Anyone heard of that rumored sega console?

[flame6753]

I'm sure you all knew about this (didn't see any threads or anything on this), but if not, sega released new arcade platforms last year that run on PC based architechture called the Sega Ring Edge and Sega Ring Wide. Then in February 2009, they patented a controller design that was similar to the Saturn controller, but it is slightly different. Then more recently in July 09, they approved patents for usb flash memory card units.

These patents are leading people to beleive that sega is building a home console based off of these arecade units. Why would they need a controller and memory card design, if not? Some people say they are just re-registering old patents that were meant for the saturn, but never materialized. Others say it might be for the japanese arcade unit only.

Since sega has not confirmed or denied these rumors, I am going to have wishful thinking. Think about it

• Possible console for sega to announce 2010-2011 (the next gen of consoles)
  
• New 2d classic style sonic game just recently announced, that could possibly be pubished for this new platform (needlemouse)
  
• Hardware to keep up with the next gen?
  

That'd mark sega's return, and I would buy that shit immediately lol. I still love sega. It was the Sonicteam who fucked up Sonic. All those other sega games like Nights, Monkey Ball, etc are still as good as they used to be.

My logic: The ps3 is going to be that last playstation if it doesnt acheive better sales no doubt. Sony said it themselves regarding their bankruptcy. Nintendo is not going to release another next gen console anytime soon, the Wii will probably continue with the next generation. That will leave just Microsoft and Nintendo primarily competing with each other. That would be the perfect chance for sega to jump in.

If such a thing is happening, I have faith that it will not have the same fate as the dreamcast. What do you guys make of this?

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=79933

http://sega.jp/corp/release/2009/0220/home.shtml

[DimensionWarped]

I can decode this for you with a mere glance.

First of all, two specs are given for the hardware. One is decidedly less powerful than the other, with less speedy RAM and a Celeron processor. It also has a less powerful graphics card. That rules out the idea of it being a home console simply because a home console can't support two distinct levels of hardware.

The second is RingWide, and they obviously wouldn't try to support two competing consoles. Judging from the appearance of the hardware, they are meant to slide in an out of an assembly.

Noting the above and the fact that the specs aren't nearly on the level of any non-Wii console on the market right now, you should have figured out that they are going to be arcade platforms. SEGA never quit being in that business, so this is rather boring.

[LarkSS]

Most of the people I know don't even play SEGA games anymore, let alone did they care for the older systems that they released back in the day. There is still a lot of attention pointed at the Wii and Xbox360, so if SEGA decided to release a new console, I doubt it would fair so well, especially since in terms of the Dreamcast, it was next-gen for the time and SEGA had already been releasing consoles before that to bring publicity and a fanbase to their side, yet it still failed. Unless they pushed themselves out with more than just project Needlemouse as their selling point, I don't see this working out.

[flame6753]

@ DW. I do of course know that these specifications were for the arcade unit specifically. But while nothing he points directly at a home console, considering they do have controller and memory card designs, couldn't that point towards them building one that is based from either unit?

[DimensionWarped]

It's unlikely. First, consider that the memory card is quickly going the way of the dodo. Actually, thats not quite true. They have become more popular for use in arcade games. Second, this "controller" could be anything from a specialized peripheral to another console or a PC to an attachment to the Wii remote or just another arcade controller. The wording doesn't break it down very much. Considering though that there is speech about a trackball attachment, that only makes the arcade bit more likely. If we had the images that they were referencing, there might be some way of saying otherwise, but it really doesn't seem that way right now.

[DJ espeed]

Here is the truth, as quoted by Wikipedia.

The Ring series of arcade machines are also based on PC architecture. Initially announced models include RingEdge and RingWide. The first game for the Ring platform is Border Break, running on the RingEdge.

Ringedge and Ringwide are not new consoles. They're arcade machines.

Here are my guesses on some of these other Ring-related items.

"On February 10, 2009, Sega approved a patent for two controller designs, one that looks similar to the Sega Saturn 3D pad with a added touch screen device and one that looks similar to the Sega Genesis 6-button pad."

That Sega Genesis 6-button pad is the PlaySEGA pad. The other, I'm not too sure of what it is or what possible application (eg, home gaming, etc) it is designed for.

"Sega also approved a patent for USB Flash Memory cards and Hard drive on July 7, 2009."

Probably some way of adding additional content to their current and upcoming non-arcade games.

[Spike]

Here is the truth, as quoted by Wikipedia.

Isn't that an oxymoron?

[Cyber Rat]

Isn't that an oxymoron?

No, he said it's the truth according to Wikipedia, implying a specific Wikipedian honesty that isn't necessarily the truth.

@This thread: memory cards are being used for Japanese arcade games (I think Tekken 6 could be an example), while the hard disc could easily be in the same basket as everything else they've patented (IE, arcades). The Saturn controller is the only thing that stands out, but I think it's too early for them to start a console, since "this generation" is due another 5 years I think... I kinda imagine Sony jumping out of this whole thing after the PS3, and MS and Nintendo being left on the console scene (let's be honest, the PSX and PS2 earn Sony their share of money, they had their fun). I can picture Sega re-entering the console scene then, but I wouldn't count on it.

[DimensionWarped]

I bet you we'll be seeing new consoles at the E3 after the next one.

[Cyber Rat]

I bet you we'll be seeing new consoles at the E3 after the next one.

That's an announcement two years from now, meaning that it will take a few years for them to actually release the consoles, which is another 2 or 3 years.

[DJ espeed]

Like E3 05, we'll see prototypes. Unlike past E3's, I'd place a bet on more control intuitive systems from Nintendo's competitors.

[Cyber Rat]

I doubt the next generation will be motion control only. That would be a very stupid move.

[DJ espeed]

Although that's my hypothesis as to what to expect, you do have a point, Cyber Rat. They've been trying to kill the keyboard and mouse for a good few years and they still haven't succeeded, so I must concur.

[1LT Worm]

Although that's my hypothesis as to what to expect, you do have a point, Cyber Rat. They've been trying to kill the keyboard and mouse for a good few years and they still haven't succeeded, so I must concur.

Although, I've heard rumors that both Microsoft and Apple are trying to revolutionize the mouse.

Although, in the video game world, you wouldn't be able to switch to full motion control without some sort of force feedback.

[Blue Frenzy]

Although that's my hypothesis as to what to expect, you do have a point, Cyber Rat. They've been trying to kill the keyboard and mouse for a good few years and they still haven't succeeded, so I must concur.

They did. Touchscreen owns mouse in every way: faster, more precise, no need of an icon. Next generation, at least for portable consoles, will have multitouch screen.

[Sponick]

I think that "Project Needlemouse" means there's something more just than a new Sonic game. Maybe a new console, who knows.

SEGA did a great job making the dreamcast, it was a powerfull console. Doesn't matter the catastrofic marketing -.-

Maybe they're trying to learn from the mistakes they did with dreamcast to bring us a new powerfull hardware to play with

</dream>

[DJ espeed]

They did.

Not to be a jerk or anything related to such, a mass adoption of touch screen computers is unlikely. At least, for the time being it is. Mobile touch screen devices such as the iPhone, DS, Zune, etc; that's a whole 'nother ballpark. But as far as a mass PC touch screen adoption--Seriously, it's appeal to the general public is (as of now) "meh". The problem is, people aren't going to want to fuck around with touch screens on their desktop PC's and Laptops. People aren't going to waste the money on another human-orientated input when they already have a mouse and keyboard. It's called the "If What I Got Gets Me By" rule. It's rather self-explanitory in this situation.

[MaxSonic]

Hate to tell you dude, but your Next-Gen predictions are kinda wrong. Nintendo announced last year that they plan to make a new system in a couple years (recycling the Wii name and with HD output), and Sony definitely won't be going under. Since the price drop, the PS3 has been selling very well, and we'll definitely be seeing a PS4. As for SEGA's return, I'd love to see it, but it's unlikely. SEGA doesn't really have the appeal it once had, so it would pretty much be starting from scratch, AND competing against 3 other consoles. However, I'd love to see a new handheld device from them. They sorta have been messing around with that handheld tv and nomad remake, but a full fledged new SEGA portable would kick ass. It would be a great time to implement one, seeing as the PSP Go sucks, and the DS has limited multimedia capabilities. Have a handheld with multimedia, built in memory, digital content (all first party SEGA Genesis/Dreamcast/MasterSystem games from day one), and good old Sega intuition, and I think that while it may not outdo any handheld, it could certainly compete.

Besides, if SEGA had a new console, they would just make an overpriced hardware add-on in a couple months that disappears.

[DimensionWarped]

They did. Touchscreen owns mouse in every way: faster, more precise, no need of an icon. Next generation, at least for portable consoles, will have multitouch screen.

They are expensive as hell (with cost increasing exponentially with resolution), introduce heavy amounts of processing (especially when using multi-touch features), fragile, and difficult to replace. Adding to that, they aren't actually more precise than mice, they are just more one to one. If you have ever tried to draw a perfectly horizontal line on a tablet PC and then tried to do the same thing with a mouse, you'd realize this deficiency. Considering all of those things, I'd say it's a heavy stretch to say the touch screen is going to replace the mouse any time in the near future. Or ever.

Hate to tell you dude, but your Next-Gen predictions are kinda wrong. Nintendo announced last year that they plan to make a new system in a couple years (recycling the Wii name and with HD output)

HD output maybe (not that this means anything*), but they never said anything about reusing the Wii's name.

Sony definitely won't be going under. Since the price drop, the PS3 has been selling very well, and we'll definitely be seeing a PS4.

True, but do realize that even with all the reductions in cost, Sony still isn't seeing a profit based on PS3's sold. They are still banking on people buying games for it. It's questionable whether they'll make a profit or not for the whole of the generation once you've subtracted out the associated development costs, distribution costs, etc. To say the least, after the PS2 this is a significant decline in success. Regardless, Sony is huge and they wouldn't let even a massive failure keep them out of the race.

And considering this is the closing of the console's third year at market, we still aren't seeing a whole lot of games outside the FPS/sports genre for it. But that goes for all the consoles this generation. Exempting Wii with it's humongous shovelware library of course.

Overall this console generation has been a heaping disappointment outside of a very small minority of games among all the consoles. I had to get all three just to amount to the same amount of worthwhile games as I had on the friggen Gamecube. And I still don't think I've caught up with that.

Love myself some Disgaea 3 though.

*Fact is, HD output just means resolution. The Wii could easily be made to output at that resolution purely by modifying the gpu software. Would it be worthwhile? Probably not for any but the most graphically simplistic of games since the console has barely any VRAM, but meh. It's doable. Saying they have HD output doesn't in any way reflect what the console's relative graphical power would be. My Commodore 64 could probably output to HD video with enough hardcore modification.

[Cyber Rat]

HD output maybe (not that this means anything*), but they never said anything about reusing the Wii's name.

If I remember correctly, there's some pressure on them to upgrade to HD because that's going to be the minimum TV standard in Japan very soon. As in, you'll have to use HD to get any reception (or something along those lines).

Overall this console generation has been a heaping disappointment outside of a very small minority of games among all the consoles. I had to get all three just to amount to the same amount of worthwhile games as I had on the friggen Gamecube. And I still don't think I've caught up with that.

Thank god, I thought I was the only one. I've seen a lot of people BAAAW how the PS3 has no games compared to the Xbox and Wii, and to be honest, I've found only like 3 games per system worthwhile (for me). BlazBlue, Hard Rain and Demon's Soul for the PS3, Dead Rising for the Xbox360 (yes, that's the only thing I'm interested in from its library. Everything else seems more or less a rehash of stuff everybody's seen before (says the guy wanting to play a GG, Fahrenheit and God Hand rehash)), and the rail-gun shooters for the Wii.

[canniengui]

^ The Conduit?

[Cyber Rat]

^ The Conduit?

More along the lines of RE and House of the Dead. What good is a rail shooter if you don't shoot zombies?

[Aaron C-T]

If I remember correctly, there's some pressure on them to upgrade to HD because that's going to be the minimum TV standard in Japan very soon. As in, you'll have to use HD to get any reception (or something along those lines).

Thank god, I thought I was the only one.

Same. Although, to be fair, I'm not in college and my money is being put towards other things. I have like 7 games total for my Xbox 360 and the majority are old Xbox games I missed out on last generation bought like Panzer Dragoon Orta and Jet Set Radio Future. The current-gen games are Halo 3, Need for Speed:Most Wanted (came with the system), and Sonic the Hedgehog (regret buying). I would totally buy Left for Dead if not for the oversight involved in releasing LFD2 as a separate game (there's no reason it can't just be DLC with extra characters and maps- that'd be more fun, no?). I've managed to play Gears of War 1 & 2 by borrowing from friends and Final Fantasy Versus XIII isn't hitting the 360. I barely use the thing. Also, it's an older 360 and lacks and HDMI port.

[MaxSonic]

By far I'd have to say this is the most disappointing generation so far. I now own a PS3 and Wii, and have no plans to get a 360 (not hating, there are just no exclusive I have to have). Looking at what's coming out for the rest of the year, I'm really only looking forward to No More Heroes 2, Tatsunoko VS Capcom (which I already have), and that's about it. All the good games are the ones that DONT SELL (Madworld, Valkyrie Profile, HotDOK), and the most popular games are rehashes (Halo 3 ODST and Left For Dead 2) or games that try and make pay to have all the features (dlc that's not DLC, it's just you paying 3 bucks to unlock a mode already on the disk.) A lot of people say that the PS2 was the reason the Dreamcast went out, or the fact that they didn't make good games (aka retards). The reason the Dreamcast went out is because they had GOOD QUALITY GAMES instead of trying to kiss the mainstreams ass. If you need me... I'll be rocking some Power Stone.

[Cyber Rat]

The reason the Dreamcast went out is because Sega had the idea of releasing the Sega Saturn, and various other addons like 32x and CD for the Mega Drive, that were such failures that not even the DC could save them (although the PS2 didn't help).