Chapter 509: Phone and Handheld Console Integration Plan
Zhou Jiangping said, "Well, the issue is that there might be some minor flaws that need continuous optimization, but it's feasible to make."
Chen Mo asked, "What do you mean by 'can't guarantee performance'?"
Zhou Jiangping explained, "There could be many problems, including controller connectivity, game optimization, and so on. A bigger issue is the players' acceptance level."
Chen Mo nodded. "That's fine. I'm mentally prepared for that. Anyway, can you produce a feasibility report analyzing this plan in detail?"
Zhou Jiangping replied, "Of course, I'll have someone work on it right away."
The follow-up plan Chen Mo proposed was essentially an integration of handheld consoles and phones.
In the subsequent plan, Chen Mo asked whether the Switch could be used in this way because the plan was not mature enough, and it required first using the Switch for gameplay, which was still acceptable and not too restrictive. However, if it were moved to a phone, the screen would suddenly shrink several times, making it feel particularly cramped, and even some dialogue text would be hard to read.
After all, phones are designed with portability in mind. Although there are many extra-large screen phones, most people still prefer phones that can be held in one hand.
With the screen so much smaller, the experience would definitely be affected.
The second issue involved phone capacity, compatibility, heat dissipation, and so on. Although phones in this world had large storage capacities, phones in the same price range couldn't compare to the Switch in terms of gaming performance. The main difficulty in developing the Switch lay in those two joysticks; the screen was essentially just a large piece of phone hardware.
Now, the Switch would come pre-installed with the Thunder Game Platform, encouraging all independent game designers on the platform to adapt their games to support the Switch. In terms of performance, it could fully support most independent games suitable for phones and PCs.
At the same time, the handheld console would automatically connect to the Thunder Game Platform when online, and all games on it could be purchased and downloaded for a fee.
The handheld console was priced at around two thousand yuan, which wasn't actually high, because just the two controllers alone cost five hundred yuan. For players, buying a handheld console was much more fun than a tablet.
Of course, there would still be players who preferred to save money and play on their phones. So Chen Mo also sold the controllers and connectors for connecting phones to TVs separately.
However, Chen Mo believed that after playing for a while, many of these players would still end up paying for a Switch.
The reason was simple: larger screen, longer battery life, better heat dissipation, better performance, and no worries about phone calls or message interruptions.
...
After the first prototype of the Switch came out, Zhou Jiangping and the technical staff at Lehui began researching the plan to connect the controller to phones.
Chen Mo specifically emphasized that even if the plan wasn't perfect, it didn't matter. They just needed to get the plan out first.
This would serve as bait for many players who didn't want to buy a handheld console, drawing their attention. As for how well it worked? That could be optimized gradually later.
The key was to first introduce the concept.
Given the technological level of this world, it should just be a matter of time and investment.
Additionally, Chen Mo started working on fully integrating the PC, phone, and handheld console versions of the Thunder Game Platform, and making it possible to play handheld console games on any device via the controller as much as possible.
...
Chen Mo's fifth elective class at World One University.
After the second class, Chen Mo stopped talking about handheld consoles and instead began looking ahead according to a proper plan, discussing the future development trends of the three major platforms: phones, PCs, and VR.
Furthermore, Chen Mo roughly outlined the possible future development state of VR games.
"With the help of super artificial intelligence, the entire game world might become a highly unified game system. At that point, even designers could only grasp a fraction of the game's operational rules."
"This makes the entire game world closer to the real world, where a single move can affect the whole system, and everyone has the potential to create history within the game."
Today was the fifth class. After Chen Mo finished the content for this lesson, there were still thirty minutes left in the class period.
The students and faculty were a bit surprised. Could Chen Mo have miscalculated the time?
Some novice lecturers often miscalculated time. Sometimes they finished their prepared content early, leaving them to awkwardly chat with the students until the class ended.
Chen Mo had always been on point before. Why did he finish early today?
However, many students got excited instead. Did this mean they could directly interact with Chen Mo? Could they ask him questions?
Just as they were racking their brains over what questions to ask Chen Mo, they saw him seemingly prepared, pulling a box out of his bag.
"For the remaining time, I'd like to demonstrate this brand-new handheld console," Chen Mo said with a smile.