Gamertell

Apple has existed as a niche computer brand for a long time, while tasting amazing amounts of success with its forays into the MP3 player and cellphone markets. Now it might just be nurturing ambitions of expanding into other areas like video gaming. Trademork has unearthed a trademark extension request asking for the extension of Apple’s trademark into game devices.

The trademark extension request was filed with the US Patent and Trademark office on Feb 5, 2008. This application will secure Apple’s trademark from being illegally used in the videogaming market. The company has formally requested…

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A recent application filed by Sega Corporation to protect its Dreamcast trademark may the sign of a successor to the Dreamcast console.

The application, dated 08/13/2007, is available on the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval (TARR) system and pertains to a variety of console-related peripherals but the most suspicious options are those labeled “floor pads or mats” and “flash memory cards.” The previous application did not indicate the aforementioned options and it seems a stretch to consider the Dreamcast’s Visual Memory Unit (VMU) a representative of a modern flash memory device. Speculation on these features is the driving force behind the rumors of a Dreamcast 2.

The Dreamcast was Sega’s last console before the company decided to shift its focus entirely to software. Since then, it has enjoyed success as a developer and third-party publisher for all consoles and handhelds but news of a new console could send this entire agenda into disarray. Fans will most likely be pleased if this rumor is confirmed, however, as the Dreamcast enjoyed considerable success in its brief lifetime as a pioneer of online gaming and even more success internationally as a premier system for side or vertical-scrolling shoot-em-ups (shmups), as shmups continue to be released for the Dreamcast even as late as March 2007.

A Dreamcast 2 would definitely be something to look forward to but for now, fans have to face the reality that despite all the paperwork flying around, Sega might just be looking to protect its existing properties.

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