With the DigitalLife conference set to kick off on Thursday with the press preview, a reception was held last night at the Nikki Midtown. A representative from Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office read a statement from the mayor declaring Oct. 11-16 Digital Technology Week in New York. Exciting news, obviously, but the best thing about the reception was the exhibits put on by a few choice vendors who will be presenting at the conference. Sega's display drew the largest crowd, and rightly so.

Anyone in their late twenties/early thirties probably associates Sega with gaming consoles. I can't begin to estimate how many hours I spent playing games on the Sega Genesis growing up. Today, Sega has switched over to the software side of the equation, and is rolling out the 15th anniversary version of its marque game, "Sonic the Hedgehog." The game will be released on four different platforms, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo Wii.

The Sega folks had a Nintendo Wii set up with a playable version of "Sonic" and the "Legend of the Rings" running. The game seemed to expand upon the best-selling original from 1991, and it took full advantage of the tactile Wii controller. For me, the game itself wasn't the draw, but a firsthand look at the Wii side by side with the PS3. Unfortunately, the PS3 wasn't hooked up and I wasn't allowed to take pictures of any of the hardware. The difference in size between the PS3 and the Wii is absolutely shocking. It was like a Hummer sitting in a parking lot next to a Segway.

The advantage of, and challenge to operating on the software side only is the cross-platform development of games. The Wii's controller calls for a different type of gameplay than that of other platforms for Sonic. Beyond the physical specifications of each console, Sega is taking the demographics of each into account when deciding on which platform to release games. Games geared for children will be released on Nintendo products primarily, graphic-heavy games on the supped-up PS3 and XBox 360.

Sega is planning to have a PS3 set up with Sonic playing at the DigitalLife conference, and I should be able to give it a whirl on Thursday. Check out Cheryl Meyer's report on the alliances software companies have been making with the consoles from The Deal. — Brian Ward

Technorati tags: video games, digitallife, sega.