The First 16-Bit Home Console
"Suzuki-san, I have received some unconfirmed news recently."
"What's the news?" Masao Suzuki subconsciously sat up straight.
Takuya said slowly, "Hudson and NEC seem to have extremely close contacts recently. There is intelligence that they may be secretly cooperating to develop a brand new game console."
As soon as these words came out, it was like dropping a huge boulder on the calm lake. Masao Suzuki's heart suddenly froze, and his breathing stopped. Hudson? NEC? New console?! The combination of these words made him feel an inexplicable pressure instantly. These two companies are quite powerful in the industry. If they really join forces...
Takuya's eyes were as calm as water, and he continued, "Send someone to pay attention to this matter secretly and collect relevant information. There is no need to rush to verify the authenticity, let alone alert the snake."
He paused for a moment, and the curve at the corner of his mouth quietly appeared again, with a hint of playfulness. "At the appropriate time, I will consider leaking this news to some "enthusiastic" media inadvertently."
Masao Suzuki took another breath. He was not a fool, and he understood the meaning of Takuya almost immediately. "What the Special Agent means is... to divert trouble to the east and attract Nintendo's firepower?"
Takuya nodded slightly, with a flash of approval in his eyes. "That's right. Giving them something to do will also buy us more valuable research and development time for our new console, as well as a relatively more relaxed market warm-up environment." He knocked on the car window lightly, as if tapping the chessboard, "On the chessboard, sometimes you need some smoke bombs to disrupt your opponent's vision and judgment."
Masao Suzuki felt a chill quietly rising from his back, but it soon turned into endless admiration for Takuya's foresight. This young executive's thoughtfulness and far-reaching layout are far beyond ordinary people's imagination. Working with such a person makes people feel both stressed and full of expectations.
"Understood, Special Agent. I will arrange reliable manpower to handle it immediately." Masao Suzuki responded respectfully, already thinking about how to quietly collect information.
Takuya hummed, said no more, and closed his eyes.
In the following days, Takuya began to travel frequently between Sega Headquarters and Sony Headquarters.
The cooperation project of LD Player Games was officially launched, and all work is progressing in an orderly manner.
To Takuya's surprise, the core person in charge of the project on Sony turned out to be Ken Kutaragi.
Although this technical master, known as the "Father of PS" in later generations, has not fully revealed his talents at this moment, his persistence and obsession with technology are already clearly visible.
However, at this stage, Ken Kutaragi should be the technical person in charge of the cooperation between Sony and Nintendo.
Takuya is keenly aware that the senior management of Sony seems to be consciously accumulating Ken Kutaragi in various aspects of the game industry and guiding and training him in the direction of the game business.
In project meetings one after another, Takuya and Ken Kutaragi conducted several in-depth discussions and collisions around the characteristics, technical implementation details, and user experience of LD games.
Ken Kutaragi initially relied on Sony's many technical patents to play a central role in the project. There may still be some inherent scrutiny of the young commissioner Takuya as a technician.
But as the communication deepened, he discovered that Takuya's understanding of game concepts, grasp of product direction, and endless creativity were far beyond his imagination.
When Ken Kutaragi looked at Takuya, the sense of recognition unique to technical people and for excellent product managers became stronger and stronger.
At the same time, the third-party liaison work regarding Sega's new host was also carried out secretly under the leadership of Takuya.
Marketing Department also, with the help of Bandai, obtained the game license for robot animation owned by Toei.
He briefly reported the preliminary progress to the Sega board of directors.
"As for Konami, in view of the consistent behavior style of its president, Mr. Kozuki Kagemasa, and some of the past connections between Konami and our Sega, it is more likely to win their support."
"Nintendo's contract may have limited binding force."
"Square, Koei and other companies that are closely related to us may have equity ties or indirect control, so the basic problem is not big."
"As for Capcom, Taito, and Enix, they can be said to be the die-hard allies of Nintendo. It will be extremely difficult to shake their position in the short term."
"Namco, according to the intelligence we have, they are likely to have fallen into the new console camp that Hudson and NEC are secretly developing, becoming its first third party, and there is little hope of winning over them."
"Most of the other small and medium-sized developers are just outsiders. They need to wait for the right time and see which way the wind blows."
The members of the board of directors listened quietly to Takuya's analysis and nodded in approval from time to time.
They have already established a considerable degree of trust in Takuya's judgment and layout.
Time passes quietly, the weather in Tokyo is gradually getting hotter, and early summer is approaching.
During this period, Takuya did not forget another important thing.
He officially delivered the complete script of the first theatrical version of <Pokémon> - <Mewtwo Strikes Back>, which he had carefully prepared, to the animation production company GALLOP.
"The production of the theatrical version must be of the highest quality."
Takuya told the person in charge of GALLOP in a solemn tone.
"Don't worry about funds, Sega will fully support you."
"I hope this work can become a new milestone in the <Pokémon> series. After the film is completed, Sega will spend a lot of money and hand over the film to Toho for promotion."
The person in charge of GALLOP naturally agreed repeatedly, his eyes full of expectations and excitement for the further expansion of this super IP.
Just when everything seemed to be progressing smoothly, one hot afternoon, the quiet industry was suddenly shaken by a thunder.
Without warning, Japan published a detailed report on a new game console called PC Engine on the pages of major mainstream game media and computer magazines.
The report not only lists the various hardware parameters of PC Engine in detail, but also emphasizes the combination of its 8-bit CPU (HuC6280, core based on 6502) and a powerful 16-bit graphics processing chip (PPU HuC6270).
The media used extremely inflammatory words to claim that PC Engine has "quasi-16-bit" powerful functions.
Its picture performance capabilities far exceed the mainstream FC consoles currently on the market.
The report also included several game concept pictures with stunning effects and brilliant colors, as well as small and exquisite appearance design drawings of the console.
These images undoubtedly have a strong visual impact on players and practitioners who are used to FC's somewhat crude graphics.
As soon as this news came out, the entire Japan game industry, and even some of the public who pay attention to cutting-edge technology, were shocked.
The emergence of PC Engine was like a dark horse, instantly attracting everyone's attention.
For Sega, who is secretly developing a true 16-bit console Mega Drive, the emergence of PC Engine undoubtedly means that a new and powerful competitor has already shown its sword in advance.
Although this sudden change was not completely beyond Takuya's expectations, it could even be said that he had been waiting for this moment to arrive.