"With our next generation hardware, polygon rendering will probably be an area we'll get more heavily into"
About this Quote
A blandly optimistic sentence on its face, Hawkins' line is really a manifesto for an industry mid-growth spurt: the moment when "games" stopped being toys and started auditioning for the cultural authority of film. The tell is the cautious "probably". It reads like executive modesty, but its real function is defensive forecasting. He is promising investors and developers that the next box will deliver, while leaving himself room to pivot if the silicon or the schedule betrays him.
"Polygon rendering" is also a shibboleth. In the early-to-mid 1990s, polygons were more than a technique; they were a status symbol. Saying you'll "get more heavily into" them signals seriousness, technical modernity, a willingness to compete in the arms race that was pulling the medium away from sprites and toward 3D worlds. It's not about triangles. It's about legitimacy.
The subtext is market positioning through engineering rhetoric. Hawkins isn't selling a single game; he's selling a platform narrative: the future is 3D, and we intend to own a piece of it. Hardware becomes destiny. The phrase "next generation" does the rest, laundering uncertainty into inevitability. It frames progress as a conveyor belt, not a gamble.
Coming from a businessman, the quote doubles as recruitment copy. It's a coded message to talent: we will fund the hard problems, we will chase the edge, we want to be the company where "rendering" is a boardroom word. That shift - graphics as corporate strategy - is how the medium got its modern look, and its modern pressures.
"Polygon rendering" is also a shibboleth. In the early-to-mid 1990s, polygons were more than a technique; they were a status symbol. Saying you'll "get more heavily into" them signals seriousness, technical modernity, a willingness to compete in the arms race that was pulling the medium away from sprites and toward 3D worlds. It's not about triangles. It's about legitimacy.
The subtext is market positioning through engineering rhetoric. Hawkins isn't selling a single game; he's selling a platform narrative: the future is 3D, and we intend to own a piece of it. Hardware becomes destiny. The phrase "next generation" does the rest, laundering uncertainty into inevitability. It frames progress as a conveyor belt, not a gamble.
Coming from a businessman, the quote doubles as recruitment copy. It's a coded message to talent: we will fund the hard problems, we will chase the edge, we want to be the company where "rendering" is a boardroom word. That shift - graphics as corporate strategy - is how the medium got its modern look, and its modern pressures.
Quote Details
| Topic | Technology |
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