Sega Rumor Mill: Volume 1

Written by Ben Struble on August 17, 2001

Sega Rumor Mill: Volume 1: I could give a one liner, but I think I will use the words Panzer Dragoon and Phantasy Star 5 to get you interested instead.

Rumors - love them or hate them, they're everywhere. If all rumors were true, Microsoft or Nintendo would've bought Sega, Mario and Sonic will star in an upcoming game, and Camelot is actually working on Shining Force 4. While the rumors mentioned in this article aren't quite as drastic, they do pack quite a punch. All of the information here comes from a highly positive source from within Sega, but since they've yet to be confirmed, let's treat them as rumors.

The first thing I'd like to get across isn't exactly a rumor, but more of a first impression of the highly anticipated Panzer Dragoon sequel that is scheduled to hit the Xbox. While I could try to summarize what I was told, I think the words said to me best describe the upcoming game. I'll let the guy speak for himself:

"Wow, Rogue Leader is quite impressive considering this is a 1st generation game. I guess Factor 5 is a rather astounding development team that knows what its doing with the Gamecube hardware. The game would surely have impressed me graphically if it wasn't for SEGA already showing up on Xbox with Panzer Dragoon and its 250,000 polygon scenes. The other thing is that the textures in Panzer Dragoon are doing some very impressive things that seem to be benefiting from the Xbox NV2A chip; I wonder how those pixels get shaded in such a way. The game also has color to it. From an artistic and a technical standpoint, I must say Panzer Dragoon is one hell of a game.

Remember the CG movies of the Saturn Panzer Dragoons? Well I'm not saying the Xbox PD will achieve this, but it sure as hell looks quite nice.

I am quite content on saying the graphical detail is the best I've seen on the Xbox so far with wide open spaces. It is quite impressive considering all the Xbox naysayers around here. I guess the dragon (dragoon, who knows) is about the same quality of the DOA models. I guess we will all see at TGS this fall to see how it really stacks up against the competition (other SEGA Xbox games). I guess the better question would be to ask how Virtua Fighter looks on Xbox compared to DOA. That will be quite interesting. I guess PD will look same quality wise with DOA but I am not guaranteeing anything since the number of polygons is quite high but more spaced out. Maybe 15 mpps is a bit high, but I guess that would be what it is at the very most."

-anonymous

If you're not excited by that you should have your pulse checked. Note how he said that it will be on display at this year's Autumn Tokyo Game Show. Gamers, take note that the show will take place October 12-14. Go mark your calendars.

Vectorman on PS2? I'm not going to say I'm 100% sure, but I think it's pretty much a done deal. That is an example of how Sega will be cashing in on a lot of their older franchises. Who knows? Maybe we'll even see updates to classics like Altered Beast and Nights soon (don't hold your breath though).

Sonic Team still has a lot of pleasant surprises to show off. While I can't necessarily say what they are, I can say that there is several hints found within Sonic Adventure 2 that will help you solve the puzzle. They have also been teasing gamers with blurred pics and question marks at their official website. What could all this mean?

Phantasy Star 5 has been going through concept design for the last four years. Storylines have been made up, but I wouldn't expect to see anything soon. No funding has been given to the title, as of yet, so I wouldn't even say that it's in development. Perhaps in the next few years we'll see Phantasy Star 5 though. There is however a surprise game showing up at next week's Space World, can't wait to see what it is.

Finally, I'd like to talk for a second about Sega's ambition. Sega's goal it seems is to dominate the market. While some companies put little effort or thought into their games, Sega is working vigorously to get back to the top of the videogame industry. They want a lot of the industry, and they'll be pulling a lot of surprises that will make most Sega fans wet their pants. The scary part is that this is just the beginning of Sega's role as a 3rd party developer. Sega's going to make sure their name is known once again.