I've been a lurker on this board for longer than I can remember (I'd estimate..years..btw, does anyone remember the Sega Dreamcast Technical Pages?)...and I finally feel the need to step in...
Sega has always been a long-time love of mine and their history shows an output of quality I've rarely found in other developers (and yes, I've played many, many other games, from many developers over the years). While I have to admit, the current outlook of Sega looks very bleak in terms of their output compared to their previous days, there is always one area that Sega seems to always excel at - their ARCADE segment. Who here remembers "shock and awe" the first time they stepped up to a game of Virtua Fighter 1-3, a lap of Daytona, or even as far back as Afterburner and Outrun (hell, even the vector based Star Trek game). The name Sega is synonymous with arcade quality, period.
All of their arcade boards, such as System 16, System 32, Model 1, Model 2, Model 3, and even earlier incarnations, what have they shown us? Well for one, the arcade segment is not limited by a "$400 or less" stipulation. Arcade boards typically sell for many times this amount, because they are usually propietary systems with a long history of R&D devoted to them.
So I ask many of you who have posted thoughts on this thread about the limitations of a PowerVR-based Sega arcade board - why is it you think that a company well-known for their technical prowess in arcade hardware design could not surpass the specifications of a home console with a $300-400 price tag (even if these respective companies are taking a loss on the sale of these systems)? If you can imagine what can be done at this price, think of what can be done with an SH-5 CPU (possibly and probably multiple cores, or even an SH-6 class CPU, and the next generation of a PowerVR GPU, which we all know, despite its limited specifications compared to "BRUTE FORCE" GPUs, makes up for this with its elegant design and ultra-efficiency in tile-based rendering).
While Sega has always been "hit-or-miss" in the consumer console race, why is so hard to believe they can really succeed in the arcade realm, like they've done so many times in the past?
You guys will be hearing more from me in the future - you've stirred the hornet's nest...
- Big T_CpE