Friday, April 3, 1998
PowerVR2 Goes Silicon
Source: Voodoo Extreme
You got it, NEC and VideoLogics next generation PowerVR chip went
final silicon yesterday, supposedly performing 2X as well as the
BETA boards that knocked Tom (from Tom's hardware) out of his
socks.
It will still be awhile before we see anything at the local
retailers though; however, SEGA is no their doubt no.1 priority
beacuase this chipset will be used in their next-generation
console. Rumor has it that evaluation versions will ship in about
a month.
Katana to feature voice activated controls?
Here's a little rumor for you: the Katana will feature some sort of voice activated controls. Voice activated controls, what would prompt you to say such a thing? Well, at the recent TGS, there were several round table discussions with people from the industry. When the Sega factions at the show (Game Arts's Takeshi Miyaji of Grandia/Gun Griffon series, and Sega Enterprises's Minoru Matsuura of J League Pro Soccer Club 2) were asked, "Are there controllers of specific interest to you?" both responded similarly.
Kiyaji (Game Arts): "I'd like to work with voice commands. I think we've seen all the variations of controllers that rely on your fingers to do the work."
Matsuura (Sega): "A voice command system would be intriguing."
Coincidence? Only time will tell...
Wednesday, April 1, 1998
Sega's E3 Plans
Source: Next Generation
PowerVR have cancelled their plans to have their own booth at E3.
Instead, the company will be exhibiting within Sega's expansive
booth, where for the first time, the official announcement of
their relationship is said to be planned. A video tape displaying
Katana titles is also expected to appear at Sega's booth. Another
thing that might be at the booth are some Katana mock-ups as to
what the machine could look like. It's also likely that the real
Katana will be shown behind closed doors to select industry folk
running several titles that are well along in development.
Katana at E3?
Source: Game-Addict
Game-Addict has reported that Sega will be showing the Katana at
the E3 as well as a few other surprises!
Tuesday, March 31, 1998
Sega's New Arcade Board: Naomi
Source: Next Generation
Sega's new PowerVR hardware is being codenamed Naomi. Sources say
that Sega hopes to use the hardware to replace the extremely
expensive Model 3 Board. Sources who are currently working with
the hardware have said that it is is capable of pushing 10
million polygons per second in higher resolutions than the Model
3 board. The architecture will use the same 3D core as the Katana
and PowerVR Second Generation PC hardware though as with the
other full chipsets, there will be a number of optimizations and
tweaks for the arcade. The actual Naomi chipset will include at
least four parallel implementations of the 3D core (potentially
more as it is scalable) and will be running off multiple CPUs
(allegedly MIPS-based).
The arcade board and games are expected to be officially
announced at the E3.
Monday, March 30, 1998
Seeking Orbit Beyond Saturn
An excerpt from "Seeking Orbit Beyond Saturn" by
Steve Kent, MSNBC
Not much is known about Katana, and Sega spokespeople refuse to
comment on the rumors surrounding their project. The only
information that Sega openly confirms is that the system is
scheduled for release in the United States in the fall of 1999
and that Microsoft is collaborating on the system. (Microsoft is
a partner in the joint venture that operates MSNBC.)
Sega’s Katana may not take a swing at the U.S. market for 18
months, but it now appears that Sega is preparing to slice its
way into the Japanese market in November of this year. Sega
provided Katana development kits to a small number of top U.S.
and Japanese game publishers, and a few companies already have
projects under way for the system.
This means that playable game demonstrations shouldbe right
around the corner. The rumors about Sega demonstrating Katana to
retailers and media representatives in closed-door sessions at
the Electronic Entertainment Exposition in May are most likely
accurate. Another rumor making the rounds that now appears to be
accurate is that Katana has 128-bit architecture. Simply stating
the size of processors is misleading, however, in the convoluted
world of game console engineering.
People who have seen Katana’s design specifications claim
that the system has 128-bit processing operations — as
opposed to a central 128-bit processor. That power is most likely
generated by two 64-bit processors or four 32-bit processors
working in harness. The prime beneficiary of this power will most
likely be Katana’s graphic engine.
Polygons are the basic building blocks of 3-D graphics in games.
Designers use textured polygons to build three-dimensional
objects — the more polygons they have at their disposal, the
smoother and more realistic they can make their art.
The Nintendo 64, with its 64-bit Silicon Graphics-designed
Reality Engine, is supposed to be able to generate 250,000
polygons per second. One person who has actually seen Katana
conservatively estimates that with twice the processing power,
Katana can generate more than twice the polygon count. Katana is
also supposed to have an impressive sound system. The Saturn, the
32-bit system Sega is replacing with Katana, had 32-channel
stereo sound. Katana’s audio processes are said to be far
more robust.
“Everything about Katana is supposed to be one step further
than other game systems,” says one person who has seen the
system in operation. “The sound is one step beyond anything
out there, the graphics ... Saturn has ports for two game pads;
Katana takes that one step further.”
(The prevalent rumor is that Katana will have twice the audio
power of the Saturn chip backed up by several megabytes of
memory.)
Apparently the most guarded secrets about Katana are its
controllers and its multiplayer capabilities. The most anybody
will say about the controllers is that they do not resemble
previous Sega controllers, nor are they similar to the
two-handled Sony PlayStation controller or the three-handled game
pad for the Nintendo 64.
As far as Katana’s multiplayer capability is concerned, no
one seems to know what the future will bring. Since online and
multiplayer gaming is more important to the U.S. audience than
the Japanese, it is even possible that Sega has not resolved that
issue.
Despite everything that is known about Katana, a few very
important questions remain unanswered. While it is fairly obvious
that Katana will not play cartridges like the Nintendo 64, no one
is willing to comment on whether the system will play standard
CDs, games stored on DVDs (short for Digital Versatile Disks) or
games stored in some new proprietary format.
Whatever medium Sega chooses, the company will have to find ways
to keep the price down. Straying beyond a $299 price point is
generally considered suicidal in the video game industry.
Thursday, March 26, 1998
Katana for 300$
Sega is reported to make an announcement at the E3 this May as to
Katana's final specs and price. It is expected to launch in Japan
this November for around 300 US dollars. While a price hasn't
been quoted for the US launch, the US verion of Katana is
suspected to retail for 199$, a critical price for home console
systems in the US.
Monday, March 23, 1998
First official cooperative actions between Ascii and Sega
revealed
Ascii president Kazuhiko Niki has announced that Ascii, in
cooperation with CSK (Sega's parent company and head of CSK
Group) and Sega, will be developing semiconductors for
next-generation terminals.
Saturday, March 21, 1998
Sega's Amusement Showcase Line-Up
The international arcade game show, held yearly, begins next week
and Sega has a strong line-up. Arcade games that Sega will be
showing include Sega Rally Championship 2, Harley Davidson and LA
Riders, Fighting Vipers 2, Get Bass Fishing, and Dynamite Deka
(Diehard Arcade Sequel). Dynamite Deka is said to run off of a
Katana compatible arcade board, so we should finally see what
Katana can really do!
Friday, March 20, 1998
Warp Set to Unveil D2
Source: UGP
Warp has announced that on May 23 in Japan they will show D2
running on a Katana. D2 could very well be the first Katana game
shown to the public unless Sega decides to unveil the machin at
the E3.
Thursday, March 19, 1998
Sega of Japan Re-Confirms the Death of the Saturn in the
US.
Nikkei Weekly, Videogame Spot
Despite Sega of America's claim that the Saturn will not die in
the US, the president of Sega of Japan, Shoichiro Irimajiri, had
the following to say.
"We believed that although we were losing money selling
hardware, we could recover by selling new software. It worked in
Japan, but it won't in the US. We have also failed to manage
inventory adjustment. And in the US, we could not get good
support from the US software makers. We had a hard time in the
US, but we will learn from our mistakes. And I am sure that if we
have good products, we can survive in the US market, where
distributors have more power than makers. We will hit a recovery
shot soon (speaking about the new system)."
Wednesday, March 18, 1998
Wolf Hawkfield... No Longer Just A Videogame Star
Info from Fred Wagaman
While this really doesn't have to do with a Sega system or game
directly, it is pretty funny none the less. Last year Sega
released a game wrestling game which featured a number of actual
Japanese wrestlers as well as Wolf and Jeffrey from the Virtua
Fighter series. Well it seems that this game had a big impact on
Japanese wrestling, or at least on one particular Japanese
wrestler. At this years All Japan Dome Show, a wreslter known
formally as Jungle Jim Steele has changed his name and will be
competing as Wolf Hawkfield!
Tuesday, March 17, 1998
Sega of America to Rebuild
Source: GameAddict
After massive cuts in staff a few months ago and now after
disastrous financial reports, Sega of America is reportidly
looking for new staff members to build a dedicated Katana team.
Currently, senior management members are concentrating on
evangelizing Katana to the third-party community.
Thursday, March 12, 1998
Sega Speaks About Katana
Souce: GameSpot and GameAddict
The Japanese industry newspaper Nikkei Sangyou Shinbun held an
interview with Sega Enterprises president, Shouichirou Irimajiri.
In the interview, Shouichirou Irimajiri revealed the following
about Sega and Microsoft's partnership developing Katana's OS.
"I've visited Microsoft in Seattle several times to talk to
Bill Gates. I think we can launch an innovative next-generation
console that will enable the user to communicate with PC users
via an online network by this summer.
"Once our next-generation console has been launched,
existing software will be obsolete all at once. We assure (the
public) that our next-generation console will bring about major
changes in the business.
"Some say that the market is becoming an oligopoly (where no
one player controls the marketplace). But I believe that the
technical innovation in this industry is so fast that being at
the top is almost for a moment."
Wednesday, March 11, 1998
Katana Price
Source: Game-Addict
National Console Support, an importer on the web, has predicted
that the Katana will cost $475 on import. This is only
speculation on the part of NCS.
Monday, March 9, 1998
The Katana Committee
From Robin Westmann, source: Gamefront Magazine (German)
Sega of Europe has founded a "Katana Committee". This
"Katana Committee" is made up of European
representatives of Sega branches, for example Sega of Germany,
Sega of England, etc. They will meet regularly and their first
meeting is set for March in Lyon (France). They will discuss the
European Katana launch in 1999, Katana software prices,
marketing, and launch titles.
Friday, March 6, 1998
Katana update
Konami, one of the latest Katana allies, has stated their
interest in working with the Katana's arcade counterpart (as yet
unnamed as far as I know).
Thursday, March 5, 1998
Katana Unveiling Delayed
Source: UGP
Sega has decided not to show the Katana at the upcoming Tokyo Toy
Show. The Katana may be showed at E3, but it will be shown behind
closed doors to invited people only.
Capcom to Develop for Katana Arcade Board
Source: UGP
UGP reported that Capcom may be interested in developing arcade
games on Sega's Katana compatible arcade board.
Wednesday, March 4, 1998
Even More Katana Developers!
Hudson, T&E Soft, ASCII, Capcom, Konami, Artdink, MCS Masaya,
JVC/Victor, Warp, Microcabin, Climax, Compile, Enix, Human,
Genki, Atlus, Treasure, Taito, Acclaim Japan, and NEC have all
signed on to develop for the Katana. All of these companies have
Katana development kits and secured rights. Along with others
there are a total of 40 3rd party developers!
Namco Signs On!
Namco has also signed onto the Katana team and they are looking
to develop for Sega's Katana arcade unit.
Katana: It begins!
Electronic Arts has announced that they are the first third-party
to actually begin work on Katana games. EA will be bringing its
strong sports line to the Katana, as well as other titles.
Monday, March 2, 1998
Iguana Does Katana
Source: Next Generation
Next Gen reported today that Iguana Entertainment will be
receiving Katana developement kits within the next few weeks!
Iguana is responsible for Turok: Dinasour Hunter. Perhaps we'll
see the sequel on Katana!
D2 Is Coming!
While D2 on the Katana isn't a shock, we relayed the story months
ago, Warp finally confirmed the game for the Katana.
Sega to spend another $100 million marketing Katana in
Europe
Sega of Europe is also planning to spend $100 million marketing
the Katana in Europe. Katana is set to launch in Japan this
November and in the US and Europe in September of 99.