Post-Valentine's Day News

Well, another Valentine's Day has come and gone. I'm not sure if another holiday has such mixed reactions. Some enjoy it as they can spend it with their loved ones, others loathe it for other reasons. In any case, we've got some news to make even the people in the latter group feel a little better. Especially if they're part of the growing group of Phantasy Star Online addicts.

Since Sega's recent announcement to get out of the hardware business, rumors have persisted that it was in the planning stages of making a game (namely an RPG) with Nintendo. GameWeek recently interviewed Charles Bellfield, Sega of America's Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications (there's a mouthful of a title). Many interesting things were said in regards to what platforms Sega plans to develop for, along with some unexpected positive commentary on Nintendo. Anyway, what all you RPG fans are interested in most will be the following quote:

GW: Charles, can you confirm or deny the existence of this so-called "top-secret RPG" being worked on by Sega and Nintendo?
CB: (long pause) I'm trying to recall... Tetsu Kayama talked about a number of things last week and I would normally refer back to what he said, but... Let's put it this way: whatever he said, the answer is "yes."

It's been rumored the RPG will star famous characters from both Sega and Nintendo franchises (an RPG with Link and Sonic... interesting), so this could prove very interesting.

Mr. Bellfield also revealed that Sega is definitely planning to continue the Phantasy Star Online franchise. A sequel to Phantasy Star Online is on the way, and will be released on the Dreamcast, proving it's not dead yet. With PSO 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 announced so far for this year, one would wonder what else Sega has in store. (Skies of Arcadia 2 perhaps? Well, we can dream.)

In Nintendo news, Nintendo of America finally officially announced plans to localize the upcoming pair of Zelda titles on the Game Boy Color, albeit with name changes for the North American market. The Legend of Zelda ~ The Mystical Seed: Chapter of Earth will carry the subtitle of 'Oracle of Seasons' as opposed to 'Chapter of Earth'. The other game, 'Chapter of Time and Space', will have a much shorter North American name of 'Oracle of Ages'. Both titles are due for release in Japan February 27, and in the US sometime in May.

Source(s):

GameWeek Videogames.com IGN Pocket

Date Updated:
February 15th, 2001

Time Updated:
3:20 AM

Chronologist