Topic: Segas big announcement

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

"Whoa.  I go online."

[Uncle Rich AiAi]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Matrix Online thingy is the annoucement.  Remember, this is Sega. (but I hope not)

Ubi Soft pulled out of the publishing deal with Warner Bros.

[BlackNMild2k1]

SEGA R&D @ Beyond3D forums says

Quote
Sega to launch new handheld device.

E3 2004 will surely be remembered as the year of the portable gaming device. With Sony's PSP announcement and Nintendo's DS unveiling, this year's show has already had more than its fair share of portable goodness - but Sega's shock revelation that it is developing its own device must top the lot.

However, according to Yuji Naka, who unveiled the machine to shocked games industry representatives at a Sega E3 press briefing held just half an hour ago, with their new creation (code-named 'Prometheus') Sega are not attempting to directly compete with either Sony or Nintendo. 'Prometheus' is instead being billed by Sega as "the videogame equivalent of the iPod", and with the machine's pearl-white colour scheme it is obvious to see that the company wish to invoke the design-chic of Steve Jobs' ultra-popular music-playing machine. The similarities do not end there, however: rather than purchasing games from their local GameStop, gamers will download 'Prometheus' titles (called 'gamebits') from a special Sega online service which, Sega said, will operate in a similar way to Apple's iTunes software. With the use of a supplied USB cable (also white) users may then transfer up to twenty 'gamebits' on to their 'Prometheus' system's 15GB hard drive for play any time, any place.

The 'Prometheus' is roughly the same width as a CD case, and half the height. It will operate on a rechargeable battery (as yet unconfirmed as being lithium) which Sega say will last up to twenty hours. In a surprising move, in order to conserve battery power, the 'Prometheus' screen will not be backlit: a decision which we believe likely to alienate many gamers, and one inexplicable in lieu of recent technological developments which should negate such problems. Nevertheless, with the power, according to Sega, of "the Dreamcast, plus a little extra", and a genuinely innovative and cost-effective approach to game distribution, the 'Prometheus' certainly shows promise - and if the jubilant cheers and applause from the assembled journos are anything to go by, Sega's return to hardware is more than welcome.

Expect more tomorrow at the official Sega press conference where we hope to see at least footage of several potential launch titles.

[Ian Sane]

If that portable machine is real Sega is officially a bunch of mush-for-brains idiots.  After seeing the DS I think the LAST thing a company should do is release a portable.  Nintendo is going to be dominating that market for a long time.  Plus there's some REALLY questionable decisions being made in the design.  Not backlit?  Sorry that's just not going to cut it anymore.  Dreamcast quality graphics are going to be invisible without some sort of lit screen.  And the downloadable game structure is the sh!ts.  So if my hardware dies I lose ALL of my games?  And I can only own 20 titles at a time?  F*ck that.  The Prometheus sounds more like the Phantom.

[BlackNMild2k1]

if they do it like the iTunes structure though, doesn't that mean that once you paid for something on your account you can download it anytime you want again there after from the same IP and account #?

or something like that..................


having 'PGC' server problems sorry if I double post

[Ian Sane]

"if they do it like the iTunes structure though, doesn't that mean that once you paid for something on your account you can download it anytime you want again there after from the same IP and account #?"

I don't know.  That would be better but it's still limiting in that you can only get games while the service is supported.  The SNES isn't supported anymore but I can still buy a used copy of any SNES title ever released.  With this once the service is abandoned how do you get games?  Piracy seems like the only option to me.  Piracy also sounds like it would be a huge problem with this.  What's to prevent someone from making illegal game downloads available from their own site?

At least with iTunes if the service is abandoned I can still get those songs on CD.

[Rich]

Is this real? How dumb DS is going to dominate with the GBA and the PSP will have a little influence.

I just noticed that all of a sudden that the portable industry grew from 1 system (GBA) to 5(GBA, DS, PSP, N-Gage, and Prometheus) in less then 2 years. and I still expect Nintendo to dominate.

[KDR_11k]

Third time's the charm, eh? Sega must love the pain.

"portable Phantom" is the best description for this. Only fed with downloads, "cool" design, a small player with a history of bad financial descisions entering a market that's already saturated...

[jasonditz]

I can find nothing off any news sites other than http://www.totalvideogames.com/pages/articles/index.php?article_id=5739

I originally was hoping Sega would release new hardware (I even bought some stock hoping they might), but a handheld would be a terrible mistake.

[Uncle Rich AiAi]

Well, GameSpot reported the so-called "Sega-ton" was about the Matrix Online publishing deal.  Once again, Sega disappoints us.


Nothing to see here anymore.  Move along, move along....

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Pray to Reggie.  He makes things happen.

[Bill Aurion]

It's Sega, what did you expect?...

[Ian Sane]

"Well, GameSpot reported the so-called 'Sega-ton' was about the Matrix Online publishing deal. Once again, Sega disappoints us."

This is probably the most disappointing announcement of all time.  So they're publishing a game we all assumed was being released anyway?  Who the f*ck would ever care about that?  Even if there's someone alive who still likes the Matrix and is actually looking forward to this game they wouldn't care if the publisher changed.  Shareholders and execs would think this is a big deal.  No gamer would give a f*ck.

[jasonditz]

Hell, I'm a shareholder and even I don't give a f*ck.