New Sega Arcade Hardware

PowerVR, the company behind the DC graphics capabilities, has designed new graphics boards which will help Sega in terms of arcade games:

The company announced today that it has completed development of “the next generation graphics architecture for arcade systems.” Today’s press release marks the first confirmation of Sega’s stake in the next generation of arcade hardware with these golden words “Sega is already using the system for the development of the next generation of arcade titles, the first of which are expected to be released later this year.”

We’re not fully sure of the specifics for this hardware, in terms of performance, as the press release issued by PowerVR Technology does not state specifically if the board is based off the upcoming Kyro technology, the successor to the Power VR graphics core of the Dreamcast. However, mentioned in the release is that the next generation of hardware is based off the PowerVR architecture and incorporates an advanced PowerVR co-processing engine which enables full hardware geometry transformation and lighting. Furthermore, the arcade system allow for the use of multiple PowerVR rendering processors, which is something that is also featured in the current Naomi system.

Imagination Technologies CEO Houssein Yassaie offers up, “Our new work will enable Sega to create even more stunning and realistic arcade games by utilizing the advanced PowerVR hardware transformation and lighting engine, together with multiple PowerVR rendering processors, while hugely benefiting from the freed up resources in the main CPU for actual game dynamics.”…

Hideki Sato, Corporate Senior Vice President at Sega Enterprises says “Sega has been working with NEC and Imagination Technologies to develop a system that utilizes PowerVR’s inherent scalability, and the new associated hardware geometry and lighting engine, to deliver a new, unmatched level of gaming experience to arcades worldwide.”

This is good in the sense that arcade games can now become more advanced, but it might be bad if the Dreamcast is outdated compared to the arcade boards.