game trailblazer

Chapter 104 The Prelude to the Next Generation
After Christmas and New Year, just after the holiday, Zhang Lexing received a message from DreamWorks that Chris Carter had finished casting and filming an episode called "The Navigator", which was a pilot set (Pilot).

Why did Chris Carter shoot a pilot episode (Pilot) first? Listen to Eddie Bergner's explanation. This has something to do with the American TV broadcasting system.In the U.S., TV dramas are usually initiated by the producers, but someone needs to invest in the actual production of the drama series, but in this commercial society, no one is willing to be a prostitute. Since they have invested, of course they want to make money.If a series wants to make money, it must be broadcast on the TV network, but the heads of the major TV networks are not fools, it is impossible to arrange a schedule for your series just by listening to the producer's ideas, so this kind of The pre-filmed pilot episode (Pilot) came into being.

Now that DreamWorks has an episode of "The Navigator", the most urgent thing right now is to try their luck on the major TV networks and find one that is willing to accept it.After all, it was Eddie Bergner's suggestion to shoot a TV series, so he contacted the major TV networks in person. He didn't want to make himself a laughing stock because of his inhuman trust.Relying on Eddie Bergner's connections, the three major television networks CBS, ABC, and NBC have all of them, and even some of the smaller Fox broadcasts Company (FOX), HBO Television Network (HBO), Turner Television Network (*), etc. have not let go, and finally the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) recognizes the hero, with Chris Carter's creative introduction and the pilot episode " Navigator's wonderful, agreed to the "X-Files" broadcast on the ABC television network.It's just that the time is not coincidental, and it can only be scheduled to start broadcasting in September this year (this is the beginning of each season of the US TV network).But it's not a bad thing for Chris Carter. There is plenty of time left for him to re-select the actors and improve the script of the first season, enough for him to easily arrange the shooting plan.

But these things don’t need Zhang Lexing to worry about, anyway, some professionals are in charge, the only thing that needs to be concerned about is whether the series will make money or not. After all, this filming is spent on Dreamworks’ money, of course, it will have to wait until the first day of September at least. Didn't know until after the season aired.

Putting aside "X-Files" temporarily, Zhang Lexing has something new to do, because he received an invitation letter.This invitation letter was written by Trip Hawkins, and it said: "...to invite Mr. Zhang Lexing to participate in the event scheduled to be held at the Hilton Hotel in Redwood City, California at 1993 am on January 1, 21. New product launch event...", the final signature was Trip Hawkins, CEO of 3DO.

Since Trip Hawkins left EA in 91, Zhang Lexing has not seen him for quite a long time. Unexpectedly, he quietly started a new company, and the name seems quite familiar. He just didn't know what the new product mentioned in the invitation letter was, so Zhang Lexing decided to check it out.

But now there are almost two weeks before January 1st, Zhang Lexing is not in a hurry to go there immediately, and it is not Zhang Lexing's habit to visit in a daze, so he called Russell Market Research Company again , hoping to get an early look at Trip Hawkins' new venture.

When Zhang Lexing was about to leave for Redwood City, a detailed investigation report was delivered to him.The report reads: "Trip Hawkins officially resigned from EA on October 1991, 10, and established **SG (SanMateo Software Games Inc.) in Redwood City, California one month later, planning to work on game consoles. The main capital of the company comes from Trip Hawkins himself. **Trip Hawkins frequently traveled between the United States and RB in the four months after the establishment of SG Company, May 20, 1992 **The name of SG Company was changed to 5DO Company (The22DOCompany), and acquired companies such as Matsushita, AT&T, TimeWarner, MCA, EA, etc. The specific shareholding structure is unknown. According to the investigation, shortly after the founding of **SG, Trip Hawkins poached from Commodore International (which once developed the famous Commodore* personal computer) to participate in the research and development of the Amgia multimedia computer David Needle and Robert Mikal suspect that 3DO may be developing a game console..."

Unexpectedly, after Trip Hawkins left EA, there would be such a big fight, and EA would invest in his new company after driving away Trip Hawkins. Zhang Lexing couldn't help but look forward to this meeting. up.

Redwood City is very close to San Jose, only half an hour's drive away. When Zhang Lexing and his bodyguards arrived at the Hilton Hotel in the southeast of Redwood City, it was 10 minutes before nine o'clock, which was just right for the new product launch event.

Taking out the invitation letter, Zhang Lexing entered the venue smoothly.The venue is located in the banquet hall on the second floor of the Hilton Hotel, which has been rearranged and divided into new product release area, VIP area, media area, staff area and other areas.In the new product release area on the stage, several staff members are doing final inspection work. There is a large table in the middle, and the top of the table is covered with a large piece of red silk. It seems that there is something important underneath.

Under the guidance of the staff, Zhang Lexing came to the VIP area to take a seat.Most of the guests in the VIP area were invited by Trip Hawkins, and they were usually the CEO or chairman of the game development company. There were quite a few that Zhang Lexing knew, such as MicroProse, who had an oriental face. Gilman Louie, CEO of EA, Larry Probst, CEO of EA, and Richard Garriott of Origin, which EA just acquired last year, are the representatives of the main investors of 3DO. .The media area next to it was full of invited media reporters, all of them with long guns and cannons, and there were even a few with cameras on their shoulders. The lineup was quite strong.

The time came to nine o'clock, and the new product launch officially began.Accompanied by a burst of live music, Trip Hawkins walked up to the booth, microphone in hand, made a few innocuous jokes, and then came to the big table in the middle of the booth, and the drums followed. And rise.Several staff members under the stage closed the curtains of the banquet hall one after another, and the light became dim. The three spotlights "Kaka" almost simultaneously shone light on the big table in the middle of the booth.

Trip Hawkins grabbed the red silk cloth on the table with his right hand, and said at the same time: "...This is the latest product we are going to release today. What exactly is it?"

Accompanied by Trip Hawkins' words, the drums became more and more intense.Suddenly there was a clang, and then Trip Hawkins pulled off the red silk cloth, and a black machine appeared before everyone's eyes, and the media area suddenly flashed.

Trip Hawkins said loudly into the microphone: "Everyone, this is the latest product launched by our company, the epoch-making game console——Real3DO Interaction Multiplayer (3DO interactive composite game console)..." The media area was in a frenzy again. flash.

At this time, the staff under the stage opened the curtains of the banquet hall again, and the spotlights were also turned off at the same time.Several staff members transported a large-screen TV to the booth, connected the 3DO game console and the TV as quickly as possible, and then turned on the power of the TV and the 3DO game console.

The copyright statement first appeared on the big-screen TV. Zhang Lexing noticed that there was also the word "Panasonic" on it, which seemed to be produced by Panasonic, and then the game screen appeared.

At the same time, Trip Hawkins loudly introduced the situation of this 3DO game console: "...this machine adopts the first-bit RISC processor produced by Motorola, and the operating frequency is 66MHz, which is the fastest game console at present... ...The screen resolution is as high as 640×480, and the same screen supports more than 600 million colors. It is the game console with the best picture effect at present...Support texture textures, with large memory and video memory...Up to 32 channels of high-guaranteed PCM sound effects , is the most realistic game console at present... Our design concept is Audio→Video→3DO connection, Audio and Video are not independent, but a new pattern of interaction, which can produce very sophisticated CG and movie playback Effect……"

Accompanied by the voice of Trip Hawkins, various game images flashed continuously on the big-screen TV. The dynamic CG cutscenes, together with the well-matched video and music, formed a perfect fusion effect, which immediately attracted many audiences. look.Of course there must be no Zhang Lexing here. After all, he is a well-informed person. He has seen a lot of games that claim to be movie-level graphics in the future. This kind of 2D graphics plus a little blurry video and some matching scenes The music sound effects and other pediatrics are simply not eye-catching.But this time, Zhang Lexing figured out what Trip Hawkins was up to. It turned out that the development on Genesis (MD US version host) was not enough, and he wanted to make a game host himself. Unfortunately, at this time# DO company also has no idea that game consoles are not so fun.

After the press conference, the media full of rewards were thinking about how to write about today's news on tomorrow's front page, and Zhang Lexing made use of his previous friendship with Trip Hawkins to make an appointment with him. A 3DO game console, of course this is not because I like #DOgame consoles, but purely for collection.

Soon after, 3DO Company, which spent a lot of research and development expenses on the development of 3DO game consoles, was reorganized into 3DO Delaware (3DODelaware), and was successfully listed on NASDAQ.Trip Hawkins successfully collected a large sum of money from the stock market, his pockets bulged, and the hole in research and development expenses was filled. The further research and development of the 3DO game console and the future production have never been short of money.

In mid-February, Sony held a press conference, announcing that it will launch a new generation of 2-bit next-generation game consoles. The support of the development company, but due to the need for commercial confidentiality, the specific situation cannot be disclosed for the time being.At the press conference, Sony also exhibited a shocking game demo screen, which shows a huge Tyrannosaurus rex, whose powerful light and shadow and realistic skin texture can be said to be impossible in the current game field. Imagine that the PS-X project has won the favor of many game developers at once.

The competition between next-generation game consoles has quietly kicked off...

(End of this chapter)