Speculation flies as Sega files patents for two names...

[Kane Knight]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/04...s_6093779.html

Sega registers two titles with US Patent Office


Could Ghost Squad and Nosferan be coming soon to a console near you?

Besides press releases and corporate earnings reports, one of the better places to discover evidence of new games is the US Patent Office. While registering a title with the office is not always definitive proof of a game's existence--remember Grand Theft Auto: Bogota?--it is the publisher's first step in creating a brand. (Insert further marketing droid-speak here.)

By the look of things, Sega is working on a pair of new brands. On March 23, the publisher registered two titles with the Patent office--"Ghost Squad" and "Nosferan." Both titles were registered in the "video game software; computer game programs; game discs; cassettes; and circuit boards containing game programs" category by "Sega Corporation 1-2-12, Haneda, Ohta-ku Tokyo JAPAN."

Other than that, no details about the games are known, and Sega isn't talking. "Sega cannot confirm that it is developing the titles reportedly filed by the company with the US patent office," said a Sega of America spokesperson.

However, speculation has already started to percolate. Given the title's resemblance to "Nosferatu," the Slavic word for vampire and the title of the classic 1922 movie, odds are that "Nosferan" will involve some sort of bloodsucking creature. (An undead hedgehog, perhaps?) As for Ghost Squad, which is a title shared by both an obscure 1960s British TV series and a US Army unit in Iraq, all bets are off.

By Tor Thorsen -- GameSpot
POSTED: 04/16/04 03:13PM PST