Game Market 1983

Chapter 51



Chapter 51

Chapter 51


Chapter 51



Currently, I had around 2 . 2 billion Yen in my bank account . My financial situation hadn’t changed much from when I first arrive at this era .


I had invested in over six premium shops in New York City, as well as sponsoring the cartridge production for Dragon Emblem with my money . Although the game was a huge success, it was hard for me to see any noticeable returns .


Thankfully, I was able to procure some profits for myself with the specialty chip which improved the Family’s capabilities that Chandra had invented .


I was in the same financial situation from back then, but I built up an excellent social presence as well as a vast business network that allowed me to recruit MIT engineering majors…


Would I be unhappy?


“Aren’t you the elated one, Director Kang!”


“Is it obvious?”


“Very much so . ”


“Ah~ I should head back to the office and work on my facial expressions then . Miss Elise, you have to keep today’s events a secret from Mr . Yamashita and Mr . Gunpei . ”


“?????????” (Of course, Director . )


“Oh~ Your accent is great!”


“After you flew back to Japan, I’ve been practicing Japanese by myself [relentlessly] . ”


“Do you still want to work at the Mintendo HQ?”


“Of course . I’m still learning Japanese so maybe in 1~2 years? I do want to be employed at the HQ as soon as possible, if it wasn’t for Mr . Yamashita and James…”


“James?”


“Ah, he’s my boyfriend . Also, I have a dinner planned with him today, do you want to come with us?”


“Me? Eyy~ I’m good . I don’t want to be the third wheel b*stard intruding on your date . ”


“He’s not the type to care about that, not to mention me . It’s fine!”


No, I’m not fine…


As I politely refused her offer with an awkward smile, Elise did not ask anymore .


&


“Then, I’ll see you tomorrow, Director Kang~ . ”


“Drive safely, Miss Elise . I hope your date goes well~ . ”


Vroom~


After dropping me off in front of Mr . Wilson’s store, Elise immediately steered her car to the departing lane and drove off .


I stared at the back of Elise’s car until it disappeared before turning my head around to look at Mr . Wilson’s store . As it was the holiday season, there were many bustling customers inside the store .


A crowd was gathered around the experimental trial station near the display window, trying out our various games . Amongst them, a few were able to clear the stages and were happily holding the corresponding prizes .


Morita’s illustrations were especially popular as one of the prizes; He’d love to hear about this when I go back to Japan .


&


Dawn . I borrowed a car from Mr . Yamashita and visited MIT .


The distance from New York to Boston was around 350km . It wasn’t a short ride by any means, but I felt the necessity to oversee the development, so I could better explain it to Chandra .


Thankfully, MIT did not restrict outsiders from entering; I was able to find my way into the ‘Hack+’ club room without much trouble .


The 7 members from yesterday were gathered around a table holding a meeting .


After all, inventing a computer part from scratch wasn’t an easy task . The very first step was constructing a blueprint for the development goals .


“Ah, hello again . ”


As I entered the room, 7 different pairs of eyes immediately focused onto me . A few shifted their gazes to my backside . Were they looking for Elise? Unfortunately, Elise was currently working with Mr . Yamashita .


“Is he our patron? He looks be around the same age as us . Does he know how to speak English?”


“Yeah, don’t worry . He’s really good . ”


John reintroduced me to everyone again . The average age of the students was in their early 20s, so my physical body was a little older . However, I became friendly with them after a few conversations .


As the meeting resumed, I sat down in a corner and began to take notes .


“As John said earlier, I agree that we would need an independent memory for a device that would lessen the burden on the CPU . If both the CPU and our VGA were sharing a single memory, it’s bound to overload . ”


“The price of production would increase, but we have no choice but to add a separate memory to decrease the load on the CPU . Before we draw the outline, let’s run through the logistics . ”


In response to Rob’s statement, I tilted my head and asked .


“Already? You guys haven’t bought the necessary parts yet . ”


“What are you talking about, the materials are already here . ”


Rob pointed at the pile of computer parts in the corner of the room and flashed a grin . Contrary to my expectation, the method they came up with was simple . I thought these MIT geniuses would think up some extraordinary development method, but the first plan proposed by Rob was utilizing 2 computers .


It was the “brute force method” but was nonetheless effective . By linking two motherboards together, one would be used to handle the CPU while the other would render the graphics . With this, both motherboards would be able to utilize the 1 MB of memory independently . But would it be this easy?


Even if the two motherboards were connected, a ‘driver’ to configure the memory card to graphic rendering was needed .


This was their first hurdle; They needed to rewrite the Bios setting for the memory to be optimized for graphics rendering .


“This isn’t going to be easy . We should set up the Bios first before we draw out our next plan . ”


The other team members nodded to Rob’s words before adding in their own comments . If Chandra were here, he would’ve been able to exchange ideas with the team . What a shame…


&


Like that, 10 days had passed .


“Hey… it’s working!”


As Jack shouted out, the members and I who were inside our sleeping bags rubbed our eyes open . During the past 10 days of me working with them on the graphic driver, I had adopted their exact lifestyle .


“It is!! F*ck!!”


“Wh, What!? What’s working?”


I jumped down from my bed and took a look at the monitor . On display was 2 pyramid-shaped polygons which were spinning in a clockwise direction, albeit with a bit of static .


“Oh!! F*ck!! Jesus Christ!!”


Shouts of joy exploded from all around the room as various figures erupted from their sleeping bags and rushed towards the monitor . The connected PCs were operating as a single unit with two independent memories .


We huddled together and pranced around like the seven dwarves from Snow white . The graphic might’ve looked pathetic to the moderners, but this was a huge step forward for us . But our joy was short-lived… As we were whooping and hooting, Rob looked at the graphic rendering motherboard with a serious expression and opened his mouth .


“But how are we going to reduce an entire computer to the size of a chip?”


The room turned silent . Now… the joyful mood was gone . Was it time to bring up the “magical” bonus compensation talk?


&


Yet another 2 weeks had passed…


After dinner, I was playing a 3:3 basketball match with the team . We had figured out a general outline for the 3D rendering chip, but there was still too much work . They had to consult their professors for some of the complex technicalities to draw a blue print .


“You said you were flying back to Japan next week?”


Jack and Rob were wearing despondent expression as my departure date drew nearer; we had become close during the past few weeks exercising and drinking together . Especially Rob, who had been an avid fan of Psychic Battle, requested me to send him a signature from the developer of the game .


If I had only been thinking about using them for their skills, I would never have formed a friendship with them . Programmers had a certain pride in their unique method of coding, and they would never open up to others who didn’t understand their methods . As I had been working with them since the Bios setup, they must’ve acknowledged me to some extent .


Bounce~


I bounce passed the ball to Rob as I spoke .


“I will keep my promise . A signature from the developer of Psychic Battle~!!”


“Yeah~!! Thanks for remembering . But who exactly is the main programmer of Psychic Battle?”


“Me . ”


“What!?”


“Just kidding~ . ”


“Of course you were joking . You can code efficiently, but it’s not to the extent of Psychic Battle~ . ”


“I really am the main developer . But my friend completely reorganized my code . ”


“You really are the developer!? Aside from that, your friend was able to rewrite your entire code!?”


Each programmer had their unique method of coding; they would organize class and loops in a certain way, so it was very difficult for someone else to be able to rewrite the entire code their way .


“You can’t believe it either, right? But it’s the truth . He’s a genius . ”


“Is he Japanese?”


“No, Indian . ”


“Oh . I hope I get a chance to meet him . ”


“You should bring the entire crew to Japan in the summer . I’ll book a hotel for you guys . ”


“Really? You’re great!”



As soon as Rob passed the ball, I bounced the ball once before bending my knees to shoot from the 3-point line .


Shhpp~!!


The ball dropped from the hoop along with the satisfying thump sound .


“Take things slowly . All you have to do is finish the blueprint by summer . ”


“You said take it easy and want us to have the blueprint ready by summer . You have no soul~ . ”


Jack came over and passed the ball on the ground back to me .


“You don’t think you can do it? Oh well~ I guess you won’t receive your bonus~”


“You miserable b*stard~ Keke . ”


“If you think it’s unfair, go earn money yourself~ Haha~ . ”


We emptied the entire bottle of beer while we cursed each other into the night .


&


The next day .


After acquiring the license to sell the Gamboy, Mr . Wilson was installing the display model in front of a premium store .



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