game trailblazer

Chapter 298 DreamBox Live
Sony Computer Entertainment is working hard to strengthen its own game development capabilities, Sega has not been idle for a while, the withdrawal plan of the Dreamcast mainframe was rejected, so Shoichiro Nieko had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue.It’s just that the current situation is very clear, and the hope of simply relying on direct sales of Dreamcast consoles to increase popularity is already very slim. Even if there is no DreamBox128 game console to disrupt the situation, just Sony Computer Entertainment’s PS2 is enough for Sega to drink a pot that's it.

Since there was little hope of directly selling the Dreamcast host, Shoichiro Nieko had no choice but to arrange for his subordinates to find a way out. As long as he could grasp the last hope of expanding the market share of the Dreamcast host, he had to try any method.Not to mention, after such a hard work, Sega really found a new development path-cable TV network.

Previously, more than 100 million users used the Dreamcast host to access the Internet, including RB52, 28 in the United States, and 20 in Europe. As the earliest network plan among several major hosts, Sega has been relatively successful in this regard.However, limited by the fact that the global sales of Dreamcast hosts are only 450 million units (RB179 million units, North America 185 million units, and Europe 76 units), the potential for further development is not high, and we want to use network services to drive sales of Dreamcast hosts The possibility is not great.

As one of the countries that developed cable TV earlier, RB's CATV market competition is still very fierce at this time, but it has a network that is more popular than RB Telecom's Internet, and more importantly, this network also has more than ordinary telephones. Faster Internet access speed and a large number of users. For example, the 30 CATV clubs contacted by Sega have 650 million users in their hands.

This is 650 million users, and there is a convenient network to use. If they can be successfully assimilated into Dreamcast host users, then the number of Dreamcast hosts will break through 1000 million in no time. The market should work harder to sell more, and then think of other ways out. As long as the number of global popularization can reach more than 3000 million units, maybe the Dreamcast host will come back to life, even if it can’t grab the top name or something. , at least it is invincible.

In order to get the strong support of those CATV clubs, Sega spent a lot of money. It not only built an experimental site where Dreamcast hosts access the Internet through the CATV network at their own expense, but also provided 2000 Dreamcast hosts for free to these 30 CATV clubs. Their efforts have attracted home users to accept the Dreamcast hosting service agreement and become new Dreamcast hosting users.

Of course, Sega's skills are far more than this. Apart from arranging special staff to handle the CATV network connection of the Dreamcast host, they are also working hard to strengthen the Internet service of the Dreamcast host.To this end, at the behest of President Shoichiro Itsuko, Sega launched a strategic plan called "DreamEye".

The so-called "DreamEye" plan is actually a dedicated camera DE for the Dreamcast mainframe. With the support of dedicated software, functions such as video mail, picture mail, and video phone can be realized.When not connected to the Dreamcast host, the DE camera can act as a 31-pixel digital camera, and the photos taken can be processed and edited by the special software DreamPhotoun.In addition to functions such as video mail and picture mail, Sega also plans to introduce a DE camera into the game so that games with special gameplay can be developed. Of course, this is only an idea at present.

In order to promote the DE camera, President Shoichiro Izumi also went out in person. At the product launch event, he and Executive Director Sato on the other side of the venue performed a live TV call through the Dreamcast host equipped with the DE camera, although the distance between the two people is not too far. If you want to, you don’t even need to stand up to see each other, but Mr. Kizuki Shoichiro still pretends to perform a "long-distance" video call.In order to enhance the attractiveness, he will show the special features of the TV telephone system from time to time, such as the two-party screen that can be zoomed in and out, the brightness and volume can be adjusted at will, the display of the telephone line status, and the mini-games and games used during waiting. Additional features such as exclusive message boards.

The performance of President Niezuo Shoichiro attracted the attention of many people. After all, TV phones are relatively new these days. It is really rare to be able to talk directly and see the other party's face, and it is still active.While taking pictures, many media reporters carefully looked at the DE camera placed above the Dreamcast host. To be honest, they were also very curious about this novel technological gadget.

At this time, Nintendo seemed to be in a state of adjustment, and there were huge changes in personnel. First of all, Howard Lincoln, a long-time veteran and Arakawa Minoru’s old friend, left Nintendo North America. Although Arakawa Minoro took full control of Nintendo The North American company, however, has become lonely and isolated, and the position of managing director that it had been holding before was removed by Hiroshi Yamauchi.Hiroshi Yamauchi's explanation for this is "For the president, the seat of directors does not seem to be important...", which sounds very high-sounding, but Arakawa Minoru smelled a threat from it.

"Could it be related to the proposal made some time ago?" Looking at the appointment notice in his hand, Arakawa really thought: "If we don't do something, maybe there will be no possibility!"

After adjusting the personnel of the North American branch, Hiroshi Yamauchi proceeded to promote a young man who had only been in the company for two years, and promoted him to Nintendo's executive director, head of the business planning office, and director. In the circle, this young man is just 41-year-old Iwata Satoshi.

Regarding the turbulent Internet, Nintendo has not fallen behind, and they have also launched corresponding Internet services, but it is different from the Internet plan of the Sega Dreamcast console. The relatively conservative Nintendo launched a membership-based exclusive Internet service plan. It provides services such as game downloads and online battles, but it cannot browse the Internet at will like a Dreamcast host, let alone novelty gadgets such as TV phones.

Sony, Sega, and Nintendo are all idle, and they all have network plans in their sights. Zhang Lexing is naturally not far behind. At the end of the second month after the arrival of the new millennium, Oriental Industrial Group and VisualSystem Group jointly launched DreamBox128 game console exclusive service based on GameLiveNetwork - "DreamBoxLive".

Craig Smallwood is a new-generation player. To be precise, he has been playing for less than two years. He started on the computer platform at first, and the most played games are "Quake", "Tomb Raider", For games like "Adventure King", I bought a DreamBox128 game console by coincidence last year and lived a happier life since then, because the game effect on the DreamBox128 platform is far better than that on the computer platform. There are also "Tomb Raider" and "Adventure King" that I have played a lot, and it is a different feeling to play with the handle that comes with the game console itself, especially when pushing organs, using weapons or fists When sweeping the enemy, the vibration feedback from the handle seems to be really touched.

One day in February 2000, when Craig Smallwood checked the mailbox at the door in the morning, he found a letter from GameLiveNetwork. When he opened it, it turned out that GameLiveNetwork had launched a new service item for DreamBox2 game console user service "DreamBoxLive".

According to the letter, the so-called "DreamBoxLive" is actually an Internet-based network service exclusively for users of the DreamBox128 game console. Battle also has a unique matching service, that is, the server automatically selects opponents for users, so that users can find game partners anytime, anywhere.

"DreamBoxLive" users are divided into silver members and gold members. Silver members are free. Anyone who owns a DreamBox128 game console can apply for registration as a silver member.After becoming a silver member, you can create your own profile and code, create and manage your own friend list, communicate with your friends through text and voice, and enter the DreamBoxLive store, where you can download many paid or free things, including Full games, demo games, new game levels, new game characters, new themes for the console, and more, and it's even possible to find a lot of classic old games among them.In addition, the letter also mentioned that it is possible to enter large-scale online games through "DreamBoxLive" in the future, such as large-scale online games similar to "Online Genesis". Of course, these games usually require additional payment.

Gold membership is not free, you need to pay $50 (the standard in North America) as a membership fee per year. In addition to enjoying all the services of silver members, you can also enjoy some additional services, including access to DreamBoxLive store exclusive resources for gold members, and you can use player matching The service finds players of similar skill level to play together, can use a more functional communication system, friend list system, etc.

Back home, Craig Smallwood threw the letter in his hand on the table in his work room, then sat down on the sofa in the corner, and began to calculate: "Well, according to my conditions, applying for a bank Membership is definitely fine, but should I spend some more money to upgrade to a gold member? The introduction looks good, and you can use the player matching function, but I don’t know if the $50 is worth it..."

After thinking for a while, Craig Smallwood made up his mind: "Well, let's try the gold membership first. Anyway, it's only $50 a year. If it doesn't work, it's a big deal that you won't be able to renew it next year!"

After making this decision, Craig Smallwood got up and took the letter. He planned to study the information about "DreamBoxLive" in detail, such as how to register as a gold member, such as how to play games on "DreamBoxLive". What a difference.

Read it again carefully from cover to cover and really got Craig Smallwood exactly what he was looking for.Registering as a gold member is very simple, you can register by letter, or you can directly log in to the official website of "DreamBoxLive" to register, and then pay 50 US dollars by credit card to upgrade the account to the gold member level, and finally log in through the DreamBox128 game console Once "DreamBoxLive", activate the gold member account and the game console online once, and then you can enjoy all the services of the gold member.

As for playing games through "DreamBoxLive", it is also very simple.All games that support "DreamBoxLive" are divided into two modes, "full-featured" and "compatible". The "full-featured" game will support all the functions of the "DreamBoxLive" platform. Players can play against other users, participate in tournaments, and participate in public rankings. "Compatible" games cannot play against other users, and only some games allow you to receive chat messages or post scoreboards when you log in to the "DreamBoxLive" system during the game.

At the end of the letter, there is a special reminder that the "DreamBoxLive" account is allowed to bind with the most popular chat software ICQ and Hotmail. Once the binding is completed, "DreamBoxLive" users can directly contact their friends on ICQ Or a friend in the Hotmail address book sends a message. When someone leaves a message for you in the "DreamBoxLive" system, even if you cannot log in to "DreamBoxLive", you can still view the message through ICQ or Hotmail.

After reading the letter again, Craig Smallwood took out his credit card, turned on the computer, entered the address of the "DreamBoxLive" official website mentioned in the letter into the address bar of the browser, and called up the "DreamBoxLive" account The registration page starts to register...

At about the same time, some major manufacturers on the DreamBox128 platform also held press conferences, announcing that they would join "DreamBoxLive".For example, at the "Square Millennium" conference held by RB Yokohama, Square Corporation disclosed their "PlayonLine" network service plan based on "DreamBoxLive" to [-] participants.

The partners of Square Enix's "PlayonLine" plan include VisualSystem Group and NTT Group. The network service plan jointly developed by several parties will include online games, as well as information on music, comics, sports, etc., and may even reflect the latest event reports on related games in progress.The most eye-catching content in this plan is the special area for series such as "Final Fantasy" and "Dragon Quest". In the special area, you can see the latest game development information at any time, and you can also have the opportunity to play the latest trial version.For example, "Final Fantasy 9", which is expected to be launched this summer, will release a trial version on "PlayonLine", and the next-generation "Dragon Quest" under development will also announce some character settings and scene settings at any time. data of.

This is what Hidaka Genno, who learned about the "PlayonLine" project through the newspaper, valued the most. In the past, if I wanted to know about "Dragon Quest", I usually only paid more attention to those game magazines, although I could also see some real and fake news. Fake news, but not so timely after all, now with "PlayonLine", he believes that he no longer has to worry about it.For this reason, he decided to pay a membership fee of 6000 yen a year. Even if it was just to see the latest development information of "Dragon Quest" at any time, he felt that it was worth the fare.

(End of this chapter)