Hisao Oguchi looked at the report and felt the heavy weight on his shoulders.
Takuya Nakayama was forcing him to grow quickly and take over the daily operations of the Sega gaming empire.
"I understand, Managing Director. I will take on the burden of the Development Department," Hisao Oguchi stated solemnly.
"There is one more thing." Hisao Oguchi took an invitation out of his pocket. "A fax from the IDSA. They want you to be the association's representative and deliver the keynote speech at this year's E3 opening ceremony."
At last year's E3, Sega had stolen the limelight, establishing its position as an industry hegemon. The Interactive Digital Software Association was handing this opportunity to show their faces over to Sega this year, which was also a way of currying favor with Sega.
Takuya Nakayama didn't even look at the invitation.
"Decline it."
"Decline it?" Hisao Oguchi was a bit surprised. "This is a great opportunity to show the world's media Sega's influence. Sony and Nintendo have been pulling strings behind the scenes for this speaking slot."
"Let them fight over it," Takuya Nakayama said, lifting his teacup. "Sega's current market share speaks for itself; we don't need an opening keynote to prove our relevance. Let Ken Kutaragi or Minoru Arakawa go up on stage and spout empty industry visions. We'll focus our energy on the exhibition hall, getting players to line up to demo our games and getting distributors to sign massive orders in the business rooms. That's worth far more than any speech."
A true hegemon doesn't need to shout hoarsely into a microphone.
Hisao Oguchi took back the invitation. "I'll go reply to the IDSA right now and tell them you have a scheduling conflict and cannot attend."
The scene shifts across the ocean.
In an office building on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas, in the United States.
The id Software office was filled with the smell of pizza and soda.
Several high-spec PC screens were running a test version of Quake.
Full-3D polygonal monsters roamed through dark corridors, with light sources casting real-time dynamic shadows as the player moved.
John Carmack sat at a computer, his fingers flying across the keyboard.
The underlying code for "Quake" was basically finalized, leaving the remaining level design and numerical fine-tuning for John Romero to tinker with.
Carmack was now pouring all his energy into another grand project.
On the screen were lines of extremely concise C code.
This was the draft of the core math library for the UE engine.
The phone on the desk rang.
Carmack pressed the speakerphone button, his eyes still fixed on the screen.
"John, this is Mark Cerny," Cerny's voice came from the other end, accompanied by the ambient noise of Los Angeles streets.
"Speak," Carmack said, frugal with his words.
"The registration procedures for the foundation have all been completed in Delaware. The tax-exempt status for the non-profit organization has also been approved. The first two million dollars in seed funding promised by Sega will be wired into the foundation's account tomorrow," Cerny reported on the progress.
Carmack stopped his typing.
A few months ago, in that simple meeting room at the E3 exhibition in Los Angeles, the crazy idea proposed by Takuya Nakayama was gradually becoming reality.
"Has the hardware interface documentation from NVIDIA arrived?" Carmack asked.
A few months ago, in that simple meeting room at the Los Angeles E3 exhibition, the crazy idea proposed by Takuya Nakayama was gradually becoming a reality.
"Have the hardware interface documents from NVIDIA arrived?" Carmack asked.
"Jensen Huang has dispatched two senior engineers, bringing the latest graphics accelerator card engineering samples, flying to Dallas tomorrow. They will assist you in streamlining the low-level API calling logic," Cerny replied.
Carmack picked up the flat cola beside him and took a sip.
"From Japan, Yuji Naka has packed up several mature 2D rendering modules and physics collision code from within Sega and sent them over," Cerny continued. "As you requested, they have all been made into pluggable plugin formats. The legal documents for the MIT open-source license are also ready."
Everything was ready.
"Has the venue for the E3 exhibition been coordinated?" Carmack asked the most critical question.
"Sorted. Takuya Nakayama stepped in and had the IDSA approve a medium-sized conference hall next to the central exhibition hall. It doesn't belong to Sega, nor does it belong to id Software; it is rented entirely in the name of the UE Engine Foundation," Cerny's voice was tinged with excitement. "Now, all the tech media in the US are guessing what big move you're planning at E3. Some say you're going to announce 'Quake II', others say you're building your own hardware."
Carmack tossed the cola can into the trash bin.
"Tell them that what I'm about to announce is far more interesting than those boring guesses."
Carmack tossed the soda can into the trash bin.
"Tell them that what I'm about to announce is far more interesting than those boring guesses." Carmack leaned back in his chair, staring at the code on the screen that represented the infrastructure of the future industry.
"Do you need to prepare a speech?" Cerny asked. "After all, you'll be facing so many media outlets and developers."
"No need." Carmack refused flatly. "My job is just to draw the engine's architecture on the whiteboard and tell them how it works and what problems it solves. As for the sentimental, flowery speeches, that's a job for businessmen. I'm a programmer."
The call ended.
Carmack placed his hands back on the keyboard.
Tokyo, Sega Headquarters.
Takuya Nakayama received an email from Mark Cerny confirming the progress on Carmack's end.
The release of the UE engine would be the game-changer at this year's E3 exhibition.
Late February 1996, Tokyo.
The cold snap had yet to fade, and a chilly wind swept a few withered leaves across the glass curtain wall of the Sega headquarters building.
Inside the executive office, it was warm and cozy.
Takuya Nakayama leaned back against his leather chair, holding a copy of that day's Yomiuri Shimbun.
The cold wave had not yet receded, and a cold wind swept a few withered leaves across the glass curtain wall of the Sega headquarters.
Inside the executive office, it was warm and cozy.
Takuya Nakayama leaned back in his leather chair, holding a copy of that day's Yomiuri Shimbun.
The front page of the entertainment section featured a massive poster of Woody and Buzz Lightyear.
Bold headlines read: "Hollywood CG Animation Miracle Lands in Japan, Setting a New Record for Opening Day Box Office."
The door was pushed open.
Hisao Oguchi walked in, clutching a thick stack of fax papers.
"The $200 million box office in the US has whetted the appetite of movie fans around the world." Takuya Nakayama tossed the newspaper onto the table and pointed to the chair opposite him. "Sit. Tell me the data."
"The first-week summary from our European division and the Japanese domestic retail sector." Hisao Oguchi pulled out a chair, sat down, and handed over the top sheet. "This storm is even more ferocious than what we experienced in North America during Thanksgiving. Because of the three-month buildup of word-of-mouth from the US market, this explosion in other regions has been comprehensive."
Before this, the focus within Sega had already begun to shift toward the E3 exhibition in May.
No one expected that the release of Toy Story outside of North America would smash open a consumer frenzy during the spring season comparable to the year-end shopping rush.
"Empire Cinema in Leicester Square, London, UK." Hisao Oguchi flipped through his memorandum. "On the day of the premiere, the queue outside the theater wrapped around three blocks. The Sega European division set up six demo kiosks in the cinema lobby, and within two hours, the backup Jupiter consoles and game bundles were sold out by parents. The situation in Paris and Berlin is much the same."
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