Traveling through the Tokyo bubble era

Chapter 899: New Power of Neon Economy

On the last day of April, the sixth E3 exhibition came to a successful conclusion in Las Vegas.

As a representative of Elf Entertainment, Hideki Hanyu attended the final closing and award ceremony.

Today, all major awards at the E3 show are voted on by media members of the American Video Game Software Association on the last day.

Because the size of the judging panel is large enough, it is recognized as the most authoritative and valuable award in the world of electronic games today.

However, as expected, from hardware awards to software awards, Genie Entertainment won big in all the awards.

Satoshi Iwata, who was sitting next to Hideki Hanyu, basically kept moving up and down since the award ceremony began. At the end of his speech, he had nothing to say and could only keep saying thank you.

To everyone present, this scene seemed too normal.

Since the rise of Elf Entertainment, although challengers have emerged over the years, in the end no one has been able to shake the position of Elf Entertainment.

Although at this year's E3 exhibition, the three major manufacturers all unveiled the next-generation 3-bit consoles, and pushed electronic games into the D era in one fell swoop.

But even so, Elf Entertainment's P2 console still stands out and has grabbed almost all the public attention.

The reason for this is certainly that Elf Entertainment itself is powerful enough to attract media attention.

But the more important reason is that the products of Elf Entertainment are outstanding enough and excellent enough in the eyes of everyone.

Although the consoles from the three manufacturers are all claimed to be next-generation 3-bit D consoles.

But after four days of trial play, public comments from the media, and word of mouth among players, the three consoles quickly became clearly differentiated in terms of their superiority and inferiority.

Whether it is game graphics, sound output, or 3D effect processing speed, Elf Entertainment's consoles are far ahead of their competitors.

What's more, apart from the console itself, the PS2 console also fully demonstrated in other aspects what a mature product that has been developed for three years should look like.

For example, reapply the joystick to the handle.

Unlike the bulky and unresponsive joysticks of the old days, the joystick of the PS2 console uses a lot of newly developed technologies.

Just on the joystick, Elf Entertainment's research institute has produced more than forty patents.

These technologies allow players to have the best feel and the fastest control when using the handle, greatly increasing the gaming experience and fun.

This is also why, when Tetsuya Aragaki configured the little red dot for the S600 notebook, he adopted a lot of PS2 console controller technology.

In addition to Shoubin, Jingling Entertainment also has a wide range of external devices.

For example, the light gun peripheral developed under the third-generation scanning technology.

For example, a dedicated 50-inch ultra-large projection device.

For example, a steering wheel controller specifically for racing games.

……

All kinds of peripherals were completed by Hideki Hanyu at the R&D center based on future experience.

Because both the PS2 and PS consoles use the Elf Scepter development system, as long as you use the Elf Entertainment dedicated cartridge reading peripheral, you can perfectly run the PS console cartridge on the PS2.

At the beginning, Nintendo's SFC console performed poorly in the market because it was not compatible with FC cartridges.

Elf Entertainment will certainly not make the same mistake.

Three years is enough time for the R&D department of Elf Entertainment to solve the problems that their peers have already encountered.

Of course, the compatibility between the two generations of consoles is still thanks to Hideki Hanyu’s foresight.

Other game manufacturers, even Nintendo, may not have thought about subsequent products and compatibility with different platforms when developing the FC console.

But Hideki Hanyu is different. From the very beginning, he never thought of only producing one generation of PS console.

We also attach great importance to the compatibility and interoperability between several major platforms.

This is why, when he was developing the console in the R&D department of Elf Entertainment, he had to develop the development platform first.

Whether it is the PS console, the Elf handheld, or the EGP arcade platform, games are required to be developed within the scope defined by the Elf Scepter platform.

In this way, compatibility between previous and subsequent products will be easier to achieve.

Porting games between different platforms will also become very simple.

Although Elf Entertainment’s approach is actually very incomprehensible to its peers.

It is equivalent to investing a lot of manpower and material resources in the early stage to develop something that seems to have no meaning and value.

After all, there is no certainty as to whether a product will be successful, so you should first develop a supporting system for the product. In case the product fails, the cost of the supporting system will be wasted.

But in Hideki Hanyu's view, this is actually a simple multiple-choice question.

Should you choose to do the easy thing first and then the difficult thing, or choose to do the difficult thing first and then the easy thing.

Most people choose to do the easy things first and then the difficult. They don’t lay a solid foundation in the beginning and just do things as quickly and conveniently as possible. This will naturally keep costs to a minimum, and there’s no need to feel bad even if they fail.

But what if it succeeds?

If you want to go back and build the foundation when the need arises later, it will be extremely difficult.

Even if you try your best, it is still difficult to succeed in the end.

The Nintendo SFC console is the most intuitive example.

Instead of choosing the difficult first and then the easy, highly integrating hardware and software from the R&D stage, it seems that a huge amount of cost will be spent on R&D for an unknown future.

If it fails, the losses will naturally be serious, but what about if it succeeds?
Then all future product iterations will be a natural and seamless process.

Elf Entertainment is also afraid of failure.

But Hideki Hanyu, who knows the future well, can minimize the risk of failure.

In this case, he would naturally choose a more long-term approach.

Of course, the peripherals mentioned above are just official options from Elf Entertainment.

In addition to the official peripherals of Elf Entertainment, there are also a large number of third-party peripherals.

For example, Namco's best percussion music game, which is more familiar to China in later generations, is the "Taiko no Tatsujin" series. They also developed their own unique music peripherals, such as electric guitars, percussion drums, etc.

In addition to these, some peripherals that are linked to children's games, such as Transformers, Gundam, Hello Kitty, and Barbie, also have cooperating toy peripherals.

In addition, there are also excavator operating rods, fishing rods, karaoke sets and other imaginative peripherals.

Although electronic game technology has gradually matured and game consoles have more and more peripheral functions, the peripherals themselves have become more and more monotonous.

In contrast, in this era when electronic games are a bit "sloppy", many imaginative creations have been born in the competition between consoles and peripherals.

Hideki Hanyu knew that a North American company had developed a vampire-fighting game on the Genie handheld game console, in which vampire hunters needed to use solar energy to kill vampires.

However, this solar energy cannot be obtained in the game, but must be obtained using the solar collector that comes with the cartridge.

So if you want to play this game, you have to stand in the sun like an idiot.

It's quite ironic, like a solar flashlight, which only lights up when there is sun, and doesn't light up when there is no sun.

Of course, the rich peripherals are only one of the advantages of the PS2 console.

The biggest advantage of the PS2 console is actually the game library of Genie Entertainment and the large number of third-party game developers.

Just look at the term video game industry.

The most important of course is the "game" itself. In fact, the entire industry is built around the "game".

Increasingly advanced consoles are only designed to present games better.

Without enough games to attract consumers, no matter how advanced the console is, it will be of no use.

Because in most cases, consumers buy consoles for the purpose of playing games, and few people will buy a console first and then choose games.

This is also why this era gave birth to the console exclusivity strategy that would influence future generations for many years.

Elf Entertainment has enough first-party games of its own, plus a large number of third-party exclusive games, which form a moat that is difficult for competitors to cross.

All these are the reasons why the PS2 console produced by Elf Entertainment has gained a good reputation among the public and players as soon as it was released.

On the other hand, Sony chose the fastest and most conservative technology in the design, development and production of the X·ES console in order to pursue efficiency and stability. This made the X·ES console a bit too mediocre and lackluster compared to the PS2 console, giving it a feeling of being neither good nor bad.

In this case, it mainly relies on Nintendo's X-ES console, and its game library is far inferior to that of Elf Entertainment, so its appeal to consumers is naturally unremarkable.

Coupled with the efforts of Elf Entertainment behind the scenes, the media took a nitpicking attitude and were extremely picky about the X·ES console. It would be a miracle if the media reputation of the X·ES console could be good.

In contrast, the positioning of Sega's Saturn console was very clear from the beginning, and Sega was also very clear about where its base was.

Launch a "sufficient" console, and then use a low-price strategy to first consolidate the existing emerging markets.

Only after stabilizing the basic market, we will consider entering larger markets such as Europe, America, and Asia to take a bite of the blank areas that Elf Entertainment cannot cover.

Therefore, although the Saturn console did not receive high reviews from the media and had mediocre reputation among players, it received far less criticism than the X·ES console.

In addition to the fact that Elf Entertainment focused all its firepower on Sony and Nintendo, it was also related to the positioning of the Saturn console.

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. They clearly want to make a cheap entry-level product, focusing on just being sufficient and fun to use.

In this case, what else can you say?
After all, not every company is like Elf Entertainment, which can rely on huge market sales and use large-scale production to lower costs.

If the PS2 console were produced by Sony, Nintendo, or Sega, based on their current market share, the retail price of this console would be estimated to be around four hundred US dollars.

The closing ceremony of the entire E3 exhibition thus became a one-man show for Elf Entertainment.

The successful launch of the PS console put Hideki Hanyu in a very good mood when he left Las Vegas and returned to Neon on the first day of May.

In the cabin of the "Clouds", Hideki Hanyu was drinking freshly squeezed juice brought by the flight attendant, while asking Satoshi Iwata who was sitting in front of him.

Now that the E3 expo is over, sales of the PS2 console will officially begin. What is the sales plan?
Iwata didn't even bother looking at the information, and answered immediately, "After today, the North American market PS2 console will be first distributed in Genie Show and first-tier dealers' stores.

As for Europe, it may be about a week later, and the scale of distribution also needs to be controlled. One reason is that there are many countries there and the sales channels are complicated.

Second, the inventory we prepare is not unlimited and needs to be supplied first to North America and Asia, where sales volumes are higher.

As Asia is the second largest market after North America, all the Genie Shows will be released simultaneously with North America, but the full release in Japan and major regions is expected to start this Friday."

"It seems that the marketing department is very optimistic about the early sales."

The reason why Hideki Hanyu said this is that according to his understanding, Elf Entertainment has prepared more than four million units of inventory in advance for the release of the PS2 console.

In the past, this inventory would have been enough to sell PS consoles for several months.

But now, according to what Iwata said, these stocks are actually not enough.

"Today we are facing a mature global market. With the supporters that Genie Entertainment has cultivated over the years and consumers' enthusiasm for 3D games, the sales department estimates that the inventory can only support one month at most."

When Iwata said this, his tone gradually became filled with pride.

After all, the estimated sales volume of Elf Entertainment is a result that many manufacturers will never be able to achieve in their lifetime.

How could Satoru Iwata not be proud to be able to lead such a company?

"Then I will have to trouble Mr. Iwata and everyone else to take care of the sales of the PS2 console after it is released."

Hanyu Hideki stood up from his seat and extended an invitation to the Elf Entertainment executives who were returning to Neon with him in the cabin.

"Let's go to the back and have a drink together to celebrate our success."

Everyone responded and followed Hanyu Hideki to the cabin at the back.

Next, we won’t mention how Hideki Hanyu and everyone else celebrated at an altitude of 10,000 meters.

After more than ten hours of flight, the "Cloud" landed at Tokyo's Haneda International Airport.

As soon as Hideki Hanyu and the top executives of Elf Entertainment got off the plane, they saw a large number of Japanese media waiting outside.

After all, in today's Japanese society, good news that can excite the people is very necessary.

The successful launch of the PS2 by Elf Entertainment has received rave reviews internationally, which is definitely rare good news for Japan's economy, which is visibly stagnant.

Faced with these long-awaited media, Hideki Hanyu and the senior executives of Elf Entertainment did not refuse the interview.

This was a critical period for the sales of the PS2 console, and they were eager for more opportunities to help expose the PS2 console, so how could they refuse?

Among the senior executives of Elf Entertainment, although the founder Hideki Hanyu received the most interviews, other senior executives were also sought after by the media.

At this time, the scene of everyone from Elf Entertainment being interviewed together was seen by a reporter from Neon Economic News.

He suddenly realized that there was a big difference between the senior executives of Elf Entertainment and the senior executives of other large companies in Neon.

That is, these people are very young.

Reporters are all familiar with the founder, Hideki Hanyu, and he is not even 28 years old yet.

The current helmsman of Elf Entertainment, President Satoru Iwata, is also a young man who has just turned 30.

Technical director Tetsuya Aragaki is also only 31 years old.

Even the oldest ones among the senior management are only in their forties.

The reporter suddenly felt that perhaps it was thanks to the leadership of such a group of "young people" that Elf Entertainment has achieved its current success.

Thinking of this, a piece of news has already begun to brew in the reporter's mind.

……

Neon time May 3rd.

morning.

Inside a PC detention center in a district of Tokyo, a guard opened the iron gate and spoke to a short and fat man inside.

"Honma, your bail has been approved. You can pack your things and leave."

Ten minutes later, Honma, who had seen the light of day again, got into the car that came to pick him up.

When the car arrived at the door of a chain bookstore with a "TSUTAYA" sign and very modern decoration, Honma suddenly asked the driver to stop.

Honma pointed to "TSUTAYA" and asked, "Can I buy newspapers here?"

“Yes, and in addition to newspapers and magazines, this store also sells music CDs and rents movie videos.

It’s strange to say, I rarely saw this bookstore a few years ago, but now I can see this sign wherever I go. The speed of its development is really amazing.”

The driver's mumbling words fell into Honma's ears, and his expression became complicated.

If I remember correctly, this "TSUTAYA" chain of bookstores seems to be related to Hideki Hanyu.

With the capital support of Hideki Hanyu, how could this "TSUTAYA" bookstore not develop rapidly?

Shaking his head, Honma threw the name Hanyu Hideki out of his mind.

Then he told the driver, "Go buy me some latest newspapers."

After being locked up for so long, Honma urgently needs to know everything about the outside world.

Reading the news is naturally the most convenient and efficient way.

Soon, the driver came back with several newspapers and handed them all to Honma.

But among these newspapers, the front-page report of Neon Economic News instantly attracted all of Honma's attention.

On the front page of this newspaper, there is a huge photo.

In the photo, Hideki Hanyu, who made Honma both fear and hate him, was leading a group of Elf Entertainment executives to accept media interviews outside the airport.

Honma's first reaction to the photo was almost exactly the same as the reporter who wrote this report.

That is because the senior executives of Elf Entertainment are too young.

After looking at the photo, read the title.

That's a headline that makes people unable to help but look sideways.

"They! The new power of the neon economy!"

I am so tired and sleep
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(End of this chapter)