game trailblazer

Chapter 300 The Bubble Burst

On March 2000, 3, the Nasdaq Index, which represents the vane of American high-tech companies, reached its historical peak of 13 points. The total market value of Nasdaq listed companies exceeded 5058.36 trillion US dollars. On this day, in In the eyes of many people, the prospects of high-tech companies, especially Internet companies, are still very promising. It was also on this day that the market value of Cisco reached 6.7 billion U.S. dollars, becoming the most valuable company in the U.S. market. Not much anymore.

On March 3, before the Nasdaq opened, many people who bought the latest issue of the "Wall Street Journal" saw an intriguing report "Who is their next target?" ", an article that contradicts the crazy rise of Internet high-tech stocks.

"...On November 11 last year, Cisco surpassed Intel, the most prestigious company in the PC industry, with a market value of US$10 billion. This year, Cisco has just entered its 2783th year, but Intel has already spent It has been 15 years. Some commentators believe that this is a watershed, indicating that Silicon Valley and the entire world information industry has undergone a major change, because the information industry has entered the Internet age from the PC era, and Cisco is in this transition core position.

Not long afterward, Cisco's market capitalization once again surpassed that of the established company General Electric, which seemed to confirm the conjecture of critics again.However, during this period, Mr. Zhang Lexing, the major shareholder of VisualSystem Group, led his team to aggressively reduce their holdings of stocks, especially the stocks of Internet high-tech companies such as Yahoo, Amazon, and eToy, and even Cisco. inside.

According to the latest information report, Mr. Zhang directly or indirectly holds only 5.01% of Cisco's stock, which is close to 25% less than his personal shareholding of 20% at the peak.According to the survey, a large part of them has been sold since the second half of last year, which means that Mr. Zhang has not fully enjoyed the benefits brought about by the rise in Cisco's stock price.According to yesterday's latest closing price, the value of 25% of Cisco's shares that Mr. Zhang once held is about US$1387 billion, and the loss caused by the early reduction of holdings is believed to be about US$300-400 billion.

But despite this, after this round of large-scale reduction, we estimate that the cash in the hands of Mr. Zhang and his team should be no less than 1500 billion US dollars, and may even be close to 2000 billion US dollars.While others are entering the stock market because they are optimistic about Internet high-tech stocks, Mr. Zhang is reducing their holdings on a large scale. Does this mean that he and his team are not optimistic about the future development of Internet high-tech stocks?We also tried to verify this with Mr. Zhang, but we did not get his affirmation, but judging from his actions, we believe he should have some concerns about this.

2000 billion U.S. dollars, this is a very large amount of money, even enough to buy many large traditional companies, such as Coca-Cola.Judging from the past performance of Mr. Zhang and his team, it is certainly impossible for him to let such a backlog of cash accumulate in his hands, so where will his goal be next?In which industry will the funds be invested?Is it to continue to tap those small and medium-sized enterprises with potential?Or will it acquire a competitor?

Mr. Zhang's spokesman did not directly answer our question, but he mentioned Sony Computer Entertainment and the PS2 game console launched during Christmas last year. This reminds us of the DreamBox128 game console invested by Mr. Zhang. Maybe he The purpose of hoarding a lot of cash is for the PS2 game console?
......"

This article from the "Wall Street Journal" did not attract much attention except for some interested people, because at this time the most media reports were the crazy rise in the successful IPO of Internet high-tech stocks and the overnight riches of the founders of Dotcom. Myth, many people's eyes are fixed on the stocks that have risen sharply on Nasdaq, but they have not noticed, or are unwilling to notice, the crisis hidden under the prosperity.Many people understand that the stock market is risky, and they all know that the stock market will not continue to rise, but they are lucky, thinking that the rising range is not over yet, and they will never be the last one to beat the drums, but the world It's often just that amazing.

Within a few days, following the announcement on February 2, the Fed raised interest rates again. This is the second rate hike this year and the sixth rate hike since last summer.After the news came out, the Nasdaq index, which had just climbed to 2 points, fell immediately, and then a large number of selling orders surged out, completely crushing Nasdaq. The entire disk was almost red, and the index began to go down for a long time the road.

However, perhaps because there is still hope, the decline of the Nasdaq index is not too fierce. On average, it only drops by nearly 400 points a day, but it gradually accumulates and becomes quite impressive. After a week, the Nasdaq index The SDAQ has dropped more than [-] points.However, many people do not think that this is the bursting of the Internet bubble. Even many stock market commentators attribute this phenomenon to a natural correction, and believe that Nasdaq will end its short-term decline and return to the upward channel in the near future.It's a pity that some things will not change because of the will of some people. Since the beginning of the decline, the Nasdaq index is like standing on a staircase full of butter. Except for the occasional small rebound for half a day or so, basically The world has been falling endlessly, showing no sign of stopping.

After entering April, even Cisco, the model of network high-tech stocks, was not alone, and they also joined the army of decliners, falling all the way from the highest peak of 4 US dollars per share.As for those Internet IPO companies that have never known what profit is since the company was established, they have fallen even worse at this time, and the worst ones have even fallen by more than half.At the beginning of March, many people were still discussing which Internet company would become the next Cisco, and many people were still complacent about the tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of people who became overnight, but now they have all died down. The Internet bubble seems to be Really going bust.

The fluctuations in the U.S. stock market on the other side of the ocean spread to all parts of the world, but they did not have much impact on the game strategies of Nintendo, Sega, and Sony. They are still advancing step by step at their own pace, trying to Seize the key position.

One day in April, at the famous Bell Harbor Convention Center in Seattle, a developer meeting hosted by Nintendo North America was being held here...

The host of the venue tapped the microphone lightly, and the voice in the venue gradually became quieter. He looked at the audience with a smile on his face and said, "I am very glad that everyone can come today. Let us invite today's The master is here!"

As he spoke, the host made a gesture of "please" to the side, and there was a burst of applause from the audience. A man with an oriental face walked onto the stage under the light and came to the speaker's seat.Many people in the audience couldn't help being stunned, because the person who came was not the familiar Arakawa Minoru, and of course it didn't mean that everyone didn't know the person who came, Shigeru Miyamoto's name can be said to be known to everyone in the game circle. People don’t know, but usually Nintendo North America’s activities are either Howard Lincoln or Arakawa Minoru. Now that Howard Lincoln has left, it stands to reason that today’s developer meeting should come to Arakawa Minoru. He is Nintendo after all. The current president (president) of the North American company, and in the eyes of many people, it is logical for him to succeed Hiroshi Yamauchi in the future.But the one who came today was Shigeru Miyamoto, who flew over from RB Kyoto. Some thoughtful people couldn't help guessing that this meant that Minoru Arakawa's position was not so stable anymore.

Shigeru Miyamoto didn't have so many thoughts in his mind. President Hiroshi Yamauchi personally ordered him to come here today. With an important mission on his shoulders, he naturally had to do the best. He also knew that the current Nintendo had reached the brink of danger. It was even more dangerous when the PS game console was released.

After digging out the information brought in the briefcase, Shigeru Miyamoto cleared his throat, and said with a smile: "Hello everyone, I am Shigeru Miyamoto from Nintendo, and I am entrusted by President Yamauchi to announce some news that everyone is very concerned about." .First of all, the next-generation portable handheld GameBoy Advance..."

Following Shigeru Miyamoto's narration, the developer representatives in the audience gradually got some understanding of the legendary GameBoy Advance. GameBoyAdvance is indeed as revealed by an insider last year, the main processor is a RISC-type ARM7 processor, in order to maintain compatibility with GameBoy, GameBoyAdvance will also include an 8-bit CISC processor. The screen of GameBoy Advance adopts reflective TFT LCD screen, the size is about 2.9 inches, the resolution of the screen is 240×160, and the maximum number of colors supported is 32768.Using a dedicated cassette as the game storage medium, the maximum support is 256Mbit, and it can be used for about 5 hours with two AA batteries installed.

Compared with the previous GameBoy and GameBoyColor, the performance of GameBoyAdvance has been greatly improved, even surpassing the portable handhelds launched by some competitors.In order to give developers an intuitive impression, Shigeru Miyamoto showed some GameBoy Advance game development screens, among which the screen expressiveness of "Super Mario A" and "Mario Kart A" attracted many people's attention.Many people have already started to think about it. Judging from the performance of the GameBoy Advance, there is no competitor at present, and the results of the release should be good. In that case, this will be a new gold mine no less than the GameBoy. After all, the game development cost of portable handheld games is usually much less than that of home game consoles, and the profit margin is relatively larger. Thinking of this, everyone has a lot of expectations for the future of GameBoy Advance.

Shigeru Miyamoto looked at the expectant expressions of the audience with satisfaction, held a GameBoy Advance model, and continued the previous topic: "...the portable handheld GameBoy Advance and Nintendo's future main home console 'Dolphin' allow online interaction, Take the popular "Pokemon" of GameBoyColor as an example. After playing on the "Dolphin" host, players can also transfer the Pokemon they are cultivating to the GameBoy Advance, and then they can train and exercise the Pokemon anytime, anywhere. Even other people exchange, and finally can retransmit back to the 'Dolphin' host, and can also design a Pokemon that can only be obtained through this exchange. This means that if players want to fully experience the fun of the game, they must at the same time With the 'Dolphin' console and the GameBoy Advance..."

The linkage that Shigeru Miyamoto said immediately attracted everyone's attention. If this strategy is successful, then a game can be launched on both the 'Dolphin' host and the GameBoy Advance. When friends exchange game data, they may even be isolated, and more importantly, they cannot fully experience the full fun of the game.It is conceivable that many players will definitely become dual players of the 'Dolphin' console and GameBoy Advance because of this gimmick. In this way, the popularity of 'Dolphin' console and GameBoy Advance should be relatively high. After all, there is no Quite a competitor, although Sony Computer Entertainment has a so-called memory card and handheld PocketStation, but the 32×32 dot-matrix LCD screen that directly catches up with the Tetris machine, and the 32-bit RISC processor that is almost like a mentally handicapped choice, It is not even as attractive as GameBoy. I believe that as soon as GameBoy Advance comes out, PocketStation will immediately become gray.

Looking at the "GameBoyAdvance" in Shigeru Miyamoto's hand on the stage, many people are already thinking about what games are suitable for development on the GameBoyAdvance, or how to make full use of the linkage between the "Dolphin" host and the GameBoyAdvance to fool players.Thinking of their pride, many people almost laughed out loud, and the "GameBoyAdvance" in Shigeru Miyamoto's hands is almost a pile of yellow and orange gold in their eyes...

Sega is still making the final effort, although they are very unlucky in the past, an American Rambus company will pop up, claiming that the processor "SH-4" produced by RB Hitachi infringes the copyright of its own products, and then put Hitachi and Hitachi Semiconductor went to court, along with Sega and Sega North America, and asked Hitachi to stop producing "SH" family products immediately.If this lawsuit fails, it will be almost a devastating blow to Sega, because it means that the Dreamcast mainframe using the "SH-4" processor must be replaced with a new processor before it can continue to be listed, which is simply impossible. completed tasks.

Fortunately, as long as they are willing to spend money these days, there will never be a shortage of lawyers in the United States to fight lawsuits, and what they are best at is procrastination. Anyway, if the lawsuit is not concluded for a day, the Dreamcast host can continue to be sold, and Hitachi will mediate it , it will not have any substantial impact on Sega for a while.The most important thing for Sega right now is the North American and European markets. The RB region has been completely tragic under the attack of DreamBox128 and PS2. This is the last two areas where they can still work hard, especially in North America. It is the most important thing, so Sega spared no expense to sacrifice the final trump card - free game console, in order to seize the last chance to seize the North American market.

"The game console is free! You only need to pay 21.95 dollars a month for the network fee, and you can get a free Dreamcast console and a dedicated keyboard..." Sega North America is advertising their free Dreamcast console everywhere during this time , trying to lure more people into the arms of the Dreamcast host.Not to mention, their strategy is indeed very attractive. Anyway, for those who like to surf the Internet, the Internet fee must not be saved. Now they can get a Dreamcast host for free, which means that they don’t need a computer at home. With another TV, you can surf the Internet.The so-called Dreamcast console is definitely not as easy to use as a computer when surfing the Internet, but it is relatively convenient to use, and more importantly, it can also play games by the way, and you can also play online games.

For those players who have already bought a Dreamcast console in advance, Sega has also given preferential policies. As long as they are willing to accept the monthly network fee of 21.95 US dollars and choose SegaNet's newly established SegaNet as their ISP, they will immediately get a Dreamcast console. A $200 check and a dedicated power supply as compensation.In order to enhance its attractiveness, Sega North America also specially announced a list of as many as 70 games. These are all Dreamcast games that are expected to be released this year and support online battles.

Affected by this, the sales of Dreamcast mainframes in North America have finally picked up. Although they have not achieved the results of their first landing in the North American market, and although there is still a big gap with competitors, they have at least made good progress. Think so.

(End of this chapter)