to focus on the PC and online gaming. SegaSoft disbanded in 2000 with staff layoffs. Many of them were reassigned to Sega.com, a new company established to handle Sega's online presence in the United States.

Published games

''Incomplete List'' * '' 10Six'' * ''

Alien Race Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, a lifeform with e ...

'' * ''

Bug Too! ''Bug Too!'' is a platform game developed by both Realtime Associates and SegaSoft. It is the sequel to ''Bug!'', which was developed and published by Realtime Associates and Sega. It was first released for the Sega Saturn on December 6, 1996 i ...

'' * '' Cosmopolitan Virtual Makeover'' * '' Cosmopolitan Virtual Makeover 2'' * '' Da Bomb'' * '' Emperor of the Fading Suns'' * '' Essence Virtual Makeover'' * '' Fatal Abyss'' * '' Flesh Feast'' * '' Golf: The Ultimate Collection'' * '' Lose Your Marbles'' * '' Grossology'' * '' Mr. Bones'' * '' Net Fighter'' * ''

Obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...

'' * ''

Plane Crazy ''Plane Crazy'' is a 1929 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The cartoon, released by the Walt Disney Studios, is the first finished project to feature appearances of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, and was origi ...

'' * '' Puzzle Castle'' * '' Rocket Jockey'' *Science Fiction: The Ultimate Collection * '' Scud: The Disposable Assassin'' * '' Scud: Industrial Evolution'' * '' The Space Bar'' * '' Three Dirty Dwarves'' * '' Trampoline-Fractured Fairy Tales: A Frog Prince'' * ''

Vigilance Vigilance may refer to: * Alertness * Vigilance, a creature ability in the ''Magic: The Gathering'' collectible card game * ''Vigilance'' (album), by Threat Signal * Vigilance (behavioural ecology), the watchfulness of prey for nearby predator ...

Cancelled games

*''G.I. Ant'' *''Heat Warz'' *''Ragged Earth'' * ''Sacred Pools'' * ''Skies''

Heat.net

Heat.net, stylized HEAT.NET, was an online PC gaming system produced by SegaSoft and launched in 1997 during

Bernie Stolar Bernard Stolar (October 9, 1946 – June 22, 2022) was an American businessman and a prominent figure in the video game industry for many years. Among several roles in the industry, he was a founding member of Sony Computer Entertainment Am ...

's tenure as

SEGA of America is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several multi-million-selling game franchises for arcades and consoles, including ''Sonic the Hedgehog'', '' Angry Birds'', '' Phan ...

president. Heat.net hosted both Sega-published first- and second-party games, as well as popular third-party games of the era, such as ''

Quake II ''Quake II'' is a 1997 first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed by id Software and published by Activision. It is the second installment of the Quake (series), ''Quake'' series, following ''Quake (video game), Quake''. Develope ...

'' and ''

Baldur's Gate ''Baldur's Gate'' is a series of role-playing video games set in the Forgotten Realms '' Dungeons & Dragons'' campaign setting. The series has been divided into two sub-series, known as the ''Bhaalspawn Saga'' and the ''Dark Alliance'', both t ...

''. Much like

Kali Kali (; , ), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. Kali is also connected with transcendental knowledge and is the first of the ten Mahavidyas, a group of goddesses who p ...

, it also allowed users to play any

IPX Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) is the network-layer protocol in the IPX/SPX protocol suite. IPX is derived from Xerox Network Systems' IDP. It also has the ability to act as a transport layer protocol. The IPX/SPX protocol suite was very ...

network-compatible game, regardless of whether or not it was designed for the Internet. Each supported game had its own chat lobby and game creation options. In addition, players could add friends and chat privately with them. Heat.net and its sister service, SEGANet, are considered ahead of their time and precursors to both

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the origina ...

and

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

. Heat.net essentially combined the network,

client Client(s) or The Client may refer to: * Client (business) * Client (computing), hardware or software that accesses a remote service on another computer * Customer or client, a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuable ...

, and

protocol Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics) Protocol originally (in Late Middle English, c. 15th century) meant the minutes or logbook taken at a meeting, upon which an agreement was based. The term now commonly refers to ...

technologies of the

MPlayer MPlayer is a free and open-source media player software application. It is available for Linux, OS X and Microsoft Windows. Versions for OS/2, Syllable Desktop, Syllable, AmigaOS, MorphOS and AROS Research Operating System are also available. A ...

system (obtained under license) with the IPX tunneling package Kahn. However, the client software eliminated the Voxware voice features, as SegaSoft's engineers found that most bugs in the MPlayer software were in the voice module. Heat.net branded itself as a peaceful alternative to real-world violence with advertising slogans such as "Total peace through cyberviolence" and "Kill pixels not people." It featured a currency system where the player earned "degrees" through playing games, trivia contests (both game-related and general), viewing ads, or other actions. Degrees could be spent, but only by premium members, at Heat.net's online store, the Black Market, which had computer games and related merchandise. On May 6, 1999, SEGA announced it had partnered with Chips & Bits' online game superstore which allowed players a vast selection of games, hardware and even magazine subscriptions. The degree system was highly flawed and non-active players could leave their PCs logged into servers and earn degrees. Rooms were established for idle players to sit and earn degrees. Heat.net established "parking police" to discover these servers but players discovered other ways to falsely earn points. Other features included tracking of user rankings on individual profile pages. Heat.net had a loyalty program, in which members, known as "Foot Soldiers", received shirts and Heat.net

dog tags "Dog Tags" is the tenth episode of the fifth season of ''The Ren & Stimpy Show''. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on October 28, 1995. Plot Ren and Stimpy (characters), Ren and Stimpy live in a house built over a cliff ...

. Heat.net was also the home of a collegiate gaming league called HeatCIGL (College Internet Game League). Students from 1,100 registered schools would play '' Quake III: Arena'' or ''

Unreal Tournament ''Unreal Tournament'' is a 1999 first-person shooter game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. The second installment in the '' Unreal'' series, it was first published by GT Interactive in 1999 for Windows, and later released on the P ...

'' in teams representing their colleges, with play-offs at the end of the season. The championship team received $5,000. The league also gave away a $5,000 "Excellence in Gaming" College Scholarship. In September 2000, it was announced that Heat.net and HeatCIGL would be shutting down on October 31, 2000. In June 2008, CNET hailed Heat.net as one of the greatest defunct websites in history.

Partial list of games supported on Heat.Net

* Sega-published titles ** 10SIX ** Fatal Abyss ** Flesh Feast ** Flying Heroes ** Net Fighter **

** Scud: Industrial Evolution **

* Third-party titles **

Age of Empires ''Age of Empires'' is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first title in the series, ''Age of Empires'', focused on events in Europe, Afri ...

Age of Empires II ''Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh in 2001, it is the second game in the ''Age of Empires'' s ...

** Age of Wonders ** Army Men ** Army Men II **

** Battlezone **

Blood (video game) ''Blood'' is a 1997 first-person shooter game developed by Monolith Productions using the Build engine and published by GT Interactive. The shareware version was released for MS-DOS on March 7, 1997, while the full version was later released on ...

** Blood II: The Chosen ** Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines ** Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty ** Darkstone ** DeathDrome **

Descent Descent may refer to: As a noun Genealogy and inheritance * Common descent, concept in evolutionary biology * Kinship, one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology **Pedigree chart or family tree **Ancestry **Lineal descendant **Heritage ** ...

** Diablo **

Duke Nukem 3D ''Duke Nukem 3D'' is a 1996 first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed by 3D Realms and published by FormGen for MS-DOS. It is a sequel to the platform games ''Duke Nukem (video game), Duke Nukem'' and ''Duke Nukem II'', published ...

Get Medieval ''Get Medieval'' is a 1998 hack and slash dungeon crawl video game developed and published by Monolith Productions and Microïds for Microsoft Windows. The player controls one of four characters looking for the exit in a series of dungeons. The ...

Grand Theft Auto ''Grand Theft Auto'' (''GTA'') is an action-adventure video game series created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Later titles were developed under the oversight of brothers Dan and Sam Houser, Leslie Benzies and Aaron Garbut. It is prima ...

** Grand Theft Auto II **

Heroes of Might and Magic III ''Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia'' (commonly referred to as ''Heroes of Might & Magic 3'', or ''Heroes 3'', or abbreviated HoMM 3) is a turn-based strategy game developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Comput ...

Hexen II ''Hexen II'' is a dark fantasy first-person shooter (FPS) video game developed by Raven Software and published by id Software in 1997. It is the third game in the '' Hexen''/''Heretic'' series, and the last in the ''Serpent Riders'' trilogy. Usi ...

** Kingpin: Life of Crime ** MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat ** NAM ** Postal ** Quake **

** Quake III: Arena **

Railroad Tycoon II ''Railroad Tycoon II'' is a business simulation video game in the ''Railroad Tycoon'' series developed by PopTop Software and published by Gathering of Developers. It was released for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, PlayStation and Dreamcast. It ...

Red Alert Red Alert or red alert may refer to: Alert states * Red alert, a high alert state * Red Alert, the "attack imminent" alert signal for the US civil defense siren * Red alert state, the most serious alert state in the UK BIKINI state system * Red ...

** Redneck Rampage **

Redline The redline is the maximum engine speed at which an internal combustion engine or traction motor and its components are designed to operate without causing damage to the components themselves or other parts of the engine. The redline of an eng ...

** Requiem: Avenging Angel **

Sin In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered ...

** Star Trek: Starfleet Academy **

Take No Prisoners No quarter, during War, military conflict or piracy, implies that combatants would not be taken Prisoner of war, prisoner, but executed. Since the Hague Convention of 1899, it is considered a war crime; it is also prohibited in customary interna ...

Total Annihilation ''Total Annihilation'' is a science fiction real-time strategy video game released in September 1997 for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS by Cavedog Entertainment and distributed internationally by GT Interactive. Two expansion packs were released ...

** Total Annihilation: Kingdoms **

** Uprising: Join or Die ** Uprising 2: Lead and Destroy ** Warbreeds ** Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness ** Warlords III: Reign of Heroes ** WWII GI

References

External links

Official Website (ARCHIVED)

at

GameFAQs GameFAQs is a video gaming website that hosts guides and other resources, as well as an active Internet forum, message board forum. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and has been owned by Fandom (website), Fandom, Inc. since October ...

SegaSoft
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...

SegaSoft
at

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

Photos of the SegaSoft team
at E3
More information about HeatCIGL
{{Authority control Sega divisions and subsidiaries Defunct computer companies based in California Video game companies established in 1995 Internet properties established in 1995 Video game companies disestablished in 2000 Defunct websites Online video game services Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game development companies 1995 establishments in California 2000 disestablishments in California