It must be a leading contender for the award for the most outrageous misuse of technology for 1994, but, bandying around terms including ISDN, pSOS+, client-server and ISDN, Sega Enterprises Ltd has joined forces with Denon/Nippon Columbia Co Ltd and Integrated Systems Inc to create a networked interactive multimedia karaoke system in Japan. That’s right. Currently, it says, most – clearly deprived – karaoke users are limited to on-site selections from laser disk libraries, whereas the new system’s client-server architecture enables merry users to order up any song – including music and text – from thousands on the network. The system will integrate the new Sega 32-bit CPU board – it uses the Hitachi Ltd SH RISC microprocessor running Integrated Systems’ pSOS+ real-time embedded operating system and Denon/Nippon Columbia’s ISDN networked karaoke system architecture. The SH RISC was developed by Hitachi with help from Sega, Denon/Nippon Columbia, Yamaha Corp and Roland Corp. The database and network system will use NEC Corp’s Value-Added Network personal computer network to store music, video and text centrally.
