"But the players will buy it," another journalist said, closing his notebook. "They're paying the price of two regular games to get four discs' worth of content—and such exquisitely crafted content at that. How are other RPG developers supposed to compete with this kind of crushing superiority?"
"Sony is going to have a problem," an editor from Computer Gaming World chimed in. "PlayStation's current flagship titles are mostly kept under 600 megabytes. Sony deliberately downplayed the concept of game size in their marketing, focusing instead on polygon processing power. Now Square has just raised the bar for capacity fourfold."
"Even Sega's biggest first-party titles only use two CDs at most," a colleague added. "Square's move hasn't just crushed Sony; it's even made Sega's own games look small by comparison."
"This is where Sega's brilliance lies," the analyst said, setting down his pen. "They're allowing third-party developers to surpass their own games in size, even providing technical support. This sends a clear message to all developers: on the Jupiter, your ambition won't be limited by the hardware."
Hironobu Sakaguchi gave a slight bow and stepped off the stage.
With that, the morning's main stage presentations concluded.
The midday Los Angeles sun beat down on the Convention Center's glass facade.
The morning's schedule of press conferences was officially over.
Journalists from various media outlets packed up their camera bags and recording equipment, following the crowd toward the exits.
This year, the IDSA Organizing Committee had extended the schedule, ensuring that major manufacturers' presentations were no longer crammed into a single day.
For the first time, media professionals finally had a moment to breathe.
The first E3 last May had been a test of physical endurance for everyone involved.
Press conferences had run one after another, leaving no time even for a bathroom break.
Lunch had been a rushed affair, consisting of cold sandwiches and cheap instant coffee handed out in the hallways.
But this year, E3's lunch break was much more generous.
The restaurants across the street from the Convention Center were already packed to capacity.
A crowd of people wearing various media passes lined up at the ordering counter. The air was a mix of fried potatoes, grilled meat, and cheap perfume.
David, an editor from GamePro, carried a plastic tray, weaving through the crowded aisle in search of an empty seat. On the tray were two double cheeseburgers and two iced colas. The photographer followed behind him, one hand protecting the camera strapped to his chest.
Someone waved from a corner table by the window. Paul, a senior editor from Computer Gaming World, moved his backpack off the table, freeing up two seats. David walked over, sat down, and pushed a cola toward the photographer.
"The morning's announcements were just too much to process," David said, his voice muffled as he took a large bite of his burger.
Paul squeezed a packet of ketchup onto his fries. "Square's final move was a real killer. Four discs—they've just dragged the scale of console games into a new era."
The photographer sipped his cola. "I just want to see how they'll design the box to fit four CD-ROMs."
At the next table, several Japanese journalists were talking rapidly in Japanese. Words like "Nintendo" and "Mario" could be faintly heard.
David turned. "Nintendo's making a bold move. $199. They've slashed the price to bring themselves right to the starting line with Sega and Sony. With the custom SGI chip and those 64-megabit cartridges, they won't make any money on the hardware—they're even selling it at a loss."
"They had no choice," Paul said, taking a sip of his coffee. "Sega and Sony have been locked in this brutal price war for over a year. The players' psychological price point for next-gen consoles is already fixed. If Nintendo priced it any higher, the market wouldn't buy it. What's interesting is that the Super Mario 64 demo Shigeru Miyamoto showed off... the control logic is just too perfect. The physics feedback, the camera control, the move combinations. They've just given the entire industry a masterclass in 3D game design."
The photographer took a fresh roll of film from his bag. "I need to go back to the West Hall this afternoon to get more close-ups of the Nintendo controller. That asymmetrical joystick design—the grip is surprisingly good. The D-pad has been marginalized, and the joystick now takes center stage. This is a fundamental shift in how we interact with games."
The conversation then turned to the PC platform.
Paul, a PC gaming journalist, praised Westwood Studios' presentation. "The pace of Red Alert is much faster than Command & Conquer. Westwood is encouraging players to attack. While Blizzard is still obsessing over micro-management limits, Westwood has lowered the barrier to entry by simplifying mouse controls. The left-click does it all—the learning curve for new users is incredibly low."
"The RTS market is big enough," David replied. "Both companies are using different methods to enhance the campaign mode's immersion. It's live-action cutscenes versus high-stat heroes. The competition in this year's PC gaming market is no less intense than on consoles. The adoption rate of Win95 has exceeded everyone's expectations, and LAN battles will become a new growth point."
The two were surprisingly unanimous in their assessment of Konami and Namco's performance.
"Hardly satisfactory," David said, crumpling his burger wrapper into a ball and tossing it onto the tray. "Konami outsourced Contra to that small Hungarian studio, and the resulting 3D graphics don't even come close to the quality of the arcade boards. Namco is even worse—they're just bundling old 8-bit games and selling them."
Paul shook his head. "It's the transition period for the arcade giants. Developing major 3D games takes a long time and costs a lot. They need low-cost compilation games to maintain cash flow. But bringing them out at an event like E3 is just too embarrassing. The decline of North American arcades is already showing. The model of relying on arcade hardware to recoup funds is no longer viable. They must find new profit points on console platforms."
Convention Center, South Hall, Sony Booth Backstage.
In a makeshift lounge, Ken Kutaragi sat on a folding chair, eating a Japanese bento.
His assistant stood beside him, reporting on the morning's events on the main stage.
"Square's four-disc game has caused a huge stir," the assistant said, looking at the notes in his hand. "The media is praising this high-capacity approach. They see it as the standard configuration for next-gen games."
Ken Kutaragi stopped his chopsticks.
Four discs.
This exceeded his expectations.
The capacity of a PlayStation CD-ROM was 650 megabytes.
Sony's development documentation recommended that third-party manufacturers keep their game capacity within a single disc to reduce pressing and packaging costs.
The production lines for single-disc plastic cases were highly efficient. Multi-disc sets, however, required custom molds and would double the logistics and warehousing costs.
Square had just shattered this unwritten rule.
"Sega is pulling the strings from the shadows," Ken Kutaragi said, closing his bento box. "They're providing the technical foundation for Square to build massive amounts of content. This is a direct attack on us. They're using the disparity in storage capacity to create the illusion of a technical advantage."
His assistant handed him a glass of water.
"Should we adjust our strategy?" the assistant suggested. "Encourage other third-party developers to use multi-disc sets as well?"
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