(image via AM-Net)
The hardware which caused some to erroneously think that Sega was jumping back into the console business has been revealed and we now see that there are actually two configurations, thus the use of the two different names. Not surprisingly, the hardware is PC-based, just like Lindbergh and Europa-R. But how does it stack up? Check it out:
Ringedge:
Intel Pentium E2160 CPU @ 1.8 GHz
1GB of DDR2 PC2-6400 RAM
An “nVidia GPU” w/ 384MB of GDDR3 RAM and supports Shader Model 4.0 and “two 1920×1200” which probably means it has ports for two monitors and can support up to that resolution. Also as of a note, it says “nVidia GPU 2” on the document up higher – not sure if that means
5.1 ch HD Audio
Onboard Gigabit LAN
A 32GB SSD drive for storage (finally, flash storage instead of a standard HDD which will likely fail soon)
Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 2009
ALL.Net
Ringwide:
An Intel Celeron 440 @ 2 GHz
1GB of DDR2 PC5300 RAM
“AMD GPU” with 128MB of GDDR3 RAM, supports Shader Model 4.0 and also has two ports to handle 1920×1200 resolution video
5.1 ch HD Audio
Onboard gigabit LAN
An 8GB Compact Flash for storage
Microsoft Windows Embedded Standard 2009
ALL.Net
So there you have it! Ringwide is obviously not as powerful as Ringedge and thus should cost less – which is the point. Ringedge will be for games that Sega wants to push the envelope, Ringwide for games that won’t be as graphically pleasing but at the very least a little more inexpensive for arcade operators. It also has been revealed that Border Break is among the first games to use Ring Edge, stay tuned for details on that in a moment.
Once again, I cannot stress enough that Ringedge and Ringwide are NOT new game consoles. There seems to be a small effort online to convince people that RingWide is for arcades and RingEdge is some mythical new system but that is simply not the case. You can see a list of arcade titles which use both hardware configurations below. The specs, the pictures and the official word from Sega makes it very obvious that this is arcade hardware, as the design of the case looks somewhat similar to their arcade hardware called Lindbergh. The launch of the Lindbergh was similar to RingEdge/RingWide but to this day, Sega has not developed that into a console. The existence of patents for controllers is not an indication that they will turn this into a game console as they can use new control methods in the arcade – case in point, Border Break the first RingEdge game, uses a unique joystick/mouse control method that is seldom seen in arcades.
Sega has also pointed out their plans for RingEdge/RingWide in plans for arcades through 2010 and beyond. Talk of connectivity through ALL.NET is solely for arcades, which still lack many online titles. With Sega’s upcoming Sega Card Gen MLB game, it features online connectivity, the first game to do so by Sega in quite a while in US arcades. Hardware for Sega Card Gen hasn’t been confirmed yet but it fits into the RingEdge/RingWide plan and this is very exclusive to arcades.
I know that won’t stop fans from hoping for a new Sega console but at the moment, and I’m not trying to rain on anyone’s parade but there is an uptick of misinformation being put out there on the internet (which isn’t unusual in and of itself) regarding this hardware. I have talked directly with several reps at Sega Amusement (including the head of R&D in Sega Europe) about the rumors and they have stated very directly that these are simply arcade boards. I know that there are bloggers out there claiming to talk to Sega reps who supposedly “confirm” that Ringedge will be a console but if that is the case then it is the first time a game company has decided to reveal a multi-billion dollar investment of their business to anonymous people who run random Sega fan blogs. I highly doubt that such would be their strategy in a business that is as competitive and risky as the console hardware realm, which is being dominated by the Nintendo Wii. This doesn’t mean that there won’t be a “Dreamcast 2” one day, but if they do that it is not going to be RingEdge or RingWide.
There are several games already available in arcades using the hardware spoken of here, as you can see below.
(UPDATED Nov 2010):
RingEdge
Border Break; Shining Force Cross; Project Diva Arcade;Shining Force Cross Raid
Ringwide
Sega Racing Classic; Tetris: The Grandmaster 4; Let’s Go Island; Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code; Giant Tetris ; Pengo; Golden Gun
Just addressing the continued rumors about this, there are still people going around trolling Sega fans about this, one troll who goes by either Ringedge2010 or MrSega on certain forums seems to be the same Zack Morris we have in the comments below. The troll has been proven wrong on everything multiple times already (latest claim is that all the Lindbergh and Europa-R games will be released on the new console, which takes about 10 microseconds to see through that sort of BS) so my best advice to anyone still hoping for a Sega game console is to wait until Sega officially says something about it, otherwise you are having your time wasted.
I wager Ringwide is the semi-official successor to NAOMI (catering to the low-end board market for devs like G-Rev, maybe Cave, etc. that can’t/won’t use Type-X for various reasons, mainly down to cost), but both those CPUs are ancient (in tech terms) and pretty feeble to boot (albeit super-cheap) so it’s certainly an odd architectural decision–I have to wonder if someone on the other end got some bad information and that these CPUs aren’t at least twice the advertised clock speeds and/or more cores.
Interesting they arent using the europa hardware more/again?. I guess the specs on the europa cost too much among other things. The ringedge hardware got a nice core2duo cpu atleast. Almost like type-x2 hardware or something. I wonder how powerful the nvidia card is. Thanks for the news.
Interestingly, they’re now using Windows instead of Linux. I guess it’s because they want to attract third party developers. But it’s still equipped with an NVIDIA GPU… I don’t know why but ATI produces better looking images. Hopefully they’ll pay attention to avoid aliasing this time because most Lindbergh games… :-/
The lower-end hardware is AMD GPU-based (therefore ATI). And, actually, at least over the past two years, NV has had much, much better tech than ATI/AMD, especially in regards to sheer speed–something that, with such weak CPUs undergirding it all, is exceedingly important.
Compared to Europa-R the new Ringedge/Ringwide hardware seems a step backward. I suppose it’s a case of waiting to see how well the nvidia GPU stacks on the final game releases. But the overall throughput of Europa-R architectue seems to put it ahead especially for sometihng graphically intensive.
HI THERE I CAN NOT WAIT UNTILL I CAN BUY THE SEGA GAMING CONSOLE ITS GOING TOO BE FASTER THEN THE X-BOX OR PS3 THANKS TOO ITS SSD FLASH DRIVE NO SPINNING PLATERS TOO LOAD GAME AND BE FASTER GAME PLAY TOO BAD X-BOX AND PS3 WONT BE SMART AND USE A SSD SOLID STATE FLASH DRIVE
Assuming that you’re not joking James, you should read the article again and then you will realize that this is not a new game console – it’s an arcade board. Why is this so incredibly difficult for certain fanboys to understand?
HI THERE I DID READ THE ARTICAL AGAIN LIKE YOU SAY I HAVE ALL GAMING COSNOLES FOR PAST 30 YEARS I AM A FAN BOY FOR ANY PLAT FORM INFACT WHY DONT YOU GOOGLE SSD SOLID STATE DRIVES AND LOOK AT THE PRFORMANCE BETWEEN A SSD COMPUTER AND A NON SSD COMPUTER THEN YOU WOULD KNOW THAT ANY SSD WOULD BLOW A HARD DRIVE RIGHT OUT OF THE WATER EVEN AT 15,000 RPM SEAGATE WONT EVEN COME CLOSE THATS WHYY NINTENDO GAMES LOAD FASTER THEN X-BOX AND PS3 PUT IN A SOLID STATE DRIVE IN A PS4 OR X-BOX 720 BUT YOU RIGHT THE ONLY THING NEW IN THE SEGA GAMING CONSOLE IS THAT IT HAS A BRAND NEW SSD AND I WAS NOT JOIKING ABOUT SSD ARE FASTER THEN HARD DRIVES I HOPE X-BOX WILL TAKE IN THE INFO BUILD A SSD X-BOX 720 ELITE SERIES
Well, my point is that this is not a new Sega game console – this is an arcade board which is very different but a lot of people thought that this meant game console. I understand that SSD is faster but Sega is not getting into the console business again with Ringedge. Will future consoles themselves use SSD more? PErhaps, if it’s affordable enough.
HI THERE CHECK OUT http://digg.com/d1oLBN THATS WERE YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE VIDEO FUSIO SSD PLAYING OVER 700 DVD MOVIES ALL ON A SINGLE SSD WITH THAT KIND OF THROUGH PUT BE GREAT FOR THE HARD CORE GAMES PIECE OF CAKE FOR A SSD THE VIDEO IS ONLY LIKE 2 MINUTES OR LESS JUST INCASE YOU WANT TOO WHAT THE TRUE POWER HOUSE SSD CAN DO
HI THERE THE WEBSITE IS http://www.digg.com/d1oLbN
HI THERE YOU ARE RIGHT I COULD SAVE UP $600 TOO $800 FOR A 256 GB SSD FOR MY PS3 SOO I PALY GAMES SOO FAST NO ONE COULD KEEP UP WITH ME EVEN THOUGH I SAW A 256 GB SSD FOR $499 AND $468 A 128 FOR $180 TOO $320 A 64 GB SSD FOR $129 TOO $180 OR A 32 GB SSD FOR $89 TOO $129
HI THERE ITS ME THE MASTER CHEIF SPARTAN 117 FROM HALO RING WE HAVE NOW GIVE FUTUER TECHNOLGIES STUFF TOO SCIENTIST SOO YOUR FUTURE TECHNOLGIES WILL BE WAY FASTER THEN LIGHT SPEED LIKE GERMANY FIBER OPTICS COMUNICATE AT 417,000 MILES PER SECOND AT 1.5 TIMES FASTER THEN LIGHT SPEED NANO SPHERE AT 2.5 TIMES FASTER THEN LIGHT SPEED AVERAGE READ WRITE SPEEDS AND YOU MAY JUST HAVE THE FIRST WARP 5 STAR SHIP IN 5 YEARS SO THAT GAMING CONSOLES COMPUTERS AND CELLPHONES EXEDDDING LIGHT SPEED INSTINE SAYS WAS IMPOSSABLE LIKE THE BORG AGMING CONSOLE SLEEP MODE IT STILL RUNING 500,000 TRILLION TIMES FASTER THEN LIGHT SPEED AT 0.00000% CPU CYCLE
HI THERE JUST TRYING TOO KEEP MONOPY FROM FORMING ANY TIME MONOPLY COMPANIES FORM THEY USALY DONT DO ANY THING GOOD FOR THE CONSOMER CELLPHONE GAMEING HAS A NEW CELLPHONE CPU AT 1 GHZ CALLED THE TOSHIBA TG01 X-BOX 720 WILL USE HD DVD FORMAT DISK AT 15 GB A PIECE PS4 IS GOING USE HALO GRAPHIC DISK AT 1 TERABYTE TB DISK AT 1 GB/S THATS RIGHT 1 GEGABYTE PER SECOND DATA TRANSFER THE STORAGE THROUGH PUT 6 GB/S THATS RIGHT 6 GEGABYTES PER SECOND THROUGH PUT WITH FUTUER GAMING INCLUDING LASER HARD DRIVES AT 100 TERABYTES PER SECOND NANOSPHER AT 2.5 TIMES FASTER THEN LIGHT SPEED AND POLERMER ELTRON MEMORY STORAGE THE FUTUER GAMING WILL GIVE CONSMERS A LOT OF COUSTORMERS OPTIONS BE HARD TOO EVEN THINK ABOUT
HI THERE MY X-BOX 360 LIGHTS TURNED RED IT WOULD NOT LET US FINSIH HALO WARS ON LEGENDARY IF IT IS HEAT THEN A USB FLASH DRIVE OR A USB EXTERNAL SSD SOLID STATE FLASH DRIVE AND FANS SHOULD LOWER THE TEMPUTURE FLASH MEMORY AND SOLID STATE DRIVES HAVE ZERO HEAT OUT PUT THATS WHY NINTENDO WII AND NINTENDO DSI AND CELLPHONE GAMES DONT FREEZE UP OR SHUT DOWN THEY STAY AT THE SAME TEMPUTURE AS THE INVEROMENT THERE SURONDING SOO WHEN I GO PICK UP A NEW XBOX-360 I WILL BUY A X-BOX 360 ARCAADE VERSION AND BUY A 8 16 OR 32 GB USB FLASH DRIVE
James…
This is NOT a console.
This is a hardware Arcade Machine that sits inside a huge cabinet. Unless you are in the Entertainment/fair/seaside business then you can’t own a cabinet like that.
to see what I am onabout visit http://www.system16.com or look into this very own site.
HI THERE YOU ARE RIGHT SEGA DID NOT RELEASE THERE SSD GAMING CONSOLE MICROSOFT DID NOT RELEASE A PROTABLE XBOOX OR THE NEW XBOX 720 ONLY SONY OFFERED A PSP GO WITH 16 GB OF FLASH MEMORY I AM VERY DISAPONTEED NEW NEW FEATURES OR FASTER ACESS DRIVES LIKE A A SSD IN THE PS3 OR A FLASH MEMORY XBOX 10,000 AND 15,000 RPM HARD DRIVE CONSOLES WILL BE DELAYED
this guy has no brain at all
HI THERE I JUST LOOKED UP A 8 GB COMPACT FLASH CARD AND THE 32 GB SSD FLASH DRIVE BOTH ARE RIGHT AROUND $100 BUT IT SHOULD OUT PERFORME THE X-BOX 360 AND PS3 SLOW HARD DRIVE
HI THERE ONE WEB SITE SAYING THE SEGA GAMING CONSOLES WILL BE OUT IN 2010
Dude, please stop spamming this post with this. A lot of Sega fans are claiming that there will be a new console but it’s not the Ringedge. When Sega announces a new console then everyone will know about it. Until that happens, it’s probably best to just wait.
I mean, it’s stupid to say there will be a new SEGA console, and it’s stupid to say there won’t be a new SEGA console. But there is a PROBABILITY that there might be a new console beyond the horizon, waiting in the dark, getting ready to be born. Fact is, the PS3 is doing bad and it would be good timing for SEGA to release a console in the near future (1 to 2 years). By that time we might be at the end of the financial crisis, 360 has had it’s best time and SEGA starts cutting it’s ties with the big N crippling them in the proces. They start focussing on the release of the new console (the Revolution would be a nice name, hehe) and some of their major franchise games. Sonic Revolution, Jet Set Radio 3, Shenmue complete, Space Channel 5 part 3, SGGG Project Translation, Daytona Revolution, Skies of Arcadia : Winds of sorrow, REZ ultimatum, Crazy taxi Revolution, Soul Calibur : a new beginning, Power Stone 3, Vectorman, Panzer Dragoon VR (with VR glasses add-on), Alex Kidd : Rise of the fallen, Phantasy Star Universum Online. The console would be backwards compatible with Dreamcast games. It would go online day one, with the whole Megadrive and Master system catalogue in the VSS (Virtual Sega Store). On day 26 it would become “aware”. All Revolutions would work together, link together, forming one global superconsole. On day 29 it launches a nuclear attack. Four billion people die that day. All remaining life on earth dies withing the following year due to radiation disease. 16000 years pass. Humanity not even a long lost memory. For the first time since 10/10/2010 there is an unnatural sound on the planet. A ship, the size not even Fox Mulder could have imagined in his wildest dreams touches down. And then a foot, with 3 toes, on the dusty soil. They come on reconnaissance, searching for alien technology and new life forms. They didn’t find the new life forms, only extinct ones. The technology on the other hand… The Revolution is just the beginning…
Yup…
Sega is certainly up to something! NO matter what— Read up on many gaming sites and even they susspect that SEGA is certainly up to something in gaming! Sega will be back soon!
chill. stop dissin the ps3. as for sega, the ringwide is said to be the home console counterpart of the ringedge. besides if they werent gonna make a console why would they make TWO arcade boards?….keep in mind that ALL of sega consoles, yes even dreamcast, are based on their arcade hardware…….hmmm. makes u think, doesnt it?
also there have been specs on many web pages that say a new sega console is coming out in the next year or two. please reply and post
Im sorry but is his caps key broken or is he on meth?
Maybe a little of both
so wat does this mean?
The DC was overrated. But why make 2 arcade systems with ONLINE SUPPORT??? Sounds strange but nice. Sega is gonna sneak up on us. RingEdge is the FUTURE!!!!!
Because ALL arcade hardware boards these days have online support because they are PCs. Seriously, NEITHER OF THESE ARE GAME CONSOLES AND THEY NEVER WILL BE. Their past two arcade boards were the same thing – PCs that had online abilities. Guess what? No game console.
This should not be so hard to understand.
Another note is that the widely acclaimed Shenmue 3 is to be released about 2 years into the consoles lifespan.
HEY LOOK. ITS THAT ZACH MORRIS GUY AGAIN!!!!!!! HE’S LYING…..But a new sega console would be great. I’m a believer…….Wait, project needlemouse?
Wait, go look on wikipedia. This actually might be true…….just search ringedge and read the info.
Personally, I don’t think there would be this much hype if there wasn’t SOME basis in fact.
Firstly, the question of “WHY 2” is easily answered. Ringedge is graphically superior, for proper arcades. The ringwide is more for local recreation centres who cannot afford the expensive arcade machines. This is under the assumption that these are arcade boards.
It’s obviously why they are being released in both the US and UK. The market would be larger. However, since the home console revolution, video-arcades have lost business, and went into a state of decline. The question here is “Why make arcade machines when the return is going to be nothing compared to what it used to be?”
Personally, the make or break here is the forthcoming “Project Needlemouse”, the codename for the next Sonic game. A return to the classic 2D style of play, with speed. It is definitely going to be released 2010. If a new home console is being released next year, how come absolutely no-one has heard anything foolproof? Mainstream consoles from experience don’t remain hidden for long? But if Project Needlemouse was a ringedge game, and exclusive to SEGA, then the sales would be through the roof!
To summarise, there are points for and against. There is no definite proof of a console, and the evdence given suggests arcade boards. But even if ringedge and ringwide aren’t consoles, I still think SEGA will make a comeback sometime soon. People will tire of the same 3 ‘key players’, and will wan’t an alternative, and an old hand like SEGA would be welcomed with open arms.
Ringwide is confirmed as a home video game streaming device. That is 100% true, but no official name has been decided. IDK no new Ringedge info except that on FGNonline, and Tornado1994 from youtube, the Ringedge project has been postponed but be announced in fall 2010.
Well the “hype” here is driven by Sega making a patent for a controller. A lot of you guys on here are completely ignoring the fact that Sega is using both of these boards in arcade games already. Ringedge isn’t some fabled project coming in 2010 – it’s already being used in arcade games in Japan on two titles in particular – Border Break and Shining Force Cross. Ringwide is already being used in Sega Racing Classic, a game which I have played and is in fact, not a home console game.
But if the faithful wish to continue believing that Sega would make the idiotic move of jumping back into the console market with not one but two mid-range PCs when it’s in a slump and their own console game sales are down, go right ahead, it’s nothing more than amusing to read.
Wikipedia again. Look it up. I did…..i no they already have games released 4 these boards but im keeping my fingers crossed on this overall yo.
Does anybody here realize its that Zach Morris guy again??? Im startin to think the ringedge WILL be converted to a console after the ringwide streaming device comes out yo…….
So now that Project Needlemouse has been revealed to be nothing more than an episodic game released via download only for the Wii, PS3 and XBLA, care to retract that? LOL
It’s for an UNNAMED system. Read the damn SOnic 4 site. It lists Xbox, PSN, Wii Ware and ????. Question Marks! Why is Sega putting Sonic 4 in an Arcade? Why would you “download” games in an arcade and why does there have to be two arcade boxes? TO give the few arcades left a choice? What kind of choice is that? There are answered questions but this one is mine. Are you going to an arcade to download SOnic 4 when you can get it at home? Who is going to do this? Either Sega is making a comeback, or they are about to fall hard.
@Ghost_AM – If you knew anything about the arcade industry (or bothered to read my post above) you would know that the creation of two boards is simple – one for more powerful (and expensive) games, another for inexpensive games. This is why Sega is releasing weak games like Sega Racing Classic on RingWide and more impressive games like Let’s Go Island on RingEdge. Games on both pieces of hardware already exist in arcades and Sega will be showing more off next week in Vegas.
Sure they could bring Sonic to arcades if they wanted to and RingWide would be a good way to do that – maybe they will since Namco is bringing Pac-Man back with Pac-Man Battle Royale(which is a different take on Pac-Man CE). If that does well then you can bet that companies like Sega will consider bringing their classics back to real arcades. But that certainly doesn’t indicate whatsoever that Sega is ready to jump back into the console market as the evidence is overwhelmingly clear that these are ARCADE boards. But I guess it doesn’t matter how much I point this out and back it up with actual evidence as opposed to the pure conjecture that “Ringedge is a console” fan sites are spouting. It’s akin to shouting at a wall at this point.
Project Needlemouse revealed to be Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and it’s for WiiWare, XBLA, and PSN. No mention of the mythical RingEdge home console in sight:
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/04/project-needlemouse-is-sonic-the-hedgehog-4-episodic-on-ps3/
I heard about Sonic 4. Im gonna get it. But i cry at the thought of no RingEdge! *SOBS*
Well the RingEdge does exist in arcades – I know it’s not what a lot of people were hoping for but at least Sega still creates hardware for one sector of gaming.
Why isn’t sega using the ringedge for any other game other than bored breaker and shining force only released in japan? Slightly unknown games I can understand but they should be using this hardware for let’s go island and other popular fanchies (house of the dead 5 anyone) not for ring wide unless the games don’t use much such as tetras giant or the flopped sega racing classic etc I hope the other 2 unreveiled sega games use the ringedge when unwrapped at IAAPA a week today
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