Chapter 178 Lithium Battery
Amid the roaring sounds of racing cars, Ken Kutaragi announced the specifications of the PlayStation.
"We are using a dedicated CPU based on the YX architecture provided by Yuanxin Technology, running at 66MHz," he said.
"At the same time, it features the Sirius graphics core developed by Xinghai Technology, supporting both polygonal 3D and full 2D rendering. This core offers display capabilities comparable to high-end graphic workstations!"
"In addition, we are equipping it with 3MB of memory, 1MB of video memory, and our best sound chip yet..."
As Ken Kutaragi spoke, everyone was captivated by the console's specs.
Based purely on specifications, this gaming console could indeed be considered a revolutionary product.
After pausing the demo, Ken Kutaragi looked at the eagerly awaiting crowd and announced the price and release date.
"January 10th next year, $299."
After delivering the final announcement, Kutaragi bowed and exited the stage.
The crowd was momentarily stunned—then erupted into enthusiastic applause.
...
Su Yuanshan made his way through the crowd toward Sony's main exhibition booth.
Ken Kutaragi was hiding behind a screen, gulping down water. When he spotted Su Yuanshan, he immediately waved for an employee to let him in.
"Congratulations," Su Yuanshan said, glancing back at the many software vendors and gaming industry figures gathering at the booth.
Ken Kutaragi shook Su Yuanshan's hand vigorously and, finally, managed to utter a "Thank you" in Chinese.
When Kutaragi had visited the provincial capital before, he had humbly sought Su Yuanshan's advice on how best to launch the PlayStation.
At that time, there was no prestigious E3 Expo yet.
Gaming consoles were typically launched at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January in Las Vegas.
If you missed that, the next chance would be the NAB Broadcasting Show in April.
Miss both, and it meant your development progress was in trouble—you'd have to rely on your own distribution channels or TV ads.
Thanks to the combined efforts of multiple teams, the PlayStation's development had moved faster than expected.
By July, Kutaragi already knew they could showcase an engineering prototype in October.
Originally, Kutaragi planned to use the next three months to ramp up production, court game developers, and then, in January, deliver a "fatal blow" at CES.
Two years ago, in 1991's CES, Sony had enthusiastically announced its partnership with Nintendo, revealing plans for a CD-ROM add-on and the PlayStation console itself.
It was like a low-level player being carried by a high-level ally in a game.
But before even defeating the first mini-boss, the high-level ally (Nintendo) kicked Sony out of the party.
That humiliation... Kutaragi had sworn he would repay.
And January would mark exactly three years.
However, when he met Su Yuanshan in August, Su advised him there was no need to wait.
The current PlayStation had an absolute technical advantage.
Sony didn't need to hide it.
Sony's only real problem was that, as a newcomer to the gaming industry, they didn't have enough developers willing to back them.
Thus, instead of waiting for CES, they could—and should—reveal the PlayStation at October's distributor conference, flaunting their hardware superiority and openly recruiting partners.
Lower royalty fees than Nintendo.
Lower entry barriers.
More relaxed content approvals.
No limits on the number of games developed.
And a game console with an unbeatable price-to-performance ratio.
If that didn't attract game developers, then the problem wasn't Sony's.
It was the developers' problem.
They had knelt before Nintendo for so long, they couldn't stand up anymore.
"The next three months will be Nintendo's worst nightmare," Su Yuanshan had said.
"They can only pray that none of PlayStation's launch titles become hits.
Beyond that, there's nothing they can do."
With that, Su Yuanshan had casually sentenced Nintendo to death.
Ken Kutaragi smiled but shook his head. "It might not be that easy. After all, they are still the most powerful gaming company, with huge developer networks and a loyal player base."
"Trust me," Su Yuanshan said confidently.
"As long as PlayStation delivers a technical knockout, it will be extremely hard for Nintendo to recover.
Unless they invent an entirely new way of playing games."
In the original timeline, people often said Final Fantasy VII helped the PS1 defeat Nintendo.
But in truth, wasn't it the PlayStation that made Final Fantasy VII possible?
Su Yuanshan also thought of Nintendo's last stand—the Wii.
Without the Wii, Nintendo might indeed have been sealed away permanently by Microsoft and Sony.
But in this life... Su Yuanshan wasn't going to give Nintendo that chance.
"I believe in your judgment," Ken Kutaragi said with a nod.
At that moment, he glanced toward the central stage and reminded, "Your beautiful CEO is starting her presentation."
Su Yuanshan turned and saw Chen Jing standing on stage, holding up Yuanxin's first mobile phone under the blinding flashes of countless cameras.
"Heh, just a small product," Su Yuanshan said casually. "Nothing to be too proud of."
Yet even as he said that, he folded his arms and watched Chen Jing intently.
Chen Jing, speaking fluent English, introduced the phone's specifications—its dimensions, weight, signal strength, battery life, and more.
But as Su Yuanshan had noted, there wasn't much to boast about with feature phones at the time—their primary function was simply making calls. Even SMS messaging would take a few more years to become mainstream.
More mature companies focused on exterior design;
less mature ones prioritized signal strength and battery life.
For Yuanxin's phones, the goal was mainly to make an impression. Their real battlefield would be the domestic market, while Xinghai would handle overseas.
Of course, if the Western market showed interest, Su Yuanshan wouldn't mind selling a few units there.
After introducing the phone, Chen Jing then held up a CPU.
The YX02, running at 100MHz, was a RISC-based CPU—arguably the most mature and powerful RISC processor at that moment.
Especially after Sony had just announced it would use the YX architecture, audience interest surged.
"It seems RISC CPUs still have a tough road breaking into the Western market," Su Yuanshan said, frowning slightly as he observed the audience's lukewarm reaction.
"These guys really believe in 'good enough is enough.'"
Ken Kutaragi smiled and said, "It's hard for any new product to break into the Western market these days."
Su Yuanshan chuckled.
Two semiconductor agreements and a soaring yen had already devastated Japan's semiconductor industry.
America wasn't boiling frogs in warm water—they were boiling them alive.
"You'll be fine, though," Su Yuanshan said. "You focus on consumer electronics. That gives you an advantage."
They chatted idly until Chen Jing finished her presentation.
Then, as if casually, Su Yuanshan asked,
"By the way, Mr. Kutaragi, how's your mobile phone project coming along?"
He asked because he knew that Sony's first mobile phones wouldn't appear until after 1995—and even then, they would mainly stay confined to Japan.
"Hmm?" Ken Kutaragi hesitated, then shook his head. "It's a bit difficult."
"Then why not give up?" Su Yuanshan smiled. "We can license our complete mobile solution to you."
Ken Kutaragi was startled again.
He wasn't sure why Su Yuanshan was suddenly offering this license. Was it just about making money?
But then he realized—no, that couldn't be it.
Yuanxin wasn't short of money.
Sony, on the other hand, was.
"What do you want in exchange?" Ken Kutaragi asked cautiously.
"Lithium batteries," Su Yuanshan answered without hesitation.
Then he added, "We're also researching lithium batteries ourselves...
and we might have found a relatively safe cathode material."
"What?"
Ken Kutaragi almost bit his tongue in shock.
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