Learning Machine (4000 words)

Back in Redwood City, Sega of America Headquarters

The aroma of coffee filled Tom Kalinske's office. The decisive CEO had just hung up the phone, a satisfied look on his face.

"It's all settled, Takuya. The negotiation team has already flown to Maryland with the contract."

"Now, tell me about your trip to Chicago. Did you discover any weaknesses in Nintendo? Where should we strike them again?"

Takuya poured himself a glass of water, but instead of answering directly, he asked an unrelated question.

Tom, who do you think is buying game consoles for those kids?

Kalinske paused for a moment, then answered matter-of-factly, "Their parents, of course."

"That's right." Takuya and slowly recounted what he had seen in the Walmart electronics and entertainment section. From the happy families in front of the Nintendo counter to the lone teenager drooling over the intense game screens at the Sega.

He made no comment, he simply stated the facts.

But the facts themselves are enough to explain the problem.

Kalinske's smile slowly faded.

So, the "cool" market we painstakingly built was just an illusion? The kids liked us, but the parents who ultimately paid for our services turned around and went to that Italy plumber?

There was a hint of annoyance in his tone; it felt like punching cotton.

"No, the market is real, and the children's desires are real," Takuya reassured. "We won the war, but we lost some crucial battles. We won the children's hearts, but we haven't completely pried open their parents' wallets yet."

He paused, looked at the thoughtful Kalinske, and continued, "A child is crying and begging for Sega in a store, but his mother glances at the cover of Fatal Fury and might think it will corrupt the child. Then, she sees the friendly Mario next door. Guess what she'll choose?"

This question left Kalinske speechless.

The office atmosphere became somewhat subdued for a moment.

"So what should we do? Follow Nintendo's example and start making things family-friendly and childlike? What's the difference between us then!" Kalinske paced back and forth in his office, somewhat agitated.

"No, we can't be like them, but we can 'solve' them." Takuya's lips curled into a meaningful smile. "When we get back to Japan, I'll prepare some new things, some gadgets that will catch the parents' eye and make them willingly spend money."

"They satisfy children's desire for 'coolness' and also make parents feel that buying a Sega game console is a 'beneficial investment' in their children."

"A beneficial investment?" Kalinske stopped in his tracks; the word gave him a sense of something unusual.

"That's right." Takuya's eyes gleamed. "As for the specifics, I'll keep you in suspense for now. In short, we want to make sure that parents who are dragged into toy stores by their children no longer hesitate when they see our products."

Seeing Takuya's confident demeanor, Kalinske's doubts largely dissipated, replaced by intense interest and anticipation.

"Good! I'll wait for your good news!" He sat back down in his chair, his imposing manner returning. "As for Tom Clancy's game, what are you planning to do?"

"Once the contract is finalized, I'll come to the United States again." Takuya finished his water, his tone calm yet firm. "I'll personally assemble the team for this project, and while I'm at it, cultivate a game development team that suits the style of United States players."

After concluding his trip to Los Angeles, Nakayama Takuya casually bought a lot of local souvenirs before boarding his flight back to Tokyo, completely satisfied.

The plane landed, which meant the end of the short vacation.

After a good weekend of rest at home, and distributing the gifts he brought back from the United States to his family, Takuya appeared at the Sega Headquarters management meeting early Monday morning, looking refreshed and energetic.

In the conference room, Nakayama Hayao sat in the main seat, and all the senior executives were also present.

"So, Takuya, tell me about the results of your trip to the United States." Nakayama Hayao got straight to the point.

Takuya stood up and briefly reported on the several collaborations that had been finalized in Hollywood.

"We've finalized a product placement deal with John Hughes's ' Home Alone ' movie. North America headquarters will follow up on the specific contract details."

"The North America headquarters will also be responsible for the product placement of background props in other movies and TV series."

"In addition, I met Mr. Steven Spielberg."

This statement piqued the interest of many people present.

"We've secured the video game adaptation rights to his new film, * Hook *, which I've suggested be given to the team within our company that specializes in action-platform games. We've also reserved the video game adaptation rights to one of Michael Crichton's unpublished novels; this work has enormous potential, and I will personally oversee the adaptation once it's released."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, before dropping another bombshell.

"A preliminary cooperation agreement has also been reached for Mr. Tom Clancy's novel, ' The Clear and Present Danger,' and our company needs to send someone to follow up on the contract matters as well."

Finally, his gaze fell on Yu Suzuki.

"Suzuki. Suzuki, I met with director James Cameron and visited Industrial Light & Magic's motion capture technology. I believe this technology is crucial for our upcoming Virtua Fighter. After the meeting, please immediately organize the core team of Virtua Fighter and prepare to travel to the United States for technology transfer and training."

"Yes!" Yu Suzuki suddenly raised his head, his eyes blazing with fervor.

After delivering these encouraging pieces of good news, the atmosphere in the meeting room relaxed considerably, but Takuya suddenly changed the subject. "However, everyone, our victory in the United States market may not be as secure as the reports suggest."

He described exactly what he had seen at Walmart.

From the teenagers who could only drool with longing at the Sega counter, to the children who were led by their parents to the Nintendo counter and ultimately carried away with their NES consoles.

"We won over the kids with 'cool' and 'speed,' but in the end, it was their parents who paid for it."

These parents have a deeply ingrained brand belief in Nintendo; they feel that Mario is the only harmless character for children.

"Then what should we do? Are we going to abandon our own style and follow Nintendo's Nintendo and make things for younger children?" a senior executive in the Marketing Department couldn't help but ask.

"Of course not." Takuya shook his head, a slight smile appearing on his lips. "While we do have cute and low-intensity games, that's to broaden our audience, not to copy them completely. We just need to give hesitant parents an irresistible reason to choose."

"I will personally lead the team to develop several brand-new, specialized software programs. They will make parents willingly believe..."

Buying a DVD player for your child is a "wise investment."

"A beneficial investment?" Nakayama Hayao repeated the word, a hint of inquiry in his eyes.

"That's right." Takuya nodded confidently. "As for arcade games, my observations this time have confirmed our previous judgment. Differentiation and providing 'experiences you can't play at home' are absolutely the right path. Just maintain the established direction."

The meeting ended, and everyone left one after another, filled with thoughts and expectations.

Yu Suzuki quickly caught up with Takuya, grabbed him, and excitedly asked, "Takuya, tell me more about the motion capture details! What level of accuracy are they capable of?"

Seeing the tech enthusiast's eagerness, Takuya smiled and described the details he had seen again. Yu Suzuki's eyes lit up, wishing he could sprout wings and fly to Hollywood immediately.

After seeing off the highly motivated Yu Suzuki, it's time to present those stubborn United States parents with a gift they can't refuse.

Nakayama Takuya returned to his office, and without even taking off his coat, he immediately called his assistant, who was outside the office, in.

"Notify Nakamura, the head of the Hardware Development Department, and Nohara leader of the Computer Software Development Team, that they will have a short meeting in the Hardware Department's conference room in half an hour."

His tone left no room for argument. Only after his assistant went out to inform him did he loosen his tie and toss it onto the sofa.

Half an hour later, in the small conference room of the Hardware Development Department.

Nakamura and Team Leader Nohara were already waiting, both looking somewhat curious.

It's quite unusual for a special meeting convened by Executive Director Nakayama -sen himself, with both hardware and software managers specifically requested to be present.

Takuya appeared at the door right on time. He didn't bring any documents; he simply pulled out a chair and sat down.

He sat down in the head seat, but instead of getting straight to the point as usual, he asked in a casual, conversational tone, "Minister Nakamura, can we make a regular computer keyboard work on an MD?"

Minister Nakamura paused for a moment, clearly not following this leap in thought.

He pondered for a moment, then replied meticulously, "Theoretically, it's feasible. Modifying the adapter and optimizing the keyboard firmware to resolve potential key latency issues are technically feasible; there are no insurmountable obstacles. However, Mr. Nakayama, why should we do this? Pair a keyboard with an MD game controller that's already excellent enough?"

His subtext was clear: this is redundant, has no practical function, and will only increase costs.

Takuya smiled but didn't answer directly. Instead, he turned his gaze to Nohara, the group leader, on the other side.

"Nohara- san, have you ever used any computer learning software on the market? Like, the kind that teaches people how to type?"

"Hi! I've used some, like training software such as 'Typing Tutor'." Team Leader Nohara was also a bit confused; the topic had jumped too quickly. "Their functions are quite simple; they're mainly for practicing finger placement and typing speed."

"Very good."

Takuya's knuckles tapped lightly on the table, the soft tapping sound like a prelude.

Both Nakamura and Nohara sensed that Executive Director Nakayama seemed to be brewing something unusual today.

"I need your cooperation to develop a brand new, unique MD cartridge."

"First, it needs to have a built-in, fully functional typing practice software, which can be in English or Japanese."

"Let children practice typing on TV, just like playing a game."

Nakamura and Nohara exchanged a glance, both somewhat puzzled. What's the point of going to such lengths to practice typing on a game console?

Takuya noticed their confusion, but instead of stopping, he dropped an even bigger bombshell.

"Secondly, it should also integrate a basic document editor. This allows users to write, modify, and save documents, much like a simple word processing software."

"The most crucial point," Takuya's eyes sharpened, "Is that this cartridge must integrate the floppy disk drive and printer drivers, and a 25-pin parallel interface must be created on the cartridge itself!"

"We not only want users to practice typing and writing on the MD, but also to be able to save their completed documents to floppy disks, and even—directly connect to a printer to print assignments, reports, and letters on standard A4 paper!"

Takuya's words made the two of them widen their eyes and look at Takuya as if he were a monster, almost thinking they had misheard.

A game console—with a keyboard? A floppy disk drive? And a printer?!

Is this a game console? It's just a cheap personal computer!

Nakamura blurted out, standing up excitedly, "We're a game company! How will we cover the development costs of something like this? Will the market accept it? Who would use a game console to type and print?!"

Nohara Leader Nohara added gravely, "Furthermore, Executive Director, to cram so many drivers and software functions into such a small cartridge, and to integrate a Japanese version of the kanji ROM chip... such a solution wouldn't be cheap in terms of both capacity and cost! This has completely deviated from the scope of a game!"

Their reaction was exactly what Takuya had expected.

He didn't refute them, but just listened quietly until they had vented all their shock and doubts.

He then recounted to the two what he had witnessed at Walmart during his tour of the United States.

After listening, Nakamura tentatively asked, "Is it about turning it into a 'learning machine' that United States parents would willingly pay for? A machine that can play games and also teach typing?"

Team Leader Nohara also realized what was happening, and her thinking immediately became clear, "And it can also provide a basic emergency save and print function for the family."

Seeing that the two were following along, Takuya continued, "That's right. Buying an MD isn't just about getting a game console for the family; it also allows the kids to get a head start on learning about high-tech tools like computers. It's an 'investment' in their future."

"If my father needs it temporarily, he can write some documents, save them to a floppy disk, or print them out directly. This also makes the MD player a useful office tool for him. And such a system is definitely much cheaper than a real computer, but it's enough for our family."

Team Leader Nohara raised the first challenge from a software perspective. "Executive Director, if we do it this way, in order to save cartridge storage space, the document and typing software itself must be extremely streamlined, and it can't even have a fancy interface."

"That's exactly what I want!" Takuya affirmed his idea. "We don't need it to be pretty, we just need it to be 'useful'!"

Team leader Nohara added his thoughts, "Power supply: external floppy disk drives require independent power supplies. Ideally, we should provide users with a complete solution, including data cables and power adapters!"

Seeing the two of them deep in thought, Takuya smiled with satisfaction.

This is exactly the effect he wanted.

"Very good." He stood up and made the final arrangements.

"Minister Nakamura, the Hardware Department will immediately conduct interface testing and begin preliminary design work on the structure of this dedicated cartridge."

"Team Leader Nohara, the software development team should get to work immediately and start by developing the software framework and core functionalities."

"As for compatible floppy disk drives and printer brands and models, I will have the Marketing Department conduct research on the brands and models with the best sales and compatibility, and I will personally negotiate cooperation."