Sega's Intelligence Briefing

This intelligence drew Nakayama Takuya's close attention.

In his previous life, Sony had relied precisely on this strategy of constant outward expansion to broaden PlayStation's audience from traditional gamer geeks to the general public, ultimately winning that generation's console war.

"This is a very dangerous signal." Nakayama Takuya sat up straight, his gaze sharp. "Sony is trying to redefine the consumption scenario for consoles. While we're fighting Nintendo over whose 3D technology is stronger and whose hardcore games are more fun, Sony is preparing to make money from people who don't care about polygon counts at all."

Hisao Oguchi frowned.

Sega's DNA had always been hardcore arcades. That DNA kept them ahead technologically, but it also limited the breadth of their audience.

"Director, you mean we should follow up in the casual games market too?"

"Not blindly, but we have to guard against it." Nakayama Takuya tapped the tabletop with his knuckles. "We have Hudson. That ten-player battle game at Hudson's booth this afternoon, Jupiter Bomberman, didn't it get a good response? That is the purest kind of party game. Play the Hudson card well, use Jupiter's multitap peripheral, and build up the living-room social aspect.

"Also, tell the software review department to appropriately relax the approval threshold for casual and puzzle games, and leave small and mid-sized third parties some room for trial and error."

Hisao Oguchi nodded.

If Sony wanted to walk the mass line, Sega absolutely could not hand over this market to them on a platter.

The meeting moved at a brisk pace.

Tecmo's Dead or Alive was singled out for discussion.

This fighting game, developed using Sega's Model 2 board, had caused quite a stir at the show.

"Tomonobu Itagaki made a very smart move here," Hisao Oguchi commented. "By borrowing our technical foundation, he