The Neptune mockup at E3 is official. It was picked out of the trash by Clint Dyer an early Atari collector who started out at the Sega call center. From there it went to Thomas Keller who then sold it to John Hardie of Digital Press fame. There have been some huge cash offers for this and John has turned them all down. I think it is there to stay. As one of the early videogame collectors actually working at Sega, Clint had lots of great things. He sold me a couple mockup Sega handhelds and sold many others Sega Genesis and Master System prototype cartridges as well.
Venus is the Nomad, very clearly written on it's PCB. Don't think a Mercury, Earth/Gaia, Moon, or Pluto were in the works. Pluto is a real planet damnit. Even if it wasn't, it was considered one back before the Dreamcast was made.
I've heard there was a Pluto, and let's not forget the Titan arcade board - aptly named after one of Saturn's satellites!
When I first saw this thread, I thought it'd be a video of the Neptune at E3 in the 90s, which would've been far cooler. Did E3 even exist back then? I think it was still ECTS or whatever.
I realise this may be a very questionable link, but during one of the boss encounters in Rez there is mention of Earth and Giga. While it's likely to be purely co-incidental, I couldn't help thinking there's an outside chance this was a subtle reference to Earth being the GigaDrive. I'd love to know more details of Mercury, as this remains the one Sega hardware project I have virtually no information about. Also, can the person who recently contacted me regarding possible evidence of the Pluto get back in touch? I have a few other things you may be interested in...
Having seen the recent (& past Neptune) threads I'm surprised never to have seen links to the Classic Gaming Expo where the console seems to have been regularly exhibited, so for everyone's convenience:- Main Page:- http://www.cgexpo.com/gallery.htm 2004 Shots:- http://digitpress.com/images/cge2k4/museum/charles_p9210018.jpg http://digitpress.com/images/cge2k4/museum/don_img_0700.jpg 2005:- http://digitpress.com/images/cge2k5/museum/cge2k5_8952.jpg E3 2001:- http://www.flickr.com/photos/9572763@N02/5817044280/ Probably more pictures out there...
Hey guys! Last year I've spent all my money on a big travel from Russia to Las Vegas to see the Neptune mock-up by myself. Here's the photos and videos: http://vk.com/club59968663 I've managed it after I realized that if there are photos of Neptune in magazines that means that it exists somewhere, and it's possible to see and touch it. That was cool!