Chapter 61: The American Gamers
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
MIT was one of the prestigious universities in the United States, alongside Harvard. If Harvard was considered a university for elites, then MIT could be seen as a university for geniuses.
Similar to South Korea's KAIST, it was a gathering of eccentric individuals with exceptional talents in the fields of science and engineering. MIT had produced the fifth-highest number of Nobel laureates among its professors and graduates in the world. It was even jokingly referred to as the "Nobel Academy of MIT."
"By the way, what brings you to MIT, Alice?"
"The first-ever game, you say? Well, I've never really thought about it. Where was the first game made?"
"Right where we're going."
"What? They made the first game at MIT?"
"In 1962, MIT students created Spacewar!, the first game to use graphics technology. It became extremely popular among MIT hackers at the time, but it failed to commercialize."
"I see. But as far as I know, MIT has completely abandoned game development since the Atari Shock. Is it okay?"
"We're not going to MIT to find game developers."
"Then why?"
"Well, MIT is a place where people come up with interesting ideas using computers. We're just checking if there are any promising talents to keep in mind."
"Are you scouting for Mintendo?"
"I'm not sure."
When I replied with a strange smile, Alice raised the corner of her lips.
"Once again, it seems like you have some hidden agenda, just like Wilson's shop?"
Although Alice was affiliated with Mintendo, she was one of the employees who had some knowledge of my secrets, just like Wilson.
Whenever we expanded the Mintendo Premium Store, she acted as a legal witness along with Wilson, and I compensated her with a certain amount every month under the pretext of fees.
She had gone through the process of building Mintendo's American branch together with me three years ago, and she continued to support Yamashita until Mintendo established itself in the American market.
I just smiled and looked out of the window at Alice's words.
After a while, we arrived near MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was the vacation season, but the streets were bustling with tourists and students.
"I thought it would be quiet because it's vacation, but I don't know if it's fortunate or unfortunate..."
As I got out of the car, I mumbled to myself while looking around.
Checking my wristwatch, it was a little past 1 PM. We had driven for about three and a half hours from New York, so Alice also seemed tired as she stretched herself after getting out of the car.
"Shall we go in right away, or would you like to have a meal first?"
"Sure. I was a bit hungry anyway."
We entered a hamburger restaurant near the university where students were most likely to eat. As soon as we walked into the restaurant, the rich smell of grilling meat tickled my senses, and I couldn't help but salivate.
"This place seems to be quite famous."
Alice also seemed to like it, and her face was filled with a big smile. After waiting at the entrance for a moment, a waiter approached and showed us to our table. Alice and I both ordered hamburgers.
A while later, when sizzling hamburger steaks were brought to our table, I took out my camera from my bag.
"What's the camera for?"
"It's a request from a friend in Japan. They asked me to take pictures of the food we eat in the U.S. Can you wait a moment?"
Following Yuki's request, I aimed my camera at the appetizing food that had just been served and pressed the shutter button.
"Food pictures? Your friend is quite unique. Is it your girlfriend?"
"Yes, she's a friend who works as an assistant producer at a broadcasting station."
"Assistant producer? Director, do you have a girlfriend?"
"Well... I do have a friend I met with good feelings..."
"Wow, congratulations. I thought Director Kang was too busy with work to be interested in women."
"I am busy with work, but she understands me."
"She seems like a good person. If I ever go to Japan, please introduce me to her."
"Sure, I'll consider it."
Surprisingly, Alice's nonchalant congratulations reminded me of our parting at the airport three years ago. I casually asked her.
"Alice, do you have a boyfriend?"
"Me? Of course, I do! I'm quite popular, you know!"
Well, a beauty like her wouldn't have waited for me for three years. I chuckled at my own absurd delusion and started cutting the steak. That's when an interesting conversation from the adjacent table caught my attention.
"So, did you try running the file I gave you yesterday?"
"Yeah. At first, I didn't get it just by looking at the screen, but when I tried moving the arrow keys, I thought I was going to faint."
"Heh heh. It's fun, isn't it? Did you feel like you were trapped in a real maze?"
"No, but how did you even come up with the idea of creating 'space' inside the monitor?"
Space? While cutting my steak with a knife, I paused as I heard the conversation of the two men at the neighboring table. Alice asked me, "Director, why are you suddenly like this?"
"Shh, just a moment."
I continued to listen attentively to the young men's conversation as I slowly sliced the meat.
"I originally wanted to examine the interior in multiple dimensions, but I realized something interesting during the last art class."
"Art class? Oh, you mean when you were making that triangular plaster sculpture?"
"Yeah, exactly. To create that triangular plaster sculpture, you need a tetrahedron. I was going to try making it with a computer. It turned out to be easier than I thought."
"You made that with computer graphics?"
"I couldn't do it in the end."
"Why?"
"With the current performance of my computer, I can only represent a single triangle. If I try to do more, it puts an enormous strain on the system. So, I just connected the vertices to create a simple maze for now."
You made a maze by connecting vertices in a monitor? Considering what that guy is saying, it's a typical FPS basic structure, isn't it? I put my fork down and focused on their conversation.
"So, my point is, I think in the future, there will be a need for a specialized device to assist with graphic processing, just like today's CPUs. Something like a GPU, I guess?"
"We already have VGA cards for that."
"VGA cards only handle the output from the CPU to the monitor. What I'm talking about is a device that can directly control the graphic calculations in cooperation with the CPU."
In that moment, I silently exclaimed 'bingo' and smiled, with my eyes closed. He hit the nail on the head.
"Director, why have you been like this since earlier? You haven't even eaten."
"Alice..."
"Yes?"
"I don't think there's any need to go inside the school."
"What do you mean?"
"I've already found the person I was looking for."
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