game trailblazer

Chapter 182 Canchem's Choice
Feeling that the heat is almost ready, Zhang Lexing finally expressed the true intention of this visit: "Joe, we are very optimistic about the game production capabilities of New World Computer, so we hope to acquire your company."

"What! Do you want to buy New World Computer?" Joe Van Kanchem came to his senses, but he usually cares most about game development, and only thinks about how to make more interesting and fun games. As for games He doesn't want to manage the sales and distribution, and he doesn't have the energy to manage it well, so if someone wants to buy New World Computer, he doesn't feel so disgusted.

However, Joe Van Kanchem would not agree so easily, at least he must know what he can leave for his group after the acquisition. After all, he still has more than 30 brothers under him, and he is not willing to Because the company was acquired and lost the development rights of his beloved game, he asked very cautiously: "Zhang, how do you want to acquire it?".

"There are two plans for the specific acquisition." Zhang Lexing took the proposal from Hong Mingjie, pushed it from the table to Qiao Wan Kanchem, and continued: "The first one is that our Dongfang Electronic Entertainment Co., Ltd. directly invested in the acquisition." The shares in your hands, the specific investment amount and the proportion of the desired acquisition have been written in the proposal; the second is that New World Computer will issue a part of the stock to us, so that the operation of New World Computer will also get supplementary funds. In addition, if the acquisition is completed , We plan to hand over your company's future publishing work to Activision, and this time the director of their publishing department, Bay Yares, has also come here, and the relevant details can be negotiated later."

Joe Wan Kanchem opened the plan book and looked at it. It was clearly stated that if it was the first plan, then the Oriental Electronic Entertainment Co., Ltd. would invest 1000 million US dollars to acquire 75% of the shares of New World Computer , he and Mark will each receive millions of dollars, and if it is the second plan, New World Computer needs to issue enough shares, and Dongfang Electronic Entertainment Co., Ltd. still invests 1000 million dollars to obtain 75% of the shares, but this As a result, the development funds of New World Computer will be sufficient immediately, and he can also increase some manpower, so that the development of "Magic Gate" can be faster.If Joe Van Kanchem were to choose, he knew that he would definitely choose the second option, which would give New World Computer a greater development, but the company is not owned by him after all, although Mark’s shares are much smaller than his, But no matter what, the two have been partners for many years. Of course, it is better to discuss such an important matter now.

Seeing Qiao Wan Kanchem meditating with frowns, Zhang Lexing did not urge him, but sat opposite him quietly waiting for his answer.After a while, Joe Van Kanchem stood up and said, "Gentlemen, I'm sorry, I need to discuss this matter with my partner, please wait a moment."

After finishing speaking, Joe Van Kanchem picked up the proposal book, turned and left the meeting room, walked through the corridor, and came to the office of general manager Mark Calderwell.

Joe Van Kanchem waved his hand after entering the door and said, "Hi, Mark, the group of people who sent faxes yesterday are here."

"Oh, I've heard about this." Mark Caldwell put down the document in his hand, raised his head and said, "Well, what exactly are they here for?"

"They want to acquire our New World Computer, Mark, this is their acquisition proposal, do you want to have a look at it?" Joe Wan Kanchem handed over the proposal in his hand.

"Okay, let me take a look." Mark Caldwell reached out to take the proposal, lowered his head and looked through it carefully. Five minutes later, he raised his head again and asked, "Joe, which option do you want to choose?"

"I..." Joe Wan Kanchem hesitated for a moment, and instead of answering directly, he asked instead: "Mark, if it were you, which plan would you choose?"

"Actually, you don't have to be like this," Mark Caldwell glanced at Jo Van Kanchem's expression, and said with a smile: "No matter which plan you choose, I will support you, we are the best partners. "

"Thank you, Mark." Joe Van Kanchem said gratefully, not just for this matter, but for so many years, without Mark Caldwell's support, maybe he would not be able to go to today.

"It's okay, Joe." Mark Caldwell spread his hands and said with a smile: "Well, have you decided which plan to choose? If I'm not wrong, you must choose the second plan, because in Game development is definitely the most important thing in your mind, if you have more funds, I believe you can do more and better, so..."

Joe Wan Kanchem also laughed, and his partner knows him best. If it is purely for making money and doing something wrong, why bother to go the way of game development.Whenever he completes a game and gets people's affirmation, Joe Van Kanchem will feel an indescribable joy in his heart, and whenever he immerses himself in the world of the game, he will feel a burst of indescribable joy , these feelings, apart from his own Michaela, only Mark knows best.Now Mark has said the choice he wants to make in advance, so he doesn't have to worry about it anymore, and he can already make the final choice.

Meanwhile, in the meeting room...

After Hong Mingjie did it for a while, he couldn't help but came to Zhang Lexing's side and asked, "Boss, do you think they will agree?"

"They will definitely agree." Zhang Lexing said confidently.

"But I just saw that Mr. Kanchem seemed to be hesitant." Hong Mingjie was still a little worried, but he never thought that the acquisition would not be completed, but a small company with tens of thousands of dollars can knock him out just by throwing money at it. I was afraid that the other party would be hesitant, and the delay would be too long.

"It's okay, he just didn't know which plan to choose. I believe he will have the answer when he comes back, but no matter which one he chooses, it will be the same for us." Zhang Lexing is still full of confidence in completing the acquisition Yes, after all, Hawkins' 3DO company "had" done it once, and it didn't seem to hit any snags.

"But..." Just when Hong Mingjie was about to continue talking, Qiao Wan Kanchem returned with a bright smile on his face. It was obvious that there should be a good result, so he had no choice but to shut up and return to himself on the seat.

Qiao Wan Kanchem walked directly to Zhang Lexing, smiled and said, "Zhang, we accept your offer and choose the second option."

"That's great, Joe." Zhang Lexing stood up, stretched out his hand facing Joe Wan Kanchem, and said happily: "Happy cooperation!"

Qiao Wan Kanchem also stretched out his hand and shook Zhang Lexing's hand together: "Happy cooperation!!"

Next, the details of the acquisition contract will be communicated by the lawyers of both parties, and Hong Mingjie and Mark Caldwell will be responsible for signing the acquisition contract, and only Mark Caldwell and Bey Yale will be responsible for the future distribution Sri Lanka to negotiate.As a result, Zhang Lexing and Qiao Wan Kanchem became the two most leisurely people. While others were discussing the contract, the two continued to discuss issues related to "Magic Gate" and "Heroes of Might and Magic". to discuss.

After this conversation, Zhang Lexing found out that the birth of "Heroes of Might and Magic" was not only due to the efforts of Mikaela, Mrs. Jo Van Canchem, but also due to the general environment.In fact, Joe Van Kanchem has always wanted to launch the sequel of "Magic Gate" (that is, the sixth generation), but this period was the low ebb of role-playing games. First, "Doom" triggered FPS The craze for games has led to the birth of many "DOOMToo" FPS games one after another, and this year, because of "Command and Conquer", there has been a real-time strategy craze. Not only game critics are dismissive of role-playing games, but even players Also because of his obsession with FPS and real-time strategy games, he gave up his attention to role-playing games. Role-playing games seem to have entered the ice age.

Just under such circumstances, Mrs. Mikaela made such a request, and Joe Van Kanchem made the turn-based strategy game "Heroes of Might and Magic" based on "Might and Magic". On the one hand, Try to transform, on the other hand, I also hope that "Heroes of Might and Magic" can keep "Might and Magic" in people's hearts and not be forgotten.Obviously, the goal of the first aspect has been achieved. Although the sales data has not yet been obtained, but based on the unanimous praise in computer game magazines, at least in the eyes of game critics, "Heroes of Might and Magic" is very good.

Success is a good thing and sometimes a bad thing. The success of "Heroes of Might and Magic" made it difficult for Jo Van Kanchem to make a decision whether to continue making "Heroes of Might and Magic 2" or continue the previous one. He didn't know how to choose the preparation work to complete "Magic Gate 6".

In the end, Joe Van Kanchem put this question in front of Zhang Lexing, hoping to get a good suggestion.Which game to make first is not a problem for Zhang Lexing at all, because he remembers that "Heroes of Might and Magic 2" was launched almost a year earlier than "Magic Gate 6", and the plot of "Magic Gate 6" follows the "Magic Gate 2". The bridge section at the end of Heroes of Might and Magic 2, obviously "Heroes of Might and Magic [-]" must have been developed first.Now that the answer has been determined, it is only necessary to prepare the reason.

After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Lexing replied: "I think it is more appropriate to launch a sequel taking advantage of the success of "Heroes of Might and Magic 1", which can not only continue the enthusiasm of the players, but also make up for the imperfections in the first generation." Quan. Then, taking advantage of the popularity of "Heroes of Might and Magic 2", "Magic Gate 6" was released. There is an old saying in China that the moon waxes and wanes. I thought that role-playing games would not be at a low ebb at that time."

"Zhang, thank you for your suggestion. I know what to do." Joe Wan Kanchem actually planned in the same way, but he just hoped that someone would be firm in his mind, but the " The imperfections in the first generation" also aroused his interest: "Zhang, what do you think should be improved in "Heroes of Might and Magic"?"

"This..." Asked suddenly, Zhang Lexing really couldn't tell. After all, he played the game "a long time ago". Fortunately, "Heroes of Might and Magic 2" is Zhang Lexing's most played game. After a long time, I finally remembered: "The current castle (race) only has four types: human, devil, elf, and orc. We can consider adding two more. The types of buildings can also be increased, and some neutral units can be designed in the field. Units To be able to upgrade, so as to distinguish recruits from veterans, players will cherish their troops more.

There can be more treasures, and the pictures of treasures should be designed more beautifully, so that players will have greater motivation to collect.Now that the magic is used up, you have to go back to the city to re-memorize it. Although it is very D&D style, it is too inconvenient. It is recommended to use the magic value to limit it. In this way, you only need to replenish the magic when you run out, and you don’t have to run around to learn it again. .Add a second skill to the hero, so that there are more types of combinations, and the abilities of the heroes are more different. "

Joe Wan Kanchem nodded and said: "What you said is very interesting, I will consider adding it to the game. Zhang, I really didn't expect you to be so expert in game design."

"I can't say, it's just some thoughts." Zhang Lexing shook his head with a smile, and said, "Joe, I want to buy the Chinese adaptation rights of the company's future games, and I want to bring your games to China."

"Oh, by the way, Zhang, you are Chinese. Since you are already the major shareholder, I will not object to your proposal, but can you make money by bringing the game to China?"

"I don't want to make money, but I want to bring more good games to Chinese players. In the current environment there, game sales are generally not ideal. Even if it is a good game, I am afraid it is only tens of thousands. It’s just a set, and the price usually doesn’t exceed $15.”

"Ah, it's so bad, then you're going to lose money." Qiao Wan Kanchem was surprised by Zhang Lexing's decision, but he also admired it: "Or the royalties should be calculated less, or use the method of sharing , anyway, relying on the market here should be able to make a lot of money."

"Joe, thank you very much, why don't we sign the contract now." The method of sharing can greatly reduce the cost of introducing games. Zhang Lexing remembers that after Xintiandi adopted this method, the price of the game has been lowered a lot, and it has achieved good sales results. Now that Joe Wan Kanchem has let go, of course he must seize the opportunity to finalize it immediately.

So after the acquisition agreement and publishing contract were signed, a game agency contract was temporarily added. Zhang Lexing had a big appetite and signed it for a full ten years. From then on, all sales of New World Computer's games in China must go through Zhang Lexing's supervision. Yes.And this Chinese region includes the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, so at least it won't lose money.After obtaining the agency right of the game, the next thing to do is the localization work. Unlike general agency companies, Zhang Lexing belongs to the level that can directly obtain the source code, so the difficulty of localization is correspondingly much smaller. The key is how to build a High-level translation team.

When it comes to the Sinicization of games, Zhang Lexing can't help but think of the history of the Sinicization of computer games that he experienced.It started when domestic game agents became popular and a large number of foreign games flooded into the country. At first, the game agency companies were not strong enough. When a game needed to be localized, it usually temporarily hired one or two people to translate it, and sometimes even invited Most of them are still college students, and the translation time given is generally very short (in order to keep up with the distribution plan, of course, the key is the issue of cost), and the so-called "simplified Chinese version" that is finally produced often has many mistakes and omissions, especially the large number of words. The role-playing games are more obvious.Sometimes, in order to rush the time, the agency company will distribute the materials to be translated to several people, and each person is responsible for a part. Due to the poor communication of information, the translation is inconsistent and full of mistakes and omissions.

For example, the translation of game names, because of different translation channels, even the same game will have multiple different names, such as "TombRaider", which is called "Tomb Raider" or "Attack on the Raider"; "Half-Life", can be called "Half-Life", "Half-Dead" or "Thriller Time and Space"; "Age-Of-Empires", can be called "Empire Age" or "Century Empire"; and "RainBowSix "This game, in addition to the literal translation of "Rainbow Six", there is also a very magical "Rimbaud Episode VI" (it is estimated that the translator who read "First Blood" was too poisoned).The most amazing translated titles belong to "The Elder Scrolls" ("The Elder Scrolls", The Elder Scrolls) and "Neverwinter Nights", especially "The Elder Scrolls", which can catch up with "Kick". The translation of "Grandma with Teeth" brought a lot of jokes to netizens back then, but it can only be described as a tragedy for those who paid for the genuine version.

In addition to the name of the game, there are also "vehicles with tracks" (should be "tracked motor vehicles"), "weapon tower doors" (should be "weapon hangers") in the instruction manual of the military game "KA-52". frame"), "aiming box" (should be "aiming indicator ring") and other common-sense mistakes, as well as the inexplicable designation of the so-called "US 82nd Air Force" that appeared in "Delta Special Forces", etc.Among them, the translation of "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind" is the pinnacle. Zhang Lexing had experienced it back then, and excitedly started the game. The first sentence that came to him was "What is your name", and the back is full of words Mixed Chinese and English.Many players said bitterly: "When I played the English version before, I understood half of the content. Since I used the 'Simplified Chinese version', I can't even understand a sentence..."

Zhang Lexing doesn't think he has the ability to manage all the affairs in the world, but at least those games he likes must not be ruined by others.In fact, the requirements of gamers are very low, they just want to be able to play the game in their hands well, Zhang Lexing doesn't want them to be unable to fulfill such a small wish.

(End of this chapter)