DREAM MACHINIST COMPANY Sega Enterprises, President and CEO AGE 59 ADDRESSwww.sega.com BIO Shoichiro Irimajiri took over as president of Sega in February 1998, and the
biggest gambit of his tenure is currently playing out. That would be the
Dreamcast, Sega's 128-bit attempt to re-establish a good name that was
tarnished by its last gaming console, the Saturn. Sega is facing its third year of
financial losses (last fiscal year's hit was an ugly $375 million), but the release of
the Dreamcast gives the company some cause for optimism. Sega's
aggressive--and expensive--marketing and the system's great-looking 3-D
graphics and 56K modem for online game play (O.K., so you can't use that part
until early next year) led to impressive pre-shipment sales even before the Sept.
9, 1999, launch. BEST LINE "The risks are extremely high, but this is the strategy I have decided on,
and we intend to carry it out."
FORWARD TILT Sonic the Hedgehog may be breathing easy, but not for long. Sony
and Nintendo will come out with their next-generation consoles in the U.S. next
year.
