Sorry for the belated response. Been busy with some stuff that has reminded me once again why I was smart to abandon PC gaming, with the exception of a select few titles.
Yes I did see the "April Fools" at the end of the article. but considering the very nature of modern American English, the context can be easily distorted any number of ways. In light of the recent agreement with Nintendo, perhaps Sega is planning something that is nothing new in Japanese business. Hostile Takeover anyone? Sega may have absolutely no hardware strength outside Japan. But within the borders, Nintendo is beginning to feel the pressure, because they refuse to diversify like Sega has.