"No need to buy cables, no need to look for ports, you don't even need to know each other." Nakayama Takuya continued to raise the stakes, laying bare the commercial essence in a single sentence. "As long as you have the machines and people are together, you can start a battle anytime, anywhere. This kind of social interactivity that can be carried out wherever you go is something home consoles can never hope to match. It is the handheld's natural advantage."
"Once they get used to the fun of four-player multiplayer, in order to gather enough gaming partners, they'll voluntarily persuade friends around them who don't own handhelds to buy one." Nakayama Takuya tapped the table with his slender fingers, hitting the nail on the head. "This is the cheapest and most effective form of viral Game Gear. We will use infrared communication to make players willingly help us promote the new handheld through their own social circles!"
"Tetris is only the hook, meant to cultivate player habits." Hisao Oguchi brought the topic back. "This is one of the core tones I've set for the new handheld: social features. If the single-player content in the proposals you're holding isn't dazzling enough, then the social features must have an absolutely standout highlight!"
As Hisao Oguchi's voice fell, no sound remained in Conference Room Six apart from the whooshing air from the AC vent.
The several team leaders who had been eager to try just moments ago were now all sweating profusely as they lowered their heads to flip through the materials in their hands. Their minds raced as they desperately calculated how to blend the four words "social features" into their originally single-player-focused proposals without any sense of incongruity.
Takata, leader of Team Eight, was the first to break the silence.