game trailblazer

Chapter 23 The Beginning of the Game Industry

The 1982 Las Vegas Autumn Comdex was dark for Microsoft, but for Zhang Lexing, who came for the first time, it was a novelty trip. At this exhibition, he saw many legendary "old antiques", such as There are purely mechanical mice and photoelectric mice that require special dot mouse pads, and even the first version of AutoCAD, the pioneering work launched by the future CAD giant AutoDesk.At the closing ceremony of the exhibition, a company named VisiCorpd launched a VisiOn graphical user interface, which is a software very close to a graphical operating system, which made Zhang Lexing firmly determined to develop a graphical operating system again.

As a professional computer exhibition, the presence of IBM is naturally indispensable, but the most prominent is the newly established small company Compaq, with their new product - Compaq Portable (portable Compaq computer) that is fully compatible with IBM-PC. ) portable machine, became the most dazzling star in the whole venue in one fell swoop.There are many IBM-PCs in the exhibition hall, but the visitors turn a blind eye to them and flock to Compaq's booth, surrounded by Compaq Portable portable machines, all because of Compaq's "[-]% compatible" promise.

In fact, it was not that there were no IBM-PC compatible machines before this, because PCs adopt an open system strategy, directly use off-the-shelf accessories from different original equipment manufacturers to assemble computers, and even when the first batch of PCs are released, they will include a paragraph. The "IBM-PC Technical Reference" of ROMBIOS source code is also on the shelves.This not only attracted thousands of companies to design various add-in cards and software for PCs, but also brought IBM-PC compatibles.After studying the technical materials provided by IBM, some technicians found that as long as they copied the structure of the IBM-PC and bought back similar parts, they could quickly make up a decent computer. Small companies in various garages have sprung up like mushrooms after rain.

Only limited to the law and BIOS technology, the compatible machines at this time had to be differentiated, and they could only be branded as 99% compatible with IBM-PC machines.IBM is not interested in taking care of these scabies for the time being. After all, 99% compatibility means that a lot of software needs to be modified to run, and its competitiveness is not strong.But this time Compaq actually played a [-]% compatible sign, which is simply challenging IBM's bottom line.

As soon as the exhibition ended, the court summons had been sent to Compaq. According to IBM's plan, Compaq, the leader, would be eliminated through litigation, so that no one would dare to question IBM's authority in the future.Not long after the court opened, IBM knew how Compaq broke through the last 1%. It turned out that Compaq’s Deyi Three Musketeers succeeded by analyzing the latest BIOS of IBM-PC through reverse engineering. IBM didn't worry at all when it believed that it had won the game, but the court's verdict surprised IBM. The court actually believed that reverse engineering was legal, and based on this, it ruled that Compaq had no infringement. IBM also tried to overturn the judgment through appeals, but unfortunately it backfired, and the verdict remained the same. IBM had to swallow this bitter wine.And this judgment pointed out a bright road for the vast number of garage companies. Since then, the trend of PC compatibility has intensified, and the original fig leaf of 99% compatibility has also drifted into the distance with the wind.

Of course, IBM's troubles have nothing to do with Zhang Lexing, and this kind of situation where compatible machines are flying all over the sky is even more conducive to the development and growth of VisualSystem.In this context, a small Texas company ran into Zhang Lexing's hands.This is a typical garage company. It has only been established for a few months, and there are only three people including the self-proclaimed boss Michael.Inspired by Compaq's success, Michael also wanted to have his own place in the computer sales boom, but he had great ambitions, and he didn't want to see only the immediate benefits like other small companies. He wanted the computers he assembled to be like IBM-PC. Some commonly used software is pre-installed like PCs, so I went to VisualSystem, the most popular software supplier on PCs, to try my luck.Since everyone is so destined, of course Zhang Lexing will not let go of such a good opportunity to bring Yang Xinxin together to discuss with him.After successively throwing out blockbuster bombs such as becoming a partner of VisualSystem, injecting 100 million US dollars to establish a new company, and the position of president of the new company, Michael, who can only be regarded as a newcomer in the market, surrendered and signed a "deed of sale". With the check in hand, he happily returned to Texas to start a new life.

Just as VisualSystem was flirting with compatible machine manufacturers, an earthquake in the American game industry broke out. In March 1983, the stock of Atari, the industry leader, stopped trading, and the huge expenditure instantly crushed Casal. In less than two weeks, Atari laid off 3 employees in a row. In order to reduce costs, it even considered moving its cassette production plant to Asia where labor prices are cheap.In fact, it all started when Activision won the lawsuit last year and the third-party game development on the Atari platform was legalized. Since then, a large number of third-party game studios have been established. Professional game development companies such as Activision and Mattel (Maitel), and even some companies that originally produced food and clothing have also established their own game development departments in this upsurge. Everyone regards the game industry as a small investment. Money can reap a lot of gold mines of dollars, and no one cares about the importance of game quality.Many game studios that started in a hurry began to make games before they even figured out the hardware system of the Atari platform. As for what the final finished work looks like in the hands of players, it is sometimes a mystery to developers.

In this context, a large number of low-quality games flooded into the market like a tide, and even the industry leader Atari was not immune. Players who were once like docile lambs in the eyes of game manufacturers became angry and began to boycott these garbage game.Soon, the games on the Atari platform turned from hot best-selling products to waste products that no one cares about. The sellers had to start selling their inventory at a discount, with [-]% off, [-]% off, [-]% off..., and even [-]% off. fold.Thus began the Great Depression of the game industry that swept across the entire United States. The game industry, which once reached billions of dollars, gradually fell to the bottom. Poor thing.

Some professional game media are also full of various news after the shock, such as:
"Atari's chief designer, Mr. Scott, declared: 'We have suffered great losses, but we are alive...'"

"Quaker Oats declares: 'We're a specialty food company, we don't play games...'"

"New Mexico environmental group protests Atari's random dumping of trash..."

"Merlinger Toys declared bankruptcy. This is the 350th toy company that has gone bankrupt this year..."

"The Game Workers United has serious concerns over Activision's announcement that it will close a cassette factory in Milpitas..."

and many more……

It looked like a gloomy cloud. Under such circumstances, Zhang Lexing felt that his opportunity had come, and it was an excellent time to buy bargains in the future. But in Yang Xinxin's view, this was an extremely stupid choice. The debate kicked off in Yang Xinxin's office.

"Why do you still want to go to the muddy water of the game? Don't you know what's going on?" Yang Xinxin frowned, her expression extremely serious.

"Of course I know. It is impossible for Atari to stand up now. Ever since the trashy "ET" came out, the players have learned to be good, and they will not be as impulsive as before." Zhang Lexing replied while flipping through the magazine , with a smile on his face.

"Then you still...you want to start a game development studio, I can understand, after all, the games on this computer still have a promising future, but why would you think of buying Activision's cassette factory, and there are so many game designers who don't want it?" But you just want to hire a hardware engineer, don’t tell me you want to design your own game console, you can’t afford to spoil it with some money.” Yang Xinxin was very angry, it’s true that the older the child, the more disobedient he is, the original Zhang Lexing is so well-behaved , I didn't expect that the United States would change within a few years.

"Don't worry, I have a sense of proportion. Now I will never do the stupid thing of designing a game console by myself. I just do some research. At present, the game development studio will only develop games on the computer." Zhang Lexing closed the magazine and read Looking at Yang Xinxin, she said, "Sister Xin, don't be angry, women will grow old if they get angry all the time."

"Dare to say that, be careful and I'll take care of you!" Yang Xinxin tried her best to put on a ferocious expression, but she didn't hold back, and soon turned into a smile.

Zhang Lexing knew that he had passed the test for the time being, as long as he performed better in the future and could get some grades, that would be all.However, Zhang Lexing did not enter the game industry just to make money. His expectations are actually very high. After all, he is very clear about the development of the game industry in the next 20 years.Zhang Lexing's biggest regret in his previous life was that he didn't use a real domestic game console. Although there was a Chinese game console called A'Can in the mid-90s, it disappeared like a meteor. Zhang Lexing only read about it in magazines. I have seen the commercials. Before I got into computer games, Zhang Lexing played the most Japanese game consoles. There are many good games, but I feel that they are always a little bit worse.When entering the game industry, Zhang Lexing has two goals. One is to develop a domestic Chinese game console that can occupy the market, and the other is to hope that domestic games can have their own status in the world. Of course, this cannot be achieved immediately.

There is an opportunity in front of us. There are still several months before the launch of the FC Nintendo Famicom. Speaking of which, the structure of this popular game console is actually quite simple. At least Zhang Lexing knows that the processor uses MOS6502, so he specially recruited a few from Ya An engineer in the hardware design department of Dali game consoles, let us also have a taste of being the overlord of the game!
(End of this chapter)