Reborn Tokyo Golden Age

Kazushima Masatoshi and the others went over the situation of the 8-bit chip, and Shirakawa Feng asked Nakajima Heitaro to send some finished products to the HAL Research Institute.

He plans to put the first application platform of this chip on his home game console.

In the beginning, in order to improve the performance, we planned to install the 8-bit enhanced chip directly.

But the cost of more than 20 dollars is still too high.

In the final analysis, the game console is still an electronic toy product for children, and its audience and Walkman actually do not have a high degree of overlap.

Among the student population, gaming consoles could be hugely popular.

But social animals may not like it, especially the older the audience, the narrower the audience.

If an 8-bit enhanced version chip is used, its cost alone will be as high as more than 6,000 yen, and the overall price is likely to exceed 20,000 yen.

For students, this price is very unfriendly. After all, there are only a small number of groups who can afford this expense.

Therefore, for cost considerations and to reduce the selling price, the cost of an 8-bit chip of more than 2,000 yen is too friendly.

As for whether the performance of the 8-bit chip is reliable or not, there is no need to worry about this at all.

Now many arcade machines still use 8-bit chips in large quantities. As the pocket models of arcade machines, home game machines have lower requirements for chips.

Therefore, there is no problem at all in developing home game consoles with 8-bit chips.

The new finished products from SIC will be sent directly to Iwata and the others, so that they can get familiar with the performance and characteristics of the chip as soon as possible.

Game development involves programming and logic operations, which are directly related to the architecture of the chip.

Different chips on the market have different architectures, and the effects of using them to develop games are also different.

It takes time to get familiar with and get used to, and Bai Chuanfeng can only wait patiently for good news from HAL.

In addition, Bai Chuanfeng also has great ambitions for the development of a new generation of handheld devices.

The current configuration of one machine and one software is a bit too shabby to be honest.

No game console like this can be found in the whole world, and it is only done in childhood.

The strange thing is that this kind of configuration is still very popular in Neon, and Bai Chuanfeng has once again seen the "delicacy" and "small family spirit" of Neon.

Although the current handheld Game Boy is selling well, the market has not declined significantly.

But disposable game consoles cannot represent the future after all. With the natural development of technology, it will also be eliminated by the market in a few years.

Now that there is a chip with better computing power, Bai Chuanfeng is also planning to develop the next generation of handhelds in advance.

Regarding the design goals of the next-generation handheld, other than that, at least it cannot be a one-off game console.

Bai Chuanfeng wanted to build the handheld into a platform, and then develop game cassettes based on this platform for sale.

This will not only attract a large number of game developers, but also make the word "Baichuan" more popular.

Cultivating the market and building a brand are the next steps for Baichuan Games.

However, although the chip is now in place, the LCD display screen, another core component of the handheld, has not yet been perfected.

If you want the handheld to truly become a game development platform, you must at least ensure that its hardware configuration will not fall behind within 1-3 years.

The current TN-LCD screen on the handheld obviously cannot meet this point, and has too many shortcomings, and even has signs of being eliminated.

The most obvious is that there is a delay in the picture. Many complex compositions need to be pre-drawn on the screen in advance, and will be displayed in black graphics after power-on.

This design is bound to leave enough feedback time for the circuit to respond, so high delay is a major feature of it.

If future handhelds want to be supported by hardware for two or three years, then the problem of the screen must be improved.

But now, not to mention the new screen technology, the TN-LCD that Shirakawa Electric has been stuck in has not yet been fully resolved.

Although we have reached an agreement with Stanley and Nitto Electric to build an LCD factory, let alone products, even the factory has not been built in such a short period of time.

However, in order to improve the LCD supply situation as soon as possible, we are temporarily planning to use the workshop originally reserved for handheld devices to temporarily build an LCD production line.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, take the first step first, solve the problem from scratch, and then slowly figure it out.

Besides, each LCD is two to three hundred yen more expensive than before the price increase, and a handheld machine earns so much less, and millions of units add up to a huge profit.

Although the reduction is the profit, but the less profit is the loss.

Bai Chuanfeng requested that in the first quarter of this year, its own LCD must be off the assembly line, and at least 30% of the production capacity of Bai Chuan Electric's handheld screens should be replaced.

He is not used to Suha Seiko and Sharp, if he doesn't sell me things, at worst I can play by myself.

You even played the game of fire and price increase, believe it or not, I made your factory really catch fire.

Of course, Bai Chuanfeng just said hello.

Now Baichuan Electric is also a well-known company, and he has begun to cherish his feathers.

If he wants to get back the scene, he prefers to be an upright soldier, to meet them head-on, to see who is the one who laughs last.

So how to get back the game, or how to solve the screen problem of the next generation of handhelds?

This is another purpose of Bai Chuanfeng's visit to SIC today.

SIC third floor.

"Professor Hosono and Professor Shirakawa, is it possible to further improve today's TN-LCD display? Or what is the next development trend of LCD?"

Bai Chuanfeng knows that the prospect of LCD screens is definitely more than that, but he is not very clear about how to develop it.

In order to improve the display effect of LCD and develop next-generation screen technology, he also invested heavily in research again.

The two people in front of us are experts in materials science that SIC spent a lot of money on, and they also have academic backgrounds from Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Among them, Hideo Hosono was originally hired by SIC to develop the extended format of CD technology, and he was mainly responsible for the research of coating materials on the surface of optical discs.

But because of the joining of two veterans of CD technology, Heitaro Nakajima and Hiroshi Ogawa, this part of the work was basically taken over by them.

Moreover, the development of the new CD format has come to an end, so Hideo Hosono was appointed to research and develop the LCD liquid crystal field.

Even strictly speaking, the field that Hideo Hosono is really good at is the development and application of new materials such as optoelectronic materials, photosensitive materials, and crystallized glass.

Asking him to be in charge of LCD research and development is considered a professional counterpart, and he himself is more than happy.

After all, Bai Chuanfeng promised that he would provide enough funds and purchase the most advanced analytical instruments.

He had never fought such a rich battle in school, so he got Bai Chuanfeng's promise and immediately transferred to the LCD R\u0026D department.

As for another professor, Shirakawa Hideki, well, he has the same surname as Bai Chuanfeng, but I don’t know if he has any connection with his ancestors.

This Professor Shirakawa, he graduated from the Department of Chemistry of Tokoku University, but is currently teaching at the University of Tsukuba.

Because he is good at the research of polymers, conductive plastics, and electroluminescent polymers, he was also introduced to SIC by Tokyo Institute of Technology.

The research directions these two professors are good at are basically concentrated in the field of materials science related to optics and electricity.

This is very closely related to the working principle and manufacturing of liquid crystals, and it is also a very suitable choice for them to develop next-generation LCD technology.

Facing Shirakawa Kaede's question, Shirakawa Hideki and Hosono Hideo had obviously studied it in depth long ago, and they answered it very professionally at this time.

"TN-LCD is the first-generation screen of liquid crystal display. There is no doubt that as a new material, its development is far from reaching a mature stage."

In order to make the explanation more intuitive, Hideki Shirakawa directly found a working principle diagram of the LCD.

"Shirakawa-san, please see that the biggest feature of TN-LCD is the "twisted nematic" characteristic, and the alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules from the uppermost layer to the lowermost layer is exactly a 90-degree 3D helical shape. "

In the chart, the two transparent glasses are basically in the middle, and the filled liquid crystal molecules can be clearly seen to be arranged in a rotating state.

"Through the polarization refraction of light, what is finally presented on the screen is what we see.

However, due to the limited angle, the screen can only display black and white. And as the screen size increases, the contrast will drop significantly. "

Bai Chuanfeng has a deep understanding of this point. Nowadays, LCDs are mostly used in electronic products with small screens such as watches and calculators.

The screen of Baichuan Electric's handheld is slightly larger, but the display effect begins to decline.

In good weather or under the scorching sun in summer, sometimes the patterns on the screen cannot be seen clearly.

This shortcoming has been criticized and complained by many consumers, but not only Shirakawa Electric, but also Nintendo's screens have the same problem.

After all, the craftsmanship is the same, and everyone uses the same thing, and there will be problems that should be there.

"So the development of the next-generation technology of LCD screens should solve this problem?"

Looking at the schematic diagram in front of him, Bai Chuanfeng asked subconsciously.

"Of course." Hideki Shirakawa nodded without hesitation, "Theoretically, the larger the twist angle of the liquid crystal molecules, the better the final display effect."

As he spoke, he found another conceptual drawing, which was the vision he and Hideo Hosono had made for the next-generation LCD screen technology.

"If the twist angle of the liquid crystal molecules reaches 180-270 degrees, the display effect of the screen will be greatly increased.

Angle of view, screen contrast, response speed, display quality, etc., will all surpass TN-LCD screens in an all-round way.

Even in terms of color, in addition to black and white, some other colors will be displayed.

This matrix-driven liquid crystal arrangement is called super-twisted nematic, or STN-LCD. "

Bai Chuanfeng's eyes lit up when he heard this, it sounds like a display screen of later generations.

"The improved STN-LCD screen can display color animation?"

"Uh..." Hideki Shirakawa and Hideo Hosono were taken aback for a moment, then quickly explained.

"It is difficult to display full color, and only partial colors can be displayed simultaneously.

In addition, the STN-LCD screen delay can be about 150ms, and fast switching can initially achieve animation effects.

But this cannot be compared with the TV screen, if you look closely, there will be a more obvious sense of blur. "

Seeing that Bai Chuanfeng had misunderstood what they meant, the two professors quickly explained the difference between the two.

If the boss's head is so hot that he wants a screen that is similar to the TV display effect, then the two of them will not be able to change it.

After listening to their explanation, Bai Chuanfeng was a little stunned. It turned out to be a second-class screen, but it seemed to have improved a lot compared to the current TN-LCD.

With a delay of 150ms, theoretically, 7 frames per second can be displayed.

It is incomparable with the 24 frames per second of a TV, but 7 frames per second already has the prototype of animation in the eyes of the human eye.

Moreover, such a delay is much better than the 1 second 1 cut of TN-LCD.

"However, if you want to achieve the animation effect you mentioned, Shirakawa-san, it is only possible to twist the liquid crystal molecules at least 360 degrees.

Of course, with the current technical conditions, it is still relatively difficult.

This may be a problem that needs to be considered when designing the next-generation LCD display screen. "

Seeing Shirakawa's eyes showing his thoughts, Hideki Shirakawa thought he was dissatisfied, and went on to explain.

Technological breakthroughs must be made step by step, and it is impossible to become fat in one bite.

Bai Chuanfeng understands this truth, so he is more concerned about the development progress of STN-LCD screen technology that is easier to realize.

"So the two professors, with the current situation, can we develop the technology smoothly?"