TOKYO - As GameSpot News reported yesterday, Sega has finally admitted that it will port its games to other companies' handheld consoles. Sega of Japan's president, Shourichirou Irimajiri, revealed his company's plan in an interview with the Nikkei Shinbun. Here's an excerpt from that interview:

　　Nikkei: Why has Sega decided to provide its own games to other companies?Irimajiri: We came to the conclusion that we will not develop or distribute a handheld console for the duration of the next few years. Because of this, we decided to change our strategy to release games on multiple platforms - at least in the handheld market. This will simply be an added source of profit.

　　Nikkei: Did you negotiate a deal with Nintendo directly?Irimajiri: The negotiations are being handled by a software company that has a business relationship with both Sega and Nintendo.

　　Nikkei: Do you have any intention to provide games to the PlayStation or Nintendo 64?Irimajiri: I think it's difficult to do that as long as we have our own platform, the Dreamcast.

　　Nikkei: How many entries has Sega received for voluntary early resignation? (Editor's Note: This question refers to the recent announcement that Sega will be largely scaling back its workforce in Japan.) Irimajiri: We have about 650 at the moment. We are planning to have 1000 soon - we are attempting to cut our employees as much as possible.

　　Nikkei: With the resignation of Hayao Nakayama (vice president), has the business decision-making process been shortened?

　　Irimajiri: I think so. It is true that there were differences between Mr. Nakayama, Ookawa, and myself about the development of the Dreamcast, and that caused for some confusion in the work front.

　　- end of interview -

　　The Nikkei Shinbun reported that Sega's first Game Boy Color title will be a port of Sakura Taisen, which should release sometime before the end of this fiscal year. In the article, Sega stated that it hadn't decided yet on which games to bring to the console after Sakura Taisen.

　　The news of Sakura Taisen coming to Game Boy Color was first revealed to the public in a Famitsu interview with Marigul executive Mr. Kayama last February. Kayama revealed that Marigul was negotiating for a conversion of Sakura Taisen and other Sega titles to be ported to the Game Boy Color. However, in response to Kayama's remark, Sega's Irimajiri a week later also released a statement. In it, Irimajiri admitted that he was offering a port of Sakura Taisen for the Game Boy Color, but only under one condition - that the Game Boy Color could in some way link with the Dreamcast. Only under those circumstances could Sega allow such a port.

　　It is currently unknown if that condition has been met. We'll bring you the latest as we hear it.