How well did " Tokimeki Memorial " perform commercially?
To be honest, it's not actually that good.
Compared to Gamenova's previous games with their astonishingly high sales, it's definitely not that impressive.
But sales figures don't always tell the whole story.
Because this work was not originally a project that made money by selling copies.
What's truly valuable is its influence.
The overwhelmingly positive reviews ignited the entire player community.
Can you succeed without creating restricted content?
Gamenova has proven this to be true.
They created a virtual character living in another dimension using a completely virtual video game composed of countless 1s and 0s.
A real, yet unattainable ideal.
Shiori Fujisaki. An ideal type in every sense of the word!
Recently, there have even been rumors circulating that "I just like Fujisaki -type girls."
It is specifically used to describe those perfect, unattainable, and ideal types, the "white moonlight" (ideal figures in Chinese mythology).
And this feeling...
It was projected, even more intensely, onto Yui Asaka, the person behind Shiori Fujisaki.
Even though the real Yui Asaka and Shiori Fujisaki are completely different people, with different personalities and appearances.
Even he himself has always adhered to the strategy of separation.
But the more this is the case, the more irresistibly people fall in love with her both inside and out.
To be honest, Shiori Fujisaki's popularity may not be as high as Shizuka Kudo's, who is now fully powered up and in a completely frenzied state.
But the two are not even on the same track.
In the eyes of countless otaku, even if Shizuka Kudo were enhanced a hundred times, she still couldn't compare to Shiori Fujisaki.
Because Shizuka Kudo is a three-dimensional idol. As long as someone is a real person, they are destined to have their own flaws and imperfections.
But Shiori Fujisaki.
She lives on in everyone's memories, and in everyone's imagination.
She is absolutely perfect.
Gamenova didn't miss this opportunity and launched several events in quick succession.
The characters' record releases, group songs, tours, OVA animations... as well as telephone and email services.
Bro, you can subscribe to the service simply by registering a free nmail email address and sending your game's unique serial number.
Anyone who subscribes to the " Tokimeki Memorial " email service will receive greetings from random characters during holidays.
If you're willing to pay extra to subscribe to a premium phone service, you can also receive greeting calls from the various heroines from " Tokimeki Memorial ".
Shiori Fujisaki is virtual or fake is no longer important.
The important thing is that in everyone's hearts, she is real, and she truly lives.
It's a pity that the processor performance is still insufficient for real-time camera processing; otherwise, Lin Lixin would have even considered having them debut using fake skins.
Unlike everyone's love for Shiori Fujisaki, Sony's mood is not so pleasant.
I put in all my effort, gathered all my strength, took the medicine, unleashed my inner energy, and maxed out my buffs.
We're just waiting to deliver a full-force, fully-equipped blow to Gamenova.
But he punched cotton.
This is even more frustrating than being blocked by the other party.
If Gamenova had won by directly confronting them in an idol-centric battle, perhaps Norio Ohga would have been more accepting of the outcome.
After all, losing to Gamenova isn't shameful.
But given the current situation...
It's infuriating.
I can't catch my breath, it's incredibly uncomfortable.
Aurora Project has been a massive undertaking, performing in almost every venue in Japan during this period. From the Tokyo Dome to the Nippon Budokan, and various stadiums, they haven't missed a single place to perform.
The singles for each team have all been scheduled.
But Gamenova completely ignored them.
There weren't even many performances scheduled to compete against each other.
The marketing campaign revolves entirely around a few game characters such as " Shiori Fujisaki ", " Saki Nijino", and " Ayako Katagiri ".
Completely catching Sony off guard, they easily captured the newly emerging "virtual idol market".
Instead of fighting for the cake, they opened up a second battlefield on their own.
What the hell am I going to do?
What's even stranger is that Gamenova seems to have planted spies all over their own side; every move they make is so insidious, yet so deadly.
Sony's labs have been working on lithium-ion battery projects for quite some time now.
How come Gamenova has already been commercialized while things are just starting to look promising here?
Both fronts were lost. And it wasn't due to a lack of capability, but rather a complete lack of defense.
"As expected of Gamenova..."
Looking at the reports in his hands, Norio Ohga sighed.
Now that Gamenova has established a strong presence, there's absolutely no possibility of it being squeezed out of existence.
There's no point in trying to use underhanded tactics anymore.
What can they do now?
"Contact Toei Animation and Studio Ghibli... as well as Kyoto Animation and Sunrise..."
There's no way to stop it now. All we can do is get in as quickly as possible and grab a bite before Gamenova completely dominates the market.
This is the way capital operates.
Only self-interest is the true driving force.
Gamenova may indeed be technically powerful.
But when it comes to industrial design and consumer electronics technology, is Sony really that bad? With the unparalleled influence of the Walkman, Sony still has a chance.
Regardless of Sony's next move.
The matter concerning Lin Lixin has come to a temporary close.
The rest can be handled by the Roppongi Agency.
This new technology has also been sent to Sega and Gainax... and of course, to Toru Muranishi.
Theoretically speaking, they possess such a gold mine, and they also possess the new concept of idol economy.
As long as Roppongi manages things properly, there's no need to worry about popularity for at least a long time.
The technology for the vibration pack and lithium battery is being tested slowly over there.
Once the technology matures, the next generation of handheld consoles can finally be officially launched.
Without solving the battery problem, the next generation of handheld consoles has been unable to start up.
After all, the 16-bit handheld console, the Nintendo Switch, already uses up almost the entire back of its battery compartment. If the battery life issue can't be resolved, handheld consoles will always be an awkwardly positioned product.
"Hmm... so we need to speed up the progress on the blue LED side as well."
Shaking his head, Lin Lixin put all these things out of his mind for the time being and focused his gaze on a stack of floppy disks in front of him.
Sam brought this on his way this morning.
It's not a game, nor software or anything like that, but... an operating system.
Ten floppy disks were packed in a single retail box.
The title on the cover is in extra-large capital serif font.
[windows]
Below that is a large "3".
This is the Windows 3.0 operating system, which was just released a few days ago.
This was also the key to the Wintel Alliance's success in becoming the undisputed leader in the PC market.
It was from this generation that PCs began to gradually transform from professional productivity tools to consumer products. If there are any significant milestones in the history of home computers, these two months are definitely among them.
Just then, the door to the room was pushed open.
"Is it installed?"
Seeing Sam wipe his sweat as he walked into the house, Lin Lixin asked a question.
"Yes, I must say it's quite user-friendly; it runs directly on MS-DOS."
"That kind of software-like approach? That's definitely Microsoft's style."
Lin Lixin nodded and followed him to his workstation, looking at the PC that had already loaded the system.
This is a new machine that was custom-made by Dell; it's not considered a very high-end workstation.
However, it uses the Intel 80486 processor, which was also recently released at the end of last month.
Its clock speed is... a full 33MHz.
Terrifying!
This was Intel before it started releasing incremental upgrades; it was completely different from the toothpaste company that would follow. 33MHz—even Lin Lixin would have to sit up and open one eye to take it seriously.
Don't be fooled by the fact that this i486's frequency is nowhere near that of Gamenova's own Athena processor.
But this thing is an x86 processor with a CISC complex instruction set architecture.
The instruction set is complete.
This means that it can solve a problem that would require Athena to run several times with the time it takes to execute a single instruction.
What's even more terrifying is that this thing is completely backward compatible.
It is perfectly compatible with all software in the Wintel camp, even those that ran on DOS a few years ago.
This is Intel's core competency.
Always backward compatible.
Although it did turn Intel's products into a mountain of shit.
But this also gives them unparalleled compatibility, a feature unique in the world.
This is quite unusual in an era where people still use PCs primarily for office work. It means that users don't need to make any changes to the software ecosystem after upgrading their PCs.
You can even upgrade and continue using it without noticing anything.
No need to buy new office software, no need to try to adapt to completely different operating systems...
Simply replace your CPU with a new one to enjoy a revolutionary new level of smoothness!
With its 33MHz complex instruction set, it's actually not necessarily worse than Athena in a PC-like environment.
However, this is still far from the limit of 80486.
According to the data Lin Lixin recalled.
If it's a specially tuned version, this thing can even reach a terrifying 100MHz.
"Damn, this time i486 really beats everyone else."
Lin Lixin sighed helplessly.
Moore's Law!
Looking at it this way, Athena's products are from so long ago. In this era where Moore's Law still applies, our once-young and vibrant daughter is now an outdated old lady.
However, if it were just a powerful processor, Wintel's deterrent power wouldn't be so terrifying.
What truly cemented their legendary status was the person standing in front of Lin Lixin.
Windows 3.0.
To be precise, it's the perfect combination of Windows 3.0 and i486.
While graphical user interfaces were not invented by Microsoft, companies like Apple, Jobs ' Next, and Commodore have long since developed their own visual GUI operating systems.
But even Gamenova failed to make the visual operation system a true hit.
The reason is simple: it's expensive!
The Hermes laptop is indeed very powerful, with a stunning design and a complete set of office and gaming features.
However, its sales have never been very good.
At most, there will be a slight fluctuation during holiday promotions.
Apple's problems were more serious. Its completely closed system ecosystem was far less complete than that of later macOS, making it incredibly difficult to use. While Commodore and Amiga were open, they suffered from severe fragmentation and were equally unusable.
And Windows 3.0...
It worked perfectly with its golden partner, the Intel 80486.
While being inexpensive, it is fully compatible with all previous software ecosystems, offering absolute unity and unparalleled cost-effectiveness within the camp.