Chapter 189: Lao Ren's Outrageous Operation
"Have all models been localized?" Baichuan Feng looked around at his own Walkman.
"Hai, except for the Walkman body, the packaging and the manual are all translated into English."
Yamaguchi, the director of the manufacturing department, stood behind Shirakawa Kaede and explained patiently.
This is the first batch of goods ready to be shipped to the United States across the ocean. Some of the inscriptions and logos on the casing have all been changed to English.
And in order to adapt to the US market and to differentiate it from local products.
Some differentiated changes have been made to the color scheme, replacing it with blue, green and other colors that the American people prefer.
Baichuan Feng is even thinking about whether to launch a separate white Walkman. He knows that Americans like this style.
“Cooperate with the Legal Department to carefully review the contents of the manual again.
The laws in different states of the United States are different, so you must be careful to avoid this impact."
Shirakawa Feng handed the Walkman in his hand to Yamaguchi and gave him some special instructions.
This is the trouble with exporting to foreign markets. You must always pay attention to all kinds of strange legal provisions.
"Hai" Yamaguchi Kazuo took the Walkman, feeling both nervous and excited.
That's the United States. It's unbelievable that our products are being sold to the United States.
In Kazuo Yamaguchi's impression, the United States is invincible.
Now that Shirakawa Electric's products can be sold across the ocean, he feels inexplicably excited.
If the products they produce can conquer the US market, then this may be another victory for Japan.
Shirakawa Feng didn't know what Yamaguchi Kazuo was thinking about. What he cared about was that the first batch of shipments must go smoothly.
In fact, it is not the first batch. To be precise, it is the first batch of the second generation of Walkman.
The first generation model has already been launched on a trial basis in Marshall department stores in some regions.
The response has been very positive, and Marshall has been urging the shipment of new models.
The new model has just been launched in the local market, and due to limited production capacity, localization for the US market was not completed until this month.
Baichuan Feng also went through it himself before he felt relieved.
Recently, he is planning to fly to the United States again.
On the one hand, it is to provide protection for the launch of new products, and on the other hand, there are other things to do.
Just as Shirakawa Kaede was giving final instructions to Yamaguchi Kazuo, Kobayashi Asuka hurried over.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing her serious expression, Shirakawa Feng said something to Yamaguchi Kazuo, then walked away alone with her.
"There's a call from Masaya Nakamura-san, and he wants you to come over."
When Asuka Kobayashi received the call, she felt from the other party's tone that it was definitely not something pleasant.
"Namco?" Baichuan Feng was stunned.
I just finished discussing cooperation with the other party last month, what could happen at this moment?
However, despite his doubts, Baichuan Feng was still prepared to go there immediately.
Namco’s headquarters is also in Ota Ward, not far from Shirakawa Electric.
After driving for only a dozen minutes, Shirakawa Kaede and Kobayashi Asuka had arrived at each other's gate.
It is still the same vermilion building with the white logo.
"Shirakawa-san, your company must give me an explanation!"
As soon as Masaya Nakamura saw Shirakawa Kaede, he started questioning angrily.
Baichuan Feng was even more confused, but he also knew that this was not the time to talk nonsense.
"Nakamura-san, please tell me what happened?
If the responsibility lies with Shirakawa Electric, I will definitely give your company an explanation!"
Seeing that Shirakawa Kaede was still responsible, Nakamura Masaya's shock and anger finally subsided a little.
"Please follow me." Nakamura Masaya said this and led the way without saying a word.
Shirakawa Kaede and Kobayashi Asuka looked at each other, then followed without saying a word.
After a while, the group came to a game room. No, this place was different from a game room.
Surrounding the arcade machines were not young people or children playing games, but staff members in work clothes.
This is where Namco tries out its arcade games. Not only do they have their own arcade machines, but also products made by other manufacturers.
"Mr. Shirakawa, please look!" Led by Masaya Nakamura, the group came to an arcade machine.
Hmm? The moment he saw this arcade machine, Shirakawa Feng had a sense of déjà vu.
That cool space plane poster is exactly the same as the one on Shirakawa Electric's handheld game console.
Is this Namco porting its own Raiden? It's pretty fast.
At the signal from Masaya Nakamura, Shirakawa Kaede excitedly went up to try it out.
Well, it’s a good restoration, and it also has some innovations of its own.
And because the arcade machine has a color display, the experience is more exciting and impactful than that of a handheld game console.
However, due to the limitations of chips and logic circuit technology, arcade machines at that time were still far behind those of later generations.
But overall, it's still very good.
As for why Mr. Nakamura looked so angry just now, Baichuan Feng didn't understand, so he decided to give him a flattering first.
"Mr. Nakamura, your company's Raiden design is very good. To be honest, it is much more exciting than the handheld game."
“This is not our product!”
Um?!!
Baichuan Feng was stunned!
Asuka Kobayashi was also confused.
They looked at each other and then at the people around them.
Only then did they realize that, except for themselves, everyone else had a strange expression on their face.
Especially Masaya Nakamura, his face almost turned black.
Baichuan Feng realized it later and hurried back to the arcade machine to look at it carefully. Finally, he found the logo in an inconspicuous corner at the bottom of the screen.
A logo he was familiar with, Nintendo!
Nintendo?!
Duang~ A bell sounded in Baichuan Feng's head...
This old man! Bai Chuanfeng came back to his senses and felt his blood pressure rising.
"So your company has authorized "Raiden" to Nintendo again?" At this time, Masaya Nakamura, with a dark face, asked angrily again.
"Absolutely not!"
Shirakawa Feng finally understood why the other party was angry. Namco thought he had killed two birds with one stone by using "Raiden".
"Mr. Nakamura, Shirakawa Denki is a reputable company and would never do such a thing!"
Just kidding, a small company might do such a thing, but with the current scale of Shirakawa Electric, it would definitely not bother to do so.
"So……"
Seeing that Shirakawa Feng was so confident, and considering that Shirakawa Electric did have a good reputation.
Masaya Nakamura temporarily believed what Shirakawa Kaede said. If that was the case...
The two looked at each other, and then turned to the Nintendo arcade machine at the same time.
Finally, under Baichuan Feng's keen eyes, he saw the difference in the name of this arcade machine.
Thunder and hail? ! Thunder and lightning? !
Damn, this guy from Nintendo is a genius!
When the traditional Chinese characters of these two words are put together, even Baichuan Feng, a native Chinese speaker, can hardly tell the difference.
Not to mention the Japanese people around me.
Nintendo has grasped the essence of copycats, what a talent.
Without taking time to sigh, Shirakawa Kaede pointed out the difference between the two to Nakamura Masaya.
"Baga, these guys are bastards!"
Masaya Nakamura was so angry that he started cursing. Why?
Because their Namco's "Raiden" arcade machine has just been completed and today is the first day it is on the market.
However, Nintendo got the upper hand, and similar arcade machines already existed in game arcades.
This... Old Ren is really not a human being.
Although it was not their company that caused the loss, the other party's actions also infringed on Shirakawa Electric's copyright.
"Mr. Shirakawa, do you have any suggestions?" Because the matter involved two companies, Masaya Nakamura was also seeking Shirakawa Kaede's opinion.
"Mr. Nakamura, my suggestion is to sue!" Baichuan Feng would not indulge Old Ren and would take action when it was time to do so.
"Sue?" Masaya Nakamura frowned.
It's not that he doesn't want to sue, but the current environment. Even if he sues, it will probably be useless in the end.
Because this phenomenon is so frequent and so common, everyone is copying me and I am copying you.
In fact, Namco also launched its own anti-blocking game based on "Breakout".
It’s just that Nintendo’s copying this time was too obvious, and more importantly, Namco paid a price to obtain the copyright .
Before he even put it into commercial use, the other party took advantage of it for free and got there first. This is why Masaya Nakamura was so angry.
As for plagiarism, to be honest, he is used to it.
But Baichuan Feng doesn't think so, even if the lawsuit has no substantial benefits in the end.
Then it would be a good deal to occupy the moral high ground and accuse the other party.
Can't do anything to you? Maybe.
But it is still possible to throw some dirty water on you and win the sympathy of the players.
Don't underestimate the propaganda in the public opinion field. The ancients have long told us that a thousand-mile dike can be breached by an ant hole.
By the way, it is also a deterrent to other friendly competitors to stop them from making any moves.
So, the lawsuit is just a way of spending some money on public opinion propaganda.
"Mr. Nakamura, this matter must not end here.
Otherwise, the electronic game market will only become more and more chaotic. If this continues, who will be willing to devote themselves to making games?
Namco is also a game content producer. Will this happen to your company in the future?"
Nintendo is also cunning. It did not port "Raiden" to its own handheld console, but changed the platform.
It is somewhat unreasonable for similar or identical games to appear on handheld consoles.
After all, handheld gamers might play games from both companies, so if that happened, the truth would be revealed, which wouldn’t have a good impact.
As a listed company, Nintendo has to have some dignity.
But when it comes to arcade machines, the feel is different.
After all, the arcade machine has a CTR color screen, and the handheld game console has an LCD black and white screen. The difference between the two is huge when compared.
If we don't compare it with Namco's arcade games, it's really hard to associate the two together. At most, the gameplay is similar.
So Ren is cunning.
Masaya Nakamura thought about it carefully for a while and felt that what Shirakawa Kaede said made sense.
Nangong Meng is also a game content producer. If he does not maintain the copyright of the original content, who will care about your interests in the future?
“Okay, let’s do as Baichuan-san said.
Namco will contact Nintendo, and if the other party does not immediately stop the sale of the relevant game consoles, we will immediately sue."
As a traditional Japanese, Masaya Nakamura's first thought was to negotiate with the other party in a conservative way.
But Shirakawa Kaede doesn't care, he knows what Nintendo will choose.
"Nakamura-san, when the time comes, the legal department of Shirakawa Denki will act together with Namco."
Although the contract has been signed, the arcade copyright of "Raiden" has been owned by Namco.
But as a creator, Shirakawa Denki can also serve as an auxiliary and help Namco.
"In that case, I'll leave it to you, Shirakawa-san."
Masaya Nakamura was impressed by Shirakawa Kaede's noble character.
