Nakayama Takuya flipped through the report, then set it back on the desk with satisfaction.
"When will the standard development units be ready?" Hisao Oguchi pressed from the side.
"The day after tomorrow." Sato Hideki gave a precise timeline. "The materials are all ready. Over the next two days, we can hand-assemble ten advance development units for use by the internal core teams."
"Ten isn't enough." Hisao Oguchi immediately cut in without ceremony, tapping his pen against his notebook. "Sega has so many development teams. Split ten machines among them, and it won't even be enough to fill the gaps between their teeth. Every core development team needs at least two units, or there's no way to keep progress even."
"Oguchi-san, at this stage they can only be assembled by hand. We really can't improve the yield rate or production speed." Sato Hideki explained with a wry smile. "Once these ten have been tested internally and we confirm there aren't any hidden hardware bugs, we'll send the blueprints to the contract manufacturer for mold-making and small-batch trial production. Besides, Sharp's supply of screen samples is fairly limited. Development units aren't cabbages you can get by the truckload."
After hearing that, Hisao Oguchi's brow remained furrowed, but he understood the objective realities of hardware production. He could only nod and make a heavy note in his notebook.
Just then, the laboratory's heavy door was pushed open again.
Yuji Naka staggered in with a mug printed with Sonic's oversized head in one hand and several black floppy disks tucked beneath the other arm.
Seeing Nakayama Takuya and Hisao Oguchi both present, Yuji Naka froze for a moment. Then he tipped back his head and gulped down the remaining bitter black coffee in the mug.
"Director Nakayama, you came at just the right