Sega Claims Game-Console Victory, but Analysts Favor Sony

The gauntlet has officially been thrown down in the game-console war between Sony Corp. and Sega of America Inc. At this week’s Game Developer’s Conference in San Jose, Sega demonstrated its next-generation system, Dreamcast, and hinted that it’s left Sony quaking. Said Sega President Bernie Stolar: “We’re dreaming big and delivering big.”

Yet analysts at the show say the reverse is true. Today Sony will show the technology behind its long-awaited PlayStation II, due in late 2000. Each machine offers modem capabilities and huge jumps in visual clarity, allowing software makers to develop games with a more cinematic and realistic look.

Developers say Sony’s technology is more advanced, and the company has been more aggressive than Sega in courting software firms to sign exclusive deals and build new games to highlight these tools.