game trailblazer

Chapter 69
The craze for learning machines on the other side of the ocean is still booming. Even the opening of the Asian Games has not affected it in the slightest. Different live dramas are still being staged in various places, but the main and supporting roles are different.At this time, Zhang Lexing took a short vacation for himself after being busy for a while. He hid in his small villa and planned to enjoy a few days of leisure time. By the way, he wrote some stories about movies and TV that he remembered. It will not include some adaptations, such as the "Harry Potter" series and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

As usual, today is a sunny day. Zhang Lexing set up a recliner on the terrace on the second floor, and there is a glass of homemade juice milk on the small table next to him, ready to enjoy the mild sunlight while reading a book.Just when Zhang Lexing was about to fall asleep watching, the doorbell rang outside the villa.

Zhang Lexing got up and leaned on the handrail of the balcony to look out. There were two people standing there at the gate. The distance was a bit far, but the difference between the two could be distinguished. One looked like a typical American, and the other looked like an East Asian. people.At this moment, the bodyguards also started to act when they heard the movement. One of the bodyguards named Harry walked over and began to question the two of them through the fence.Zhang Lexing looked at it for a while, then turned and left the terrace, returned to the house, and walked up the stairs to the living room. At this time, Harry, who had just interrogated him, just came in.

"Boss, they claim to be the president and assistant president of Sega of America (SOA), and they have come to visit you specially. Their identities have been checked, no problem, will you let them in?" Harry said expressionlessly.

"Let them come in, I'll wait here." Although Zhang Lexing agreed, he was rather puzzled in his heart, not knowing what the visitor was doing.

Zhang Lexing was sitting on the sofa thinking, the door opened again, and the two people who were standing outside the villa just now appeared at the door.

"Hello, Mr. Zhang!" The two greeted Zhang Lexing respectfully.

Out of politeness, Zhang Lexing also replied a greeting.As the two entered the door, Zhang Lexing took a closer look at the person who came. The American was dressed in a straight suit. From the matching of the tie and the spotless leather shoes, it could be seen that this was a serious person. The man next to him According to the actions and tone of voice of the East Asian man after entering the door, it can be seen that he is probably from RB.

The two parties were divided into guests and hosts, and Zhang Lexing asked casually, "What do you want to drink?"

Maybe it's because this matter is very important, the two replied in unison: "Thank you, no need."

That being the case, Zhang Lexing was not polite, and took another sip of the juice and milk that he hadn't finished drinking just now.

The American took out a business card from his briefcase, stood up, and handed it to Zhang Lexing with both hands, "Hi, I'm Thomas J. Kalinske, the new president of Sega America. You can call me Tom."

When Zhang Lexing took the business card and looked at it carefully, Tom went on to introduce the person who came with him: "He is my assistant, Mr. Zhong Shanxiong."

According to Zhang Lexing's knowledge, this Mr. Tom has been in office for less than three months, and he was suddenly recruited by Sega President Hayao Nakayama from Mattel Toys this year.Before Tom took office, he had no connection with the game industry. It can be said that he was an out-and-out rookie in the game industry. President Zhongshan’s sudden decision was said to be quite resisted within Sega America.At this time, Tom seemed to be in high spirits, and with the full support of President Zhongshan, he felt that he would be able to create a new world. In fact, he also succeeded later, but he guessed the beginning but not the end.

Zhang Lexing regained his composure, collected his wandering thoughts, put away the business card in his hand, took another sip of the drink, moistened his throat, and asked, "What's the matter, both of you, here?"

After the Sega duo looked at each other, Tom replied: "Well, we made a special trip to visit Mr. Zhang this time because of the right to adapt the Cube game."

"Tell me more about it." Zhang Lexing was a little surprised, he didn't expect that they came here for this matter.

"According to our investigation, this game was originally designed by you on the Apple II, and you have released versions for multiple platforms later, but the relevant patents have always been in your hands, and now basically only the adaptation of portable game consoles The power has not been used yet. And the purpose of our visit this time is for this."

"Your portable game console is going on the market?"

"It will be launched at the beginning of next month. This is the introduction of this portable game console. You can read it first." Tom took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to Zhang Lexing.

Zhang Lexing took the information and flipped through it, and the words "GameGear" came into view. Well, isn't this the legendary color handheld GG? It seems that Sega is planning to have a foot in the portable handheld market.The hardware specification of this portable handheld is much better than that of the Nintendo GameBoy, which was launched last year. The most obvious difference can be seen from the screen. Nintendo’s GB handheld has a four-level grayscale and dot matrix LCD screen, while Sega's upcoming handheld is equipped with a rare color LCD screen and backlight. The computing speed of the machine is much faster than that of Nintendo GB. Sega even coquettishly equipped its own handheld with an external TV After connecting the tuner, the handheld can be turned into a small TV. It feels a bit like a new-age multimedia handheld terminal. It seems that Sega has put a lot of effort into this aspect.

After Zhang Lexing finished reading this simple information, Zhong Shanxiong took out a black handheld from his purse, turned it on and handed it to Zhang Lexing respectfully: "Mr. The number of colors on the screen can reach 4096 colors, and the game screen can also achieve 32 colors on the same screen. The pixels of the screen are more than three times that of the GameBoy. You see, this is the actual machine that we will launch soon. You can try it one time."

Zhang Lexing took the machine and started to try it out. This is a game of Sega's signature star Sonic. Although the game screen cannot be compared with that on the MD console, the bright game screen and smooth operation feel have reached the level of current handheld games. peak.

"Mr. Zhang, I believe that if your company is willing to launch the Cube game on GameGear, you don't need to worry about the processing power and graphics at all. It can even be better than the current "FC Cube"." Seeing Zhang Lexing's expression I am very satisfied, Zhong Shanxiong continued.

"I believe..." Before he finished speaking, Zhang Lexing encountered the most troublesome thing for handheld users-the battery ran out, and Sonic, who had been dancing around just now, immediately stopped, and disappeared into the darkness with a "shua".

The voice of Zhong Shanxiong, who was still eloquent just now, suddenly disappeared, and the gesture that was originally intended to strengthen persuasion became an extremely embarrassing gesture.Tom glared at him angrily, and Zhong Shanxiong seemed to come back to his senses all of a sudden, and hurriedly took out a new battery from his bag to replace it.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Zhang, the wrong battery is installed in this machine, and I'll replace it with a new one for you now." Zhong Shanxiong looked very embarrassed.

When Zhong Shanxiong was fighting with the battery, Harry came over and whispered something in Zhang Lexing's ear: "Mr. Zhang, two people came outside, and they claimed to be the president and legal counsel of Nintendo of America (NOA). The identity has been verified, no problem, let them in now?"

Zhang Lexing was overjoyed. Nine out of ten people from Nintendo came here for the same thing. This is a good sign, and only with competition can there be good profits.Zhang Lexing immediately ordered Harry to bring him here in a low voice, so as to give both parties a "surprise".

Soon the "surprise" came. As the president of Nintendo of America Minoru Arakawa and legal counsel Howard Lincoln appeared in the living room, there seemed to be a hint of gunpowder in the air.

Although someone from Nintendo appeared behind him, Tom continued to recommend Sega's new portable handheld to Zhang Lexing as if he deliberately didn't see it.Arakawa, who was also a little surprised, quickly stabilized his emotions, and greeted Zhang Lexing calmly as before.

"Mr. Zhang, I would like to say hello to you on behalf of President Yamauchi. The president also asked me to thank you for your support for us over the past few years."

It was then that Arakawa saw the Sega duo as if by accident, and greeted with a pretentious gesture: "Thomas, I heard that you have not been the president of Sega America for a long time, but I didn't expect that you are so free now."

Tom retorted: "I heard that you Nintendo of America is usually very busy, and you often have to go back to report on work. I didn't expect to have time to hang out."

"Since we're all free, why don't we chat together? Everyone is usually very busy, so it's rare to have this opportunity." Zhang Lexing pretended not to see the confrontation between the two sides, and greeted them casually.

Afterwards, it really became a chat time, with the other party present, both parties were unwilling to discuss the main topic, and could only talk about some unsavory topics, and occasionally seized the opportunity without forgetting to say a few words to the other party. .

The small chat will be dragged on until lunch time before being forced to end. Both competitors claim to have something to leave.From this day on, the Sega duo and the Nintendo duo seemed to have reached a tacit understanding, and they never appeared together again. One family always came in the morning and the other in the afternoon.However, the atmosphere of competition between the two companies is very strong, and Zhang Lexing is a bit overwhelmed by the constant price changes.

Although the superficial competitive atmosphere was maintained, Zhang Lexing actually had plans in mind.Sega's portable host looks good, with a colorful screen, a higher-performance processor, and rich functions, but it is these advantages that bring the biggest disadvantages. Too many functions directly lead to a decrease in battery life. This is actually a portable Handheld is a very important indicator.For a machine that often runs out of battery when the game is in full swing, no matter how high the performance is, it is just a cloud.At this stage, only Nintendo's GB is the most suitable portable platform.

The idea is decided, but since there are people fighting, they must not be too disappointing. At any rate, it will take a few more rounds to have fun.The only unpleasant thing is that Zhang Lexing's planned leisurely vacation has come to nothing, and he has to "force his face and smile" to deal with visitors every day.

It took a full two weeks, and even Sega's portable handheld GG officially appeared on the market. In the end, Arakawa had the courage to come up with a favorable offer that Zhang Lexing could not refuse (Tianzhiyuan enjoys it for The most favorable terms for developing games on Nintendo consoles, Nintendo bears the development fee of "GB Cube", Nintendo assists in contacting some of the most favorable chip factory production equipment, etc.), the Sega duo led by Tom also had to face the ending of failure.

But before Tom left, Zhang Lexing still kindly handed him a business card: "If you don't have a good time at Sega, you can find me anytime."

After that, things will be simple. In fact, Tianzhiyuan has long been preparing for the production of "GB Cube", and the preliminary work has almost been done. Once the agreement is signed, the GB business department of Tianzhiyuan will be officially established. , Start the development work of GB game. It is not difficult to develop games on GB, especially for relatively simple games like Cube. The biggest difficulty is just the GameBoy's communication and battle function. However, this problem is naturally solved after Nintendo provides relevant technical materials.

After solving the problem of block ownership, Zhang Lexing once again devoted himself to the daily work of VisualSystem.

(End of this chapter)