DVD Talk Forum - Sega officially annouces that they will support the Gamecube.

Unfortunately, no real details yet. :( Good news, 65 Dreamcast titles and 53 titles on other platforms by March 2002. :)

from dc.ign.com

Sega Pledges GameCube Support

Some of Sega's best teams are hard at work on GameCube projects. Sonic Team anyone?

April 19, 2001

At a meeting held in Tokyo today, Sega pledged full support behind GameCube. Sega's Chief Operating Officer, Tetsu Kayama confirmed that Sega would be supporting GameCube as part of its "platform agnostic" strategy, and announced that two of the company's most respected development houses, Sonic Team and Amusement vision, are currently developing GameCube games.

Most Nintendo fans are familiar with Sonic Team as the group behind Sonic the Hedgehog. However, the team has also developed Phantasy Star Online, Samba de Amigo, Chu Chu Rocket, NiGHTS: Into Dreams and Burning Rangers and is considered by many to be the most prolific Dreamcast developer thus far. The team is still working away at Phantasy Star Online Version 2 and Sonic Adventure 2 for the Dreamcast.

Amusement Vision is somewhat lesser known. It is important to note, though, that the group is headed up by one of the main driving forces behind the original Daytona USA arcade game. So far, the team has produced the graphically unmatched Planet Harriers for the arcades, the Spikeout series (also in the arcades), Daytona USA 2001 for the Dreamcast, and is currently working away at Monkey Ball on the DC and Virtua Striker 3 on the Naomi 2 arcade board.

Unfortunately, no specific GameCube game titles were announced by Sega today, although looking at the franchises held by these teams, we know which games we'd like to see (cough... NiGHTS... cough). Speculation aside, Sega has commented that Sonic Team's Phantasy Star Online could appear on platforms besides Dreamcast. No specific platform was mentioned, but with Sonic Team confirming support for the GCN, anything could happen.

Additionally, Sega mentioned at the meeting that by March of 2002, the company will release 65 Dreamcast titles and 53 other titles spread across multiple platforms (PS2, GCN, Xbox, GBA, etc.). Additionally, Famitsu is reporting that the company hopes to sell 12.7 million pieces of software by that time, although this number apparently does not include GameCube and Xbox software.

We're unsure at this point how much of this software will go to GameCube. With E3 just around the corner, though, we expect to catch a glimpse of Sega's trump cards for system very soon. In fact, it is expected that the GameCube games from Sonic Team and Amusement Vision will make an appearance at the upcoming expo in some capacity.

Check out IGNDC later on in the day for more of Sega's announcements.