Sega of America's president considers the level of Revolution support from Sega - and third-parties in general - in an interesting interview.

American gaming magazine Nintendo Power has interviewed Sega of America's president Simon Jeffrey, and began by saying that Nintendo fans are very similar to the Sega fan of old. And I think Sega and Nintendo have similar software philosophies. A product like Sonic is very family-oriented. It's all about entertainment rather than trying to be controversial or anything like that. It's pure, good old-fashioned entertainment."

The Sega president unsurprisingly praised the joint Nintendo/Sega collaboration F-Zero GX, and said Nintendo fans should look forward to another collaboration between the two companies, although none are currently planned.

He said Sega are right now considering which of their classic IPs are appropriate for different platforms, and that the company was "very interested in Revolution at the moment. We obviously haven't made any announcements, but we, like other people, are talking with Nintendo about what Revolution will be, about potential opportunities on Revolution." A possible cause for concern, however, is that according to Jeffrey, it is still the case that no one in the company knows any more about the console than the rest of us.

Concentrating on what we do know, however, Jeffrey commented on the downloading-games feature of Revolution. He said it would be good if Nintendo allowed classic Sega games to be downloaded, and even suggested games from Sega consoles such as the Master System, Genesis, and Saturn. Nintendo, however, have thus far said the system would be for games on past Nintendo consoles only.

On development costs next generation, Jeffrey is unsure what will happen. On the one hand he says the Revolution, which will allow developers to produce games for it more cheaply, could see increased third-party support. However, he also said that the uniqueness of the console's design may do the opposite, if developers have to significantly alter games and their control schemes for Nintendo's Revolution. "It depends how Nintendo rolls out its third-party relations," says Jeffrey.

Concluding the interview, Jeffrey said that overall, Sega was "very excited about the prospects of Revolution, because ... the Nintendo platforms have been great for Sonic and the classic franchises. We think Revolution can absolutely be the same. [However], if Nintendo does choose a different model than Sony and Microsoft, then it might be very difficult for some third parties to adopt this three-pronged, multi-platform approach."