Speaking on the subject of the upcoming Phantasy Star Online game for GameCube, Naka explained that,

"At the beginning of the year our R&D people spent two months just studying the capabilities of the GameCube. When we began actual development, we wanted to have something ready by E3. So we began porting Phantasy Star Online, but we wanted to add new features. During this time, our staff had several machines lineup up side by side, so we could discuss things while we played. We enjoyed it so much, we decided to include the four-player split-screen mode. We're still trying to decide the best way to split-up the screen and make the multiplayer mode work. Outside of that, we're working on several new features for the GameCube version."

Naka-san also mentioned that Sega's development plans are not quite set yet; even with the Nintendo parntership, Sega hasn't thrown its lot in with any single platform or group of platforms:

"We're looking into other consoles. Right now we're confronted with the possibility of working on about 6+ platforms. So it's a matter of deciding which games suit each platform. I'm not sure when a decision will be made, who knows, maybe we'll just stick with the Dreamcast for awhile." [laughs..]

• Core Magazine