Akihabara, HAL Research Institute.

At this moment, Shirakawa Kaede has six or seven handheld machines in front of him, and these are all the handheld styles that Shirakawa Electric has sold for most of the past six months.

The difference between them in shape is not very large, but there is a slight difference in color or surface printing.

And like Nintendo's handhelds, these models in front of them are also a hard and soft configuration.

The two games that come with each handheld basically retain the configuration of one original and one ported.

Most of the ported games come from arcade games from companies such as Namco and Taito, and Shirakawa Electric has been actively reaching out to third-party game manufacturers for most of the year.

They have a large number of game IPs in their hands, and some small games that are suitable for transplanting to the handheld, of course, Shirakawa Electric will not let go.

The same goes for Nintendo, but they have their own arcade business, so the games that are being ported temporarily are coming from in-house.

In addition to the ported games, most of the remaining original games come from the hands of young people who are currently sitting in the HAL office.

They are active and have a variety of ideas.

In addition, HAL encourages employees to brainstorm, even if it can't be achieved temporarily, it will be recorded and kept for later development.

There is no doubt that the representative of this is Satoshi Iwata, and the two things of game production and software programming have scratched his itch.

That's his hobby, and he's bound to stay at HAL as long as school is out of school.

Needless to say, during the summer vacation, Satoshi Iwata properly incarnated as a part-time worker and went to work at HAL every day.

Even if his father hadn't called him during the winter vacation, he might have planned to stay in Tokyo for the New Year.

"Iwata-kun, don't forget, we haven't graduated yet."

Shirakawa Kaede, who heard about this, had to remind him that they were about to enter their senior year and were still some way away from graduation.

"It's even better in senior year, with plenty of time to stay here." Satoshi Iwata is at the same level as Kaede Shirakawa, but he is half a year behind Kaede Shirakawa.

Kaede Shirakawa will graduate in April next year, and Iwata will graduate in September.

Entering his senior year was a good thing for Satoshi Iwata, and he even saved looking for an internship unit.

HAL is a direct and seamless service from internship to graduation.

"Are you still in the habit of staying here?" Shirakawa Kaede, who arrived at HAL, didn't talk about work first, but chatted with Satoshi Iwata over coffee.

"Habit, of course habit." Speaking of this, Satoshi Iwata immediately came to the spirit.

"The best personal computer, office with floor-to-ceiling windows, and endless snacks and drinks.

Shirakawa-kun, don't say that Xi is not used to it, even if I am willing to live here. ”

Shirakawa Kaede looked at Iwata Satoshi with a smile, good guy, you just used this place as a dormitory, right?

In fact, not only Iwata Satoshi, but also the other young people gathered here at the moment all nodded with approval on their faces.

The office environment at HAL is so comfortable, it's heaven.

Some of these young people have just stepped out of school and joined the club for the first time.

But they have also heard of the social animal life of their predecessors.

However, HAL's office environment here has subverted their previous imagination of work.

Needless to say, the hard conditions of the office, whether it is a computer desk or chair, or a whole wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, are all excellent configurations.

These scenes may only be seen in TV dramas.

In addition to the soothing office scene, there is also a separate relaxation area.

Sofas, reclining chairs, and coffee tables are all available, and several vending machines on the wall do not need to be inserted.

If you want to eat or drink, you can press it directly, and someone will come to replenish it regularly.

Even in a small open area, there were several arcade machines.

If you're tired from work and need to adjust, then this is the best place for you.

Look, what kind of work is this? For young people like Satoshi Iwata, the hotel doesn't have such conditions.

Kaede Shirakawa can guarantee that there is no club in Tokyo that has a better environment than HAL.

He built the HAL Research Institute according to the configuration of the Internet giants of later generations.

Game production is an emerging entertainment industry, and it produces goods that are meant to entertain the masses.

As a creator of game content, Shirakawa Kaede hopes that they can work in their most relaxed state.

Compared with the tense and dull atmosphere, the relaxed and happy mood must allow the makers to integrate their own happiness into the game.

Shirakawa Kaede didn't want HAL to be like a traditional Japanese club, hierarchical and depressing.

A new industry naturally needs a new atmosphere.

He believes that when the place grows stronger, it will definitely attract all kinds of talents to settle in HAL.

After chatting with them for a while and getting a general understanding of the situation here, Shirakawa Kaede also began to convene Tanimura for a meeting.

"I have a general understanding of the situation here at HAL, and in general, our progress in the past six months has been quite obvious."

From the beginning of the grass platform team, to now gradually have the appearance of a professional game production company, overall Shirakawa Kaede is quite satisfied.

After all, video games are a new field, and game production companies all over the world are just starting out at the moment, and everyone is still figuring it out.

Hearing Shirakawa Kaede's approval, the young people present all smiled happily.

To be honest, in the eyes of the elders, the so-called game making is a kind of unprofessional and deviant work.

Just like the parents of the Celestial Empire once thought, Neon also has this stage.

Parents want their children to get a serious job rather than a video game.

So for them, recognition may be more important than gain.

"Please do not doubt that you are doing a great job. Games are also a kind of art, and art brings spiritual enjoyment to people.

It has all the characteristics that the game does. Shirakawa Kaede once shouted this slogan in the newspaper, and he still emphasizes it today.

Sure enough, the young people below eat this set, and they are worthy of being the leaders of game art, and Shirakawa-san's views on games speak to their hearts.

"Of course, the work of art is inseparable from innovation, please feel free to boldly express your ideas, or record them on paper.

It may not be possible today, but one day it will be in front of you.

Of course," Shirakawa Kaede picked up a handheld on the table, "You guys in the game, if you have any questions, you might as well ask them, and everyone brainstorms to see if there is a solution." ”

If you want to talk about the problem of handhelds, of course.

It's just that after all, it's the big boss in front of you, and everyone is still a little restrained.

Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, and finally Iwata Satoshi began to speak.

"The biggest problem with handheld computers is that they are limited by the screen and can present too little content."

"Iwata-kun, please elaborate." Kaede Shirakawa motioned for him to continue.

As a deep developer of handhelds, they must know best what limitations and even shortcomings they have.

So Shirakawa Kaede also wants to hear their opinions, if it is possible, it would be best to spend some investment to solve it.

"Our current handheld screen can only display seven segments, and the chip it uses is an 8-bit microprocessor from a calculator.

In total, only 56 characters can be displayed, and excluding the timing or rating display in the upper right corner of the screen, there are only 30 pieces of space left for the actual game content.

With such limitations, the content that can be presented on the handheld will be greatly limited.

In addition, due to the limitations of the microprocessor, there is sometimes a slight delay between the picture and the control.

This is especially noticeable when performing complex button operations. ”

These are all problems that Satoshi Iwata encountered in game production and programming, and most of them came from hardware problems.

Shirakawa Feng nodded, sure enough, it was still a technical limitation that affected their performance.

"I probably understand what Iwata-kun means, our current handheld uses TN-LCD screens, and they are inherently defective.

Before the technology of the screen itself has not been broken through, perhaps there is only one way to go, enlarging the display. ”

The so-called TN-LCD screen is a monochrome LCD screen.

The calculator we use in our daily lives is this kind of screen.

This kind of twisted nematic liquid crystal display has a slow response time and low output brightness.

And the angle of view is small, and the smearing phenomenon is very obvious.

There are so many disadvantages, and the reason why they can be used in large quantities is because they are cheap.

Its price is so low that it is about the same as the plastic shell of the fuselage, so the cost of increasing the screen is limited, and it is still acceptable for handheld computers.

Shirakawa Kaede pointed to the screen in his hand and gestured to everyone, "If you enlarge it by 1.5 times, or even double it."

So, is it possible to present more game content? ”

Satoshi Iwata pinched his chin and pondered, "Theoretically, that's true.

However, the greater the number of content segments displayed, the higher the demands placed on the microcontroller. ”

"Let's wait for the chip problem and start improving it from the screen."

If you really want to change the chip, you might as well wait for your own.

On the one hand, it saves procurement costs, and on the other hand, it increases the shipment of chips.

"In addition to the widescreen, we can also try to customize the false color display."

"False color display?" The crowd below looked at each other for the first time they had heard the word.

"That's right," Shirakawa Kaede nodded, "I don't know if you've ever played the Arida home game console?" ”

Several people raised their hands in the conference room one after another, and there are not many people who have played this kind of foreign game console.

Seeing such a situation, Shirakawa Kaede turned his head directly.

"Tanimura, after the meeting put all the game consoles on the market.

Whether domestic or foreign, whether handheld or home game console, all equipped with a set in the leisure area. ”

"Hai" Tanimura nodded honestly.

As the president of a game production company, he is a little sluggish when it comes to market sensitivity.

"So," Shirakawa Kaede turned his head again, "Iwata-kun, can you tell me what props are available for the Arida home game console?" ”

Satoshi Iwata was one of the people who had just raised his hand, and he had played countless games and consoles.

"In addition to the console, there are game controllers, prop guns, steering wheels, laser emitters, oh yes,"

Satoshi Iwata suddenly thought of something, "And the TV color film, Shirakawa-san, what do you mean?"

"Just as Iwata-kun imagined," Shirakawa Kaede smiled, "we also put a colored film on the monochrome screen of the handheld. ”

In Arida's early home game consoles, a color film for the TV was included.

At that time, the TVs were all black and white, and in order to make the game more interesting.

As the name suggests, color film is to make the picture display a certain color.

This kind of film is specially customized according to the game content, and will be fed back to the player to visually change colors in conjunction with the game screen.

Now Shirakawa Kaede wants to apply it to the handheld to make a move.

For example, the game needs to represent grass or the sun.

Then I can draw this part on the membrane in advance, and of course they are in color.

If the current handheld is only fixed with one game, and the content is mostly relatively simple, there will be no scene change.

Then with this layer of color film, it will bring a kind of visual "deception" to the player, which is a color LCD screen.

"What a genius idea," Satoshi Iwata thinks Shirakawa Kaede is a pity that he is not a game designer.

What kind of president Sang, it's just not a good job.

As for Akagi, who was in charge of the hardware design, he looked at Shirakawa Kaede with shame and admiration.

It's the boss, I didn't think of such a good idea.

I've played with Arida's home game consoles, and I've seen TV films, but I just can't think of such a creative.

Sure enough, we still need to work hard. Akagi has a determination to be ashamed and courageous.

"Ladies and gentlemen, although there are not many competitors in the handheld market now, it is not nothing.

On the contrary, our opponent is very strong, and when we play against it, we will fall into disadvantage if we are not careful. ”

Hearing Shirakawa Kaede's advice, everyone nodded solemnly.

Indeed, in the past six months, everyone has won and lost each other in the competition with Nintendo.

If you can't keep improving, you may fall behind at some point.

To be honest, Shirakawa Kaede doesn't look at Nintendo's handheld design very much.

But the other party's game content design is very strong, and it can be played back and forth with Shirakawa Electric just by relying on this.

Shirakawa Kaede hopes that his handheld can keep making great progress, rather than developing slowly in a comfortable environment.

He knows that other console manufacturers will join the field in the near future, and the competition will never go away.

In addition, he has other ideas for the gaming industry.

(End of chapter)