Below is an extremely interesting press release from Tokyo (released from Reuters). Sony is working with Sega and Namco to create an advanced arcade version of the PlayStation 2 to be released in arcades in Japan. Check out a tidbit of the release below.
Sony Corp\'s new video game alliance announced on Wednesday showed that the arcade centres of the future could very well be a combination of the traditional physical game centres of the past and a new entry point into a cyberworld for a Web generation.
Sony will join forces with two Japanese arcade game operators, Sega Corp and Namco Ltd., to build an advanced version of PlayStation2 to be used in game centres.
The new console, however, will carry some major enhancements seperating it from the PlayStation2 it rolled into living rooms last year. These include monitors and video cameras rigged up to a high-speed network to connect players in different centres.
The move, analysts say, reflects a push by Sony to promote its popular PlayStation2 game console as an all-round platform for entertainment in a new era of high-speed digital networks.
The console will be developed by Sony\'s game unit, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc (SCE), which said on Wednesday it expects to launch a limited service in Japan at the end of this year and then a nationwide service in 2002.
``This alliance represents our desire to quickly establish nationwide broadband businesses before households are wired for faster Internet access,\'\' Ken Kutaragi, president of SCE, told a news conference.
``We will try to provide exciting interactive services...not only games, but also something like downloading videos or doing electronic shopping.\'\'
Analysts welcomed the move and said Sony gained strong game experts as partners, but they also warned it might take time for the companies to generate actual profits from the new structure.
``Sony joined hands with ideal partners. But it is not clear how much it would spend on the project and how it will make money,\'\' said Yuta Sakurai, senior analyst at Nomura Securities.
SCE officials declined to disclose development cost of advanced version of PlayStation2 and other tools, and they did not say how the total cost would be shared among the partners.
Topic: Sony and Sega team up to make arcades!!! (Read 709 times)