Reborn America, this is my time

Chapter 237 Planning and Planning

"Say."

Willard Rockwell Jr. put his hands behind his back and didn't look back.

"Good boss."

The female secretary said: "The RAM and ROM you want to know are indeed not the same thing. RAM is a volatile memory. As long as the computer has power, it can store data, but when the power is turned off, the data will be lost. , and ROM is just the opposite, it can retain data even if the power is lost..."

"No, No, No..." Before the female secretary could finish speaking, Willard Rockwell Jr. interrupted: "I don't want to hear this kind of professional report. You just need to tell me whether I am currently studying these two things." field, and whether they can produce products in the short term is enough.”

"Okay boss." The female secretary replied calmly: "The public-private partnership laboratory you mentioned before is the R&D alliance led by this government and composed of Fujitsu, Hitachi, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, and Honzi Electric. This It does exist, and its headquarters is in Kanagawa Prefecture."

"Although no one can penetrate it for the time being, because they will announce their research and development results to the outside world from time to time, so the 64Kb storage you mentioned before and the DRAM research and development you want to know now are actually public data. Moreover, the target selling prices announced by those companies are indeed cheaper than Intel."

"More importantly, they do have the will to sell and have no intention of blocking."

Having said this, the female secretary paused.

The sound of clattering sounded, as if he was flipping through the documents in his hand.

After a moment, she added: "According to discussions in the R&D department, if the products produced by Toshiba, Hitachi, and Mitsubishi meet the standards, then after introducing their products, we will be able to manufacture products similar to the Apple II at very low cost. A computer like that."

"This is extremely low and cannot be quantified, because if most of the chips used by Apple come from Intel, then we can obtain at least a 20.00% cost advantage by using this product."

"..." Willard Rockwell Jr. said nothing.

But he understands what this 20.00% means.

When two products with the same performance appear on the market, the one with a lower price will definitely gain more preference, even if the product with a higher price has an extremely large user group.

This is not a question of brand effect, but a trade-off that users will make in terms of spending.

In order to lower the selling price, either the seller of the product must pay for subsidies and burn money to seize the market, or it must lower costs and overwhelm its competitors.Although these two methods are very good, if they can defeat their opponents while reducing costs and grabbing profits, then no businessman will choose to burn money.

After all, all companies are founded and run to make money.

"What about the Microsoft investigation?"

"Our engineers have studied Excel. They said that it is not difficult to create a computer spreadsheet. What is difficult is that someone would come up with such an idea. Similarly, they also admitted that only the second generation of computers on the market can do it perfectly. Adapted to Excel, this is not only because their DRAM is large enough, but also because they have external disks that allow users to transfer data quickly."

"I understand."

"You go down."

Willard Rockwell Jr. waved his hand.

"Okay boss." The female secretary responded and left.

In fact, after participating in the Avengers formed by Warner boss Steve Ross, Willard Rockwell Jr. stepped up his collection of information on the book. This was not only because he wanted to know about Steve Ross. Whether what Mr. Ross said is accurate is because he is very tempted by the behavior of making profits at low prices.

He didn't dare to act rashly without knowing the specific facts, and now, when his own intelligence agencies said that Steve Ross's plan was profitable...

"Alas..." He sighed heavily and stared at the white clouds outside the window for a long time. Finally, he turned hard and came to his desk. He picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Hello?"

After a while, an excited voice came from the receiver, "Willard?"

"Yeah." Little Willard Rockwell said with a nasal voice, "Steve, I'm joining. But before I do it, I need to see your sincerity."

"Oh - no problem!"

Steve Ross laughed on the other end of the phone and said, "A month at most."

"Okay." Willard Rockwell Jr. hung up the phone.

There was a banging sound, and the old fingers shook. Steve Ross did not put down the receiver, but tapped the numbers on the landline phone and dialed another number.

About ten seconds later, a rough voice sounded.

"Oh - Steve - why did you call me all of a sudden?"

"miss you."

"Forget it! I don't believe it!"

"Really, are you okay now? Still in Texas?"

"Of course, where could I be if I wasn't in Texas? After all, now I am no longer Nolan Bushnell, the owner of Atari, but the owner of Chuck E. Cheese~ I love my restaurant!"

"Oh - yes - this is really great! Being able to enjoy retirement life before the age of 40? This kind of thing is wonderful to think about, unlike me, who is still working hard."

"Hmph~" The guy on the other end of the phone snorted twice and did not answer the call.

Steve Ross, who was leaning on the seat, was not embarrassed and asked directly: "Are you still in contact with Don? Is he still in San Jose?"

"Yes."

"What happened to the software you mentioned before? It's the one related to the CIA."

"I do not know."

"Can you help me understand it? If possible, let them deliver something to the CIA within a month. This is very important to me."

Those words made Nolan Bushnell sit upright in Irving, Texas.

He stared at the calendar on his desk and calculated the time.

"Are you going to play big this time?" He said: "You lost miserably last month."

Steve Ross didn't care, admitting coolly, "Yeah, so..."

"We'll do our best this time."

"Full force? How full force?"

"Work harder than you think, because if you lose again...Warner may not exist."

This answer made Nolan Bushnell laugh, "Wow~Wow~Wow~" he cheered, "Okay." He said: "Since you said so, then I will run for you. Let’s go.”

"Thank you."

"Need not."

"uh-huh?"

"If I could, I'd like to see Ethan Jones jump off the Empire State Building."

Nolan Bushnell's eyes were cold, but a smile appeared on his face, "Undertaker Ross - as long as you can kill him, that will be the greatest thank you to me!"

Steve Ross, who was leaning on his seat, looked stunned.

After a moment, he laughed.

"Don't worry, this day will come..."

he murmured.

…………

"Oh - Roy - I've already done it!"

"Yes, yes! I will buy 500 million to test the water first, and I will definitely buy the rest within this year."

"Oh~ don't worry, you will definitely get the position of chairman of Disney next year."

"What? You heard that George Lucas has reached a long-term cooperation with me? What the hell! Where did these rumors come from! George just commissioned me to make games for the sequel to "Star Wars", and we didn't even have one Long-term cooperation! I can’t help you bring the distribution of “Star Wars” to Disney! If you really want to get that series, you have to find him yourself!”

"Steven? What's wrong with Steven? His new movie? How do I know what his new movie is? He is currently working on "Alien". I will ask him when he is finished."

"Okay, Okay, that's it, hang up first."

Ethan put the receiver on the phone and wiped his forehead with his hand.

The non-existent sweat made him physically and mentally exhausted.

Although in the past half a month, Ethan has been a good boy, not provoking any enemies, not doing anything, and mainly being a harmless person, but...

There is still an endless stream of connections related to it.

no way!
Who made Excel explode?
For the general public, the popularity of Excel is another manifestation of the American dream!

Because Bill Gates, a Harvard dropout, single-handedly made a product that changed the world with the script that reading is useless. This is simply a representative of God Bless America!

America is where miracles happen!
America is where dreams come true!

There's a place for everyone in America!
But for the small group of people who already have the resources...

What kind of bullshit is this!

Ethan Jones had invested in Microsoft as early as last year!

Lawrence Rockefeller is also in the game!
In addition, Bill Gates publicly stated that Excel was not his own idea...

Even if a smart person thinks with the soles of his feet, he can guess that Ethan, the stick, is stirring up shit.

And the same is true for real-life feedback.

The collapse of the stock prices of Tandy, Komodo and other companies has made Apple extremely prosperous.

Since then, congratulatory calls have been pouring in.

Ralph Bell from as far away as Boston called to praise and said Excel was a great idea because it could change the way humans produce.

Barbara Babcock, who works in Washington, also called with emotion, saying that this thing has set off a tsunami of admiration in Washington. If people master the skills of using Excel, their work efficiency will definitely improve. Huge improvements.Not only that, she also said that after seeing the demonstration video released by Microsoft, Washington was already interested in purchasing Apple computers and Microsoft software in large quantities.

In addition, Spielberg's father, Arnold, also called. He was surprised that Ethan had such inspiration, because he had a headache with the promotion of computers when he was developing computers at General Motors.Their biggest achievement in the 60s was the development of an automated check processing system and magnetic ink characters on checks. They thought that bringing computers to banks would be a great achievement and a sign of the civilianization of computers, but Unexpectedly, only ten years have passed, and Apple and Microsoft have already entered the daily office field.

"Ethan, this is an amazing leap."

"Believe me, IEEE will send you an invitation letter this year. Oh, and your sister, the presentation of the home console is also amazing. Ralph and I will write you a letter of recommendation. You deserve this."

When retired old men can smell the pulse of the times, let alone others.

The old principal asked them to go home for dinner and expressed his joy in person.

And Roy Disney...

After this guy congratulated him, he started pestering Ethan to buy Disney stock.

Ethan originally wanted to take care of these things after "Alien" was released in the summer, but Roy Disney urged him. He really wanted to control Disney, so Ethan gave away 500 million first.

First buy its [-]% stock.

After calming down the restless guy, Ethan started to deal with other tasks.

After the New Year, George Lucas had already brought the cooperation contract over and had it reviewed by Destiny Game's law firm. After confirming that it was correct, Ethan signed it.

Then he got the script for The Empire Strikes Back.

After opening the script and reading it carefully, Ethan knew exactly how to make next year's arcade masterpiece "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back."

The plot of "The Empire Strikes Back" follows the first one. It tells that after the Death Star was destroyed, Darth Vader personally went out to hunt down Princess Leia and the resistance. Under his pursuit, Han Solo and Leia Princess Ya fled in all directions, while Luke Skywalker found Master Yoda under the guidance of Obi-Wan Clobi. Under the guidance of the other party, he accepted the training of a Jedi Knight, but did not become a Jedi Knight. .

In the process, Han Solo and Princess Leia were betrayed by their friends and successfully captured by Darth Vader.Darth Vader used them to lay a trap to lure Luke Skywalker to the rescue, in an attempt to get Luke Skywalker to defect to the dark side.After a great battle, Luke Skywalker learned the truth.

That is--

"I am your father!"

Darth Vader yelled at Luke Skywalker.

If we follow the game production ideas of later generations, "The Empire Strikes Back" can be made into a game with three protagonists: the first protagonist is Han Solo, and his main plot is to lead Princess Leia to avoid the pursuit of the empire; The second protagonist is Darth Vader, and his main plot is to lead the army to hunt down Han Solo and Princess Leia; the third protagonist is Luke Skywalker, and his story will intersect with the first two.

But in this day and age, making a game with three protagonists?

This is simply like a dung beetle pushing a dung ball to its fullest!
Therefore, under Ethan's thinking, he decided to make two games. One game is about Han Solo and Princess Leia breaking through the empire's blockade to escape, and the other game is about receiving the teachings of Master Yoda. Luke Skywalker broke into the Empire's trap alone and killed Darth Vader.

"So, over the next year, you will be divided into two groups and make different games."

"I hope to make the escape version of Han Solo and Princess Leia into a multi-character mode that can be selected. When there is one player in the game, the player can choose to escape as Han Solo or Princess Leia. When the number of players is two, the entire game can be played by two people at the same time." "They will appear on the same map and fight the same monster."

"The design of the map and the escape attacks are similar to "Starry Sky", and you can create them freely."

"The game with Luke Skywalker as the protagonist can directly copy "Starry Sky", but one thing I want to state in advance is that Luke Skywalker can't shoot and can only attack people with a lightsaber, so you need to design for him Specialized attack moves, you can’t be lazy and turn it into a shooting game.”

"I'll give you a month to divide into groups, design freely, and give me a written plan, which includes character modeling, element design, map flow, level conditions, etc."

"After my review, you can start directly if there are no problems, okay?"

"Oh, by the way, there's also a plot."

Although storage in this era is very expensive, Ethan doesn't care at the moment, because when manufacturing arcade games, cost control does not need to be as strict as on consoles.

After all, arcade machines are not toys, they are money-making tools for major merchants.

When merchants who buy arcade machines want to make huge profits, arcade games that lose their consumption attributes and receive investment labels have the option of increasing their prices.

Even if the merchants are reluctant from the bottom of their hearts, it is of no use.

Because in this investment market, the seller has the final say.

More importantly, the current seller is not only Ethan Jones, but also George Lucas.

If merchants are unwilling to accept price increases, then it can only be said that they deserve not to make any money.

After assigning the production task of "Star Wars" game, Ethan ushered in McDonald's again.

After more than a month of 'consideration', they finally decided to cooperate with Ethan to introduce the two IPs of "Snake" and "Pac-Man" for their upcoming Happy Meal.

Since both parties had the intention to cooperate, the details of the contract were discussed quickly. The person in charge of Happy Meal came to talk first, and then their chairman came to finalize the agreement.

Ethan directly licensed the cartoon images of male Snake Jack, female Snake Pork, Mr. Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and four little ghosts to McDonald's for a fixed price of 1000 million. McDonald's can produce no more than 5000 million toys.

A contract refers to a single image.

For example, a green jack snake is a toy;
A Ms. Pac-Man in high heels is also a toy;
And the four ghosts pack a toy together;
The quantity ratio is controlled by McDonald's itself, and the game of fate will not interfere.

To be honest, no matter how you look at 1000 million US dollars and 5000 million toy licenses, Destiny Games has lost money, because they only made [-] cents on a single toy.

But after considering that McDonald’s meals are not expensive, in this era, one dollar can buy a hamburger, a fries and a Coke, then every time a children’s meal is sold, Destiny Game will take it away One-fifth of the facts still satisfy Ethan.

As for whether all 5000 million copies will be sold?
This is not what Ethan has to consider, right?
After all, in a previous life, McDonald’s sold interactive toys alone.

Since over-rationing is a traditional skill of McDonald's, then he...

There is no need to worry about others.

After signing the contract, when McDonald's Chairman Fred Turner was about to leave, Ethan said again: "Mr. Turner, we have another project at Destiny Games. I wonder if you are interested?"

"What?" Fred Turner put his butt back on the seat.

If last year, he felt that the marketing of the Destiny game was greater than the content, then now, he really feels that the boss is awesome.Because they found out that Ethan Jones had invested in Microsoft as early as last year; they also found out that Ethan Jones’s secretary was an alumnus of Microsoft founder Bill Gates; and they even found out that Bill Gates was After meeting Ethan Jones late last year, Excel went on the market.

And speaking of Excel...

"Mr. Jones, you're not going to sell Excel to me, are you?" Fred Turner, chairman of McDonald's, said with a smile: "This kind of thing is completely unnecessary, because we at McDonald's have decided to purchase one hundred Apple units in the future. A computer and a hundred copies of Excel are used for office work.”

"We will learn how to use it first, and then gradually popularize it after we learn it."

"Oh - thank you." This fact made Ethan laugh and shook his head: "But the project I want to talk about is not this, but a competition related to "Ms. Pac-Man"."

"I wonder if McDonald's has any sponsorship ideas?"

Ethan waved towards the door, and the bald Ballmer who was standing there immediately stepped forward and explained the game plan of the game of destiny to Fred Turner.

When Microsoft released Excel, Lucas brought the script, and Ethan arranged the work, Steve Ballmer also followed the boss's instructions to find partners for the competition that the company must hold.

then……

This guy is crazy enough to find the NFL.

"Mr. Turner, we have reached a preliminary consensus with the NFL and will use their venues and personnel to host games. At their suggestion, we will issue a joint announcement on February 28st to announce our cooperation and game process. , the preliminary plan is for NFL professionals to come forward and set up registration points in large cities in each state, and set the registration period from February [-]th to [-]th."

"We have no registration fee, but there are registration conditions. Players who want to participate must have their own clear identity information, which can be a social security account number or a driver's license, and they must have an accurate address that can be found. If If possible, reserve a phone number.”

"If they are underage players, their family members must help register."

"After compiling the registration information, we will confirm the competition time according to the division of personnel and notify the players of the confirmation. The audition time will not exceed April [-] at the latest."

"The rules of the trial are very simple, one life, ranking according to the number of levels cleared."

"The top [-] from each state will advance to the knockout round, and the rules are the same. One life counts."

"The top thirty in the knockout round will advance to the finals. At this time, the rules will be changed. Each person will have three attempts, and the best one will be the final result."

“Finally, the top ten from each state will come to California for the finals.”

“And the format of the finals is the same as the state finals.”

"Since we will conduct at least six games, and on-site registration requires a lot of manpower and material resources from the NFL, and this is the first time for a game related to video games, no one knows how the response will be and whether tickets can be sold, so whether the tickets will be None of us know what the sales and pricing will be. Therefore, the NFL can only treat the game without spectators, so they gave us a hosting quotation..."

"500 million."

"Of course we can get the 500 million, but at the same time, we also want to attract some external sponsorship to reduce the pressure of hosting the competition. If McDonald's is willing to sponsor us, we can put your logo on the arcade and hang it on On the banner, put it in the competition venue..."

"Anywhere related to the game, McDonald's will be there."

Ballmer spent a few minutes describing his plan to McDonald's chairman Fred Turner, and after listening, Fred Turner also had a look of surprise on his face.

"Are you really going to compete?" He asked in surprise, holding the plan.

"Of course." Ethan nodded with a smile and said, "Businessmen can deceive everyone, but they can only deceive people who are willing to pay for you, right?"

"But your plan is too crazy." Fred Turner shook his head and said, "All-American auditions?"

"Do you have any idea how many people this might involve?"

"According to the Wall Street Journal's estimate, this may be 2000 million!"

"Organizing a game for 2000 million people?"

"This is just a little bit worse than the US general election!"

Fred Turner made a gesture that would cause some physical discomfort to pickle men in the future.

"I know, but there won't be that many people." Fred Turner was surprised, but Ethan thought it was okay, "Just a clear message can trap a lot of people, because when we give them "When you ask for your social security number or driver's license, you are telling the public that we only welcome adults."

"After removing minors, the number of applicants is actually not that many."

"Of course, we also know that there will definitely be minors who will ask their parents to sign up for them, but how many of them will there be? Mr. Turner, how many parents do you think would be willing to see their children participate in any electronic activities during school? Game competition?”

"You know, our schedule is set from April to June."

"If it's summer vacation or Christmas, there's definitely going to be a bunch of people."

"But... spring semester... it's hard to say."

After such an explanation, Fred Turner suddenly felt that something made sense.

If Destiny Game sets a registration threshold for the competition, then only college students and adults with driver's licenses can join in the fun. But when the participating groups are restricted, the risk is actually controllable?
"Mr. Turner, we will also buy insurance for this event." Seeing Fred Turner's hesitation, Steve Ballmer added: "We will buy accident insurance for the event and hire a professional The security team will maintain order and everything will be done under the direction of the NFL."

"If you don't believe in us and think we can't host large-scale events, that's okay, but you should believe in the NFL. After all, the sensation caused by the Super Bowl every year is visible to the public."

When Ballmer mentioned the NFL again, the confusion on Fred Turner's face immediately faded a lot.

After all, the Super Bowl is a carnival game all over the United States. When the NFL thinks there is no problem...

They McDonald's are so worried!

"Do you have any sponsors yet?" Fred Turner asked.

"There are already two of them."

"Who?"

"Apple and Walmart."

"How much did they pay?"

The question made Ballmer glance at Ethan.

After seeing the boss nod, he said: "Our business cooperation has three levels, the highest level is A level, the price is 500 million, it will make your logo appear in all places related to the game, and even rise at the door of the game. A flag with a logo; the next level is B level, priced at 300 million, which will allow your logo to appear in places other than electronic arcades. Of course, it does not have a flag; the last level is C level, priced at 100 million, This will give you access to large vertical advertising and venue banners.”

“How much did Apple buy?”

"Class A."

"How many A-grades will you sell?"

"Only two."

The crisp answer made Fred Turner nod.

"Last question, why did the NFL agree to cooperate?"

This matter made Fred Turner a little confused.

Steve Ballmer shrugged and said: "To be honest, I don't know, but one thing is for sure. Their Super Bowl ends on January 21 this year, and they will usher in a long period of competition. Offseason, so if you can make money during the offseason, then..."

"Why not?"

"Oh -" This explanation made Fred Turner suddenly realize, and he smiled and said: "Okay, McDonald's wants the remaining A-level, but I have two requirements. First, we cannot appear side by side with Apple. , because our McDonald’s is more famous than Apple, so we don’t want to give the public the idea that we are equal. Can you understand this? Secondly, if the competition is good, then I hope that in the state finals, you can give our McDonald’s a There is a surprise banner for Children’s Day, is this okay?”

"Of course!" Ethan laughed and stretched out his hand, "Mr. Turner, thank you for your generosity!"

"I hope you won't disappoint me."

Fred Turner also reached out his hand and held it tightly with Ethan.

With McDonald's generous donation, Ethan has finished handling the competition-related work.

After seeing off Fred Turner, he looked at Steve Ballmer and said: "Since you participated in formulating the process of the game, then you can continue to keep an eye on the rest of the game."

"?"

Ballmer was stunned, "Boss, you won't come forward?"

"I will show up during the finals, and the rest of the time will be left to you."

Ethan patted the shoulder of this guy who was only one year younger than him, and said earnestly: "This is also the company's test for you. Come on! The company is very optimistic about you."

"..."

Ballmer was silent.

At this moment, he only felt speechless in his native language.

He is just a young man who has just left school for two years!

Why did you start a national competition?
What is the difference between this special code and starting to solve functions just after learning one plus one?
"Is it so exciting to be a boss?"

"You don't have to do anything?"

Looking at the departing figure, Ballmer felt as if a few more hairs on his head had fallen out.

what?
He had a bald head to begin with?
Ah, excuse me.

Steve Ballmer felt that Ethan was a hands-off boss, but Ethan himself knew that what he had to do next was much more important than the arrangement of the national competition and audition registration.

Because those are just fulfillment of promises, but now... he wants to write the future!
Go back to the office and spread out a piece of paper.

Ethan, who was holding a pen, thought for a while and finally wrote a string of English on it——

"Super Pac-Man"

　Note: ① The IP of "Star Wars" cannot be thought of with common sense. In reality, after the collapse of Atari, the whole United States was mourning the game market, but even so, Lucas still forced a video game to be released, using It was released in arcade mode and was a reskin of "Space Invaders", and more than 1 units were sold. In reality, the IP of "Star Wars" can defy the odds. There is no way around it, they are just awesome. ②McDonald’s always overstocks the toy inventory of Happy Meal. In reality, this is what they do. They have money and are willful. ③The NFL's offseason is from February to June. After the Super Bowl, they will start training camps in July. During this period, those venues are originally rented out, such as the current ones in Santa Clara, California. An hour in the arena is $2.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)