"Hardware Z-buffering, that's truly a killer feature." An engineer drew a bullet point in their notebook. "We consume a huge amount of CPU resources processing polygon sorting on Jupiter, and they've solved it directly with hardware."
Masayuki Uemura's voice echoed through the venue.
"Anti-aliasing technology is also hardware-native," Uemura continued. "The edges of objects will be very smooth, no longer having mosaic-like jagged edges. What we provide is true 3D environment rendering; the lighting effects and fog effects have reached workstation-level standards."
He spoke very professionally, fully demonstrating the N64's advantages in polygon generation and visual effects.
The reactions from the audience varied.
Industry insiders quickly spotted the problem.
"He's dodging the real issue," a Sega engineer said to his companion. "The performance is indeed strong, a cut above both Jupiter and PlayStation. But he hasn't said a word about the storage medium's capacity."
The companion nodded.
"The current maximum capacity of a cartridge is only 64 megabytes. An optical disc is 600 megabytes," the companion lowered his voice. "No matter how powerful the performance is, without enough storage space to load high-quality textures and audio data, those polygons can only be covered with solid colors or low-resolution textures. He knows this is the biggest weakness, so he simply doesn't mention it."
Masayuki Uemura indeed didn't spend much time on the capacity issue.
He focused all his points on the computing power of the custom chip and the visual effects.
"The N64's performance is sufficient to support developers in building the most complex 3D game worlds," Masayuki Uemura concluded. "As for the actual game performance, there will be a more intuitive demonstration shortly."
He paused, clasping his hands in front of him.
The entire room went quiet.
Even the photographers stopped clicking their shutters.
Everyone knew that the next part was the key to determining the fate of this machine.
Pricing.
The history of game consoles proves that price often determines the market trend more than performance.
The 3D0, with its $699 price tag, had become a cautionary tale in the industry, hanging on retailer shelves, half-dead and ignored.
Of course, Atari's nearly dead Jaguar had more problems than just its pricing.
After a brutal price war, Sega's Jupiter and Sony's PlayStation had firmly pinned the threshold for next-generation consoles at one hundred ninety-nine dollars. This price had already become the industry standard in the minds of players. How would Nintendo respond? Masayuki Uemura didn't keep the audience in suspense, nor did he use any countdown gimmicks. "N64 will officially launch globally next month, on June 23, 1996."
The image on the big screen changed. On a black background, two lines of huge white numbers appeared. Japanese version: 25,000 yen. US version: $199. There was silence for two seconds in the audience. Then, enthusiastic applause and cheers erupted. The wave of sound almost blew the roof off the West Hall. Probst sat up straight, staring at the numbers on the big screen, speechless for a long moment. "One hundred ninety-nine dollars."
The Vice President gasped, turned to look at Probst, and said, "Are they crazy? With SGI chips plus the manufacturing cost of cartridges, this price is absolutely a loss. They're losing money on every unit sold." "No, they're not crazy," Probst said, starting to clap along. "Don't forget, the Nintendo 64 doesn't have an expensive optical disc drive." The GamePro editor heavily wrote the number "199" in his notebook and drew two big exclamation marks next to it.
"This price is devastating," the editor shouted to the photographer, trying to drown out the surrounding cheers. "The performance is stronger than the competition's, yet the price is the same. Nintendo has bet everything on this."
"Gamers will buy it," the photographer said, changing to a new roll of film. "For over a year, this number has been the psychological price point for the current generation of mainstream home consoles. Nintendo isn't acting high and mighty; they've lowered their stance. That's what's truly terrifying."
The atmosphere in the Sony North America executive area was heavy.
They had originally expected Nintendo to set a higher price due to the high cost of cartridges, perhaps $249 or even $299.
In that case, PlayStation could have relied on a price advantage to ensure its market share wouldn't be eroded.
Now, that price advantage had vanished.
The $199 N64, combined with Nintendo's powerful brand appeal, was enough to stir up a storm in the North American market.
The applause lasted for a full three minutes.
Masayuki Uemura stood on stage, looking at the seething crowd below.
This price had been set by the Kyoto headquarters after repeated calculations.
To drive down costs, Nintendo had made compromises in many unseen areas.
The hardware department and the finance department had argued for months before Hiroshi Yamauchi finally made the executive decision.
On this stage, Nintendo sent a clear signal to the entire industry: they were not backing down, and they were prepared for a brutal, close-quarters battle on the next-gen battlefield. Masayuki Uemura gave a simple bow. The applause gradually died down. "Hardware is just a vessel," Uemura said, straightening up and speaking into the microphone.
"What truly gives value to this silicon and plastic is the software that runs on it. Without fun games, even the most powerful specs are just a pile of scrap metal." He gestured toward the side of the stage. "Now, I'll hand over the time to the real star," Uemura raised his voice. "Please welcome the General Manager of Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis & Development Division, Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto."
He walked off the main stage amidst a new round of applause. The lights refocused on the center of the stage. Shigeru Miyamoto stood at the very front. He wasn't wearing a suit; his light blue shirt sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, and he held a grey game controller in his hand. The cameras and microphones below were all aimed at him.
"Everyone." Miyamoto spoke in English with a thick Japanese accent, his voice projecting through the microphone across the venue. "Department Head Uemura just talked about the hardware and the price. These numbers are important. But for players, the most direct experience is what's in their hands."
He held up the controller.
The big screen timely cut to a high-definition close-up of the device.
Media reporters in the audience leaned forward one after another.
The engineers from Sega of America also stopped their pens, staring at the big screen.
The layout of this controller was completely different from Nintendo's usual D-pad-oriented design, and it also had subtle differences from the prototype Uemura had just shown.
On the left was a rounded analog stick, with the D-pad moved to the lower right.
On the right was the classic ABXY four-button layout, with shoulder buttons on top and a trigger on the back.
The overall shape was full, with the grips forming two thick handles.
"What's interesting is that this is completely different from the 'Trident' design they had leaked internally last year."
The editor from GamePro whispered to the photographer, "Look at the position of its analog stick, top left."
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