Reborn America, this is my time

Chapter 121 Friendship
"Ethan, is what you just said true?"

After leaving Fox, on the way back to Universal, Spielberg asked cautiously: "Do you really want to make a video game in the name of "Star Wars"?"

Don't look at Spielberg's unusual arrogance in front of Fox executives just now, but in fact he himself knows that there are many problems in the "Star Wars" movie.

For example, the visual effects are not finalized;
For example, the effects of editing and narration are extremely chaotic;
With these minor issues unresolved, Ethan is willing to make games in the name of "Star Wars", which is no different from doing charity.

Because this is equivalent to using one's own reputation to escort others. When "Snake" and "Pac-Man" caused a sensation in North America and the world, the name Ethan Jones actually represented money. Before Ethan's official failure, merchants would mindlessly buy the games he invented, and users would pour out real money to taste his works like a swarm.

As for the reason?

This is actually a kind of celebrity effect.

"Of course." Ethan said with a smile: "Steven, don't you think I'm joking? If so, I will be very sad."

"No, No, No, I didn't mean that..." Spielberg waved his hand quickly.

And his flustered appearance also made Ethan put away his slapstick thoughts——

"Brother, don't be nervous, I'm joking with you. I really want to make a game related to aliens. I already have a specific idea, but after seeing "Star Wars", I put this The whole idea of ​​the game is complete, and if George doesn't mind, I'll call it Star Wars, but if he does..."

"He won't mind!" Spielberg said immediately before Ethan finished speaking.

Ethan was a little surprised by the decisive words, "Oh Steven, can you help him make a decision?"

"I guess..." Spielberg nodded.

Perhaps it was because the quarrel just now exhausted all his strength.

But it's also possible that Ethan's answer gave him confidence.

After giving an affirmative answer, he also relaxed on the car seat and said, "Ethan, let me tell you this, we have known each other for ten years, and we have been able to make some decisions for each other long ago... ..."

Spielberg and Lucas met in six or seven years. At that time, they were still elementary school students in the film industry. Spielberg was rejected by his dream university, and Lucas was in When he was young, he had a lot of short film works, and the one that shocked Spielberg the most was a short film called "Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB".

That short film is about:
In a dystopian futuristic underground city, humans have no names, just mechanized codenames.A human named THX 1138 4EB did not want to live such a life and decided to escape from here. Ever since, the government that discovered his escape behavior tracked him with computers and cameras in an attempt to stop him, but these people failed in the end;

With 4EB's successful escape, the mechanized government expressed condolences to his partner in order to maintain its rule, claiming that 4EB destroyed itself in the process of fleeing.

If this kind of story is placed in the 21st century, it is definitely a fantasy of the public level, because when the Internet age comes, these things may really exist, but in the 60s, when computers were not popular and the Internet did not exist at all, George Lucas The future concept that I came up with is the incomparable genius inspiration that can amaze people, because of this...

"I started to get in touch with him and got to know each other." Spielberg said: "George is the most imaginative person I have ever met. In the process of getting along, he brought me A lot of inspiration. Most importantly, he taught me how to make a real movie!"

"This sentence may sound strange, but in fact it is very simple, because he and Francis Coppola are friends, so under his leadership, I can freely enter and leave the "Rain Man" crew, wanton watch "Rain Man" The filming of The Godfather..."

"Ethan, you have never made a movie, so you may not know that watching the shooting of a movie up close on the set is the most important thing for a novice to do. You only know how to solve it if you witness it with your own eyes.”

"Without George's help, I might not be able to make "Jaws" in my life..."

"So, when he needs me, I will help him unconditionally."

"Now he needs to succeed! The movie "Star Wars" must also succeed! He has bet everything on this movie! It is impossible for him to accept the failure of this movie!"

"so……"

Having said that, Spielberg turned his head and looked at Ethan seriously: "If you are really willing to make games for "Star Wars", then I will be very happy, and at the same time, no matter what George's side is response, I will try to convince him to accept it..."

"Now is not the time to be willful."

The heartfelt words made Ethan nod slightly.

"Thank you for your trust," he said.

This response stunned Spielberg for a moment, and the next second, he burst out laughing——

"Oh Ethan, I should be the one thanking you! If you hadn't just said that I was inspired by "Star Wars", I would definitely be pissed off today!"

"Those movies where executives know shit!"

"A bunch of idiots—"

Ethan didn't know whether the people at Fox understood movies, but he knew that when he returned to Universal with Spielberg, this guy immediately contacted Warner's own people to help him find out about Atari's research and development. In just two hours, a document signed by the current Warner CEO Steve Ross was sent to him.

This document records in detail everything related to the Atari home console——

The CPU of Atari's new machine uses Intel 8080, and the cost per chip is 22 US dollars;
The built-in storage is a 128-byte memory stick from Texas Instruments, but in order to accommodate more games, they also expanded two 1024-byte memory versions. The cost here is 96 US dollars;
When the cost of the two main components was as high as $110, they set the selling price of the machine at $190 in order to ensure profitability.

It seems expensive, but after the machine has built-in "Brickbreaker" and "Pong", there are also games such as "Racing Car" and "Pinball" that can be played...

This price is actually acceptable.

Yes.

In the documents obtained by Spielberg, Atari did not launch a Pac-Man-inspired game, and this fact also made Ethan breathe a sigh of relief.

Since Atari didn't start to learn from it, it proves that things haven't reached the worst step yet.

Of course, he didn't take it lightly.

Because there is no information on Mi Luohua's side now.

In the absence of relevant information for the time being, Ethan can only judge based on Mirov's acquisition behavior and the launch time of the console, and their probability of reference is relatively low.

Just when Ethan was praying, and God had to bless him once, in the afternoon, George Lucas, who had temporarily finished the work at hand, came to Universal. The bearded man first communicated with Steven Spielberg alone After a while, the two appeared in front of Ethan together.

George Lucas said with a smile: "Ethan, thank you very much for helping me. I discussed it with Steven and decided to cooperate with you and invite Destiny Games to develop a game named "Star Wars". game to help the movie get better publicity."

"Because our cooperation is different from other cooperations. Other companies may sell copyrights and develop games, while our appeal is to authorize the naming to help publicize. Therefore, I don't know how you think about the promotion fee? You What is the psychological price? And what is the payment method?"

Having said that, Lucas rubbed his hands in embarrassment, and said, "Ethan, Steven should have told you that I have no money now, so... can you accept the deferred payment?"

'? ? ? '

When Ethan finished listening to Lucas' words, WTF was written all over his face?

He suspected that his ears had heard wrong!
He used the name "Star Wars" to make a game, and then Lucas wanted to pay him?

There is such a good thing in the world?
However, after being surprised for a while, Ethan reacted.

Lucas and Spielberg felt that the two of them had taken advantage of their enthusiasm!
Although this kind of thing sounds funny, Ethan doesn't take it seriously.

Smiling and shaking his head, he said, "Oh George, you don't have to mention the promotion fee anymore."

"After all, the game was inspired by your and Steven's movie."

"You trust me and are willing to give me your name, that's enough."

"As for the rest?"

"Hey! When Steven helped me contact Rudolph, that is, Professor Ralph Bell, he didn't ask me to pay any intermediary fees! Now he helped me get some materials and didn't ask me what I wanted Material money! So stop mentioning these messy things!"

"If you mention it again, I will be angry!"

Ethan made a serious face on purpose.

Lucas' face lit up with excitement.

Spielberg bumped him and laughed:
"Oh George, I said Ethan really wanted to help us, right?"

The joking words made Lucas nod repeatedly, and at the same time he opened his arms towards Ethan.

"Ethan! Thank you!"

"From today on you are my brother!"

"No matter what you have in the future, as long as I can help you, then I will definitely help you!"

"Ah, no - I can help if I can't!"

brother?

Hearing this title, Ethan grinned.

And Lucas as brothers?
Oh--

This is very interesting~
Ah no——

He glances at Spielberg again.

That smiling face made him feel more interesting~
　Thanks to [Qi Qisi] for the 100 starting coins.

　　And at night
　　
　
(End of this chapter)