Oga Norio stared at the compact word on the whiteboard—PlayStation. The space had been removed, along with any lingering shadow of Nintendo.
"If we're going to do this, we can't leave any escape routes open." Oga Norio stubbed out his cigar decisively. "Nakahachi-san, notify the finance department to recalculate the budget. We're not making an upgrade to the Super Famicom; we're creating an entirely new species."
Ryoji Nakabachi nodded, but his mind was already focused on the technical details. He turned to Ken Kutaragi, who was still buzzing with excitement. "Kutaragi-kun, now that we've eliminated the cartridge slot, the hardware architecture is completely open. You mentioned going 32-bit earlier, but what's the specific direction? Should we continue strengthening our 2D sprite graphics, where we excel, or should we bet everything on... polygons?"
The question instantly silenced the meeting room.
All eyes turned to Ken Kutaragi.
As the technical core of the project, his judgment would determine the flow of several billion yen in development funds.
Ken Kutaragi frowned, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the table.
The image of Sega's recently unveiled Virtua Fighter surfaced in his mind.
Developed using the Model1 platform, it was indeed 3D, but in his view, the characters, built from crude polygons, resembled arthritic toy soldiers—awkwardly stiff and sporting laughably crude textures.
"To be honest, I'm skeptical about current 3D technology," Ken Kutaragi said with a sigh, speaking candidly. "I've seen Sega's Virtua Fighter. Technically, it's a breakthrough, but the visual fidelity is abysmal. Can those blocky, angular shapes ever replace the exquisite detail of hand-drawn 2D graphics? Players might not buy into it."
He paused, then walked to the whiteboard and drew two lines.
"The current bottleneck in 3D technology is cost. Achieving decent 3D polygon rendering could be prohibitively expensive. If we force a high-performance 3D architecture into our new console, the price could skyrocket above 100,000 yen. At that point, we'd be selling luxury goods, not gaming hardware."
"So you're suggesting we focus on 2D?" Nobuyuki Idei asked.
"Not entirely," Ken Kutaragi said, a shrewd glint in his eye. "We need to prepare for two scenarios. The architecture must support 3D processing, but the extent of performance enhancement can be determined later based on the development of 3D technology. For now, I believe we should prioritize delivering high-quality 2D graphics. With the CD-ROM's large capacity, we can pack in extensive cutscenes and high-fidelity audio—something Nintendo cartridges simply can't match."
At the mention of "audio," Ryoji Nakabachi's eyes lit up.
"Now that you've brought up CD-ROM and audio," Nakabachi interjected, "why not incorporate Sony's core business into this?"
"You mean—"
"The CD playback feature," Nakabachi explained, spreading his hands. "We already have a cost-effective audio decoding chip solution. With just a simple decoding circuit added, this gaming console could transform into a high-quality CD player."
This suggestion sent thoughtful glances around the room.
In the early 1990s, a decent CD player was still quite expensive.
If the PlayStation could play next-generation games and function as a CD player, that would give parents—those who hold the household purse strings—one more compelling reason to buy it.
"We're buying a game console for the kids and a CD player for the whole family," Oga Norio said, seizing on this selling point with a satisfied smile. "This is brilliant. This is Sony's advantage. Those Nintendo toy-makers will never understand what a home entertainment center is."
"Technically, it's no problem at all," Ken Kutaragi said, scribbling notes on his laptop. "We just need to add a mechanism to identify the disc type. If it's a game disc, the system runs the game; if it's a music disc, it calls up the playback interface. This won't even require extra CPU power."
"Then it's settled." Oga Norio stood up and straightened his suit. "Remove the space from the name, ditch the cartridge slot, add CD playback functionality, and as for graphics processing—" He glanced at Ken Kutaragi. "Kutaragi-kun, go back and study it some more. Sega's implementation might be ugly, but don't underestimate the potential of 3D. I don't want us to launch our system and find the world has moved on."
"Hey! Don't worry, President," Ken Kutaragi immediately assured him.
The smoke in the conference room had thinned somewhat, but the atmosphere remained tense.
Nobuyuki Idei had remained largely silent, listening and observing. Now, he gently snapped the cap back onto his pen, the crisp sound cutting through the air.
"Kutaragi-kun, passion is important, but we must face reality," Idei said, his voice as cold as a glass of ice water, instantly dousing the excitement over the CD playback feature. "Sony has made radios, TVs, Walkmans, and all sorts of electronics. We're already one of the world's top electronics manufacturers. Yet even with all that experience, we've never developed a 32-bit game console from scratch. This is on a completely different scale from what Nintendo accomplished with their 8-bit systems. One wrong step in choosing our hardware architecture, and several billion yen could go down the drain."
He paused, his gaze sweeping across the assembled executives. "We need an experienced guide to lead the way. Is there any way we can partner with a company that has extensive experience in arcade or console hardware? Someone who can share the risk and compensate for our lack of expertise in architecture design?"
It was an incredibly pointed question. Technicians typically bristle at such skepticism, feeling it's an insult to their capabilities.
But Ken Kutaragi didn't react that way.
Instead, he nodded firmly.
"Nobuyuki Idei hit the nail on the head," Kutaragi said, pulling out a pre-prepared list from the bottom of his folder. "We're amateurs when it comes to hardware, so we need a seasoned partner willing to collaborate on developing the console with us. Currently, only four companies meet our standards: Konami, Capcom, SNK, and Namco."
"Let's go through them one by one," Oga Norio said concisely.
"First, Konami." Kutaragi pointed to the first name, a hint of disdain crossing his face. "They're top-notch in software development, but their hardware development stagnated in the late 80s. They've been coasting on Sega, Capcom, and Namco's platforms ever since. Their technology and experience are outdated. I recommend we disregard them."
He mercilessly drew an "X" through Konami on the whiteboard.
"What about SNK?" Ryoji Nakabachi asked. "Their NEOGEO arcade system is powerful, and they even released a home version."
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