“After we released the Game Boy, one of my staff came to me with a grim expression on his face: ‘There’s a new handheld on the market similar to ours…’ The first thing I asked was, ‘Is it a color screen, or monochrome?’ He told me it was color, and I reassured him, ‘Then we’re fine.’”
“我们发布了Game Boy之后，我的一个工作人员带着严肃的表情来到我这里：'市场上有一款与我们类似的新掌上电脑……'我首先要问的是，'它是彩色屏幕，还是单色？” 他告诉我这是彩色的，我向他保证，“那么我们很好。””
— Gunpei Yokoi
— Gunpei横井
For many of us, Nintendo is inseparable from our childhood. We spent so much time with their games, it almost became a language for us. Our parents likely couldn’t understand a word we were saying as we blabbed on about Super Mario, Kid Icarus, or some woman named Zelda, who we never got to see.
F 或我们许多人，任天堂是我们的童年分不开的。 我们花了很多时间在他们的游戏上，这几乎成了我们的语言。 当我们对超级马里奥 ( Super Mario) ， 小子伊卡洛斯 ( Kid Icarus )或一些名叫泽尔达( Zelda)的女人不知所措时 ，我们的父母很可能听不懂我们在说什么。
Despite Nintendo’s importance to our childhood brains, we were missing something back then. We saw it as just a game. However, there was so much more in Nintendo we couldn’t grasp at the time; there was philosophy, business strategy, and history unfolding before our very eyes.
尽管任天堂对我们儿时的大脑很重要，但那时我们还是缺少了一些东西。 我们将其视为游戏。 但是，任天堂还有很多我们当时无法掌握的东西。 在我们眼前展现着哲学，商业策略和历史。
Nintendo wasn’t a game system. It was a way of thinking so all-encompassing, it transformed a small playing card maker into a giant known by adults and children all over the world. Moreover, this philosophy was created by a man who society gave little chance of success.
任天堂不是游戏系统 。 这是一种无所不包的思维方式，它使一家小型扑克牌制造商变成了全世界成年人和儿童都知道的巨人。 而且，这种哲学是由一个人给社会带来很少成功机会的人创造的。
You may have never heard of Gunpei Yokoi, but he played a good part in many of your fond childhood memories. He also created the philosophy which has driven Nintendo for years: lateral thinking with withered technology. As you’ll learn, this isn’t just a strategy for game manufacturers, it’s an idea any thinker can use to maximize their creativity without being a technical genius.
您可能从未听说过横滨健平，但他在您对童年的美好回忆中发挥了重要作用。 他还创造了推动任天堂发展多年的哲学：枯萎的技术进行横向思考。 正如您将学到的，这不仅是游戏制造商的策略，而且是任何思想家都可以在不成为技术天才的情况下最大化其创造力的想法。
在扑克牌公司派发了幸运的牌 (Dealt a lucky hand at a playing card company)
According to David Epstein’s book “Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World”, Gunpei Yokoi was an average at best engineering student at a less than spectacular college. He attempted to get a job with large companies in Tokyo, but they passed him by. The only company that gave him a look was a playing card manufacturer called Nintendo in Kyoto.
根据戴维·爱泼斯坦(David Epstein)的书“ 范围：在一个特殊的世界中通才如何获胜”，冈比·横井(Yongi)在不到一所壮观大学的情况下，是最好的工程专业学生的平均水平。 他试图在东京的大公司找到一份工作，但他们被他甩了过去。 唯一给他看的公司是京都的一家名为Nintendo的扑克牌制造商。
Nintendo in the early 1960s was in trouble. Hanafuda playing cards were their core business, but they had stiff competition. Pachinko and bowling were eating away at their market share, so they attempted to diversify with disastrous results. One-hour love hotels, noodles, and a taxicab business all failed.
1960年代初，任天堂陷入困境。 Hanafuda扑克牌是他们的核心业务，但竞争激烈。 柏青哥和保龄球正在蚕食他们的市场份额，因此他们试图以灾难性的结果进行多元化经营。 一小时的爱情旅馆，面条和出租车业务都失败了。
Yokoi’s only job was to maintain the machines that made their cards. Much of the time he sat around doing nothing. One of his past times was Monozukuri, or “making things”— he’d tinker with gadgets to make them better. While on the job he made a mechanical arm to keep himself occupied. His boss caught him playing with it, but instead of yelling at him, told him to make it into a game they could sell. This became Ultra Hand and sold over a million units.
横井的唯一工作是维护制造卡片的机器。 很多时候他无所事事。 他过去的时代之一是Monozukuri ，即“制造事物”，他会修补各种小工具以使它们变得更好。 在工作中，他做了机械臂以保持自己的精力。 他的老板抓住了他玩这个游戏，但是他并没有对他大喊大叫，反而叫他把它变成可以出售的游戏。 这变成了Ultra Hand，并售出了超过一百万个单位。
This win got Yokoi promoted to the head of R&D and he continued his thing making pursuits, this time backed by a small budget. He’d find a way to make a cheap RC car by limiting the controls. It could only turn left, but the buyers didn’t care since it was affordable. He’d also create a “love tester” machine with simple electronics that created a circuit when people held hands.
这次胜利使Yokoi晋升为R＆D主管，他继续自己的追求，这次得到了少量预算的支持。 他将通过限制控制装置找到一种制造廉价RC汽车的方法。 它只能左转，但是买主不在乎，因为它价格合理。 他还用简单的电子设备制造了一个“爱情测试仪”机器，当人们牵手时就可以创建电路。
These experiences taught him a valuable lesson. You didn’t need the latest tech to make something innovative that people like. Many times older technology was easier to use and better understood. If you used these technologies in creative ways, groundbreaking products could be developed. This thinking also dovetailed with Nintendo’s capabilities, which weren’t exactly high tech, to begin with.
这些经验教给他了宝贵的教训。 您不需要最新的技术即可制作出人们喜欢的创新产品。 很多时候，较旧的技术更易于使用和更好地理解。 如果您以创造性的方式使用这些技术，则可以开发出突破性的产品。 这种想法也与任天堂的功能相吻合，而这些功能并不是高科技。
Yokoi called this philosophy “lateral thinking with withered technology” and it became part of the culture at Nintendo.
横井(Yokoi)将此哲学称为“技术枯萎的横向思考”，它成为任天堂文化的一部分。
任天堂进入视频游戏世界 (Nintendo enters the world of video games)
As blogger DrSenbei explains, Space Invaders became the killer app of 1978. The large cabinet style game with a joystick and buttons was all the rage. Around this time, Yokoi watched a Japanese businessman playing with a calculator on a train and had a moment of inspiration.
正如博客作者DrSenbei所解释的那样， Space Invaders成为1978年的杀手级应用。带有操纵杆和按钮的大型橱柜风格游戏风靡一时。 大约在这个时候，横井看着一个日本商人在火车上玩着计算器，并从中得到了灵感。
What if he could make a game that fits in your hands. What’s more, it could be hidden so “respectable” business people wouldn’t be shamed by irresponsibly playing games in public. According to Epstein, Yokoi mentioned this idea as he served as a chauffeur one day to the president of Nintendo. The president shared the idea with the president of the calculator company Sharp.
如果他能制作出适合您的游戏该怎么办。 更重要的是，它可能被隐藏起来，这样，“可敬的”商人就不会因在公众场合不负责任地玩游戏而感到羞耻。 根据爱泼斯坦的说法，横井在他任任总统一天的司机时提到了这个想法。 总统与计算器公司Sharp的总裁分享了这个想法。
Nintendo and Sharp entered a joint venture and made Yokoi the point man to develop the system. He created the Game & Watch, which could be controlled by the thumbs. It sold 43.4 million units worldwide. Epstein explains Yokoi used his thing making skills to perforate the LCD glass with little dimples, which fixed a technical glitch causing lines on the screen.
任天堂和夏普进入合资企业，并把横井作为开发该系统的关键人物。 他创建了Game＆Watch，可以通过拇指来控制它。 它在全球销售了4340万台。 爱泼斯坦(Epstein)解释说，横井洋洋(Yokoi)利用他的制物技巧，在液晶玻璃上打了些微的酒窝，从而消除了导致屏幕上出现线条的技术故障。
However, another simple innovation came out of the system, the D-pad. The little arrow key which allows the player to go up, down, and left or right with the touch of a thumb. This became a critical control of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) we’d all grow to know and love.
但是，系统又产生了一个简单的创新，即D-pad。 小箭头键，使玩家可以用拇指向上，向下和向左或向右移动。 这成为对任天堂娱乐系统(NES)的关键控制，我们大家都会逐渐了解和喜爱。
Speaking of the NES, Yokoi also played a part in creating the zapper gun and R.O.B. the robot from Gyromite fame. He also worked on creating Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Kid Icarus, and Metroid. However, his greatest invention put his concept of lateral thinking with withered technology on full display.
说到NES，Yokoi在创造拉链枪和ROB机器人方面也发挥了作用。 他还致力于创建大金刚， 马里奥兄弟 ， 基德·伊卡洛斯和银河战士 。 但是，他最伟大的发明充分展示了他的枯萎技术和横向思考的概念。
进入游戏男孩 (Enter the Game Boy)
If you’re anything like me, the Game Boy was a critical accessory. This extension of your hand went with you everywhere, followed by endless cartridges. It was simple, elegant, and entertaining; however, it was a battle for Yokoi to produce this gem in 1989.
如果您像我一样，那么Game Boy是至关重要的配件。 您伸出手的这种延伸随处可见，随后是无尽的墨盒。 它简单，优雅，有趣。 然而，横井在1989年生产这种宝石是一场战斗。
Epstein explains the technology in the system was from the 1970s. The only color it recognized was gray-scale and it had a puke green-tinted screen. The executives at Nintendo didn’t get it. Their competitors could easily create systems much more advanced, and they did. The simple Game Boy smashed them all, selling 118 million units.
爱泼斯坦解释说，该系统中的技术是从1970年代开始的。 它识别的唯一颜色是灰度，并且具有可恶的绿色调的屏幕。 任天堂的高管们没有做到这一点。 他们的竞争对手可以轻松创建更高级的系统，而他们做到了。 简单的Game Boy捣毁了它们，售出1.18亿个单位 。
The old technology gave the Game Boy advantages the other systems couldn’t duplicate. The simple hardware and electronics freed engineers to come up with endless games for the system — the addictive Tetris being one. The casing and screen were damn near indestructible, plus batteries lasted much longer than their competitors’ models. The Game Boy just played better than the more advanced systems and the public ate it up.
旧技术为Game Boy带来了其他系统无法复制的优势。 简单的硬件和电子设备使工程师可以为系统提供无尽的游戏-令人上瘾的俄罗斯方块就是其中之一。 外壳和屏幕几乎无法摧毁，而且电池的使用寿命比其竞争对手的模型更长。 Game Boy的玩法比更先进的系统要好，因此公众将其吃光了。
横井今日的经营理念 (Yokoi’s philosophy in action today)
“Nintendo has always been focused on appealing to the non-gamer. Yokoi would likely be loath to the concept of a “gamer,” as it turns a harmless diversion into a demanding hobby.”
“任天堂一直致力于吸引非游戏玩家。 横井(Yokoi)可能会讨厌“游戏者”(gamer)的概念，因为它将无害的转移变成了苛刻的爱好。
— DrSenbei, Tokyo Scum Brigade Blog
Yokoi died in 1997, but his thought process is alive and well at Nintendo. The Wii became a smash hit despite its lower processing speeds and childish graphics. Nintendo focused on an innovative controller that appealed to more than just children. I personally remember this system being the focus of parties as an adult, putting our beers down to shoot rounds of Wii golf.
横井先生于1997年去世，但他的思想过程在任天堂依然活跃。 尽管Wii的处理速度较低且图形幼稚，但它却大受欢迎。 任天堂专注于创新的控制器，该控制器不仅对儿童具有吸引力。 我个人还记得，这个系统是成年人聚会的焦点，这使我们的啤酒无法进行Wii高尔夫比赛。
While Microsoft and Sony fought over processing speed, Nintendo focused on fun. According to Game Zone, Nintendo sold over 100 million Wii consoles in its lifetime. In another Yokoi-esk maneuver, the company created a retro Nintendo. This small version of the original NES and Super NES was another smash hit. In a world of high tech, nobody seemed to care these systems were archaic, within 2 years they sold 10 million of them.
当微软和索尼争夺处理速度时，任天堂专注于娱乐。 根据Game Zone的统计，任天堂一生中售出了超过1亿个 Wii游戏机。 在另一项Yokoi-esk动作中，该公司创造了复古的任天堂。 原始NES和超级NES的这个小版本是另一个热门。 在高科技世界中，似乎没人在乎这些系统是否过时，两年之内就售出了1000万台 。
Please don’t get caught up in the tale of the video games, though. This story isn’t just about Nintendo, business, or Gunpei Yokoi; it’s a story about an innovative philosophy. The greatest part about the innovation is you don’t have to be a tech genius to take part in it. You just need to be creative enough to use old tech or knowledge in new ways. Let’s look at a couple of recent examples.
不过，请不要陷入视频游戏的故事中。 这个故事不仅涉及任天堂，企业或横滨军平。 这是关于创新哲学的故事。 关于创新的最大部分是，您不必成为一个技术天才就可以参与其中。 您只需要足够的创造力就可以以新方式使用旧技术或知识。 让我们看几个最近的例子。
Thestreet.com just recently explained how IBM’s earning growth was helped by mainframes. You heard that right; they’re still producing mainframe computers and profiting by changing them and making the tech cheaper and streamlined.
Thestreet.com最近解释了大型机如何帮助IBM的收入增长。 你没听错； 他们仍在生产大型计算机，并通过对其进行更改并使该技术更便宜，更简化来获利。
An article in Vice described a fight within the U.S. Air Force to use WWII-era prop planes as close air support because they’re cheaper and make less friendly fire mistakes.
Vice中的一篇文章描述了美国空军在一场战斗中使用二战时代的螺旋桨飞机作为近距离空中支援的战斗，因为它们更便宜且失误少。
Ryan Holiday made a second career with a 2000-year-old set of ideas. Stoicism was buried in philosophy departments at universities until Holiday and a few other authors began to make it popular again. They turned this old thought process into a modern way to handle problems of the present.
瑞安·假日(Ryan Holiday)拥有2000年的创意，从事第二职业。 斯多葛主义被埋葬在大学的哲学系中，直到假日(Holiday)和其他一些作者开始使它再次流行。 他们将这种古老的思维过程变成了处理当前问题的现代方式。
Nintendo may have won with old technology, but the true victor is the thought process. Moreover, it’s one we can all share in and use in our own lives. The next “killer app” may be collecting dust in your closet or may even be an old idea with a fresh coat of paint on it.
任天堂可能会用旧技术赢得胜利，但真正的胜利者是思想过程。 而且，这是我们所有人都可以分享并在自己的生活中使用的一种。 下一个“杀手级应用”可能正在您的壁橱中收集灰尘，甚至可能是一个陈旧的想法，上面有一层新鲜的油漆。
翻译自: https://medium.com/super-jump/done-how-nintendo-won-with-old-technology-1f6df806c4c9
扫一扫
被折叠的 条评论
为什么被折叠?
到【灌水乐园】发言
