Video Game Empire

The Internet world in the 1980s was still in the wild period after the creation of the world, and it was completely different from the Internet era in the era of information explosion decades later. For example, in the current bbs system, even the online browsing function cannot be fully realized, but the offline browsing mode is generally adopted.

For example, Li Yue has an as-bbs client software in his computer. It is through this client that he logs in to the Pearl of the Orient Forum via dial-up networking. bbs is the abbreviation of "bn;ss" in English, and the literal translation into Chinese is called the electronic bulletin board system.

Due to the emergence of the Oriental Group, Hong Kong can be regarded as the earliest and fastest-growing area of ​​the Internet in Asia. As early as 1981, Li Xuan invested in the establishment of the ARPANET node in Hong Kong, and leased satellite communications to connect to the global ARPANET system. After the bbs system appeared in the United States, the Oriental Group also quickly introduced it to Hong Kong.

The early bbs programs were written by network enthusiasts themselves, and the stations were independent of each other, and there was no way to exchange visits. So Dongfang System Software Co., Ltd. has written a new set of as-bbs software system and promoted it free of charge all over the world.

After the launch of the as-bbs software, anyone can build a personal bbs website with only a computer, a telephone line and a modem, which greatly promotes the development of the global Internet. There are now more than 20 bbs stations in Hong Kong, and the largest one of them is undoubtedly the Oriental Pearl bbs forum sponsored by the Oriental Group.

Compared with those who generally use ab-3 or ab-5 computers as servers, only one user can occupy the line at a time. Visit the personal website that is as slow as a snail. The Oriental Pearl Forum adopts the latest generation network server of Aikang. The station is directly set up in the communication room of the Hong Kong Telephone Company, and can withstand simultaneous visits by up to 2,000 people.

Electronic industry with computer, game and other industries as the core. It is rapidly developing into a new pillar of Hong Kong's industry, so Hong Kong has rapidly gathered a large number of high-tech talents in recent years. According to the statistics of relevant institutions, the number of electronic talents who come to Hong Kong to work from Taiwan alone exceeds 2,000 every year.

After all, there are only two universities in Hong Kong, which is far from meeting the rapid rise of the local electronics industry and the demand for middle and senior technical talents. These gaps are mainly made up by talents introduced from Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Europe and the United States.

In the daily work of these electronic engineers, it is difficult for them to leave the computer, and they are natural users of the computer. The emergence of the Internet is naturally accepted and liked by these computer enthusiasts at the first time.

There are many computer users in Hong Kong. They are all concentrated in high-density living in Hong Kong, a city with a small area, which actually greatly reduces the investment cost of infrastructure network construction. For example, in the United States, although its computer population is the largest in the world, the people who used computers in the 1980s were at least from middle-class families.

Even if the American middle class lives in big cities such as New York and Los Angeles, they do not live in the city center, but in the suburban areas within one to two hours' drive from the city center.

This place is sparsely populated. The special feature of low population density will undoubtedly greatly increase the cost of investment required to achieve full-area network coverage. Therefore, after Li Xuan acquired the Hong Kong Telephone Company, the speed of Internet construction in Hong Kong has actually been at the forefront of the world.

Because even under the strong push of Li Xuan's seemingly unraveling. The Hong Kong Telephone Company's losses in the newly opened network business are not serious. Just relying on charging users an inexpensive Internet access fee, the Hong Kong Telephone Company can quickly recover most of the up-front construction costs.

If the American counterparts want to build a high-speed backbone network in the United States, like HK Electric. The cost of the required inputs will be astronomical. Therefore, the telecommunications operators in the United States are not eager to promote the development of the Internet at all. Instead, patiently wait for the technical progress, and then move with the trend after the melon is ripe.

So the Pearl of the Orient Forum can be called it. The largest bbs station in the world. What is the concept of posting more than 50,000 posts every day? That is to say, every 2 seconds on average, a new discussion thread is posted to the forum by users. You know, it's 1986, and most people in Hong Kong haven't even touched a computer. This data is enough to be called a popular website even after thirty years.

Of course, a large number of posts are updated every day, and the information on the Pearl of the Orient Forum has quickly become complicated. In order to make it easier for everyone to filter the content they are interested in, the entire Pearl of the Orient Forum has now been subdivided into more than a dozen major sections, and each major section has been subdivided into several subsections.

For example, the Game Home section that Li Yue is currently browsing is subdivided into five subsections: arcade, home, handheld, computer games and comprehensive information. In addition to the game home section, the sports world section that Li Yue also often pays attention to can also be divided into six sub-sections: Hong Kong League One, League One, horse racing and six-in-one lottery, comprehensive sports, and leisure fitness.

Since the Pearl of the Orient Forum cannot yet realize online browsing, users can only browse offline. Li Yue's first step after logging into the forum every day is to update the new post directory of the sub-sections he is interested in.

After a "ding-!" sound, Li Xuan usually disconnects from the Internet immediately after the client prompts that the information has been updated, and then slowly browses the newly downloaded information on his computer.

The Oriental Pearl Forum uses a membership system to log in. Each member has a limited login time per day according to the level. Because the maximum number of people accessing the forum at the same time is only 2,000, and during peak hours at night, the number of members waiting to log in to the forum usually exceeds 10,000. In order to reduce congestion as much as possible, the website has to strictly allocate everyone's login time, so that everyone has the opportunity to log in to the forum.

Unlike in the past, Li Yue's interest today is not on browsing the all-encompassing information on the forum. After he opened the as-bbs personal client. I didn't rush to the Oriental Pearl Forum, but wrote a post with more than 500 words for the first time.

He is ready to share with others. I went to Dongyou Company today to try out the a-2 handheld and my impressions after the new game called "Pokémon".

After posting my new discussion thread on the forum. Li Yue continued to type again. The post he just uploaded was in Chinese, and the content he is typing now is in English. In fact, the content of the two posts is similar, except that the Chinese post was published on the Pearl of the Orient bbs forum, while the English post was published on another bbs site called "Oriental Game Alliance".

The Eastern Game Alliance was originally in San Francisco, USA. A group of players who were obsessed with the various games of Eastern Game Company spontaneously organized an exchange meeting organization. Later, with the official support of Dongyou Company, it quickly developed into a game fan association with members all over the world.

The Oriental Game Company allocates 10 million US dollars each year for the "Oriental Game Alliance" to carry out various networking activities between players. The emergence of the Internet has allowed this game fan association to cross the barriers of space. It is easy to realize global interaction through virtual network. The Eastern Game Alliance bbs forum is the official online contact information of the association.

Li Yue is one of the members of the Eastern Game Alliance, so he wants to share the a-2 handheld and the game called "Pokémon" in English to netizens in other parts of the world as soon as possible.

After uploading the second English version of the trial experience, Li Yue landed on the Pearl of the Orient forum again. After completing the data update, he found that his post had received more than a dozen replies in just ten minutes.

"Although I'm also looking forward to a-2, you're blowing too much! All kinds of compliments make me feel sick to my stomach!"

After reading the first netizen reply, Li Yue. Involuntarily frowned. So he read what he had written before from cover to cover again. He was a little excited just now, but now that he calmed down, he did find that he had written a lot of nonsense. But based on his previous personal experience, the new game called "Pokémon" is really fun. No amount of praise can be overstated!

"I decided to go after reading your post. I have to work hard to save money this summer. It is said that the sales price of a-2 in Hong Kong. It may be more than 500 Hong Kong dollars! The heart of 'Fortune Li' is too dark, so much money is spent playing !"

Li Yue read the second reply. Couldn't help but smile! The summer vacation is almost over, and I don't know if this apprentice has time to save money. He couldn't help but think of the funny thing about saving pocket money to buy a-1. Can only silently wish him good luck!

"Listening to what you said, I also want to sign up to try it out. I don't know if there is still a chance!"

This is the third reply. According to the arrangement given by Dongfang Game Company, a-2 will be listed in October, but it will not take long. But Li Yue, who was aroused by greed, felt that it was not equal for a moment.

He read the other messages below, and the content was similar. Either you don't believe it, or you're jealous. After jumping a few comments to reply, Li Yue decided to continue to reveal some dry goods. a-2 and "Pokémon" are destined to become a new milestone in the history of handheld consoles. He felt that he might as well be a prophet now, and it would be very interesting to be found out by everyone in the future.

Just as Li Yue continued to bury his head on the keyboard, netizens all over Hong Kong were doing the same thing with him. Browsing posts, typing replies, the Pearl of the Orient Forum has built a huge information exchange platform.

It is said that many savvy businesses have already started hiring people to advertise their products on forums, which is likely to be the earliest online advertisement in the world. It's just that the administrators of the Pearl of the Orient Forum did not witness the sense of achievement in history, but deleted these spam posts and those meaningless water posts together to keep the forum as clean as possible.

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In the west room on the third floor of the Dongfang Building, a group of people are setting the scene in a tense and orderly manner, as well as setting up various shooting and radio equipment. It happened to be afternoon tea time, and everyone found that there was a film crew coming to set the scene, so a large number of employees of the Oriental Company immediately gathered on the third floor to watch the excitement.

"Brother Ma is so handsome and stylish, but unfortunately I didn't bring the camera at home, or why would I have to squeeze in and ask for a group photo now! The scene where he used money and cigarettes in the movie is really cool! "A girl with a few pimples on her cheeks, looking at Zhou Runfa not far away surrounded by fans asking for autographs, said with some nympho.

"The crew of "Sleepless in Hong Kong" will be filmed in the building for several days, and you will have a chance to take a group photo tomorrow. It is said that this film is about the poignant love story of a game planner in Dongyou Company!" Another female colleague spoke up.

"I've liked Brother Fa since "The Story of Hu Yue". By the way, that movie is also the work of our boss's wife!" The pimple girl continued to stare at Zhou Runfa who was not far away.

The summer of 1986 was definitely the most important moment in Zhou Runfa's life. He conquered the audience all over Hong Kong at once by virtue of the role of Brother Ma in "The True Color of Heroes". It's been half a month since "The True Color of Heroes" was released on August 6, but the popularity is still unabated, and it's hard to get a ticket!

And Zhou Runfa finally got rid of the reputation of "box office poison" in one fell swoop and was quickly promoted to a first-class superstar in Hong Kong. During the recent period, his agent has received as many as a dozen film contracts and scripts. But this "Sleepless in Hong Kong" had already signed a contract with Zhou Runfa before "The True Color of Heroes" was released.

At that time, Zhou Runfa was at the lowest point of his career. Before the filming of "The True Color of Heroes", if it wasn't for the addition of the popular superstar Zhang Guorong, director Wu Yusen could not even get the investment. However, Zhang Wanting, the director of "Sleepless in Hong Kong", tried to find him personally and decided that he was the most suitable actor in her mind.

returning a Favour many times more! Zhou Runfa relied on "The True Color of Heroes" to turn around overnight, but he will not forget those friends who once gave charcoal in the snow. After dealing with the surrounding fans, Fa Ge immediately took over the lines and scripts handed over by his assistant, and continued to figure out what kind of performance he needed to perform next.

This "Sleepless in Hong Kong" is exactly what Li Xuan recounted to Zeng Zhiwei before, which is based on the classic movie "Sleepless in Seattle", UU reading www.uukanshu. com changed the radio love in it into a pirated idea of ​​Internet love.

After six months of careful preparation, the screenwriters of Asian Films finally came up with a script that would satisfy a number of sponsors including Dongfang Game Company and Aikang Computer Company.

This movie can be said to be a brand placement show of the Oriental Group. The unit where the male protagonist works is the Oriental Game Company, and it is the Oriental Pearl Forum that connects the development of the story. The child of the hero and heroine, a computer prodigy whose legs were amputated because of a car accident, met through the Internet. In the end, the male protagonist not only completed the promotion and salary increase, but also reported the return of the beauty.

The total budget of "Sleepless in Hong Kong" is 8 million Hong Kong dollars, but companies including Dongfang Game Company, Aikang Computer Company, Hong Kong Telephone Company, etc. have spent a total of 6 million Hong Kong dollars in advertising placement fees. .

So as long as this movie is not made into a super bad movie, it will not be a problem to recover the cost. Before the director of the film officially, Zhang Wanting, a talented woman who became famous in the Hong Kong film industry because of a "Ghost Love".

But at the moment, she is not busy directing the crew, but chatting with a light smile with a fresh and generous girl, which makes many interested people in the crew secretly look sideways! (To be continued..)