Sega's new arcade board...with Namco?

Seems like it.

http://us.famitsu.com/dn/0102/14/dn01.html

ice-9

 

The system 246 board is, as far as I know, similar in architecture to the PS2 - Sony is the technology provider; quite possibly it will sport more RAM - it's happened in earlier Namco boards, like the system 11 (Tekken 2), 12 (Soul Calibur, Tekken 3/Tag) and 22 (Time Crisis 2), those based off the PS1 architecture, but each with progressively more memory.

It figures, since Namco was Sony's key 3rd party developer back in the PS launch, and they must undoubtedly have forged some pretty strong arcade business ties back then.

Also, as far as I know, Wow (AM1) is developing the game, while Namco is merely supplying the hardware; i.e. it might not really be a true joint project.

I don't think, however, that this means anything - Sega just wants to make money, without much hassle (hardware production/distribution), and fast. Fueled by steady cash flow, development of new in-house arcade technologies (boards, etc) will continue, and I think Naomi 2 will be the main focus of Sega's development, with the occasional exception title appearing on other boards. As a bonus, the programmers get more experience with PS2 architecture.

I personally think the former AM teams are home to the best game programmers, period. It will be very amusing to see them milking another company's hardware to choking point, while other developers can't touch it. They did it before on Sega's own Saturn, to some very impressive results (AM2 and Sonic Team, especially), and will continue to amaze.

On a side-note, Capcom is also developing a game for the system 246 board, a sequel to Jojo's bizarre adventure; this is interesting because Capcom has been one of the more prolific Naomi developers out there... I still firmly believe that the Naomi design (and Naomi 2 by default, since there are so many similarities) is truly portable and efficient, not to mention very powerful; however, for direct home porting purposes (since PS2 is, from a business point of view, a more viable platform than the DC), and given that Capcom is quite the prolific publisher, perhaps it will shift development full-gear to the System 246; then again, maybe not. It doesn't really matter, anyway.

It would be a pity to see the Naomi 2 being only used by Sega, though - the Naomi architecture was specifically engineered with portability/maximizing resources in mind, and it's a streamlined development environment - many companies used the board to great results (Tecmo, Arc systems, etc.); the Model boards were, from my knowledge, very difficult to program for, and maybe a little too expensive, and all other arcade-heavy companies had proprietary boards suited to their own purposes; all this changed with Naomi.

but, I'm blabbering.

cheers