Sega's New Arcade Game Is Based on Sand

Sega hasn't completely left the gaming hardware market. It may have sunk its console division—the result of the Dreamcast's spectacularly expensive failure to thrive—but it still maintains an active arcade wing. It's here that the corporation produces the embedded PC systems found in many contemporary IRL arcade machines.

In 2009, Sega unveiled a four point plan for reviving the arcade market at large, something perhaps more feasible in Chinese and Japanese markets where the games remain still somewhat popular. In Japan, in particular, arcade games occupy just over a quarter of the country's $20 billion (yearly) video gaming market.

Sega's latest arcade innovation might be among the most retro concepts ever introduced to the gaming world: sand. Instead of a joystick or plastic infrared machine gun, the player has a pile of sand. Granted, it's a carefully formulated non-stick sort of sand that's painted over with digital projections, but sand it remains (via the BBC):

Perhaps we can look to the third point of Sega's arcade revitalization plan:

Higher-end products that appeal to frequent players are too complicated for casual players and are not effective at drawing them to amusement centers. SEGA will work to reactivate the market by expanding the base of users through a broad product lineup that can meet these diversifying player needs.

"'Fun' is diversifying," the Sega report concludes. And if this isn't precisely that, nothing is. Unfortunately, the game is currently planned for release only in Japan.