E3, Day One (4)

Namco's press conference ended there.

Kanno Hideki gave a slight bow, turned, and left the stage.

Thunderous applause filled the hall.

"Now that's a lineup. They really spent big." The editor from GamePro closed his notebook. "Sony's made a killing this time."

In Namco's lineup, the heaviest hitters had all gone to the PS, with only one RPG placed on the 16-bit Super Famicom and Mega Drive.

Nakamura Masaya had never hesitated when making choices—he had put his money on Sony.

But Nakayama Takuya noticed one detail.

Kanno Hideki had not once mentioned the word "exclusive" onstage.

He had only stated the release platforms for each game, while deliberately avoiding any exclusionary wording.

It was a way of leaving himself an escape route.

Namco was close to Sony now, but it had not spoken in absolutes.

Nakamura Masaya would not put all his eggs in one basket; on that point, his logic matched Kozuki Kagemasa's.

Only, Konami was openly spreading its bets, while Namco was first loading heavily onto one side and secretly leaving room to maneuver.

During the few minutes of transition, the density of discussion below the stage was noticeably higher than before.

The visual impact of Namco's three PS titles was too strong, yanking the focus of conversation straight onto "comparisons of next-generation consoles' 3D performance."

"What exactly did Sony offer Namco?" the journalist in his forties from the Los Angeles Times asked the young man from Wired beside him in a lowered voice.

"I heard it was a full set of development kits provided for free, plus a joint development agreement for the System 11 arcade board.

"For that board, Sony supplies the chips, Namco provides the software solution. The profit-split ratio hasn't been made public, but it definitely isn't a small number."

"What about Sega,