"Japanese-headquartered Sonic The Hedgehog creator Sega has long been an innovative and compelling creator of games -- ahead of its time for much of its history.

Its transition from a hardware manufacturer (Game Gear, Genesis, Dreamcast) to a game pure publisher, however, has been a work in progress - particularly in terms of building up a robust western division with its own product slate.

But in the past couple of years, the company has improved its status -- to the point where the c..."