] TOKYO, April 17 A new bidder emerged today for the Sega ] Corporation, Japan's biggest maker of arcade games, ] prompting investors to drive Sega's share price up ] sharply. ] ] Namco, a direct competitor, said today that it was in ] talks with Sega over a merger that would bring two of ] Japan's best-known arcade characters, Pac-Man and Sonic ] the Hedgehog, under one roof. Sega had been in talks with ] the Sammy Corporation, a leading maker of machines for ] playing pachinko, a popular Japanese form of pinball. Not sure I knew Sega was up on the block. When Dreamcast went away, I thought they were in deep shit but then I stepped into a Dave and Busters one day and discovered that they made most of the machines there. |