Reborn in Hong Kong as a Tycoon

Chapter 227 Progress in Mainframe R&D

After several expansions, the hardware R&D department of Xinghe Games has become larger and has more staff.

The head of the hardware department is Junhei Yokoi, who manages the hardware department and is also the main developer of the hardware.

When Lin Baicheng came to the hardware R&D department, Yokoi Junhei was leading his R&D talents to carry out research and development work. Lin Baicheng didn't bother, but watched silently through the glass outside.

Although Lin Baicheng didn't bother, Yokoi Junhei stopped the work at the reminder of his subordinates, arranged for people to continue the research and development, and walked out of the research and development room.

"President!"

"Yokoi, let's go to your office and talk."

Seeing Junhei Yokoi coming out, Lin Baicheng didn't say anything.

The two went to Yokoi Junhei's office. Yokoi Junhei, as the supervisor and main research and development personnel, is usually quite busy, so the company assigned him a secretary.

After pouring coffee for the two of them, the secretary went out first.

Lin Baicheng said to Yokoi Junping: "Yokoi, I want to know how far the company's mainframe has been developed, please tell me."

"Okay, President."

Everything related to the game console is in Yokoi's mind, so he said directly: "We have already decided on the configuration of the console. The research and development technology of the console is actually not too difficult, but the difficult thing is to bypass the Atari Therefore, this requires continuous research and development to verify new technologies, which will take time. Judging from the current progress, if there are no accidents, the research and development will probably be completed by this time next year."

The hardware research and development department now needs money and people, so Yokoi Junhei is full of confidence.Of course, the premise of all this is that there is no card owner in a certain key technology. If you suddenly encounter a technology that is difficult to overcome, there is no way.

Similarly, if there are R&D talents who suddenly have flashes of inspiration and overcome difficulties one by one, the R&D time will also be advanced.However, this possibility is also very small and is not included in the normal time.

"Tell me a little bit about the difference between the configuration of the mainframe and the configuration of the Atari mainframe."

In total, it took more than a year. Although a lot of money has been spent, Lin Baicheng is still satisfied with the progress.

Yokoi Junhei nodded and said: "First of all, let's compare the most important processors for the host. Atari uses a 1.19MHz MOS 8-bit 6507 processor, while we use a 1.5MHz 6502 processor. It can make the host machine run more smoothly. Then there is the screen resolution, Atari uses a 160*192 display, and we use a higher resolution, the effect is that the picture is clearer.”

"There is also memory, not only the memory of the mainframe is higher than that of the Atari mainframe, but also the memory of the game cartridge. Atari's memory capacity is 4KB, and we support 10KB. The higher the capacity of the game cartridge, the more games that can be produced. It's getting bigger."

“As for other relatively common accessories, we don’t think it’s necessary to increase it, because if the configuration of all accessories is improved, the cost of the game console will only continue to increase. Nowadays, the cost of our game console is already very high. The higher self fears that every time we sell a piece of equipment, we're going to lose money."

After listening to Junhei Yokoi, Lin Baicheng asked: "Based on the current configuration standards set by your hardware department, how much does it cost to produce a game console? Let's consider the cost based on the production volume of 100 million consoles."

For electronic products such as game consoles, the more output, the lower the cost.Of course, we can't just keep increasing production capacity just to keep costs down. If the produced products can't be sold and are put in the warehouse to eat ashes, the losses will only increase.

However, Lin Baicheng is very confident in the game console market. As long as there are no problems with the console product and it is equipped with high-quality software games, there will definitely be a market for this game console, so there is no need to worry about it.

"President, I can't give you a specific cost price right now, because the cost price of the mainframe depends on how much discount each accessory manufacturer can give us."

Yokoi shook his head, producing 100 million mainframes, and the number of accessories is enough, so it is natural to negotiate with the manufacturer, but how much can be negotiated, how can we know now.

Lin Baicheng nodded to express his understanding: "I know this, you just need to give me a rough price."

"That's it."

Yokoi Junhei thought for a while, and after making a rough estimate in his mind, he said: "As long as the accessory manufacturers don't suddenly increase the price a lot, the cost price of the mainframe should not exceed 250 US dollars at most, and it will be around 220 US dollars. How did you talk with the parts supplier?"

Saying that, Yokoi Junhei explained: "President, it is true that Atari's host is priced at $199, but our configuration is better than it, so the cost will naturally be higher."

"I understand that."

The higher cost was expected by Lin Baicheng, and the current cost price did not exceed the price in Lin Baicheng's heart, so he could accept it.Although it is impossible to make money from the mainframe at such a price, because it is impossible for him to sell the mainframe too expensive, and there is even the possibility of losing money, but it is fine for the mainframe to lose some money, as long as it can be earned back from the cassette.

"Yokoi, let me ask you, if our company wants to make chips, displays, memory, processors, etc. by itself, can we do it?"

"President, this is simply impossible."

Yokoi Junhei was a little surprised that Lin Baicheng would ask such a question, but he still said truthfully: "We don't have relevant technology, even if we want to start from scratch, we have no clue, unless we acquire relevant companies and obtain relevant technology, even if it is not the most advanced technology in the world, You can catch up slowly, but it will cost astronomical sums of money."

"Money is not a problem. I will let you know that the company will master important accessory technologies in the next few years. Let's start with display and memory technologies."

Lin Baicheng said that from the future, he is very aware of the technological blockade imposed by Western countries on China, so he needs to prepare early.Although there will be a lot of money invested at the beginning, and it is impossible to recover the cost in a short time, it is a necessary investment.

If Lin Baicheng wants to make a mobile phone in the future, he must master technologies such as chips, display screens, and memory.

After hearing this, Yokoi Junhei couldn't help but think of the Sharp company he used to work for. Sharp company is mainly engaged in electronic appliances, and the display screen is also the main business of Sharp company, and it is doing well.Therefore, if the company needs it, he can use Sharp's relationship to import display technology from Sharp.

But it's still too early to say these things, so Yokoi Junhei didn't say what he thought in his heart.As a hardware R&D engineer, the boss of the company wants to master more technologies, and Yokoi Junhei is happy to see the results. He just wonders if the boss will have so much money to make electronic products in so many industries in the future.

(End of this chapter)