New Sega arcade board isn't Xbox 360 based

July 21st, 2005, 00:37 Posted By: wraggster

Sega representatives have moved to quash reports that the company's new "Lindbergh" arcade board, which will power titles including House of the Dead 4 and Virtua Fighter 5, is based on Xbox 360 hardware.

A number of publications have reported that the board, which succeeds the currently used Chihiro and Triforce systems, will use roughly the same internal hardware as Xbox 360, allowing quick and easy ports of arcade titles to the next-generation Xbox.

However, speaking to our sister site Eurogamer.net earlier today, a Sega representative categorically stated that "Lindbergh is not based on next-generation consoles."

He went on to say that "while Sega has announced a new arcade version of House of the Dead, the company cannot confirm a next-gen console version at this time."

It's easy to see where the expectation that Sega would base its next arcade board on Xbox 360 hardware would come from - after all, the last board the firm created was Chihiro, based on the Xbox hardware, and it also collaborated with Namco and Nintendo to create the GameCube based Triforce board.

It should be recalled, however, that Sega is no longer an independent company, having merged with arcade machine giant Sammy last year - and as such, the firm's approach to arcade board development may well have changed significantly.

What's most likely, according to some commentators, is that Lindbergh is actually a development of Sammy's low-cost Atomiswave arcade board, featuring more powerful CPUs and graphics chips. It wouldn't be a radical departure for Sega; Atomiswave itself is based on the same CPU that was used by the Dreamcast and the Sega Naomi arcade board.

Indeed, as far back as late 2003 Sammy was clear on its intention for Sega to work on Atomiswave hardware, with then-Sammy CEO (and now overall boss of Sega Sammy) Hajime Satomi telling investors that he hoped to strengthen Sammy's arcade business through the relationship with Sega.

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