Universal 3D arcade board

Not to mention how miserable the future will be for the PDA, a device that is already becoming obsolete as soon as it was released.

At least this press conference went very smoothly.

Lin Lixin and his companion were just there to make a brief appearance. After the press conference, they said goodbye to a group of acquaintances and left in a hurry.

This year has been incredibly busy.

Given Apple's performance this time, Motorola will likely be feeling the pressure soon.

Sony is clearly on edge due to the development of its own new optical discs, cassette music, and lithium batteries.

On the PC side, the Wintel Alliance has also noticed Gamenova's unusual activity.

Now we are surrounded on all sides.

Take your time.

He has plenty of energy to deal with these things.

"Speaking of which, are we really not going to consider the mobile version?"

On her way home, Vivian recalled everything she had just witnessed, a sense of anxiety rising within her. Everyone was trying to continue miniaturizing and integrating.

However, since Project Hermes, Gamenova has made almost no progress in miniaturization.

Once you fall behind in technological accumulation, catching up will require a much higher price than before.

With Gamenova's current ample resources, it could easily open up a third front.

"Mobile? You mean PDA?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Lixin gently shook his head.

Although it's a bit too early to say this now, he doesn't expect anyone else to understand.

But gamenova has never let up on its mobile journey.

"Trust in the Hermes Plan, Vivi. I've already prepared what we need."

This is no exaggeration.

What are the cornerstones of future smart mobile devices?

ARM architecture, LCD screen, lithium battery, Android. Gamenova currently possesses all of these components.

The only slightly challenging area is cellular communication, which is also Motorola's area of strength.

Mobile development is a very complex issue.

It's not something Lin Lixin can promote overnight just because he wants to.

We can only leave everything to time.

"Our biggest primary goal this year is storage."

Lin Lixin said.

Disco Elysium has already proven the viability of the new specifications.

While waiting for the new CD-ROM drives to become more widespread, he can free up his hands to do other things.

For example... a new game.

"I'll be going on a business trip to Japan in the next few days to take care of some things."

"... Then I wish you a safe journey."

Mid-March, Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo Metropolis.

It's cherry blossom season right now.

Thinking back to my last visit, it seems I just missed this important period and only caught a few late-blooming cherry blossoms.

This year's timing is perfect.

The cherry blossom pink color stretches from one end of the street all the way to the Skylines.

The temperature is right at the transition from winter to spring, hovering around ten degrees Celsius at midday, which is quite comfortable.

The humidity here is much higher than in California.

Sitting in the back seat of the car, Lin Lixin looked out at the crowd.

The economic bubble boom has ended.

Unlike the US, where homelessness took over the streets overnight during Japan's economic bubble burst, Japan's economic bubble did not experience the same dramatic rise.

It's more like a slow, painful process of bleeding out flesh with a dull knife. Starting with the stock market crash of 1990 and continuing to this day, the impact of the bursting bubble has become increasingly apparent.

You rarely see "big shots" like him traveling in luxury cars on business, not even on the streets of Tokyo, let alone in Shinagawa.

"At least the arcade is still quite lively."

Lin Lixin looked at the small arcade on the street, which was packed with people and showed no signs of being dilapidated.

Despite the economic collapse, this facade of prosperity shows no signs of decay.

Akihabara is filled with the latest trendy products, arcades are packed, and record sales are hitting record highs...

"After all, arcade games are already the cheapest form of entertainment..."

Sitting in the driver's seat, Satoshi glanced at the scene outside the window and responded.

During periods of economic upswing, everyone is happy to buy games and game consoles.

With the economic downturn, people are also playing arcade games and buying cheap Pokepal pet machines.

In short, it can be summed up in a thousand words.

Good for video games!

"That's true. The money for one record is enough to play dozens of arcade games."

Lin Lixin nodded in deep agreement.

With an average price of 100-500 yen per game, arcade games are indeed the cheapest type of entertainment that ordinary people can afford.

"Good news for Sega."

This actually aligns perfectly with the purpose of his trip.

After this period of adjustment, ASUS, or rather ROG, the new hardware brand under Gamenova, has gradually begun to get back on track.

The first step in the research and development was, of course, addressing the motherboard issue, a problem that had plagued Gamenova for a long time.

Learning from the lessons learned with "Mirror's Edge," putting the new product directly into actual gameplay is clearly a very Adventure move.

Therefore, Lin Lixin turned his attention back to the designated hardware experimental platform.

Arcade games.

Moreover, these are Sega's arcade machines. As arcade culture gradually flourishes, and even experiences a second spring, Sega, a company that relies heavily on arcades, will naturally face a turning point.

As long as you can seize the last few golden years of arcade games, making a decent living won't be difficult.

Lin Lixin's purpose in coming here this time is to help Sega lay a solid foundation.

After all, he can't stay here all the time.

Sega itself does not lack research and development capabilities.

All they need is a reliable... substrate.

After a night's rest, Lin Lixin finally arrived at Sega's business headquarters, which he had been away from for a long time.

During this period, Sega has been doing quite well and is thriving.

This is truly good news for Sega, no joke.

Both Namco and Sega saw an increase in arcade revenue to some extent.

Sales figures are also very encouraging. Of course, Illusion Studio is also receiving a string of good news.

The downward trend is only relative; the money has already gone where it was supposed to go.

"You mean... we're going to make a universal arcade board? Why?"

The then-president Hayao Nakayama, stood beside Lin Lixin, listening to him explain the purpose of the trip.

The idea that universal circuit boards are useful in the arcade game industry has always been a misconception.

Unlike other platforms, arcade games each have their own distinct characteristics and preferences.

The performance requirements are also completely different.

This means that the same hardware might only be compatible with this one type of gameplay.

Just like the baseboard that Lin Lixin and his team specially made for "Mirror's Edge".

Powerful, awesome, invincible.

But if you switch to another work, its true nature will be immediately revealed.

There are simply too many targeted designs. But that's not a problem.

That's how arcade games are designed; the hardware is specifically designed for certain specific needs.

This is also where arcade games have an advantage.

Choosing a universal substrate is tantamount to rendering yourself useless.

"That's not quite right. Strictly speaking, what we're making is a universal 3D substrate."

Lin Lixin nodded and followed the other person into AM2.

Of course, the development of arcade games wouldn't be complete without the involvement of Yu Suzuki, Sega's top lieutenant.

"President Lin!"

"Yes, everyone has worked hard. Suzuki, come here for a moment."

It really is a perfect match for their major.

After quickly explaining the situation to the other party, Yu Suzuki immediately understood the intricacies of the matter.

"When I was making Virtua Racing, I actually had this idea..." In the 1980s, all games were 2D.

Designers need to customize the design according to the specific requirements of different works for texture specifications.

For example, if a game has a lot of bullets but low resolution, you can choose a higher clock speed or a dedicated coprocessor to handle the bullet sprites, and reduce things like video memory.

Large boss battles and technology-driven action games can use larger textures, allowing processor costs to be allocated to other presentation elements such as audio.

2D hardware is inherently simple in structure, so customizing a substrate is not a complicated matter.

Any experienced engineer could quickly create it by hand.

The difficulty is simply finding a suitable PCB board; if not, you have to make a custom board.

But everything changed in the 3D era.

Yu Suzuki, a designer who has personally participated in the design of many motion-sensing 3D arcade machines, felt this particularly strongly.

"We've been reinventing the wheel, these things could have been used interchangeably."

He said, looking at Hayao Nakayama, and added an explanation.

"All 3D games require matrix operations, perspective projection, geometric transformations, and other functions, whether it's racing, flying, or shooting games." What's more troublesome is that the hardware complexity has increased dramatically in the 3D era.

The research and development cost of the entire substrate is getting higher and higher, and the verification cycle is getting longer and longer.

Continuing with the current practice of customizing circuit boards for each game is extremely time-consuming.

"That's right, that's the real purpose of my trip, President Nakayama. Sega needs a reusable, universal 3D development platform."

Lin Lixin nodded.

Hardware unification means unified development technology and a universal technology stack.

Only by doing this can Sega achieve greater internal unity.

The original division has been greatly improved after Yuji Naka and Yu Suzuki were educated by him.

However, this grouping model naturally creates an environment conducive to competition.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing.

After all, healthy competition can also motivate everyone to strive for excellence.

The problem lies in Sega's internal monopoly of resources and various divisions, with technologies not being shared and everyone operating independently. Arcade technology couldn't be used on consoles, and vice versa.

That's the most critical issue.

Only when the technology becomes widespread does this information truly become meaningful.

In other words, this is the key to Sega's ability to accumulate its "foundation".

Sega has never lacked talent.

"More importantly, a universal substrate can significantly shorten the development cycle, reduce hardware costs, and make arcade machines cheaper!"

Lin Lixin added another sentence.

If Yu Suzuki's reckless approach during an economic downturn, Sega risks facing severe consequences.

When the baseboard is universal, each subsequent game amortizes its cost.

"Smack!"

As he spoke, he slammed the documents in his hand onto the table.

The large "[virtua]" lettering on the cover immediately caught Yu Suzuki's attention. This prefix was the one used by AM2.

Virtuaracing, also known as Virtua Racing.

Yu Suzuki deliberately removed the "l" from "virtual" as a branding gesture.

"Virtua Fighter, the world's first... 3D fighting game!"