Sega Announces Naomi 3 Arcade Board!!!!!!!!!!!

Sega Conference: Sega Announces Naomi 3 Arcade Board

For those who thought proprietary Sega arcade hardware was no more, think again.

June 5, 2001

Were you saddened to learn that Sega\'s proprietary arcade technology had ended with the Naomi 2? Then you may have shed unnecessary tears. According to Japanese website PC Game Watch, Sega will be bringing out a Naomi 3 arcade board in the future, continuing the companies Naomi line which began with the currently dominant Dreamcast-compatible Naomi board.
The announcement came as part of Sega\'s (say it with us) "Contents Strategy Conference," which was held today in Tokyo. Sega didn\'t talk too much about the arcade sector, but it did mention that they were developing content which could not be done in the home. This content includes an all-new Naomi 3 arcade board and the previously announced partnership with Namco and Sony Computer Entertainment.

It\'s unknown what shape the Naomi 3 board will take, or if it will continue to use the Power VR line of graphics chips. We expect Sega to reveal more in the near future.

-- Anoop Gantayat, Contributor


Geez Sega!! The Naomi 2 isn\'t even out yet and already a new board. If this turns out to be true, then where does this leave their arcade to home ports. Sega......you\'re cool and all, but this is one thing I never liked. Upgrading before even maxing out your older technology

Might be cool for arcades, not so cool for consoles. A port might be hard to do. Time will tell  

Originally posted by Toxical
Might be cool for arcades, not so cool for consoles. A port might be hard to do. Time will tell  

I know if a naomi 2 port would be hard to do.  Imagine a naomi 3 port that would be very diffcult on any console.

[Living-In-Clip]

There is a simple and logical reason for this. Porting the Naomi3 board would be hard. Which is exactly what Sega wants..

See, back in the good \'ole days, the arcade had games that looked 10x better then what a console could offer. See, you would gather at the arcade to see what the future of gaming could and probably will look like. Then, of course, consoles started becoming more powerful and arcades have pretty much died. But, Sega has said they are commited to bringing back the arcade scene. And guess what? This could be one of the big steps in bringing the arcade scene back. Create a board that would be difficult to port to the home console, so that gamers go to the arcade once again and see what the future of gaming is all about.

Just wonder how powerful do you think naomi 3 will be?  Sega is going to have to go a long way if they want to bring arcades back.  All the arcades in my area went out of business or the newest game they have is TTT(which is 2 years old in the arcade) and bunch of old racing games.

[Living-In-Clip]

Originally posted by raslant
Just wonder how powerful do you think naomi 3 will be?  Sega is going to have to go a long way if they want to bring arcades back.  All the arcades in my area went out of business or the newest game they have is TTT(which is 2 years old in the arcade) and bunch of old racing games.

Sega can make one powerful enough, but the problem is that one game won\'t do it. Not to mention one developer won\'t do it. Namco has also stated their commitment to bringing back the arcade scene. So, if both developers focus quite a bit of R&D to arcade games, then market them correctly, we could in theory see the return of arcades. But, at the same time,  I think anyone who remembers the old arcades would agree on this.. Arcades have changed. They are no longer an old smelly place, where some kids gather for \'bouts to see who is best. Or who can beat whose score. Now\'a\'days, the "modern arcade" is a family entertainment place.

Honestly, bringing back arcades would be one of the greatest things. But doing so, is going to be hard because of marketing and interest levels. I think alot of people or "mainstream gamers" (see: people who only played their PSone) are too spoiled to go and enjoy the arcade scene.

Originally posted by Living-In-Clip


Sega can make one powerful enough, but the problem is that one game won\'t do it. Not to mention one developer won\'t do it. Namco has also stated their commitment to bringing back the arcade scene. So, if both developers focus quite a bit of R&D to arcade games, then market them correctly, we could in theory see the return of arcades. But, at the same time,  I think anyone who remembers the old arcades would agree on this.. Arcades have changed. They are no longer an old smelly place, where some kids gather for \'bouts to see who is best. Or who can beat whose score. Now\'a\'days, the "modern arcade" is a family entertainment place.

Honestly, bringing back arcades would be one of the greatest things. But doing so, is going to be hard because of marketing and interest levels. I think alot of people or "mainstream gamers" (see: people who only played their PSone) are too spoiled to go and enjoy the arcade scene.

\\

I know its going to take more than two companies to bring back the arcade industry.  I agree with what you said.

Sega has NEVER maxed out their hardware, ever. They enjoy being the top of the technology at all times. You see great looking titles on their systems, perhaps \'maxing it out\' but it will RARELY (like spooting a dodo bird) be by Sega. Cases in Point:

SMS - Street Fighter 2\' is probably the greatest looking game, and pushes the SMS to the envelope.

Genny - Red Zone, used scaling and rotation on Genesis, without a specialized chip or anything, just really good programming.

Sega CD - Silpheed or Thunderstrike were freat looking 3D titles.

Saturn - X-Men vs. Street Fighter, with the 4 Meg RAM cart, nuff said.

Dreamcast - could be Shenmue 2, but Test Drive Le Mans is just a great looking game. We will see.

?

My view on this is positive. I love to go to arcades, which I average about 10 hours in on a given week. So having advanced hardware just makes it more fun. I cannot wait and I hope it becomes the next Naomi/CPS2 (arcade junkies will know what I mean)

!!


Eric Jacob