Rebirth 1984: Starting with the development of Hanka

On September 1985, 9, Zhao Ye and his party returned to China.

As soon as he returned to China, Zhao Ye immediately went to the game console development department.

Wang Jizhi led Zhao Ye to the laboratory, took out a motherboard, and said to Zhao Ye, "Boss, this is a sample of a game motherboard. The developers are still testing it. If there is no problem, this is confirmed. Then we started designing cases for gaming motherboards.”

The development difficulty of game motherboard is actually much simpler than that of computer motherboard.

It is said that the birth of IBM-PC was based on the Atari game console.

Wang Jizhi's team has experience in developing Hanka, typewriters, and computer motherboards, so they are very comfortable developing game consoles.

Zhao Ye has pointed out the development direction and technical difficulties before, so it is really not difficult to develop this game console.

In the past life, what kind of technology did the company that created the Overlord game console have?

"Now for testing, I want to see how the game works!"

"Ok."

A staff member immediately connected the game motherboard to the TV, and then inserted a homemade game card. This game was also developed by Wang Jizhi and others as a small game for testing. It was modeled after FC's "Big Game". "King Kong" gameplay, but it is simpler. It is mainly used to test the game graphics, sound effects, etc. In terms of playability, it is not great.

Zhao Ye quickly frowned. The graphics of this game were worse than "Donkey Kong".

Seeing Zhao Ye's dissatisfied look, Wang Jizhi quickly explained: "Boss, due to the short time, this small game we developed based on Nintendo's "Donkey Kong" is relatively simple. It is mainly used to test whether the game motherboard can operate normally. I think. To test the performance limits of game motherboards, more complex games need to be developed. After all, no matter how powerful the game motherboard is, the graphics of the game software are simple and the effects cannot be measured."

Zhao Ye couldn't help but nodded when he heard this.

At this time, he suddenly thought that in order to enhance the game graphics, Nintendo also added a self-developed chip MMC to the game cartridge.

This MMC chip not only enhances the graphics, but also adds the function of saving games and support for multi-directional scrolling, making split-screen scrolling easier to execute. Split-screen scrolling is a pseudo-multi-scrolling effect widely used in FC games, which was very shocking at the time.

"I remember that Nintendo only developed the first MMC 1987 in 1, but I even know what the subsequent generations of MMC chips look like..."

When Zhao Ye thought of this, he couldn't help but smile.

“It seems that in order to enhance the game graphics, I first have to design an MMC chip. Although this will increase the cost of the game cartridge, the game graphics will be better, the gaming experience will be better, and it can also support game archiving.

Moreover, the memory can be expanded on the MMC chip, breaking through the storage capacity of game cartridges, allowing game developers to develop larger games. "

Nowadays, if you want to test the performance of game console motherboards, you first need to develop a powerful game cartridge.

Fortunately, this MMC chip is not very complicated. It is different from a microprocessor and its functions are much simpler.

Later, Zhao Ye called the game developer over.

From the RB side, 123 people came one after another. 122 people have also been formed here in the mainland. These people are top students that Wujiang Group has finally recruited from universities across the country, including programmers, artists, game music composers, etc...

Zhao Ye plans to develop "Dragon Quest", "Contra", "Red Fortress", "Saloman", "The Legend of Zelda", "Final Fantasy" and "Pokemon" together.

There are 245 developers working on seven game projects, with an average of 35 people per project, with the old leading the way.

Wang Jizhi and others were not idle either. Zhao Ye gave them a new task: to purchase CD patented technology from Sony and Philips. The next generation of game consoles must use CD discs.

CD is a technology jointly invented by Sony and Philips. In 1982, the Red Book standard for CD-DA laser discs was released.

If Wujiang Group wants to develop CD game consoles, it can only pay patents to these two companies.

There was no way, Zhao Ye was reborn too late.

However, DVD can still compete, but it does not mean that Wujiang Group wants to monopolize DVD standards, but that it will join forces with others to formulate standards together.

If you eat alone, I'm afraid no one will support the DVD standard set by Wujiang Group.

CDs and DVDs seem to be both compact discs, but they are actually two different products.

The capacity of ordinary CD is 700M, and the capacity of ordinary DVD is 4.7GB.

CD is used for video and music CDs such as VCD, SVCD and data recording, DVD is used for video and data recording such as DVD and MP3...

Purchasing CD patents will naturally enable the further development of VCD technology and the formulation of standards for VCD and Super VCD. Before the birth of DVD, Super VCD might be able to sell well all over the world.

After arranging everything, Zhao Ye flew to Shanghai and then went to Loongson Design Company.

It is not impossible for Zhao Ye to develop MMC chips by himself, but it will take a long time, so Zhao Ye plans to ask Loongson Design Company to dedicate a few people to help him.

A small conference room.

"MMC chip is a chip applied to game cartridges. Its main function is to enhance the game screen. It also has storage function, thereby increasing the storage capacity of the game cartridge..."

Zhao Ye talked endlessly about the functions, design directions and technical difficulties of MMC chips to the newly formed MMC chip design team.

When it comes time to actually design and develop the chip, Zhao Ye will be responsible for building the main architecture of the MMC chip, and then assign tasks to each member of the design team.

I just finished introducing MMC in the morning and went directly to the formal development process in the afternoon.

Don't waste a moment.

Not only does it take time to design a chip, but it also takes time to verify and mass produce the chip.

In addition, the development of new game cartridges (cartridges with MMC chips) also takes time, and will eventually be tested on console game boards.

Time is very tight.

……

In the Netherlands, Wang Jizhi and others came to Philips.

After meeting the senior management of Philips, Wang Jizhi expressed his intention to come.

"Hello, Mr. Larry Rutherford, our Wujiang Group plans to purchase Philips' patented technology license rights for recordable CD discs!"

Philips executive Larry Rutherford was slightly surprised when he heard this. Philips originally wanted to promote CDs, so he said to Wang Jizhi, "This is easy to discuss. Our company has already formulated a cooperation method. You can consider it: Every To produce a recordable CD, you only need to pay Philips a patent fee of 3.5 cents!”

When Wang Jizhi heard this, he almost cursed his mother.

It's so expensive, even though a CD is only 3.5 cents, but when the quantity increases, the patent fee is quite a lot. If the circulation of CDs exceeds 10 billion, wouldn't Philips have to pay US$3500 million?

Wang Jizhi immediately shook his head and said that he could not accept this price.

"It's too expensive, I can't accept it!"

Wang Jizhi said, "I think we should change our cooperation method. Wujiang Group directly buys out the CD technology patent license rights in one go. In the future, it will produce CD discs, no matter the quantity, without paying any patent fees to your company!" "

Before Larry Rutherford heard Wang Jizhi's quotation, he sternly refused: "Mr. Wang Jizhi, Philips will not authorize this method!!!"

Obviously, Larry Rutherford, or Philips, knows better about long-lasting water and how to harvest the wool for a longer period of time.

"So, let's continue the previous topic. Since you think 3.5 cents is a bit expensive, we can talk again. Philips is willing to reduce the base price by 3.5 cents per piece based on 0.25 cents."

Wang Jizhi shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Larry Rutherford, I need to ask my boss for instructions on this matter. Our company's purpose is to buy the CD patent license at one time. So, given this goal, If we cannot reach an agreement, we will have no choice but to terminate the negotiations."

After saying that, Wang Jizhi stood up and said goodbye to Larry Rutherford.

Back at the hotel, Wang Jizhi immediately reported the results of his first negotiation with Philips to Zhao Ye.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ye seemed to have anticipated the outcome of Wang Jizhi's trip, but he still had a sense of luck before letting Wang Jizhi give it a try.

"In that case, let's do what Philips says, but the price must come down. I only accept 2.5 cents per piece!"

"Okay, boss, I'll try my best to fight for it!"

"Well, that's it, hang up."

Zhao Ye hung up the phone and looked unhappy.

You are in the first year of junior high school and I am in the fifteenth year.

CD standard, I'm at a loss.

But for DVD standards, Wujiang Group will definitely seize a place and will also charge your money in this way!