Capítulo 191: Chapter 191: A Twinge in the Back - Part 2
With his command, Alan Macy quickly made the arrangements, and it wasn't long before the ringing of the office phone pierced through the air. Ethan Jones, boiling with rage, snatched up the receiver. At that moment, he truly wished to transform into the merciful bodhisattva, Guanyin, to unleash his anger upon Hiroshi Yamauchi with his words, but...
The words died on his lips.
He was furious, yes, but he had no desire to rant like a madman.
Especially not at someone...
Who might well be a villain.
Driven by this mix of emotions, he took a deep breath and managed a smile, "Mr. Yamauchi?"
"Mr. Jones." The familiar voice on the other end had Ethan itching to throw a punch, his tone dripping with irony. "I'm surprised to find Mr. Yamauchi awake at 4 AM. It seems Nintendo's business is really booming!"
"Oh—Mr. Jones—Arakawa has told me everything. So, here, let me start by apologizing to you," the old voice didn't pick up on Ethan's sarcasm but went straight to the point. "As you've guessed, indeed, my caution about coming to North America was due to the COLOR TV GAME product because I feared you would be very angry upon seeing me..."
'Clang!'
The sound seemed to explode next to Ethan's ear. Hiroshi Yamauchi's words were like the final nail in the coffin, striking sharply into his heart! Although Ethan had already anticipated the outcome, he truly hadn't expected Yamauchi to concede his actions so readily, without even a hint of struggle. And as his suspicions turned to reality...
What of their previous collaboration?
'Dammit!'
'Am I a clown?'
Ethan's eyes blazed with anger.
Just as he was about to lose control and lash out, Yamauchi, on the other end, shifted the conversation. "Of course, there's another reason, which is my fear of being killed by Magnavox's people, or rather, my fear of being blocked by Philips from returning home..."
This turn of events nearly threw Ethan off balance. "What do you mean?" he asked, his voice heavy.
"It's simple," Yamauchi explained. "Mr. Jones, the COLOR TV GAME product that has angered you doesn't have Magnavox's authorization. It's an infringing product, or rather... it's a copycat product similar to 'Pong'."
What the fuck???
This revelation astounded Ethan! He had never expected Yamauchi to say such a thing. "Mr. Yamauchi, are you joking with me?"
Ethan laughed bitterly, "Do you think I'm a kindergarten child?"
"A product infringing on rights?"
"You didn't get Magnavox's authorization?"
"Then what was your previous collaboration with Magnavox?"
"They gave you a share of the profits for using your light gun patent, right?"
"In that case, you're telling me, you don't have The Odyssey's patent?"
"Do you think I would believe such nonsense?"
"Ah?"
At that moment, Ethan found Yamauchi even more amusing than his son-in-law, Arakawa!
To him, Yamauchi claiming that the COLOR TV GAME project didn't have Magnavox's patent authorization was even more absurd than saying Nintendo was a pawn sent by Magnavox!
Who in North America doesn't know that Nintendo's collaboration with Magnavox started as early as 1972?
Magnavox's light gun accessory boxes even bore the Nintendo logo!
Under these circumstances...
No authorization for COLOR TV GAME?
It was as if his intelligence was being ground against the floor!
Did Ethan Jones look that foolish?!!!
Ethan Jones was nearly driven mad!
But then, Yamauchi, on the phone, let out a resigned chuckle, "Mr. Jones, I know my words sound absurd, but that's the reality. Because—"
"COLOR TV GAME was not originally our project."
"It was initially conceived in 1974 by another company in our country, Mitsubishi Electric. They saw the vast potential of the electronic game market and wanted to enter it to grab a share of the profits."
"Since they only understood electric manufacturing and not game creativity, they sought a partner to create a home console. The company they chose was called Systech."
"Unfortunately, not long after the project started, Systech went bankrupt due to the calculator wars, nearly leading to the collapse of the COLOR TV GAME project."
"Normally, Mitsubishi Electric would need to find another partner to continue the project, and that's indeed what happened. Then..."
"They chose us."
"You're not from our country, so you might not understand what Mitsubishi means here. When they chose us, Nintendo had no power to refuse."
"We accepted, and then we learned they needed a console similar to Magnavox's Odyssey. And then... the COLOR TV GAME product was born."
"After we worked together to develop the project, we discovered that Mitsubishi had no intention of obtaining the patent rights. They also had no plans to release the product under their name and repeatedly stated the product would only be sold in our country, so it wouldn't cause any issues..."
"That's why the product was sold so cheaply."
"So cheap... it couldn't even cover the patent fees..."
Yamauchi paused for a moment in his narrative.
Then, a voice full of resignation came through the phone—
"Mr. Jones, I know you're angry, you might feel deceived by us, but I want to say, I, Hiroshi Yamauchi, am not a fool."
"I've cooperated with your country's playing card companies before."
"Enjoyably."
"I've cooperated with your country's Disney."
"To this day, Disney has never sued us over any collaborative disputes."
"When I took over Nintendo from my grandfather decades ago, I've always conducted business seriously. If I play, I only play monopoly."
"Because other methods are not only slower to make money, but also less interesting!"
"And on this matter, what I want to say is, I had already been in contact with Magnavox about the Odyssey before its release, and that was all before 1972!"
"If I really wanted to make this kind of circuit board game console, why didn't I obtain Magnavox's authorization in 1972 and immediately release a product like COLOR TV GAME, instead of waiting until 1977, when arcades were everywhere, to launch a circuit board home console?"
Yamauchi threw out a question.
Then, a flurry of rhetorical questions followed—
"Mr. Jones, five years separate 1972 and 1977, right?"
"What can be done in five years?"
"That could've seen the rise and fall of Atari!"
"When you've repeatedly proven to the market that the Odyssey isn't viable, and we, who have made a lot of money following you, are we brain damaged? To insist on making a product that disgusts you and has been proven by the market not to be a success?"
"I, Hiroshi Yamauchi, might have many faults, but—"
"My brain isn't sick!"
"I really haven't wronged you!"
A roar came through the phone.
Such an unfolding left Ethan puzzled and more troubled than ever.
After Yamauchi's outburst, Ethan truly couldn't understand how the COLOR TV GAME, emblazoned with the Nintendo logo, suddenly got tied to Mitsubishi Electric. And what was this Systech company he'd never heard of?
'What's all this mess?'
'It's a tangled mess!'
Ethan mentally grasped his head.
Really, he felt like he was going bald.
Note:
There are two versions regarding the production of the COLOR TV GAME, one claiming it was produced by Nintendo, as stated in the English Wikipedia and derived from David Sheff's book "Game Over." This account is indeed presented on page thirty of the Chinese edition of the book. However, this narrative faces some contention. According to Professor Naoki Fujita of Kyoto University, in a document on the history of Japan's video game industry written in 1999, the COLOR TV GAME was a Mitsubishi project. This matches the description in the text, where Mitsubishi's partner company failed, leading them to partner with Nintendo. This situation led to a new development: the COLOR TV GAME did not have authorization from Magnavox.
However, Magnavox, having paid Nintendo dividends for the use of its light gun patent, harbored deep resentment towards Nintendo for such duplicitous behavior. When Nintendo began promoting arcade games and the Famicom in North America, Magnavox aggressively used its prior patents to sue Nintendo relentlessly. This forced Hiroshi Yamauchi to seek legal judgment in the U.S. courts to invalidate Ralph H. Baer's patent, laying the foundation for their feud. Despite the claim in "Game Over" that Nintendo had obtained the patent, the reality, at the time of publishing, was that Nintendo had lost the lawsuit and settled the dispute financially.
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