Earlier today, we brought word that Don Reisinger of CNET thinks that the answer to SEGA's financial woes is to get back into the hardware business. Me? I think that'd be suicide, and a smarter move would be to just close up shop and retire with what they have.

Don't get me wrong, I like SEGA. Growing up, a friend and I were on the front lines of the Nintendo vs. SEGA war, myself flying the banner of Mario while he held Sonic high. With the odd concession here or there, we were otherwise pretty firmly entrenched with our consoles of choice, but as a result, we were also able to enjoy each other's picks fairly often. It was a good arrangement.

Back then, there were just two dominant consoles, and those were it. Of course, it was relatively rare that someone would have both systems beneath their TV. This lead to various other systems by very capable software developers: NEC and Hudson's TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine, SNK's Neo Geo, and even Capcom's own CPS Changer. Unfortunately, due to various contributing factors, not the least of which was two big dogs taking up most of the porch, none of them did terribly well.

Fast forward to today. Now we have three dominant platforms from Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, the latter of which actually helping with SEGA's swan song, the Dreamcast, which allowed to at least exit the console business without their heads being hung low. Unlike yesteryear, it's not so uncommon to have two consoles, maybe even a portable, but to have all three is now the rarity.

Adding a fourth console by SEGA would simply make the problem even worse. Possibly for SEGA themselves, as they'd likely need to have something at least as distinct as the Wii to even get people to really give their stuff a shot. Nevermind the issues regarding porting games across three to four systems.

When the Genesis came out, the Super NES was still two years away, leaving its main competition as the 8-bit NES, against which it was able to easily outclass. And in time, while the games were kind of iffy to start, they at least had the kind of dazzle and flair that would keep them in the game until fare such as Sonic the Hedgehog really kicked things up a notch.

Now, the battle is much harder. They might be able to release something more powerful than the PlayStation 3, but you can bet your ass it'll cost more, too, and Sony has already nearly tripped over themselves on that road. SEGA's games aren't what they once were, either. It seems like they've been on a downward spiral ever since the Dreamcast was put to rest.

Of course, one could argue that maybe by making hardware again, it would give SEGA's developers some sort of morale boost that would improve their games. Maybe. But then, odds are those good games would be exclusive to the SEGA console, which brings them back around to figuring out how to make people take notice of them again.

Of course, it's possible that like the others named above, they could release their games on their system and others, but that brings us back to "why buy the SEGA system, then?"

Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft aren't going anywhere. And though Reisinger seems as though he believes the nostalgia of those who grew up with SEGA would see them through... nostalgia will only take one so far. In video games, it's more often a story of "what have you done for me lately?" If it wasn't, then Atari probably wouldn't be trying to appeal to the MySpace crowd while fighting for their NASDAQ listing.

One also has to ask how many of those who fought for SEGA in the 16-bit era remember getting burned by the SEGA CD, the 32X, and the Saturn, and which memory stands more vividly to them: SEGA's relatively brief success, or their string of shortcomings.

However, there may yet be one possible solution. The console wars are crowded enough as it is, but one must ask themselves... is there room for another handheld?

Sony and Nintendo have been battling it out... well, sort of, for the past few years, and Microsoft has been happy to leave them to it, occassionally throwing a game or two Nintendo's way as they go, as they don't see the portables as competition.

If SEGA could find the right approach, then they might be able to fill the void left by Microsoft. And who knows, maybe by way of their past partnership, the two would even find a way to get some Microsoft-exclusives in to sit alongside SEGA's staple in the handheld arena.

Sony's biggest flaw with the PSP seems to be a general lack of games; its effort to be a Jack of All Trades has left it a master of none. The Nintendo DS, meanwhile, occassionally faces complaints against its graphics, or not exploiting its online capabilities to the fullest. Perhaps there would be room for SEGA to find a happy middle-ground into which they could comfortably wedge themselves.

Now, wouldn't that be something?

The only question left, then, is if SEGA could even afford to take such a gamble.