game trailblazer

Chapter 292 The Business War at the End of the Century ([-])

PS: When I uploaded yesterday, I accidentally uploaded the wrong chapter. I uploaded Chapter 68 in advance, and re-adjusted it today. Please forgive me!
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Afterwards, the communication became smoother. Neither the two parties were completely ignorant of technology, and everyone had their own needs, so they quickly reached a consensus on the "RealTown" project.According to the agreement, Zhang Lexing will allocate a total of 1.6 million U.S. dollars from his own chairman's special fund as research funds. This money will be divided into five years, and about 3200 million U.S. dollars will be allocated each year according to the research progress. In addition, as his personal "Big Thousand World" needs to support technical research, he will allocate about 100 to 160 GFLOPS of computing power to support it.The three people in the "RealTown" project will establish a corresponding game development team based on their research content. While completing the scheduled research content of the "RealTown" project, they will also assist in the development of related supporting technologies for "Big Thousand World".

What needs to be said has been said, and what needs to be done has been done. Zhang Lexing can breathe a sigh of relief for the time being. Of course, he himself is very clear that neither the "RealTown" project nor the research and development of related supporting technologies for "Big Thousand World" can be completed overnight. We must have enough patience and tolerance to allow the R&D team to take some detours and make some mistakes. After all, the research they are doing now is a completely new direction.Even if Zhang Lexing tried his best, it would be powerless. The only thing he could do was to pay close attention and give full support.

"Big Thousand Worlds" cannot be accomplished overnight, so this year, the largest joint project between Oriental Industrial Group and VisualSystem Group - the global promotion of DreamBox128 mainframe, has once again gained Zhang Lexing's attention. Of course, the preparations and plans that should be made at this time are basically ready. What he has to do basically is to appreciate the current results.

Relying on the magical and crazy performance in the first week of listing, although the sales dropped sharply due to the shortage of goods, but with the gradual recovery of the supply situation, the sales have picked up again, although the magic and crazy performance of the first week has never been reproduced. Crazy, but compared to some of the same kind, the weekly sales results are quite objective. After all, it is a game console that is launched simultaneously in many regions around the world. In late September, Orient Industrial Group and VisualSystem Group held a high-profile press conference and announced a major news at the meeting. As of September 9, the global sales of DreamBox9 game consoles have exceeded 2 million units, of which more than 128 in the RB region. million units, more than 1000 million units in North America, more than 300 million units in Europe, nearly 400 units in mainland China, and more than 200 units in other regions.

The official announcement of this data immediately shocked the entire game industry. Some game development companies that were still holding a wait-and-see attitude could not help being tempted. Some game development companies that were already tempted have strengthened their confidence at this time. Going on, a new market that is expected to catch up with the PS scale will be born again, which means that they will have more choices in the future, so why not do it.But this news is absolutely bad news for Sony, Nintendo and Sega.

Sega, which is caught in the cracks, continues to encourage and maintain, but unfortunately, there are not many fools who are willing to continue to be tied to the sinking ship of the Dreamcast host. As a result, the number of games that Sega, which is extremely embarrassed, is able to release is increasing. Shrinking, others are celebrating that the sales of game consoles have exceeded 10 million, but they can only launch a few models including "Crazy Rental" that jumps out of the simulation framework and "SeaMan" with voice recognition functions, and "SeaMan" that vowed to be released at the end of October. Shenmue."Shenmue", which is said to cost tens of millions of dollars, is very influential, but after all, it has not yet been launched, and only "SeaMan" has aroused the interest of players. tragedy.

Maybe it's because the N64 game console's backlight is so good that even big-name game developers like Nanmen Palace are tempted. They announced more than two months ago that they would launch their own signature game "Ridge Racer" on the N64. He also expressed the possibility of further cooperation with Nintendo.In September, Nintendo and Namco held an emergency press conference in Tokyo, and officially announced that the two parties will cooperate to establish a company in mid-October.The new company is called "MOBILE10", with a total investment of 21 million yen. Nintendo and Namco each contribute 3%. The newly established company is mainly responsible for the game development of Nintendo's portable handhelds, and will be responsible for the upcoming "Dolphin" host Part of game development.

In addition, Hiroshi Yamauchi also announced that general-purpose equipment and games dedicated to GBC will be released in April next year. Anyone can play communication games through mobile phones and PHS (this thing is said to be the legendary PHS), and he said that GB will be released in August next year. The follow-up model of the handheld, "GBAdvance", is GBA, and some hardware specifications of GBA have also been confirmed from Yamauchi Hiroshi.

As the protagonist of the reception, Hiroshi Yamauchi did not spend time introducing any GBA games. Instead, he kept talking about the topic of "denying masterpieceism", saying that Nintendo will avoid those "heavy and grown-up" games that do not meet the true meaning of the game, and turn to The pursuit of "thin, short, interesting and highly completed" games focuses on the pursuit of the connotation of the game itself.For this reason, Hiroshi Yamauchi also deliberately used the mobile phone and PHS communication games developed based on GBC special communication equipment as an analogy, thinking that this will be a new communication game that is completely different from personal computers, and will open up a new world for Nintendo.

Hiroshi Yamauchi's words mean that Nintendo is likely to increase investment in portable handhelds and want to continue to maintain a monopoly in the handheld market for practitioners in the game industry, and it does not talk about N64 and denial of masterpieceism. In the ears of those who are interested, they can hear a different meaning. Taking the game as the leading factor, this is the strategy determined by Nintendo North America, led by Minoru Arakawa and others, to promote the N64 game console. Has become the object of criticism, does this mean that Nintendo North America is about to have major changes.This is just a guess, but it looks like the truth.

Also in September, Sony Computer Entertainment not to be outdone released news about PS2, including detailed hardware specifications, what 128-bit EmotionEngine (emotion engine processor), what GraphicsSynthesizer graphics processor, what 4x speed DVD drive, What USB, 1394 interface and so on, even host accessories such as PS2Demo disc, AV audio and video cable, AC power cord, etc., of course, the final release date is December 12rd, and it is almost the same as DreamBox23 The price is 128 yen.

At the same time, Sony Computer Entertainment announced a development tool for the PS2 game console, a tool software called "PROdg" produced by the British company "SNSYSTEMS", which can develop games for PS2 on the mainstream operating system of VisualSystem.When introducing this software, "SNSYSTEMS" CEO Abby Harris has been claiming that "PROdg" is a very convenient development tool, anyone with basic knowledge of programming will quickly master this excellent tool .Speaking of the rise, he also joked: "...With the support of the PS2's powerful performance, even software developers can make good games without doing anything..."

佐藤明副社长表示，目前已经有89家RB公司、32家北美公司、25家欧洲公司和索尼电脑娱乐签约为PS2开发游戏，其中包括艾尼克斯、南梦宫、光荣等著名游戏公司，此外PS2还将兼容现行的PS游戏，也就意味着RB的2300款、美国的650款及欧洲的650款游戏全部可以在PS2上运行。

In short, it can be summed up as "PS2 is the most powerful", "PS2 games are well developed", "PS2 games are very rich", and the final subtext is of course "PS2 is your best choice" ".

The successive moves of the three parties, especially Sony Computer Entertainment's move with the power of PS2, did not seem to have much effect. Although the sales of DreamBox128 game consoles have declined for several weeks, they are still moving forward steadily. At the beginning of November, another breakthrough was achieved. Global sales exceeded 11 million units, of which the RB region approached 2000 million units, the North American region approached 600 million units, the European region exceeded 780 million units, and even the mainland region reached 400 million units. million units, and other regions contributed the remaining 143 million units.

The global sales of 2000 million units may be a very fortunate achievement for Sega, but it is nothing for Nintendo, which was rich in the ancestors, and Sony Computer Entertainment, which is getting rich. But if you think about it, there are only three Such a goal was accomplished in half a month, and the shock it brought was quite great. "...The sales of DreamBox3 game consoles are slowing down", perhaps this is the only thing in the news that is more beneficial to Sony, Nintendo and Sega.

The efforts of Sony, Nintendo and Sega have not slowed down because of the performance of the DreamBox128 game console, and they dare not shrink back.Sega is very attentive. They not only created a Zip drive to enhance the performance of the Dreamcast console (somewhat similar to adding a mobile hard disk to a computer, which can facilitate the development of some games that require a large amount of data modification), but also try to develop more. games to attract players.It's a pity that the reality is always very cruel to them. The development cost of "Shenmue", which has high hopes, has swelled to nearly 4300 million US dollars, but the game still cannot be guaranteed to be released as scheduled, so they have no choice but to announce that it will be postponed to the spring of next year.As a result, the end of the year was approaching, but Sega had few games on hand, only "Magic Sword X" developed by ATLUS, which had done "Shin Megami Tensei", and Warp, the fat man in Iino. There are only a few titles such as "D No Shi Zhuo 2" and "VR Shooter 2 Ver.2000.1" from Sega's sports department. In order to maintain their appearance, they had to turn out "Sakura Wars" and called it "Sakura Wars 3: Is Paris Burning" next fall? It will be launched on the Dreamcast console. Of course, it is still unknown whether "Sakura Wars 2000" will be released on time in the autumn of 3. Maybe even the developer Prince Hiroi himself has no idea.

The few games have disappointed players who bought Dreamcast consoles, and the postponement of "Shenmue" and the long-awaited absence of masterpieces such as "Panzer Dragoon 3" are even more disheartening. A survey of purchase intentions conducted by a certain magazine Among them, the expectation level of the Dreamcast host has dropped to a freezing point.As the saying goes, "It rains all night when a house leaks." The unlucky Sega must have a deep understanding of this. They are obviously in a disadvantaged position, but they have been investigated by the RB Fair Trade Commission. The reason is that there is unfair competition in the sales of Dreamcast hosts. suspected.

When Zhang Lexing heard the news from his own channel, he couldn’t believe it at all. He didn’t finally accept it until he repeatedly confirmed that what the other party said was indeed “Sega” and not “Sony”.According to news sources, Sega was targeted by the Fair Trade Commission this time because SegaMuse, a subsidiary of Sega responsible for the sales of Dreamcast consoles, has instructed all RBD Dreamcast sales stores to prohibit the sale of Dreamcast consoles and game console peripherals at lower prices since last year. It also requires all stores to prohibit the sale of second-hand goods and inter-store resale.If the store doesn't respond, apply pressure by stopping the merchandise from being available.If this news is true, and Sega can't come up with strong evidence to refute it, it won't be a wonderful thing for them.

Of course, there is no good news for Sega. At least there are rumors that Sega is secretly developing a new Dreamcast console with a built-in DVD player, and even vowed to guarantee that there are already five or six games with DVD player functions under development, and The "magical and powerful" Sega is also developing a 32-bit portable handheld that can be connected to the new Dreamcast host.It's a pity that they still believe this news, except for hardcore Sega fans, there are not many people, at least Zhang Lexing doesn't believe it at all.

Nintendo is estimated to belong to the group that does not believe that Sega will develop a new console, but the news that the global sales of DreamBox128 game consoles have exceeded 2000 million units and the news that PS2 is confirmed to land on RB on December 12 this year still brings great stimulation to them. , although limited by the research and development progress of the "Dolphin" host and the current strategy of favoring portable handhelds, it is temporarily impossible to launch a powerful counterattack, but the wily Hiroshi Yamauchi still threw out a "bomb", claiming: "...the market is indeed Let DB23 take a step ahead. However, considering the launch schedule of the 'Dolphin' host next year, I don't think it is a very serious lag. The most important thing is to correctly convey the essence of the game to players. Like DB128 and PS128, it is close to 2 yen. Machines are too expensive for young people who are working or for young players, 'Dolphins' are not that expensive..."

Although it did not say how much the "Dolphin" console, which claims to be not that expensive, will sell for, but then in an informal occasion, a certain Nintendo executive revealed something in private, saying that the "Dolphin" console was finally sold. The price may be only two-thirds or one-half of DB128 and PS2, if the news is true, this is indeed a very exciting news, especially for those players who are cash-strapped.

In order to "celebrate" the global sales of DreamBox 128 reaching 2000 million units, Sony Computer Entertainment and the famous SGI jointly issued a statement that a new CG production company will be established on November 11. The new company will be called SiliconStudio, which will be established by SGI. Computer Entertainment is the main investor, and the main business direction in the future will be computer and game CG.Although it is not stated clearly, many people speculate that it is to make game CG for the upcoming PS10 game console, and Zhang Lexing also speculates in this way, but Sony Computer Entertainment will not admit this kind of thing, because their own technical strength will always be The most "powerful".

Time passed slowly day by day, and in a blink of an eye, the calendar turned to December again. The prelude to the annual Christmas business war began to gradually kick off, and the air was gradually filled with a strong smell of gunpowder. The fierce battle was imminent. up...

(End of this chapter)