Chapter 117 Memory Management Program
Only after watching the tail lights of Director Terauchi and Director Hatano's special cars merge into the traffic flow and completely disappear from sight did Takuya Nakayama withdraw his gaze and walk back into the headquarters building.
Their mission on this trip was arduous; they not only had to personally visit Hong Kong to thoroughly investigate the electronics factories that had already established preliminary cooperation with Sega, carefully evaluating their production capacity, cost control levels, and, crucially, their yield rates, to finalize the outsourcing plan for the production of peripheral components for the new console.
Afterwards, they also had to go to Taiwan to try and contact the semiconductor companies that Takuya Nakayama believed could become Sega's subsequent "Plan B," planting a seed for Sega that could potentially change the industry landscape.
This undoubtedly bought Takuya Nakayama valuable time to vigorously push forward subsequent plans at the Japanese headquarters.
After seeing off the two directors, Takuya Nakayama barely paused, turning around and returning directly to the Hardware Development Department.
He gathered the leaders of several core game development teams in the Hardware Development Department's conference room.
"Everyone, thank you for your hard work."
Takuya Nakayama's gaze swept across each of the slightly fatigued team leaders present.
"The development progress of the new console's launch titles is pleasing, and this is inseparable from everyone's efforts and wisdom."
After a brief affirmation, he subtly changed the subject.
"The power of our new console is already evident to everyone."
"The MC68000 gives it unprecedented processing power, and the Z80 ensures rich and delicate sound effects.
This hardware architecture, directly open to developers, allows top teams to fully squeeze every bit of its capability to create astonishing works."
He paused, observing the team leaders' reactions.
"However,"
He emphasized his tone.
"This extreme freedom, for some third-party developers, especially those with relatively limited programming ability or team size, or those just starting with our new platform, might be a considerably high technical barrier."
"Direct memory access means developers need to handle complex memory allocation, deallocation, and protection themselves. A slight oversight can lead to endless debugging nightmares, or even project delays and quality degradation."
The scenario Takuya Nakayama described resonated with the seasoned developers present, causing their brows to furrow unconsciously.
They were all too aware of the difficulties involved.
"Therefore, I have a proposal."
Takuya Nakayama leaned slightly forward.
"I hope to select a few of the most outstanding programmers from each development team, those with the deepest understanding of our new console's hardware architecture, to form a temporary special task force."
"The goal is to design a low-resource, highly reliable memory management program for our new console that can timely reclaim fragments."
The air in the conference room seemed to freeze for a moment.
"This program,"
Takuya Nakayama continued to explain, his voice clear and undeniable.
"will serve as an optional tool, or rather, a 'development assistance kit,' that we provide to third-party developers."
"Its use is not mandatory; teams pursuing extreme performance can still choose to directly operate the hardware."
"But for developers who wish to get started quickly, or whose game types do not demand extreme performance optimization, this memory management program will significantly reduce their development difficulty, shorten development cycles, and help them turn their ideas into reality faster, which also lowers the overall development cost for developers."
"The ultimate goal is to enrich our new console's game ecosystem and attract more excellent third-party titles."
The leaders of the various development teams fell into brief contemplation.
Takuya Nakayama's proposal was undoubtedly far-sighted.
They were all veterans in the industry, and the vivid example of Nintendo FC had clearly demonstrated to everyone that a thriving, diverse third-party game ecosystem is as crucial to a console's success as the console's performance itself.
The success of Nintendo FC, to a large extent, benefited from its vast third-party lineup.
And Takuya Nakayama's plan was precisely to pave the way for Sega's new console to build such an ecosystem in advance.
"I agree with Takuya-kun's view."
Yu Suzuki of the Second Development Team was the first to express his stance. He had dealt with various complex hardware assemblies and could best appreciate the complexity of direct memory management, and he understood how much convenience a user-friendly development tool could offer a development team.
"A good memory management tool can indeed make it easier for many small and medium-sized teams to join us."
"Our First Development Team also supports it."
"This plan is very necessary and can effectively lower the barrier for porting games."
"Later, we can also integrate programs and interfaces in the development kit to assist developers in effectively monitoring and managing memory. This will allow more manufacturers to fully extract the console's capabilities."
Yuji Naka also added.
The other team leaders also nodded, expressing understanding and support.
They trusted Takuya Nakayama's judgment and understood the long-term significance of this work.
"Very good."
Takuya Nakayama's face showed a relieved smile.
"Then, I ask each team leader to coordinate as soon as possible after the meeting and select the most suitable candidates. I hope this special team can be established within a week and begin preliminary design work."
He set a preliminary timeline, showing the high importance he placed on this matter.
"We will fully cooperate."
The team leaders responded in unison.
After the meeting, Takuya Nakayama did not leave the Hardware Development Department immediately but instead walked directly to the office of Department Head Nakamura, the department head.
Department Head Nakamura, an experienced veteran, was currently engrossed in a pile of technical documents, with a pair of thick glasses perched on his nose.
Hearing the knock on the door, he looked up and, seeing Takuya Nakayama, a hint of a smile appeared on his slightly tired face.
"Executive Director Nakayama, please come in."
He stood up, motioned for Takuya to sit on the sofa opposite him, and personally poured him a cup of hot tea.
The atmosphere in the office was much more relaxed than in the conference room earlier, filled with a faint aroma of tea.
"Department Head Nakamura, I apologize for disturbing you."
Takuya Nakayama took the teacup and said with a smile.
"You heard about the meeting just now, didn't you?"
Department Head Nakamura took a sip of tea and asked.
"Yes, I already know about the memory management program."
Takuya Nakayama nodded.
"That's a good idea; it's truly a blessing for third-party developers."
Department Head Nakamura expressed his agreement.
"However, I came to see you today because I want to discuss another concept with you."
Takuya Nakayama put down his teacup, leaned slightly forward, with a hint of subtle excitement in his tone.
Department Head Nakamura looked at him with interest: "Oh? Takuya-kun has a new idea?"
"Yes, a concept about the future portable gaming market."
Takuya Nakayama began to describe the blueprint in his mind.
"I envision developing a brand-new handheld gaming console."
Department Head Nakamura's eyebrows subtly raised, and the pen in his hand unconsciously paused.