Chapter 267: The Incredible Miracle (Second Update)
Hoffman’s association with games can be traced back to the 1970s.
He is a Prussian, but later came to the United States with his parents, where he saw the first game console, "Space Invaders."
He still remembered that it was a dull evening, the clouds in the sky were very low, and the sultry breath was like a sticky film that made people breathless.
Hoffman's father opened a tavern at the time, but I don't know if it was due to acclimatization. His tavern was not popular for a long time.
In order to save the tavern on the verge of bankruptcy, Hoffman's father searched for various methods and finally made a whimsical decision.
He brought in a game console.
It was a coin-operated arcade machine, five cents a time. At that time, Hoffman's father regretted the purchase and had no idea why he spent a lot of money on such a broken machine.
But when he connected the power supply and placed the arcade machine in the corner of the bar, the atmosphere of the entire bar instantly changed.
Hoffman was working as a bartender at the time. He clearly remembered that the radio in the bar was playing live baseball at that time. The game had reached a fever pitch. The fourth baseball had just hit a ball that was probably a home run. Everyone Everyone is looking forward to this moment that can reverse everything.
But when the arcade's startup sound sounded and the arcade's preset screen appeared, Hoffman knew that no one would pay attention to baseball anymore.
Everyone was looking at that wonderful machine. Several guests present looked at the thing in surprise and couldn't believe that the small spacecraft below could be controlled.
Someone curiously went up to try it out, and after inserting the coin, they shouted in surprise: "They can move!"
Rows of enemies symbolizing aliens approached from top to bottom, and players could only control them. The small spacecraft below kept shooting from behind the bunker. Every little monster was destroyed, which attracted crazy cheers. The whole bar was as lively as a festival.
The difficulty of the game may not seem high now, but it was a huge challenge at the time. Customers who came here crazily stuffed five-cent coins into it, and Hoffman had to open the cash box every two hours and withdraw the cents. come out.
A small machine brought the entire hotel to life. Hofmann's mother, who was still scolding her husband yesterday, took him to the second floor today and gave Hofmann a younger brother in the coming year.
But that's not the point.
The moment he saw the arcade machine, Hoffman felt like he had seen a miracle.
He looked at the machine screen with bright eyes, not missing every detail.
Although it is just a simple pixel, in Hoffman's heart, it is an earth-shattering war.
He even began to fantasize about the names of each fighter plane, gave each fallen pilot a nickname, and even arranged an epitaph.
Every day after the tavern closed, he would go to the first floor alone and play repeatedly with five cents.
That was his first exposure to games, and the impact left a deep impression on his mind and directly influenced him to enter the gaming industry.
After that, he studied hard, and after discovering that he had no talent for game development, he decisively turned to game promotion and established a Cayman company.
After decades of working in the industry, he saw the collapse of Atari, the rise of Nintendo, the competition between Sega and Sony for console supremacy, and the birth of bizarre game consoles.
But no matter how good the game he saw, it couldn't compare with the "Space Invaders" he had seen.
He thought this feeling would only happen once in his life, but just now, he felt it again.
He experimented twice before officially entering the game, but once he entered the game, he was shocked by what he saw.
The scenery of the grassland is picturesque, the breeze blowing on his face is delicate and soft, the cool river water soaks his body, and there are elephants playing with him around him.
Hoffman, who turned into an elephant, felt an unprecedented freedom. His old body disappeared at this moment, and his huge body was filled with surging vitality.
Climbing out of the game cabin, it took a long time for Hoffman to wake up from his dream, and then realized what he had seen.
Something that could reinvent the gaming industry.
Once this thing comes out, most game companies must transform. The only hope for companies that don't want to transform is that the cost of this thing cannot be reduced.
As long as the cost of game cabins is reduced to less than 100,000, companies that don't want to transform will have to transform.
Hoffman said all the compliments he knew, and then pulled Gao Tianyun and asked: "This machine is really genius, how did you do it?"
Gao Tianyun was elated by Hoffman's praise, but still Said: "Xuan Jing and Boss Fang are the heroes."
"It turns out that you also have merit, you are great. Get ready, you will lay a trillion-dollar industry, you are the innovators of the game industry! I want to apply for a showcase in advance , the girls must be the most dazzling in the exhibition the day after tomorrow."
Seeing Hoffman running out in a hurry, Xuan Jing asked doubtfully: "Is the old man too excited? Isn't this not good for the body? He doesn't He might get too excited and something might happen."
"He won't." Fang Cheng said calmly, "At least not within twenty years."
"The old man is really lucky." Xuan Jing said with emotion.
And Hoffman's mobility is astonishingly high.
After experiencing the magic of the game cabin, he immediately took action and frantically applied for a showcase.
Adding temporary display cabinets will bring a lot of unnecessary trouble. Even an experienced game practitioner like Hoffman, the person in charge of the exhibition will not agree.
Facing the ruddy-faced Hoffman, the person in charge of the exhibition raised his glasses and said helplessly: "Hoffman, you have also held an exhibition, and you know how many things need to be coordinated to change the venue of this kind of exhibition, let alone already have a fixed location. And what you want is the best seat in the exhibition hall. Druid Entertainment will not agree to it."
"Come here!"
"...Are you ready to duel with me? Can I refuse?"
"You give it. I'm coming over here!"
The person in charge of the exhibition was dragged directly to the hotel by Hoffman and stuffed into the game cabin.
An hour later, the person in charge was forcibly awakened by Hoffman. The groggy person in charge roared like a cheetah, then quickly woke up, took Hoffman's hand and said: "Give me the phone, I want to tell Druid." Entertainment, they will either quit or change seats."
A few minutes later, Druid Entertainment received a notice from the other party requesting to change the booth, and was willing to compensate according to the amount stipulated in the contract.
No matter how the representatives of Druid Entertainment asked, the other party did not relent. They just said, "This is one of the few opportunities for me to leave my name in the history of the game. I don't want to miss it."
After discovering that the communication was fruitless, the representative of Druid Entertainment became angry.
Their "Fallen Mecha" did fail some time ago, and the stock price collapsed along with it, but this does not mean that Druid Entertainment is dead. On the contrary, they still hold several large-scale IPs in their hands, they also have many excellent studios, and demos of new games have been released. This is their opportunity to make a turnaround.
To this end, they booked excellent locations at major game exhibitions in advance, decided to use excellent demos to attract another investment, and tried again to sell themselves at a good price.
But now, this plan has been suspended.
With anger, representatives from Druid Entertainment contacted the relevant game media in advance and decided to expose the incident and discredit the game show.
In addition, he also wants to expose the bastards who dare to occupy their booth and let them know that a skinny camel is always bigger than a flea.
Finally, the much-anticipated game show was held.
This game exhibition is larger than last year, covering a wider area, with more related game manufacturers, and the number of tourists received is 30% more than last year.
A large number of media gather here, various game demos and game equipment will be reported immediately, and all new games will be exposed first, thereby increasing the popularity of the game.
And when reporters and tourists poured into the venue, they discovered that the large display cabinet was not a game from Druid Entertainment, but a new game console jointly launched by Fangcheng Studio and Kirin Industry.
These reporters...
are even more excited!
The conflict between Fangcheng Studio and Druid Entertainment has been going on for a long time. They had already collided with each other once in North America due to a large-scale game exhibition, which ended in a fiasco for Druid Entertainment.
Today, the number of online users of "Fallen Mecha" has dropped below three digits. It is difficult for the game server to match people, and even the online plug-ins are too lazy to update and produce.
By reducing the number of players in the game to resist cheating, all relevant people can only give a thumbs up and say "six".
In comparison, "Qi Ling" still has millions of people online.
In particular, the open MOD mode of "Qi Ling" has now become the sixth largest MOD platform in the world. People publish and download new MODs on it every day, which further improves the playability of the game.
However, because of their contempt for the Chinese game industry, the North American game media simply reported the relevant situation and then stopped continuing.
But today, after seeing Fangcheng Studio occupying Druid Entertainment's exhibition hall, the reporters' desire to explore was quickly ignited, making them like bloodthirsty sharks and start conducting interviews frantically.
However, they soon discovered that the information revealed by Fangcheng Studio was pitiful.
This time, the only game exhibited by Fangcheng Studio was "Zoo". The graphics of the game were very beautiful, but the game's gameplay was not seen at all.
The introduction of the game is just to play a certain animal roaming on the grassland. There is no main mission, no plot, no fierce confrontation, it is just a simple simulation.
Although some people suspect that this is a life-oriented game, it can be seen from the side screen that this is really a serious animal simulator.
The only thing on the venue that looked unusual was the ten game cabins, and the staff explained that they were virtual reality game cabins, but all they got was shakes of their heads.
No one believes that virtual reality has arrived so easily.
In their view, it will take at least twenty years for VR-related industries to take off, and players still need to rely on various peripherals to enjoy games at this stage.
The controversy has not stopped since I heard that this is a virtual game cabin. The representative of Druid Entertainment listened to the controversy around him, stared at the machine in front of him, and sneered with disdain.
These cunning Orientals.
The game is a commodity, and the commodity must learn to boast. The representative knows this marketing routine very well, and he also thinks that he understands the other party's marketing strategy.
Promote your own products and make money from those who are early adopters.
Crossing his arms, he watched the first batch of early adopters enter the game cabin and prepared to add fuel to the fire and bring Fangcheng Studio into disrepute.
He has been prepared. Once the other party's performance does not live up to his reputation, he will accuse him on the spot and make sure that the other party cannot survive.
Six of them woke up within five minutes and said they could not fall asleep, but four slept there for twenty minutes and were not awakened until the experience time was up.
After seeing the expressions of these four experiencers, the representative keenly realized that something was wrong.
These four people were obviously asleep, and the state of just waking up could not be deceived.
After waking up, these four people exclaimed in unison.
"Incredible!"
"It's true..."
"I turned into a crocodile in the water, eating fish by the river with my mouth open. This feeling is so pleasant." "
It's hard to imagine that cyberpunk is really coming Are you done?"
The four people's reactions were exaggerated and outrageous, making people suspect that they were trolls invited by Fangcheng Studio.
However, when the second group of people came out, their expressions were even more horrified.
One of the game media writers didn't even say a word. He took out his laptop and started writing a press release on the spot.
After getting behind the other party, the representative discovered that the other party was a well-known media writer and had participated in game ratings on major review websites.
His ratings are known for being harsh. No matter how good the game is, a few points will be deducted from him. A game that can reach 6 points is considered excellent.
But this time, the other party directly gave a perfect evaluation, and followed it with comments: [Ten points, because this platform can only give ten points. ]
[This is an epoch-making console, equipped with games that perfectly reflect the performance of the console. Virtual reality finally shined into reality at this moment, and it also made me understand that there is hope in life, and that living is such a beautiful thing. ]
[Just now, I experienced goshawks, ants, and many more things to experience, but I don't have time. In just twenty minutes, it has surpassed the game experience I have accumulated in the past two years. It is a game I am willing to remember for the rest of my life. ]
[This is a game you must experience once in your life. From today on, I will become a loyal fan of Fangcheng Studio. I will not allow anyone to say a bad word about it in front of me. I believe that everyone who has played this game will agree with my words. 】
Seeing the comments written by this tough guy, the representative of Druid Entertainment suddenly felt a sense of impending disaster.
They won't really make virtual reality, right?
There are only two updates today. I went out for a drink and will make up for it tomorrow!
(End of chapter)