Seamus leaned back in his chair for a moment before finally continuing. "Since the release, our engineers have already taken the machine apart. Completely. We wanted to understand how it works, how the internals are arranged, how the processor communicates with the GPU, how the cooling system is designed, how memory is shared, everything." He paused, then exhaled slowly. "And honestly, Boss… what can I say? This machine is a work of wonder."
Bill frowned slightly, not because he doubted Seamus, but because the wording sounded unusually admiring coming from him. Seamus was normally the first person in the room to point out flaws in competing hardware. If he was speaking this way, then Microsoft's teardown team had clearly found something they could not dismiss. Seamus continued, "The inside is one of the most beautiful hardware layouts I've ever seen. It's complex, but not complex in a stupid way. Everything has a reason to be where it is. The Raijin processor and Amaterasu GPU feel like they were designed around one another from the beginning instead of being separate components forced together later. Data flow is efficient, memory access is fast, and the whole thing is built around keeping bottlenecks as low as possible."
He leaned forward and tapped one finger against the table. "The cooling is just as impressive. Our engineers stress-tested it for hours. The temperature stabilizes incredibly well, which means performance stays consistent even under heavy load. No sudden thermal throttling, no weird drops, no part of the machine cooking itself because one component is doing too much work. Whoever designed the internal airflow understood exactly what they were doing." Seamus sighed again. "And it isn't just the hardware. That's the worst part. The operating system, the development environment, the way games talk to the hardware, the shared libraries, Unreal Engine 4 support—everything is integrated. Developers don't have to fight the machine just to make it work."
Bill remained quiet while Seamus continued. "Boss, you're probably not going to like hearing this, but ZEPS 4 is way, way ahead of Xbox right now. Not slightly ahead. Not 'better in a few areas.' Ahead." He folded his arms. "And honestly, I don't know how interested people are going to stay in Xbox once they compare the two directly. Sure, we already have a fanbase. Xbox is cheaper than ZEPS 4, and we still have strong games. But outside of that…" He shook his head. "We lose. And what makes it worse is that Xbox itself is still new. We didn't even get the chance to properly settle into the market before ZAGE dropped this monster."
Bill chuckled softly.
Seamus stared at him. "What?"
Bill shook his head. "That doesn't sound like you at all, Seam."
Seamus sighed. "I know."
"But I understand where you're coming from." Bill leaned back calmly. "I already expected something like this. ZAGE has too much vertical integration for us to assume they would build an ordinary machine. They have their own hardware people, their own development tools, their own engine, their own manufacturing relationships, their own digital distribution, their own online infrastructure, and more software teams than most companies can dream of. If they were going to make ZEPS 4, it was always going to be difficult to compete with directly."
Seamus nodded reluctantly.
Bill continued, "But difficult doesn't mean impossible. Right now, aside from Sonaya, which is still dragging a 32-bit machine around and clearly preparing for whatever comes next, Xbox is still the strongest real rival to ZEPS 4. Apple's i-Play?" He gave a small laugh. "We don't need to worry about them nearly as much. They seem to create three new problems for every one they solve."
That finally made Seamus smile faintly.
Bill looked toward him. "Microsoft doesn't need to beat ZAGE by copying them. If we try to become ZEPS 4 with a green logo, we'll lose before we start. We need our own strengths, our own games, our own services, and our own identity."
Seamus rubbed his forehead. "So basically, try our hardest and hope it's enough."
Bill laughed. "More or less."
Seamus gave him an exhausted look. "Very inspiring, Boss."
Bill's smile slowly changed.
It was not a particularly comforting smile.
"And I may have something in mind," he said. "Something that could at least help Xbox rise again."
Seamus looked at him for a moment, then sighed.
Whenever Bill smiled like that, it usually meant more work.
Meanwhile — Wednesday, 4 February 2002.
For the first time since ZEPS 4 launched, Miguel Katayuya was finally healthy enough to stream again.
That sentence alone was already ridiculous because the reason Miguel had missed launch day had nothing to do with work, emergencies, or bad luck.
He had simply been too excited.
In the days leading up to release, Miguel had barely slept. He had been streaming old ZEPS 3 games, talking endlessly about ZEPS 4, reacting to trailers, reading forum posts, and generally acting like a man trying to personally consume the entire launch hype through sheer energy. Eventually his body simply gave up. He became sick enough that he had to be hospitalized right before release day.
For Miguel, this was not merely unfortunate.
It was a tragedy.
ZEPS 4 launched while he was lying in a hospital bed.
By Wednesday, however, he was finally back home and feeling well enough to stream.
And naturally, he had learned absolutely nothing.
Miguel sat in his room facing the camera with a huge grin, while behind him were not one, not two, but four unopened ZEPS 4 boxes stacked dramatically against the wall. Beside them were another four large boxes containing the complete twelve-game launch bundles. He had deliberately arranged everything so the camera could see all of it clearly.
The stream chat was already moving so quickly that individual messages barely remained visible for more than a second.
"OH TORO KAMI IS BACK!"
"I THOUGHT YOU DIED BRO."
"WE MISSED YOU!"
"WHY ARE THERE FOUR ZEPS 4S???"
"HE BOUGHT FOUR???"
"MIGUEL WHAT THE FUCK."
Miguel inhaled deeply.
Anyone familiar with his streams immediately knew what was coming.
Then he screamed.
"HOOOOOY! WHAT'S UP, GUYS!? I'M CURED!"
The chat exploded.
Miguel threw both arms into the air. "Unfortunately, the hospital didn't have a fucking Phoenix Down! If they had one, I could've played ZEPS 4 on Monday!"
He suddenly lowered his head dramatically.
"My biggest regret…"
The chat slowed slightly.
Miguel looked back toward the camera with genuine pain in his expression.
"I COULDN'T PLAY IT WHEN IT LAUNCHED!"
He grabbed his chest.
"ZABORU-SAMA, I'M SO SORRY!"
The chat immediately became unreadable again.
Miguel spun around in his chair and pointed toward the four console boxes stacked behind him. "SO! As an apology, I bought FOUR ZEPS 4s and FOUR full launch bundles to support ZAGE!"
There was a brief pause.
Then he added, "My money might run out…"
He slowly raised both hands.
"BUT IT'S WORTH IT!"
Miguel suddenly stood up.
"HELL YEAH! ZAGE, TAKE MY MONEYYYYY! ZABORU-SAMA AAAAAAAAH!"
He started dancing.
There was no music.
That did not stop him.
The chat completely collapsed into laughter.
"HE'S STILL SICK."
"THE HOSPITAL RELEASED HIM TOO EARLY."
"SEND HIM BACK."
"FOUR CONSOLES BRO WHY."
"ZAGE DOES NOT NEED YOUR MONEY THIS BAD."
"TORO KAMI NEVER CHANGES."
Miguel eventually sat back down, still breathing heavily from his completely unnecessary celebration. "Alright! Alright! Today is finally my reaction stream to ZEPS 4! I waited TWO DAYS! TWO WHOLE DAYS! This was suffering!"
Someone immediately wrote:
"You were unconscious for half of it."
Miguel ignored that.
He grabbed one of the ZEPS 4 boxes and placed it directly in front of the camera. "LOOK AT THIS BEAUTY!"
He began opening the packaging while talking almost nonstop, reacting to every component as though he had never seen electronics before. The console itself earned an extended scream. The wireless controller earned another. When he found the Z-Remote, he held it in front of his face and stared dramatically into the camera.
"Remote looking suspicious thing…"
Then he grinned.
"I LOVE IT."
He spent several minutes simply admiring the hardware, turning the console around to inspect the ports and silver trim before finally setting it underneath his television. The entire installation process should have taken only a few minutes, but Miguel constantly stopped to show the camera something, shout about cable management, or react to chat messages.
Eventually, everything was connected.
Miguel sat down.
"Okay."
For once, he became quiet.
He reached forward and pressed the power button.
The blue lighting on ZEPS 4 slowly illuminated.
Miguel's mouth opened.
Then the television went black.
The eerie piano notes began.
Abstract shapes appeared in the darkness, slowly moving and assembling while the startup sound built around them.
Miguel's eyes widened.
"OHHHH…"
Another piano note echoed.
Miguel leaned closer to the screen.
"OHHHHHH!"
The silver ZAGE logo appeared.
Miguel rolled his eyes upward dramatically and collapsed backward into his chair.
"THE EARGASM! OOOOH!"
His viewers immediately lost it.
"BRO CALM DOWN."
"IT'S A STARTUP SOUND."
"MIGUEL IS ABOUT TO GO BACK TO HOSPITAL."
Miguel pointed toward the chat. "SHUT UP! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ART!"
The ZEPS 4 interface appeared, and Miguel instantly started reacting to everything at once. He moved through menus far too quickly, opened the Friends section, backed out, entered Z-Store, checked his profile, stared at the animated backgrounds, then accidentally opened Media before shouting, "I'M NOT READY FOR THIS! THERE'S TOO MUCH SHIT!"
Eventually he returned to the Games section and leaned toward the camera. "Alright, guys! Very important question!" He pointed dramatically toward the stack of launch games. "Which game should I play first? And for the record, I love ALL ZAGE games equally, so there are NO FAVORITES!"
The chat immediately began filling with different titles.
"DMC!"
"MONSTER HUNTER!"
"HALO!"
"GTA!"
"NOCTURNE!"
"NOCTURNE!"
"SMT 3!"
"PLAY NOCTURNE ON HARD YOU COWARD."
Within less than a minute, one answer clearly started dominating.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne.
Miguel slowly looked at the chat.
Then toward the game cases.
Then back toward the camera.
A grin spread across his face.
"Okay…"
He reached down and picked up the case.
"SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI III: NOCTURNE!"
The chat erupted.
Miguel raised the case over his head like a trophy. "LET'S GOOOOOOOO!"
He opened it, carefully removed the Blue-Ray disc, and inserted it into the ZEPS 4. The system immediately recognized the game, and the Nocturne tile appeared on the interface. Its dark artwork and eerie atmosphere replaced the brighter system background.
Miguel stopped shouting for approximately three seconds.
Then he leaned toward the screen.
"Ooooh…"
The strange, oppressive music from the menu began.
Miguel's grin slowly returned.
"This already feels evil."
The chat immediately replied:
"YOU HAVE NO IDEA."
Another user wrote:
"PLAY HARD."
Then another.
"HARD MODE MIGUEL."
Then dozens more.
"HARD."
"HARD."
"HARD."
Miguel stared at the flood of messages.
His smile faded slightly.
"You guys are planning something."
The chat continued demanding Hard Mode.
Miguel narrowed his eyes.
Then pointed toward the camera.
"Fine."
He grinned.
"I am TORO KAMI."
He puffed out his chest.
"I FEAR NOTHING. , i beat all ZAGE f*cking RPG and i said f*cking ALL EVEN NIGHTMARE CREATURE YOU PLEBSS!"
He selected Hard.
The chat exploded into laughter.
Miguel had absolutely no idea what he had just done to himself.
And this stream was about to become complete chaos.
To be continued.
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