Video Game Tycoon in Tokyo-Chapter 805: Reheating Old Dishes

Using special in-game program triggers to access the system's root interface and do whatever you want — this is a very common method of console hacking.

Countless games, especially older ones, were never developed with future console security in mind, let alone expecting they'd become prime targets for hacking someday.

Surii Electronics had also suffered from this.

At first, they tried to mimic Gamestar Electronic Entertainment by using more general-purpose chips for their consoles. Without any proper testing, they dumped all their old games onto the new console at once — which led to the console being completely hacked within just a few months of release.

They only managed to regain control by banning a large number of old games through a new OS, rewriting massive portions of the base code, and adding heavy compatibility restrictions on new games.

Still, being fully cracked caused Surii Electronics to take a serious hit.

A few third-party developers, who already had lukewarm partnerships, pulled out entirely and moved over to Gamestar Electronic Entertainment.

Gamestar's consoles also got cracked from time to time, but the impact was far smaller.

Takayuki had already foreseen all of this and took measures early to nip those problems in the bud.

Back when Surii and Gamestar were still locked in tight competition, this foresight became a critical advantage in widening the gap.

But this time, no matter how thoroughly the lead OS developer tested or adjusted things, he just couldn't find a balance between open compatibility and anti-hack security.

It was becoming clear: they had to pick one or the other.

Go with openness and risk heavy piracy — or block certain games entirely to protect the system.

Takayuki asked, "Are there a lot of games like this?"

"A whole lot."

Airi said, "Takayuki, I think we should just temporarily give up on those games. Maybe we can solve this later, but you also want to release the Switch soon, right?"

So it's time to make a call... Is that why they brought me in?

Takayuki looked at the others. "What do you all think? Say whatever's on your mind."

"We're also leaning toward giving up those games for now. Once the console gets hacked, the damage to our reputation could be huge. This decision is way harder than the one about Izumi's trigger buttons."

Takayuki didn't respond right away, so the group started discussing among themselves.

Airi turned to the OS lead. "Are you sure there's no way to fix the vulnerabilities?"

He shook his head. "No way. These games were written too long ago. Even with strong compatibility, they clash with the new system in unpredictable ways."

"Then what about using a virtual machine? Run the old games in an isolated environment?"

"A virtual machine? That... could work."

"Then let's try it now."

The engineers immediately got to work rewriting the Switch prototype OS, building in VM functionality on the spot.

A virtual machine, after all, is a way to run an isolated OS inside another system — allowing for sandboxed environments that won't interfere with the core system.

Takayuki had used VMs in his past life for testing malware and stress-testing big programs. He had almost forgotten about them since coming to this world.

Functionally, this was the same as developing an emulator that's fully sandboxed from the main console system. But of course, there were drawbacks.

VMs are never 100% stable.

They're prone to crashing, and a hard shutdown could lead to severe data corruption.

Soon, the engineers had a working version. They loaded up one of the problematic games inside the VM and tested it.

"It works! I can't access the system from within the game at all!"

"Awesome!"

Excitement filled the room. They had found a way forward.

But the OS lead still looked worried. "We shouldn't get too excited just yet. Virtual machines come with their own problems."

The room fell silent. Airi turned to him. "What kind of problems?"

Takayuki answered for him, "VMs aren't as stable as we'd like. If the power cuts off, the system could retain corrupted junk data. That garbage could spill over and mess with the core OS. You have to shut it down properly every time."

Airi said instinctively, "Can't we just explain that in the manual? Teach players how to shut it down correctly?"

Takayuki shook his head. "Of course not. You can't expect users to follow instructions. Once the console is in their hands, they'll do whatever they want. Sudden power-offs will be common. For a mass-market product, everything has to be foolproof."

The OS lead agreed, "He's right. VM operation is already tricky even for professionals. If we expect regular players to handle it, we'll just be asking for trouble."

Airi sighed, a little defeated. "So this isn't a viable fix either?"

Hardware-wise, the Switch was progressing great — but now the OS was becoming a bottleneck.

"Actually... maybe we don't need to rely on VMs. What if we just take the old games and rebuild them from scratch using the new system?"

"Huh?" Airi blinked. "You mean remake the old games entirely? That's way too much work."

"Not all of them. We can roll it out gradually. Whitelist the safe ones first. The ones with issues, we remake those using the Switch's native system. That way we can even clean up the visuals a bit."

In other words, remasters.

Takayuki smiled at the thought.

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