Chapter 64: The American Gamers
After about two weeks had passed...
I decided to play basketball with the gamers in a 3-on-3 match after dinner to both digest the food and have some fun.
Although I had a rough understanding of the operating principles of the 3D acceleration device, there was so much work ahead. I needed to create the design plans and consult with the professors.
"Didn't you say you were going back to Japan next week?"
Jack and Rob, who had become close to me during our time spent working out and sharing beers, looked a bit lonely as my return date approached.
Rob, who had thoroughly enjoyed our Psych Battle sessions, even went as far as to ask for my autograph when the game officially launched.
If I had tried to use them solely for my benefit without understanding anything, we wouldn't have become this close. Programmers took pride in their own coding styles, and they were not quick to open up to those who didn't understand them. However, it seemed that they had some level of recognition for the effort I had put into brainstorming ideas, starting from BIOS setup.
I bounced the basketball on the floor, passing it to Rob in a bounce pass and said, "I'll keep my promise. I'll give you an autograph for Psych Battle!"
"Really?"
"Just kidding."
"Is that so? Well, your coding style is simple and clean, but it's not at the level of Psych Battle."
"I definitely designed part of it, but a friend who knows a lot about coding completely revamped it."
"Someone rewrote your code!?"
In one's coding, the individual programmer's habits were often ingrained. Some judged everything in their own way or proliferated flag rules, while others used esoteric language that only they understood. It was almost impossible for someone else to understand the structure of the code written by another and change it at will.
In Hayashi's case, perhaps because of his tidy nature, Chandra could have easily made changes, given the detailed indications for flag operations.
"You don't believe me? But it's true. Among the people I know, there's an incredible genius."
"Is he Japanese?"
"No, he's Indian."
"I see. I'd like to meet him someday."
"Why don't all of you come to Japan in the summer? I'll reserve a hotel for you."
"Really? Oh, the socialite has a different side, huh?"
"I'm a bit older, you know?"
As I received Rob's pass and bounced the ball on the floor, I bent my knees and took a shot from the three-point line.
Swish! The ball went through the net, creating a satisfying sound as it left the rim.
"Take it easy, one by one. There's no rush. When you come to Japan in the summer, just bring the blueprint with you."
"You say take it easy, but you want me to prepare the blueprint by summer? You have no conscience."
Jack, who had retrieved the ball that had bounced on the floor in the meantime, passed it back to me.
"Not confident? Well, that's a $50,000 performance bonus flying away. You have to be serious about it."
"You unlucky guy. Haha."
"If you think it's unfair, you should earn a lot of money too. Haha."
We continued to swear at each other and emptied our beers throughout the night.
...
The next day,
Gunpei's Gamboy, which had obtained sales qualifications in the United States, was set up as a display model in a corner of Wilson's premium store.
Even though the store was not yet open, kids who had come after seeing magazines were peeking inside from outside the door.
As my playful side emerged, I shook a Gamboy with a bizarre expression, and laughter could be heard from outside. Watching this scene, Eris, who was standing beside me, laughed and said, "Do you know how to make such a face, sir?"
"Aren't the kids waiting for the store to open cute?"
"It seems like they've come from media outlets, too. Sir, you might end up on the news. Haha."
At that moment, Wilson, who was looking outside, raised an eyebrow and said, "Hmm... And it seems like there are some Toy World employees."
When I turned my head in response to Wilson's words, I noticed a few people who appeared to be from Toy World.
When our eyes met, they averted their gazes, looking the other way.
The Mintendo family had been in constant conflict with Toy World since they had refused to supply them three years ago.
Finally, when the store's doors opened, the kids waiting outside rushed in and stood in front of the display.
I handed a Gamboy to a little kid and briefly explained how to use it.
Wilson was busy with interviews from the media as soon as the store opened, and Gunpei began taking pictures of the children gathering to prepare the report for headquarters.
At that moment, a young man snatched the Gamboy a kid was playing with and, along with his friend, inspected the game device, saying, "Ouch... The screen has too many residues, and it hurts my eyes! The CPU is too slow, and with this, playing fast-paced games is impossible, right? Just holding it makes my wrists ache."
"Your wrists shouldn't be strained when kids play with it. It's so heavy that if you accidentally drop it, it might break."
What's this? The audacity to criticize the device like that? It would be quite challenging to list all these downsides in just three seconds. But the expressions of the parents who had visited the store with their kids started to tense as they listened to the men.
"Well, it might be possible. Constantly looking at such a small screen might lead to vision problems."
"Expensive gaming devices like this, costing over $150, should not break so easily. It's too dangerous for our kids to play with toys like this..."
For such low-quality acting, it's quite an impressive performance. However, it was clear that these were valid concerns, so Wilson and the journalists interviewing him began to look suspiciously at the men.
"Sigh... I didn't want it to come to this."
I let out a long sigh and approached the man who had been holding the Gamboy, extending my hand.
"Can you give me the device for a moment?"
As a Mintendo employee, I politely requested, and the man handed me the Gamboy with an awkward expression.
"Is this too heavy for you? When this portable Gamboy is equipped with four batteries, it weighs 300g. If you find 300g heavy, you might need to exercise a bit. This game device is by no means lightweight. However, it's not so heavy that it strains your wrists. And..."
I tossed the Gamboy up and down in my hand, and as I repeated the process, the heads of the people in the store followed the device's up-and-down motion. Once I threw the Gamboy high enough to touch the store's ceiling, I took a step back.
"Don't be surprised."
"Huh? Uhh!?"
Kwoong! With a dull sound, the Gamboy, which had been in the air, hit the floor.
The impact was so strong that it caused a muffled sound, and the cartridge and batteries inside the device were ejected forcefully.
Everyone watched in shock as the Gamboy lay on the floor.
Amidst the stunned expressions, only Gunpei was smiling with a faint expression as he stood inside the store.
"Where did the cartridge go?"
As soon as it hit the ground, I found the ejected cartridge and batteries and reinserted them into the Gamboy. Then I returned the Gamboy to the man who had been wearing a dazed expression and said, "Check it."
"No way! I heard a completely destroyed sound; can it still work?"
With everyone inside the store holding their breath, the man, still looking skeptical, flipped the power switch. Ring~ A clear sound effect echoed, and the sound came out.
"It's perfectly fine...?"
Ignoring the bewildered man, I borrowed the Gamboy that a child was holding for a moment and pointed to a dial on the side.
"If you look here, there are two dials. One is for volume control, and the other is for 'contrast,' which means you can adjust the brightness. It shortens the battery life a bit, but by adjusting this dial, you can enjoy games on a sharper screen. However, what these gentlemen said is not wrong. If you play games for a long time, it can tire your eyes. But that happens when you read school textbooks for a long time too. If you focus on one object for an extended period, it's only natural that your eyes will get tired. So, the parents at home need to guide their children not to play games too much."
I knelt down and handed the Gamboy back to the child, saying, "Good kids should play for only one hour a day."
"Thank you."
"You answer well and seem smart."
After patting the child's head a few times, I stood up and looked at the men.
"I saw earlier that you practically used force to take away what another child was playing with. As adults, aren't you ashamed?"
"Are you ignoring us right now?"
Then, a child's mother pointed at the men and shouted, "Those guys were cutting in line outside the store earlier. They cut in line as they pleased and cursed at us while waiting. Kids were listening, and they were spewing vulgar language to the point that my face turned red."
Suddenly, the atmosphere in the store did a 180-degree turn. It was clear that the two men had been causing disruption. Everyone could see that they had been deliberately interfering with the business. The men slowly backed away and then rushed out through the store's front entrance.
I waved to them as they disappeared as if fleeing and shouted, "Tell Mr. Tom I said hello if you see him! He'll probably recognize the name Kang Junhyuk!"
After a slight hiccup, the portable Gamboy experience event continued.
When Wilson, who had finished the interview, returned, he looked at me and broke into a cold sweat.
"Why did you throw the Gamboy on the floor?"
"Of course, to clear up the consumers' misunderstandings."
"What if it had actually been destroyed? What then?"
At that moment, Gunpei, who had somehow approached us, answered Wilson's question.
"It won't break at all. In fact, as soon as the prototype was completed, our CEO Kamauichi threw a fully functional game device onto the cement floor."
"What did you say?"
"Here, even though there is a carpet, there was just a stone floor. Naturally, the prototype shattered into pieces. So, our CEO Kamauichi said this."
-It's a toy for kids to play with. Even if you throw it, it should be fine.-
"Uh..."
Wilson was bewildered by Gunpei's words. Well, I was taken aback at the time too. Suddenly throwing the machine onto the floor without any warning... the day Gunpei looked dumbfounded, that image crossed my mind, and I chuckled.
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