Hello, Mark Cerny
When Lin Lixin returned to his office, Mark Cerny was already waiting there anxiously.
In fact, Cerny sensed Gerald's impending departure even earlier than anyone else.
When he first joined the company, he thought Gerald was that kind of person, always wanting to explain things to him in great detail before proceeding, to make sure he understood.
But as time went on, Cerny began to feel more and more that something seemed amiss.
Gerald went a little too far in his explanation, even cramming in things that weren't even his responsibility to consider.
This doesn't look like an experienced worker mentoring a new employee at all.
If I had to find a precise description...
This is more like entrusting an orphan to someone.
Aside from the internal resources that only key employees could access, Gerald truly taught him everything in great detail.
Sure enough, just yesterday, during his usual lecture, Gerald casually remarked:
I might have to leave.
Then came this whole ordeal that happened today. He hadn't seen Gerald all morning, until Sam approached him with a serious expression, and at that moment, Mark Cerny had already pieced everything together in his mind.
"Sit down, why are you so tense?"
Lin Lixin pressed him down into the chair opposite the desk before sitting down himself and looking at the young man who was about the same age as him.
Since this guy joined Gamenova, Lin Lixin hadn't had the chance to get this close to him because he was tied up with a bunch of things.
"Well... now, the situation is like this: Gerald has run away to make games and realize his life's ambitions."
Lin Lixin began to speak.
Upon hearing this, Cerny's heart skipped a beat.
It's hard to say whether this has anything to do with me!
Judging from this, it's possible he was squeezed out by himself. Isn't that a bad thing?
"And then... before Gerald left, he specifically requested that I choose you as his successor. What are your thoughts?"
"Well..."
Mark Cerny swallowed hard. Any thoughts?
What kind of ideas could there be?
From Cerny's own perspective, this was a completely undeserved disaster.
He thought he had been appreciated and introduced by Gerald, and had successfully entered Gamenova.
But looking at it more closely now, it seems the situation is far more complex than that.
Good news, it seems like I have room for advancement.
Bad news, it seems they've been squeezed out by the elders.
No matter how much Gerald likes him, the company ultimately belongs to Lin Lixin. If Gerald gets upset because of this, then he'll be really in deep trouble.
But on the bright side, if I can weather this storm, what awaits me is...
"Gulp"
Thinking of this, Cerny swallowed hard before continuing:
"To be honest, I didn't know much about hardware before Mr. Gerald brought me into the industry." "But he kept you in the hardware department instead of sending you to our development department."
"Yes... to be honest, I didn't understand why Mr. Gerald did this at first either."
Cerny nodded; he had thought about this matter for a long time himself.
But now he already has an answer.
"Mr. Gerald is an excellent hardware engineer."
"But... Mr. Gerald does lack experience in developing video games, which could easily create a problem."
Cerny pursed his lips, trying to put together a less aggressive statement.
"Game consoles are not supercomputers; they don't need to be all about piling up numbers, but rather about finding a perfect balance across many areas."
"Software, hardware, developers, players, businesses... only by fully connecting them can we truly design excellent hardware based on user needs."
"For example, the NovaXeno, while powerful and with many AAA titles, presents a very high level of difficulty for game development due to its extremely complex architecture."
"I believe this is one of the reasons why people would rather develop games on the previous generation NB than use the more advanced NX."
Consumers need mature and stable technology, while developers need a low-barrier-to-entry architecture. "If innovation is the only path to success, innovation in user experience far outweighs simply iterating over specifications."
After he finished explaining his point of view, he sat there quietly, like a student waiting for the teacher to grade his paper.
Lin Lixin nodded.
He himself actually agrees with this point.
There are good and bad hardware products. Gamenova has been able to keep going all the way without crashing, not only because of the boss Lin Lixin Micron is well-versed in the collection of wrong questions, but also because of the ultimate blood transfusion from Micron.
In this era of rapid hardware development, any other manufacturer would be doomed if it made a single misstep.
The difference between the PS3 and PS4 lies precisely here.
The emergence of Cerny ended Sony's frenzied competition in the hardware market, and also swept the Cell architecture and IBM's gaming dreams into the dustbin of history.
This is also one of the reasons why Lin Lixin has been reluctant to officially start the development of 32-bit machines.
Athena really lacks experience. If it rashly enters this new field, it might end up making a machine like the PS3 that received critical acclaim but failed to sell well.
Let Sega Namco test the waters for them first.
"So you mean because you're a game producer, you're more suitable than Gerald for the architecture design role?" "No, no, no."
Cerny quickly waved his hand, suppressing the compliment.
"Mr. Gerald is an excellent hardware engineer; his assembly skills and ingenious problem-solving abilities are something I could never achieve."
A game console with interchangeable cartridges, an 8-way digital joystick, a pause button...
Gerald's numerous inventions, any one of which could be considered foundational to the modern gaming industry, are all examples of his groundbreaking work.
Cerny himself was just a self-taught game developer, not someone from the field at all.
You're right.
Lin Lixin nodded.
"You really can't replace Gerald, and frankly, I doubt anyone else can."
"Yes..."
Although this is what Cerny wanted to express, it's still a little uncomfortable to have Lin Lixin so affirming it.
"But then," Lin Lixin suddenly changed the subject.
"Your ability to consider the architecture from different perspectives, using a viewpoint more aligned with game developers, is indeed a unique advantage."
"Of course, most importantly, Gerald believes in you, and I believe in Gerald, do you understand?"
Before Cerny could say anything more, Lin Lixin stood up again.
"Like I said, you can't replace Gerald, so as the new architect, your first job is to build a strong team capable of filling this void."
Upon hearing this, Cerny was stunned for a moment, then his confused expression was replaced by ecstatic joy.
It's done! It's a success!
Even a rocket jump isn't this powerful!
How long has it been? I've already been promoted from Sega's business headquarters to Gamenova's headquarters and become the new chief architect.
Yes! I'll do it right now!
"Hey, hey, hey, don't rush. Have you finished talking before you leave."
Lin Lixin called out to Cerny, who was already bursting with enthusiasm, "The second task is to go to the arcade and find Gary. Get the Ace Combat board from there and see if we can standardize it. I'm planning to use it to make an interesting little gadget that needs some 3D performance."
"Is it a new game?"
Cerny's eyes lit up; it seemed he was about to witness firsthand the birth of a world-changing masterpiece.
"Hmm... sort of, but actually, the inspiration came from your game, ' Marble Madness '."
Lin Lixin recalled the somewhat hazy image of the work in his mind.
In fact, although Cerny's "Marble Madness" is practically forgotten now, it actually pioneered an entire game genre.
This type of game is called marblemadness-like, just like roguelike is to rogue and soullike is to Dark Souls. Marble Madness gave rise to an entire genre of pinball games.
For example, Sega has many games of this type, with Rock of Ages and Super Monkey Ball being among the best.
Atari also produced influential works like "The Ballance".