Saturday, 31 January 2002.
ZAGE Events Building — ZEB Japan.
By Saturday morning, the entire ZAGE Events Building was already packed. Thousands of fans had filled the venue, while journalists, television crews, technology magazines, gaming publications, distributors, developers, and invited guests occupied every remaining section available to them. The atmosphere felt unusually intense considering ZAGE had technically already spent almost two weeks talking about ZEPS 4. The console had been teased, its specifications had been explained in surprising detail, the Z-Remote had been demonstrated, its online functions had been discussed, and trailers had already been released for all twelve launch games: Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Need for Speed: Underground, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Halo: Combat Evolved, ZAGE Kart, ZAGE Sports, Super Mario Sunshine, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, and Pokémon Colosseum.
Normally, after that much information, a final showcase would have felt unnecessary.
Yet everyone still came.
Because one question remained unanswered.
How much did ZEPS 4 cost?
That single missing number had become an obsession. The more ZAGE revealed about the machine, the more frightening the price speculation became. Players had now seen a console equipped with a 3.4 GHz Raijin processor, four cores and eight hardware threads, a custom Amaterasu GPU, 768 MB of unified GDDR3 memory, Blue-Ray technology, internal hard-drive storage, wireless controllers, online services, backward compatibility stretching across three generations, downloadable games, multimedia functions, integrated accounts, motion controls, and graphics that looked absurd compared with anything else currently available.
Naturally, people assumed the machine had to be expensive.
Some discussions predicted ¥60,000. Others argued for ¥70,000. More pessimistic posts pushed the number toward ¥80,000 or even ¥100,000. A few users had gone further and claimed ZEPS 4 could easily cost the equivalent of one thousand US dollars if ZAGE intended to make a normal hardware profit.
That sounded ridiculous for a game console, but after seeing the specifications, people were no longer completely sure.
For comparison, Xbox had launched around $299, while Apple's i-Play had entered the market at roughly $298. Both were already considered premium machines by many consumers. ZEPS 4 looked substantially more advanced than either of them, which made the rumors increasingly believable.
That uncertainty was exactly why ZEB was so full.
Then the lights dimmed.
The conversations throughout the building gradually disappeared as the massive central screen illuminated. A silver ZAGE logo appeared, followed by a short sequence of blue light moving across the screen. The audience immediately began cheering before anything had even happened.
Then Zaboru Renkonan walked onto the stage.
He was dressed unusually sharply compared with his normal casual appearance, wearing a fitted black shirt, silver trousers, and black-and-silver boots that matched the color identity of ZEPS 4 itself. His dark brown hair remained relaxed rather than overly styled, and the grin on his face made it obvious that despite the clothing, this was still the same Zaboru everyone expected.
He raised one hand toward the audience. "Hey, everyone! Welcome to the ZEPS 4 Showcase!" He paused, then added with a grin, "Or, well… the proper trailer."
The audience immediately groaned before turning the reaction into cheers.
Zaboru laughed and began pacing slowly across the stage. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You guys have heard me say 'proper trailer' for almost a week now. But come on, building tension is fun." Another wave of playful boos came from the audience, which only made him laugh harder. "Anyway, during the last couple of weeks we've already shown almost everything important. You know what ZEPS 4 looks like, you know what kind of hardware is inside it, you know what the Z-Remote does, you've seen the twelve launch games, and you already understand the general idea behind ZAGE Network, Z-Store, Blue-Ray, Trophys, backward compatibility and the rest."
He stopped near the center of the stage and looked across the audience.
"And yes."
The grin returned.
"I know exactly what you're waiting for."
Several people shouted "PRICE!" immediately.
Zaboru pointed toward them. "See? You guys aren't subtle."
Laughter spread throughout the venue.
"But before that," Zaboru continued, "I want to appreciate something. You guys have been doing insane amounts of analysis lately. Some people freeze-frame trailers, some people inspect game cases, some of you calculate memory bandwidth for fun…" He shook his head. "Honestly, I'm starting to think some of you should work here."
The screen behind him changed.
A screenshot from ZAGE Forum appeared.
The title of the thread read:
ZEPS 4 ESTIMATED PRICE
Posted by:
ZL-MAX
A murmur immediately spread through the audience because the post had already gone viral earlier that week.
Zaboru pointed toward it. "This one caught my attention. ZL-MAX said he previously worked around AMD hardware, so he tried estimating how much ZEPS 4 probably costs us to manufacture. He calculated component pricing, memory, Blue-Ray, hard-drive costs, manufacturing, assembly and several other things."
The post enlarged on screen.
The estimated manufacturing figure appeared:
¥42,000 PER UNIT
Then underneath it:
ESTIMATED RETAIL PRICE: ¥50,000+
Zaboru chuckled. "And honestly? ZL-MAX, wherever you are, this was impressive."
The audience murmured louder.
"I'm obviously not going to tell everyone the exact manufacturing cost because there are things inside that calculation you can't know from the outside, including contracts, our own manufacturing infrastructure, internal component pricing and several technologies we partially produce ourselves." He gestured toward the number. "But this estimate? Surprisingly close."
That immediately caused another reaction.
People had expected Zaboru to laugh at the post or say it was completely wrong.
Instead, he had effectively confirmed that producing ZEPS 4 genuinely cost somewhere around that range.
Zaboru continued, "That's also why I liked the post with my official account. Not because the final retail estimate was correct…" His grin slowly returned. "But because the production analysis was pretty damn good."
The audience immediately became louder.
Zaboru raised both hands. "Relax! Relax! You're skipping ahead!"
He laughed before continuing. "So ZL-MAX concluded something very reasonable. If the machine costs roughly that much to manufacture, then ZAGE probably needs to sell it for around ¥50,000 minimum, maybe higher, right? Especially because this thing does…" He looked toward the ZEPS 4 sitting on a pedestal beside him. "Well, too much."
The screen changed again.
A clean list of ZEPS 4 functions appeared behind him.
ZEPS 4ZEPS 4 GamingZEPS 1, ZEPS 2 & ZEPS 3 Backward CompatibilityZGB / ZGBA ConnectivityZAGE Network Online MultiplayerZAGE ID Unified AccountFriends List, Messaging & Voice ChatZAGE TrophysZ-Store Digital Games, Demos & Expansion ContentYouTubeYaDo Anime ChannelNickelodionDirect ZAGE Forum AccessInternet BrowserMedia PlayerPhoto ViewerMusic PlayerZ-Pod IntegrationBlue-Ray TechnologyInternal HDD StorageWireless Bluetooth ControllerZ-Remote Motion ControllerScreenshots & Gameplay ClipsPhysical and Digital Games
Zaboru looked upward at the list and began laughing. "Okay, when you actually put everything on one screen like that, it looks stupid."
The audience laughed with him.
"I swear we didn't start development by saying, 'How much random stuff can we shove into one box?' It just kind of happened." He gestured toward the screen. "Some features came because developers needed them. Some came because players asked for them. Some came because we already had services like YouTube, ZAGE Forum, Steam, BBM and Z-Pod, so connecting everything made sense. And some…" He glanced toward the Z-Remote. "Some came because I thought it would be funny."
The audience laughed again.
"But yes. The basic philosophy is still the same. First and foremost, ZEPS 4 is a game machine. Everything else supports that. We didn't put games behind media features or suddenly decide your console should become a television box that occasionally happens to play games."
He pointed toward the twelve game cases lined across one side of the stage.
"Games first."
That line received one of the louder cheers of the presentation.
Zaboru allowed the reaction to settle before his expression became mischievous again. "But actually, that list is still missing one thing."
The audience immediately became quieter.
Zaboru walked toward the ZEPS 4 positioned beside the large screen. A standard wireless controller rested nearby. He picked it up and held it toward the audience. "Every ZEPS 4 already comes with something installed."
He pressed the central Z button.
The console awakened.
Its blue lights illuminated, and the giant screen behind him immediately changed from the presentation display into the actual retail ZEPS 4 interface.
Seeing the interface running live received another loud reaction.
Zaboru navigated toward Games.
Several tiles appeared, but one immediately stood out because it was already installed directly onto the system.
ASTRO PLAYROOM
The moment Zaboru highlighted it, the background transformed. Tiny white robots began running around a miniature world made from internal console components. Memory modules became buildings, giant Blue-Ray discs rotated in the distance, tiny bots bounced around cooling fans, and Astro himself appeared at the center waving excitedly toward the player.
Zaboru smiled. "Yep. Every ZEPS 4 gets this for free."
The audience cheered.
"And when I say free, I mean actually free. It's already there. No coupon, no separate download, no weird registration. You turn on your console, create your profile, and Astro is waiting."
He selected the game.
A short startup sequence played as metallic cubes assembled themselves into a stylized Z before bursting into the ZEPS 4 logo.
The Astro Playroom title screen appeared.
A little Astro bot waved excitedly beneath the title before a message appeared:
THANK YOU FOR BUYING ZEPS 4!
Then underneath it:
MY CREATOR SAYS: "YOU ARE VERY COOL!"
The audience burst into laughter.
Zaboru tried maintaining a completely serious expression. "I have no idea who wrote that."
More laughter.
He pressed Start and immediately entered the ZEPS CORE, the miniature component city that served as Astro Playroom's central hub. The audience watched tiny bots run across circuit-board streets, climb over enormous controller buttons, and perform ridiculous little animations everywhere in the background.
Zaboru continued, "Astro Playroom is basically what happens when I look at a giant instruction manual and think, 'No.'"
He moved Astro around the hub.
"ZEPS 4 does a lot of things. Normally we could give you a thick manual explaining everything. You could read twelve pages about your Friends List, eight pages about ZAGE Network, fifteen pages explaining the interface…" He shrugged. "But let's be honest. Most of you won't read that."
The audience laughed because he was completely correct.
"So I thought, why not teach everything through a game instead?"
He moved through several hub sections while speaking. "Controller Lab teaches basic controls, vibration and motion. Network City teaches friends, messages, voice chat and online systems using fake users so you don't accidentally annoy real people. Media Bay teaches music, photos, video and Z-Pod integration. Legacy Vault explains your older games. ZEPS Museum lets you unlock pieces of ZAGE history. And then Play Zone is just…" His grin widened. "Actual games."
Short clips showed Z-KART, ASTRO BRAWL, CIRCUIT RUNNER, Z-BEAT, BOT OPS, and MINI QUEST.
The audience reaction noticeably changed.
People had expected a cute interactive manual.
Instead, Astro Playroom looked like a surprisingly substantial collection of mini-games, hidden content, easter eggs and system tutorials.
One clip briefly showed a black-and-silver figure with a glowing blue visor and a giant Z on its forehead disappearing behind a processor.
Several longtime ZAGE fans immediately screamed.
"ZABO-MAN!"
Zaboru froze.
Then slowly turned toward the audience.
"I didn't see anything."
That only made them louder.
He laughed and continued navigating the game.
Eventually he arrived at another section of the hub designed around social interaction. Here, Astro profiles could appear using information from a player's ZAGE ID. Recent games, selected avatar elements, Trophy totals and certain optional public statistics could be displayed when interacting with others through supported social areas.
Zaboru explained, "And this part is important. Your ZAGE profile is not just some username hidden inside settings. You can actually show things off. What games have you been playing lately? How many Trophys do you have? Do you have Platinums? What avatar did you make? Depending on what privacy settings you choose, other players can see parts of that."
A demonstration profile appeared with absurd numbers of fictional Trophys.
"Obviously you can keep things private if you want," Zaboru added. "We're not forcing everyone to broadcast their entire life. But if you earn something difficult and want to show off?" He grinned. "Go ahead. That's half the fun."
The audience murmured approvingly.
Zaboru then exited Astro Playroom and returned to the ZEPS 4 interface.
For several seconds he simply stood beside the machine.
Then he looked toward the audience.
"So…"
The venue immediately became quiet.
Zaboru slowly paced back toward the center of the stage.
"We've talked about games."
He took another step.
"We've talked about Blue-Ray."
Another.
"Backward compatibility."
Another.
"ZAGE Network."
Another.
"Z-Remote."
He stopped.
"And apparently I've stalled this long enough."
The audience immediately began shouting.
"PRICE! PRICE! PRICE! PRICE!"
Within seconds the entire ZEB joined in.
"PRICE! PRICE! PRICE!"
Zaboru began laughing while the chant became louder.
"Alright! Alright!"
The chant continued.
He raised the microphone.
"I get it!"
Still louder.
Zaboru looked toward the giant screen behind him, then back toward the audience.
"Well…"
The screen went completely black.
Only the silver outline of ZEPS 4 remained visible.
Zaboru grinned.
"The price is…"
To be continued.
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