The game launch hall at Legendary World was packed. Nowadays, Legendary World was not what it used to be. The game release event attracted not only a lot of game manufacturers but also a large number of media outlets.
William White still dressed casually. Anyway, no one criticized him for it now. Jeans were just fine. After all, he was a big shot.
"Everyone, welcome to Legendary World. Today, you are going to witness a new era. I, William White, will take you into the era of gaming."
Even without talking about how his games were, his ability to captivate an audience was probably among the best in America.
"Please take a look at the big screen. This game is Street Fighter. You will see the real version in the hall on the second floor. Here is the game background introduction."
His arcade system was close to 32-bit. Of course, he skipped the first generation of Street Fighter. Due to insufficient memory storage, it was impossible to perfectly replicate the graphics and sounds; there were still some flaws.
It was quite an accomplishment, though. Not only did it surpass 8-bit Ataris, but even his current three games couldn't compete with it.
"What? Aren't you satisfied?" William White said with swagger after the five-minute video played, while the audience was stunned into silence.
The crowd wasn't dissatisfied; they were shocked. Even though the film equipment was used, game footage appeared on the screen.
Just like William White said, it ushered in a new era of gaming.
The hubbub below came to an end, and William White began to speak again.
"If you are not satisfied, take a look at the following game. Golden Axe is set in a fantasy world inspired by medieval Europe. The game hall is on the third floor. After the presentation, you can try it out. Currently, you don't need to insert coins to play."
[T/N: This game is supposed to be Dynasty Warriors, based on the Chinese novels Romance of the Three Kingdoms.]
The Atari representative was sweating profusely. He was completely helpless.
"Well, if you're still not satisfied, we have another one. If you're still dissatisfied, it's out of my hands."
The audience, finally coming to their senses, began to applaud. Even the big guy from Atari here to check things out was dumbfounded. He realized that these people didn't even care about current PCs. Forget about the Lisa project; the computers in their plans wouldn't cut it either.
"Airforce Delta Strike is an air combat game about the US Air Force defeating aliens to save the world. Please look at the big screen."
[T/N: Originally supposed to be Raiden.]
Alright then, this was a theme everyone loved. Even if they knew it was fake, people still cheered, and whistles filled the air.
...
When this bunch of outsiders went to the exhibit hall, they were once again shocked by William White's grand efforts.
Besides these arcade machines, the exhibit hall also replicated the game scenes. Not only that, but there were also real people dressed like the game characters. This was arguably the world's earliest cosplay. Whether anyone liked it or not, William White didn't care. He aimed for an earth-shattering effect.
As for those arcade machines, they naturally overshadowed all other game manufacturers. None of them dared to compete.
Forget about Atari; even the game manufacturers from Japan were feeling hopeless. The games they conceived probably didn't even need to be created now.
In the short term, there was certainly no hope. They would be better off making money while they could.
...
The reception that followed was practically an ordering event. Three Japanese companies landed orders totaling three hundred million dollars.
After the reception ended, the Japanese returned home. Their factories were nowhere near large enough to meet demand; the factory scale had to be increased.
Three hundred million dollars from that era was an astronomical figure. Wall Street was already numb. They couldn't even criticize it anymore.
If things continued like this, next year's shipment volume would definitely exceed one billion.
Wait a minute, this company also had a TV game console. This was just too lucrative.
...
"President, should we continue with our game plans?"
"Sigh, let's put it on hold for now. Our current approach isn't working. We can't keep up with the times. But it's alright; we will slowly accumulate resources. One day, it will be our turn."
"Got it!"
The president of Namco was deeply conflicted. He was quite certain the other two companies faced the same situation. They needed to focus on quality first; their accumulation was far from enough.
He had good intentions, but he forgot something important. People in adversity tap into their potential. If you can make money with minimal effort, why take risks?
Hesitate, and you'll end up failing. To succeed, you must abandon everything now to create opportunities for success.
...
Looking at the newspaper in his hand, William White could only chuckle wryly. Why couldn't they talk about the games? What was all this nonsense?
Sure, he was making money, but what was the point of all this excitement?
The American public was confused. When did gaming become an industry? Were they sure they hadn't messed this up? This stuff was even called high-tech?
Sigh, today's journalists were really terrible.
But when serious media like the Wall Street Journal published similar stories, these guys started to freak out, rummaging through their memories for games, only to recall the silly tennis games.
One thing was for sure, Americans really liked new toys. Since people were raving about this, they figured it wouldn't hurt to check it out for themselves.
Steve Jobs was also puzzled. He realized that William White wasn't focusing on software. Most of his resources were concentrated in the gaming field.
"Why is this guy not attending to his main business? If he were developing an operating system, he might have succeeded by now. This inattentive bastard." Jobs grumbled nonstop, while Bill Gates breathed a sigh of relief. No wonder the software company had no new products. Their goals lay elsewhere.
*****
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