Recently news has surfaced of a new Personal Media Player that is being developed by Sega called the Vision to be launched 2009.  Opinions around the internet are mostly negative due both it’s looks and it’s limited functionality. Some of the issues are so glaring that one has to wonder if Sega has adopted a start up mentality with it’s blindness. Or is it a ruse?

Often times when a company wants to do something big and wants to keep a tight wrap on it, they employ a kind of sleight of hand. They will show you a whiz bang product or service over here to keep your eyes off the curtains over there. Then once the real product is ready to see the light of day, it is brought out into the open. Then the company sits back and enjoys the fact that not only were they successful in keeping their project a secret but they get added press for the switcheroo. Hardware manufacturers, software developers, even the automotive industry have done this.

Lets analyze the situation starting with the Vision. The device itself is terribly designed. With this little functionality it would be a no brainer to use a touch screen rather than a few easily bumped buttons on the side. Second thing that jumps out is the market potential. The gizmodo and the failure of the UMD format for the PSP shows that interest in mobile TV/Movie viewing is limited. The Iphone also plays a part. It has essentially set the standard that any highly successful future mobile device will have phone and media playback ability.

Nvidia, Intel, and AMD/ATI all want to get their new CPU/GPU on a single die technology into the next generation of consoles. Due both to economics and the state of PC gaming The only problem is that everyone is already married to IBM. Sony looks to be going with an upgraded version of the Cell and Microsoft has stated it would like to do chips. Only Nintendo has been mum on it’s next generation plans. However Nintendo stated with this current generation that it was removing itself from the graphics competition. Of course the Wii’s successes and short comings may have changed their minds. All this, leaves a whole bunch of players, and too few seats in this game of musical chairs.

With the industry value projected to double by the next consoles launch. It will be a prime time for another player to enter the ring. Enter Sega. It’s mascot hasn’t had a decent game in years and most of Sega’s releases are mediocre at best. Sega is in need of a serious rebirth. It already has the branding, any console Sega puts out is guaranteed to have a rabid core fanbase, and media coverage will be at an all time high for the returning contender.

When you take all of this into consideration it is quite possible that Sega is using the announcement of the Vision to mask greater plans. Or at the very least, we can hope.