Sega To Launch New High-End Arcade System?

arcade_memories writes "GamesIndustry.biz reports that British tech company Imagination is building a new cutting edge arcade system for Sega, which will launch early next year. It's going to be based on the next generation of the PowerVR hardware, apparently - earlier versions (as well as being marginally popular PC graphics boards) powered the Dreamcast and the Naomi arcade board. This is interesting because Naomi was the last time Sega actually built its own arcade hardware, so this is a sure sign that they're bumping up the importance of the arcade market - just like new chairman Hajime Satomi (president of arcade and gambling machine company Sammy) wants, right?" Elsewhere, there are also new reports on Sega/AM2's new Chihiro-based CCG arcade game Quest Of D, featuring an interesting "touch-screen interface" concept, albeit on existing Xbox-based hardware.

Re:Games

[phaze3000]

Yeah, Sega games these days are all crap. Well, except for like Super Monkey Ball. And F-Zero AX. And Ferrari F355 Challenge. And Rez. And Cosmic Smash. And Phantasy Star Online. And Sega Rally. And Outrun 2. And plenty of others.

But yeah, Sega has no rights to any desirable games.

Re:Games

[Pluvius]

You can tell someone's a game developer fanboy when, when he's confronted with someone who doesn't like the developer's games, he lists a bunch of the developer's games like it's supposed to prove something. Protip: Listing a bunch of games that you like isn't going to convince anyone that they're good.

Rob

Re:Games

[Gilesx]

However, in this case, the games he listed were mostly all critically acclaimed.

Re:Games

[Pluvius]

"Critically acclaimed." Heh heh heh.

Rob

Re:Games

[Pluvius]

If you like a game without feeling guilty about it, it's good. There's no such thing as objective "goodness" or "badness" unless you're talking about lacking things that are necessary for a game to even be a game (e.g. controllability, interactivity, stability). Even Pong could be considered a good game to some people (though I still can't comprehend how it beat River City Ransom in that GameFAQs poll).

Rob

touch screen interface potentially cumbersome?

[Xoo]

Rejuvinating the arcade business with its introduction of a new high-end board will go even further to help out Sega Sammy's revenues. As we know their first-party games have done very well in the past (Outrun 2, being one of the latest examples), but the real big bucks will come from licensing their technology to other developers, and the even bigger bucks may come in later on if Sammy Sega decides to take a 7th(?) chance with a console based on this existing arcade technology.

Re:touch screen interface potentially cumbersome?

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

I think Sega making a return to the console business is a bad idea. They've burned a generation of gamers with the 32X-Saturn fiasco and the few people who bought the Dreamcast while it was a viable system are sure to have been put off by Sega's abandonment of the platform. So Sega would be left with jumping into a market where there are people jaded to the idea of Sega consoles, which would then leave them to target a younger demographic of gamers who, at that point, wouldn't remember the Dreamcast, 32X, S

Re:touch screen interface potentially cumbersome?

[hal2814]

Now that Sammy owns them, they could slap the Sammy name on a console if they decided to put one out. Alternatively, they could either come up with a new company label or get another company (like Nintendo) to put out their hardware without a Sega label on it. I do agree that Sega shouldn't return to the console market, but they do have reentry options if this hardware platform really takes off.

Re:touch screen interface potentially cumbersome?

[13Echo]

As a Kyro II-owning Dreamcast fanatic, I'm happy to see this news. I read a press-release about a week ago, from PowerVR, discussing their 2004 roadmap. It detailed that PowerVR Series 5 technology would be used in the new SEGA/Sammy arcade hardware. This makes more sense now as Sammy previously chose to adopt AtomisWave as their preferred development platform for slot machines. AtomisWave is essentially Dreamcast/Naomi hardware with some slight changes. People thought that they were crazy at first, bu

sammy and innovation

[Xoo]

While I don't know a thing about Sammy outside of pachinko machines, I do know that Sega has been a company of innovation for 20+ years.

The touch screen interface sounds like a "gambling"-influenced innovation to me (from slot machines, perhaps pachinko machines). I am a bit skeptical on how well touch sensitivity could work in a relatively fast-paced (and network) multiplayer arcade game. You know there will always be some kids (or adults) that have unusually strong/dirty fingers and will break the sensitive touchscreen ;-)

Neo Geo

[sporty]

Can we also call it the neo geo? :)

Naomi2? Hikaru?

[DeadScreenSky]

Lately I keep seeing claims that Sega's last custom arcade hardware was the Naomi1. But unless I am massively mistaken/insane, Sega has created at least a couple of new hardware platforms since then, the Naomi2 [system16.com] (Virtua Fighter 4) being the most prominent and profitable. Hikaru [system16.com] is another one.

Is this just seeing some shoddy games journalism (oops, I repeat myself)? Or I am missing something?

(Gamespot reported that this was "first new Sega hardware since Naomi1", too - of course, they suggested that a 'Super Dreamcast' could be made out of the new Sammy Atomiswave arcade hardware, not knowing that the Atomiswave is basically just a slightly tweaked Dreamcast, strictly sub-Naomi1 level, so what can you expect?)

Arcades are done

[superpulpsicle]

I am sorry but the last time I paid less than $1.25 for a sega game was probably 1999. Between their racing games and virtual-on like joysticks there is nothing in the arcade, sega or not, worth that kind of money.

What the arcade needs is an 8 player golden axe with super moves, controls, graphics, dinosaurs with extreme brutality.

Re:Arcades are done

[chrismcdirty]

I agree. Whatever happened to $0.25/0.50 fun games? Nowadays, all the arcades I go to (only at the beach.. no arcades around my house) only have games with a steering wheel, a gun, or some other weird input device like a sword that has slow motion capture. And not one of them costs less than $1. I'm sorry, but I'll be spending my $2 on the motorized rock-climbing wall until more fun games appear in arcades.

Re:Arcades are done

[eamonman]

Long gone. Sadly things aren't as cheap as they were even one decade ago. Game development costs are much higher, specialized video game boards are commonplace, and of course, everyone's expectations are higher. I miss the days from wayback when I could play Xevious or Tetris or even SFII for long periods of time. Of course, back then a whole day of games, a movie and beachgoing would cost under $8.00. So oh well. I suggest either go buy a phone with great rebates has support for free java games (so t

Re:Arcades are done

[scot4875]

Well, my experience has been that these $1.00+ machines never get played. There are tons of newer machines at our local arcade, but nobody's willing to shell out to play them.

When I go to an arcade, I'll stick with the older good games that still only cost a quarter instead of spending a buck on a game that might be good, that'll probably only give me 60-90 seconds of play (maybe as long as 180 seconds if I play really well).

If these games were $.50 or $.25 instead, I'd give them a chance. Then they'd a

Re:Arcades are done

[Anonymous Coward]

What I find annoying is how most games seem to be time-limited now. You have to shovel another dollar in about every 2 to 3 minutes to keep playing. That's why arcades are history. For that kind of money I can buy several games to play at home as much as I want. Screw the arcades. Maybe if they do something innovative someday and don't try to assrape us on the price I'll visit one again.

It's good to see somebody still out there.

[hal2814]

I'm glad to see that Sega, Namco, and Stern (yes, i'm a fan of pinball) are still out there giving us new arcade hardware. I was sad to see Midway bow out back in 2000. It seems like there's quite a few more titles coming out now than there have been for a few years. They still need to work on prices ($2 games are now commonplace), but I'm glad that everyone isn't giving up just yet.

Re:It's good to see somebody still out there.

[Allison Geode]

They still need to work on prices ($2 games are now commonplace)
prices are usually set by arcade operators, not the game manufacturer.

Re:It's good to see somebody still out there.

[hal2814]

Yes, but operators set prices based on the what the machine cost them and they might add a little extra if it's a popular game.

a little help...

[spyrral]

the post mentions a CCG arcade game. I remember hearing about an arcade game in Japan where you actually bought booster packs from a vending machine and then used those cards in the arcade game, swiping them to use them or something. Does anyone have any info or links to this?

What about the Atomiswave?

[chrispyman]

Why isn't Sega Sammy focusing on writing their new arcade games for the Atomiswave platform? It's a nice and reasonably priced arcade platform that may well become the next Neo Geo. I mean sure their Naomi hardware was good but it's not like most of their games require a supercomputer-ish arcade platform to render.

Re:What about the Atomiswave?

[13Echo]

That's because AtomisWave *is* Naomi. It's just Sammy's name for the hardware, before they became a SEGA company. In fact, Sammy decided that SEGA should start using AtomisWave/Naomi several months ago, probably because they had planned to move everything over to the next revision of their PowerVR Series-5-based hardware.

It's stuff that both Sammy and SEGA were very familiar with from a design standpoint. If I am not mistaken, several of Sammy's arcade games (like ARC/Sammy's Guilty Gear X), were Naomi-

Re:What about the Atomiswave?

[13Echo]

I must correct something though. I referred to SEGA as a Sammy company, and really it is the other way around.

Also, AtomisWave has less memory than Naomi, putting it more in-line with Dreamcast specs (16 MB instead of 32 MB). Regardless, they are practically the same. Naomi 2 had the benefit of added memory, dual PowerVR graphics processors, and the option of a hardware-based T&L unit.

Poor Gfx hardware choice hurt Dreamcast

[oboylet]

Sega's choice of the PowerVR (over rivaling 3dfx boards at the time) for the Dreamcast may have meant that the system shippped with one nail firmly driven in the coffin.

I'm not trolling here. I have a DC and really love the little system. It was genuinely underappreciated.

The industry rumor mill had it that the upcoming next-gen Sega console "Blackbelt" would use a Voodoo chipset. Sega and 3dfx never could come to terms on pricing, so Sega chose rivaling PowerVR hardware.

Sega had the chance to cap