Game Development Giant

"Sakaguchi Hironobu said that he went to see a friend of his named Nobuo Uematsu, a well-known composer. I heard that you asked him to contact him. Originally, he planned to wait until the party was over before going, but he and his My friend told me over the phone that his friend is going to Hokkaido tomorrow to deal with some personal matters, so he can only rush there this morning. He couldn't get in touch with you before, so he asked me to say hello to you."

Tamahide Yoshiro simply said that it was actually not a big deal and we could wait until Jester came to attend the party. But after all, he had agreed to Hironobu Sakaguchi, so when Jester saw that the other party was not there during the party, he took the initiative to ask After all, it wasn't very appropriate, so he took the initiative to make the call.

Jester originally hung up the phone within a minute when he heard the phone ring again, and what was displayed on the phone screen was the same number he had just dialed for his Japanese branch. He thought it was something urgent, but when he heard it, it turned out to be like this It was such a trivial matter that he couldn't laugh or cry.

He could only reply that we would talk about this later at the party. He would eat some food first to settle his stomach. He had not eaten for more than a day and had only eaten two airplane meals in almost two days. He was really hungry. If there was anything that happened, we could talk about it at the party in the evening. After hanging up the phone, about this time, the door rang. It’s not a lot. A Japanese-style miso soup and a piece of steak that smells very appetizing. Both of them taste good. Maybe it’s because he was too hungry. Jester finished it in a hurry. The portions of Japanese food are relatively small. Although Jester stated that the portions should be larger when ordering the food, there may be some gap between the Japanese's big portions and Jester's understanding of big portions.

So after eating, Jester still felt a little hungry. But thinking that there was a party in the evening, I didn’t continue to ask for another portion.

Currently, Jester's Mars Entertainment mainly sells Pokemon electronic pet machines in Japan, which were first launched in Japan. Nowadays, the new models are basically 50-50 similar to those in the United States, and some are first launched in Japan. There will also be a first model in the United States. According to the reports that Jester saw in this regard, although the market in the United States is much larger than that in Japan, the sales of this pet machine are better in Japan than in the United States.

It seems that the Japanese like this thing very much, and many people will buy it without considering it once a new model comes out.

In fact, except for the pet inside that has changed its appearance, the other functions of this thing are similar to the previous one. It's just that the original painting was a little too cute, so it's just a money-grabbing thing. But these Japanese people will buy it without hesitation. It's not that he doesn't want to make the images in the pet machine better. The problem is that the function is basically the same as the technical level of gw. It would be great to be able to do this.

Originally, Jester made this thing just to make the company famous in Japan and make some money. The accumulation of technology prepared for the subsequent development of real handheld game consoles has allowed his hardware engineers who are engaged in research and development in this area to know how to make an excellent handheld console.

And it is now beyond the expectations of many people to be so popular. They originally thought it would sell well. But as soon as it was released, it caused a sales frenzy in Japan, and all the previously prepared stocks were sold out in a few days.

Originally, Mars Entertainment was responsible for the development of handheld consoles and the work arrangement between the people who designed the pets in the pet consoles. In the first four months, a new pet console would be released every month. But when they saw this situation, the person in charge of handheld console development After consulting Jester's opinion, he immediately waved his hand.

"We have to finish four months' work in one month."

Having said that, in fact, the task of the handheld development team did not focus on this, but on the development of real handheld game consoles.

According to Jester's plan, the development of handheld consoles must be accelerated. Although he has not heard that Nintendo is developing a handheld console, even if it is true. This kind of project must also be kept secret from the outside world.

However, based on Jester's calculation based on the time in his own memory, it is very likely that Nintendo has not officially developed the Gameboy yet.

so. Jester then asked the handheld R\u0026D team to devote most of their energy to the research and development of a new handheld console. The required configurations were basically similar to those of the Gameboy. The reason for this was simply because GB’s technology was the most advanced. Mature, in addition to other research and development, the most important thing is the research of wireless communications.

This was when Jester was talking to the leader of the handheld R\u0026D team about their electronic pet machine. He recalled that in his memory, the Tamagotchi pet machine released by Bandai did not require a communication line to connect. Yes, at that time, it was possible to use infrared to directly connect and communicate with each other, but that was in the mid-1990s, and it was not difficult to achieve infrared communication, but he didn't know whether it could be achieved at the current level.

Of course, he had seen TV remote controls that used infrared communication in his daily life, but that was all. Maybe he was ignorant and had not seen other products that required infrared communication. When he combined this idea with his When the R\u0026D team leader talked about it, his eyes lit up.

However, the team leader, a top graduate from MIT, made two gestures out of thin air, frowned and thought for a few minutes, and then rejected Jester's suggestion with a very regretful tone.

His original words were very regretful, because the method of using communication lines to connect has great disadvantages. Their R\u0026D department has also been thinking about how to solve it recently, but there is no good solution. This time I heard Jester asked if it could He thinks it is very feasible to use infrared communication to solve the communication between two machines.

Because infrared communication is not a brand-new technology, he had done research in this area when he was a student in Massachusetts.

However, if infrared communication technology is used in the pet machine, it will inevitably increase the size of the pet machine because it needs to add a dedicated standard identification chip and a dedicated circuit, and the increased heat generation is also difficult for them to solve at present. . And Jester has set standards for their research and development in the research and development department.

However, after the R\u0026D team leader finished speaking, he immediately changed his tone. According to him, although it is not possible now. However, this suggestion is highly operational, and if it does not work now, it is due to technical issues. But technical problems are the easiest to solve. After the technology improves in a few years, this will not be a problem.

When you can't have both performance and appearance, you have to give up performance and choose appearance, because consumers are gamers. They don't know how high the performance will be with this kind of chip. They can see it. Yes, this palm toy machine is really nice. This little thing is so cute.

When people see something good-looking, they will unnaturally feel possessive. This is what Apple taught the world in later generations.

In fact, in Jester's eyes, Apple's design philosophy is very similar to that of Nintendo. They both emphasize the application of mature technologies and seldom or never use various new technologies that seem to be crappy. , because new technology means instability.

Sony is doing the opposite, using all kinds of black technology.

But what makes Apple better than Nintendo is that they care very much about user experience, so each of their franchise stores or directly-operated stores will have a special experience area, and they will ask users about any dissatisfaction after they have experienced it. , and then Apple will make rectifications based on these opinions.

Products that are more in line with users’ new ideas. *The sky-high level of industrial design, coupled with above-average performance, has contributed to Apple’s popularity.

And Nintendo later completely died. They only know how to make money by relying on die-hard fans, and they have only one attitude towards players, that is, they like to play and not play. The world in Jester's memory of Nintendo couldn't blame others for its subsequent decline.

But I feel relieved when I think that Nintendo is a family business with a century-old heritage, and it is a business in such a conservative place like Kyoto.

certainly. As two industrial design geeks as famous as Apple, Sony uses the best technology. The reasons why the best engineering equipment has declined all the way after the new century are too complicated.

The place chosen for the evening party was not a high-end luxury hotel, but a traditional Japanese restaurant specially selected by Tamahide Yoshiro. The owner of this shop is a friend of Tama Hideyoshiro, and because the food here is so delicious, Tamahide Yoshiro often ate there and the two of them got to know each other.

Jester personally doesn't like Japanese food very much, but it doesn't matter if he eats some sometimes. It's not that it's not delicious, but that he doesn't like the atmosphere of eating in Japan. After all, the taste buds of humans all over the world are not interested in delicious food. The understandings are generally the same but with minor differences, just like almost everyone thinks that Xiang smells bad, sugar is sweet, and pepper is spicy.

Therefore, under the same taste bud conditions, various schools of dishes and different cooking methods for cooking raw food have developed independently. They are basically the same.

As far as delicacies around the world are concerned, most of them are in line with the basic dietary characteristics of human beings, because people judge whether the ingredients are delicious or not through their taste buds.

Just like before Jester was reborn, he liked to hang out in some food forums and watch posts from various star-struck posters introducing delicacies from around the world. However, there were always some Chinese foodies who liked to open map cannons and ridicule, what kind of delicacies are there? Rubbish, topics like where the food is not good.

Jester is naturally full of praise for Chinese food. Each of the eight major cuisines has its own subtleties. Sichuan cuisine has complex flavors, Cantonese cuisine has versatile food, and Shandong cuisine has exquisite cooking. Each cuisine has its own unique ingredients that have been passed down for hundreds of years. The delicacies have been passed down from generation to generation, but the problem is, you haven’t even tasted some of the delicacies before you start criticizing a truly manly man?

Jester really liked a sentence he saw on this kind of forum: before complaining that foreign food is not delicious, first get a dozen or twenty stars.

When Jester arrived at this Japanese restaurant with Japanese writing on it, but he couldn't understand the meaning, Tamahide Yoshiro got the news in advance and brought everyone out to greet him. Jester didn't care much about it. I don't like this too formal etiquette.

Without much chatting outside, a group of people returned to the restaurant.

However, a short young man accompanying him, wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses and short hair, suddenly caught Jester's attention.

Seeing that he was with the Japanese branch, he must be an employee of the Japanese branch. However, Jester always felt familiar when looking at this young man's appearance, but he couldn't remember his name for a moment. , it seems that this name is on the tip of my tongue, but I just can't say it out no matter what.

So as soon as he entered the restaurant, he found an opportunity to ask Tamahide Yoshiro who had been following him.

"What's that young man's name?"

Tamahide Yoshiro was still confused as to why his boss would be so curious about an ordinary employee. He didn't ask anything at all, but directly asked for information about this new employee who he had just hired.

Despite his doubts, Tamahideyoshiro simply answered.

"His name is Hideo Kojima. He is an intern at the university. He saw our recruitment notice for game development a few days ago and came to apply. Many people I interviewed thought he was the one who performed best, and he was the one who performed best during the interview. He designed a very interesting game at that time, so I let him come to work. What, do you know him?"

Hearing Tamahideyoshiro's explanation, Jester shook his head and said perfunctorily.

"I don't know him, he just looks a bit like a friend I used to know very well. You know, there are very few Japanese students in the United States, so I have a deep impression."