Sega Confirms Microsoft Partnership - Codenamed "Dural"
Jan 26, 1998  (MULTIMEDIA WIRE, Vol. 5, No. 16) -- Sega's partnership
with Microsoft [MSFT] to help design the game maker's next console
should make developing games for the system less time-intensive and
costly.  Sega of Japan Chairman Isao Okawa confirmed the partnership
Friday night in a speech, according to officials at Sega of America.
Okawa mentioned the use of Microsoft's Windows CE operating system in
connection with the new platform, which is set to hit the U.S. market
next year (MMW,  Jan. 12).
While the console, codenamed "Dural," won't run PC games, developers
will be able to use PC code to develop for Dural, Sega officials say.
It will be more efficient to develop entirely within the Windows
environment, and it should eliminate the labor of converting code to
other platforms, says George Metos, founder of developer Sculptured
Software. "That makes any developer happy."
The Microsoft connection should give Sega a boost in its uphill battle
to sell a new console in a market already dominated by Sony [SNE] and
Nintendo, says Jay Smith, CEO of Wanderlust Interactive [LUST] and its
development subsidiary Adrenalin Entertainment.  Sega's "going to have
muscle their way in."  The Windows compatibility may give the Dural
the chance to get in on the burgeoning multiplayer online game market,
Smith adds.  Sega officials decline to comment on Dural's multiplayer
online capabilities.
From:  Silicon Times Report / January 30, 1998 / No.1404
... 666.0000 The number of the High Precision Beast
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