"It's." Heitaro Nakajima looked at the vermilion building in front of him, a little distracted.

"Namco?" Hui Yamazaki muttered strangely.

Shirakawa Kaede smiled, "Let's go."

He didn't explain much about the club in front of him, but led them directly into the reception hall.

Half an hour later, in Masaya Nakamura's office, Shirakawa Kaede and the others sat down in turn.

"Shirakawa-san, your company's handheld has been performing quite well in the market recently."

As soon as he sat down, Masaya Nakamura sighed with envy.

Ever since Shirakawa improved the display of the handheld, sales have been steadily rising.

Although Nintendo followed up on this idea only two months later, in general, Shirakawa Electric's handheld still occupies the majority of the market.

This kind of winner-takes-all grand occasion naturally makes Nakamura Masaya envious.

Although the profit of the handheld is not too high, it is better than the quantity.

Moreover, it has cultivated its own user group, and will develop related industries in the future, which can be described as its own traffic.

At least Masaya Nakamura knows that this is ambitious and wants to enter the home console market.

"It's all thanks to Nakamura-san, and Namco's games are also one of the reasons for the popularity of Shirakawa Electric's handheld."

Since the two companies signed each other, the cooperation in the field of video games has become even closer.

Many of the games on Shirakawa Electric's handheld are from Namco in front of you.

However, the more Shirakawa Electric's handheld is sold, the more Namco will get a share.

So for the arrival of Shirakawa Kaede, Nakamura Masaya is still quite welcome.

"I don't know why Shirakawa-san came here this time, could it be that there is a new cooperation project in the field of video games?"

"You can say the same," Shirakawa Kaede replied with a smile.

"Oh~" Masaya Nakamura became interested, "Shirakawa-san, please be sure to tell me in detail." ”

For cooperating with Shirakawa Electric, he is naturally quite happy, after all, a small amount of money is real.

The profits obtained from Shirakawa Electric for more than a year have also become a major source of income for Namco.

Nakamura-san, take the liberty of asking. Which chip does Namco's arcade machine use today? ”

"Huh?" Masaya Nakamura felt very strange that Kaede Shirakawa suddenly turned the topic to arcade production.

Could it be that Shirakawa Electric is also interested in entering the arcade market?

No, if the other party really has this plan, there is no need to go to Namco to discuss it with him.

So although he was curious, Masaya Nakamura still answered truthfully.

"Z80 chip from Zilog."

As expected, this 8-bit chip is very widely used in neon.

The Z80 was hailed as the longest-lived CPU in later generations, and its shadow is found in arcades, communication equipment, and automation products.

It is still used in some areas to this day.

Now it's not just Namco, Shirakawa Kaede estimates that the chips used in Taidong, Sega, and Nintendo's arcades should most likely be Z80.

Shirakawa Kaede saw that Nakamura Masaya's eyes were confused, but he still didn't explain, but continued to ask.

"What is the approximate selling price of the Z80 chip purchased by your company?"

"Around $25~$30"

As a well-known chip, its price has been roughly transparent, so Masaya Nakamura did not deliberately hide anything.

Shirakawa Kaede nodded, similar to the information he had learned.

"So does Nakamura-san know about Intel's 8088?"

"Of course" this one is also a well-known chip, and Masaya Nakamura has naturally heard of it.

"How does the 8088 perform compared to the Z80, and what is the approximate purchase price?" Shirakawa Kaede continued to follow the path of kindness.

"Needless to say, the 8088 is much stronger than the Z80.

However, the price is also very high, and the price of close to $100 is really unaffordable for an arcade machine. ”

Obviously, as a person with a science and engineering background, Masaya Nakamura also knows some of the designs of his arcade machines.

"But Shirakawa-san, you're asking these questions for."

Until now, Nakamura Masaya didn't know what kind of medicine was being sold in Shirakawa Kaede's gourd.

Shirakawa Kaede didn't answer directly, but smiled and took a small blue bag from Hui Yamazaki and handed it to Masaya Nakamura.

"This is.?" Seeing the contents of the bag in his hand clearly, Nakamura Masaya's eyes widened slightly.

"As Nakamura-san saw, this is the chip." Kaede Shirakawa finally unravels the mystery.

"Chips?" Masaya Nakamura looked at him up and down as if he had re-acquainted himself with Kaede Shirakawa.

"This is SIC's generation of commercial chips, benchmarked against Intel's 8088."

Masaya Nakamura finally understood the reason for Kaede Shirakawa's visit this time.

"So Shirakawa-san wants to cooperate with Namco in the field of video games, and the new project is chips?"

Shirakawa Kaede nodded, confirming his guess.

Knowing Shirakawa Kaede's intention, Masaya Nakamura was most of less interested.

"Shirakawa-san, as you must know, the cost of arcade machines is already very high.

The $30 for the Z80 is still within Namco's acceptance range.

But the $100 of 8088 is really powerless for Namco. ”

Nowadays, the production cost of an arcade machine can cost hundreds of thousands of yen, and even hundreds of thousands of yen if it is more expensive.

In addition to various production materials and props, the CTR display and various chips on the motherboard alone will occupy the majority of them.

CTR monitors are the big butt TV screens we used to see, and the bigger the size, the more expensive they are.

At present, a 14-inch TV in Japan costs about 100,000 yen, and the screen of the arcade machine is even larger, mostly around 21 inches.

Therefore, a single screen can cost tens of thousands of yen, and another big cost of arcade machines is the game board, that is, the circuit board.

The approximate cost of the entire circuit board is also more than 50,000 yen, and there is no doubt that the chip is the largest one.

There is more than one chip on the circuit board, and of course the most expensive must be the CPU processor chip.

A Z80 chip is about 7,000 yen, and if you change to 8,088, the cost will instantly soar to 25,000 yen.

The production cost of hundreds of thousands, for every additional 10,000 yen, the profit is compressed a little.

Namco's arcade machines are usually sold to arcade hall owners for a complete set, 300,000-500,000 yen.

This selling price is basically a fixed range in the market, and in this case, the production cost will rise, and the profit will naturally decrease.

Therefore, for the chip recommended by Shirakawa Kaede and the Intel 8088 benchmark, Masaya Nakamura subconsciously retreated.

"Nakamura-san, don't be impatient, don't you ask what the price of the SIC chip is?"

Seeing that Nakamura Masaya's face was embarrassed, but Shirakawa Kaede asked unhurriedly.

"Huh?" Could it be that Masaya Nakamura looked at Shirakawa Kaede again, "What does Shirakawa-san mean that your company's chips have an advantage in price?" ”

"$40!" Without much explanation, Shirakawa Kaede directly gave his own price.

"What?!" Nakamura Masaya's first reaction was disbelief, "Shirakawa-san, are you sure that your company's chip is based on Intel's 8088?" ”

"Of course," Shirakawa Kaede gestured to the bag in his hand, "SIC8089 16 bits on the external bus and 8 bits on the internal bus."

A total of more than 30,000 transistors are integrated, with a frequency of 5.6MHz. ”

The more Masaya Nakamura listened, the more he showed an incredible look, this parameter is even better than Intel's 8088.

"At the same time," Shirakawa continued, "SIC8089 is based on embedded system development and is compatible with Intel 8086 and 8088 software assembly.

In addition SIC8089 an assembler-based development system is included, which will greatly facilitate the development process for developers.

Of course, if needed, SIC can also provide peripheral IC and auxiliary chip design, and even custom chips. ”

Masaya Nakamura blinked and asked tentatively.

"Shirakawa-san, if I heard me right, your chip's chip is better than Intel's 8088 in terms of performance?"

Shirakawa Kaede nodded, "Theoretically speaking, this is true, and of course the actual test results are also in line with theoretical estimates." ”

"The Intel 8088 costs $100, SIC8089 nearly 1.5 times the performance, but it costs less than half of the $40?" Masaya Nakamura continued to confirm.

"That's right, that's SIC." Shirakawa Kaede spread his hands generously, with a confident face.

"Nakamura-san, as you know, is the difference between an arcade game based on the 8088 chip and the Z80.

Stronger computing power, can be competent for more complex instructions.

Whether it is the complexity of the level or the delay of the keys, there will be a huge increase. ”

Nangong Meng, as an arcade game design company, has the most say in this, and the importance of a chip with good performance for arcades is self-evident.

"But SIC is a new brand after all, and none of us have used it before, and we don't know much about it."

This is a very real problem, and until it is recognized by the market, Masaya Nakamura must take responsibility for his own products.

"Of course, I understand Nakamura-san's concerns. So." Shirakawa Kaede pointed to the chips in the bag, "These pieces SIC8089 welcome your company to try them." ”

"In addition," Shirakawa Kaede stretched out his hand to Yamazaki Hui again, "This Yamazaki Hui Sang is one of the developers of the chip.

As long as Nakamura-san needs it, he can stay and assist your company in the development of game boards. ”

Don't talk about orders, free trials, and technical staff from the development team stay for technical support.

Such a sincere approach also made Masaya Nakamura have a great change in his opinion of SIC.

"Well, Shirakawa-san's sincerity is hard to refuse.

Namco will make several prototypes here, and as for the final result, it will depend on the performance of the prototype after completion. ”

The $40 chip is better than the $100 8088, and if the final result turns out to be really satisfactory.

Then of course Masaya Nakamura will consider purchasing SIC8089 because it is too cost-effective.

With more powerful chips, Namco was able to design more complex games.

At the same time, the original arcade experience will also be greatly improved, so its market performance will naturally rise.

Although the current arcade games are color screens, there is still a big gap between them and later generations in terms of experience.

First of all, the delay and reaction speed of the picture are worrying, and a large part of the reason is due to the chip.

It's not that there are no better chips at this time, but because good chips are too expensive.

With a 16-bit processor and a price of more than $300, most manufacturers will be out of reach.

But the $40 8-bit processor enhancement is placed in front of Masaya Nakamura, and he will naturally be tempted.

The $10 cost increase, in exchange for an overall increase in arcade sales, is a good deal no matter how you look at it.

So SIC8089 costs $40, which is more than half cheaper than the Intel8088, is SIC still profitable?

(End of chapter)