Rebirth of the Tech Madman

Chapter 64 Xiaobawang’s opponent

Those well-known games developed by Shigeru Miyamoto in the early stage, whether called younger or suitable for young and old, all show to some extent that this person was relatively naive when he was young.

In fact, the same is true. On the way back from Kyoto to Tokyo, Tang Huan and this left-hander, who often had a smile on their faces and even a bit of a blank face, still talked happily, and the other party was also very carefree and quickly forgotten. The previous setbacks.

Different from Nintendo’s current game making mode, Cassidy is a well-formed host hardware platform that can already provide some programming function call interfaces that cannot be called a game engine for the time being.

Therefore, after getting some ideas in Tang Huan N and 1, Shigeru Miyamoto didn’t need to think too much about the underlying hardware factors, and he could give full play to his creativity and practice through software programming.

Tang Huan does not expect to have a big hit immediately, after all, genius growth also requires a process, and Nintendo has some people who have been sniped accordingly.

I believe that after a year and a half of improvement, Shigeru Miyamoto has the ability to launch his previous famous works “Donkey Kong” and “Mario”.

Tang Huan arrived in Tokyo and just temporarily settled down Miyamoto Shigeru, Hu Yinmeng looked for him with a smug expression on his face.

“The novel “Shang_Beach” has been written, please take a look.”

“It’s so efficient.” Tang Huan said lightly, and read the manuscript.

This novel is a short story after all, and the outline of the story is still planned by him. Just like a college entrance examination composition, just find the key points.

So Tang Huan turned quickly, basically ignoring Hu Yinmeng’s literary talent.

“Very good, it will be published in the three major newspapers of Hong Kong immediately, no matter which of Ming Pao, Oriental Daily, or Sing Tao Daily, the faster the better.” Tang Huan handed back the manuscript and ordered at the same time. With.

Hu Yinmeng’s heart was inevitably depressed when he received only the three words “very good”. She asked dissatisfiedly, “Why do you want to go to Xiangjiang to publish? Isn’t Baodao also very good, and the insiders I know are more many.”

“Don’t you know that period of history? I think Mr. Jiang and Daheng Du were on Hai Doufa, and finally came home. Do you think novels with this subject matter might be published smoothly?” Glancing at Hu Yinmeng’s face With dark circles under his eyes, Tang Huan made a look of “Are you an idiot?”

“Stop talking nonsense, you go to Xiangjiang to do this in person, with two main points, the faster the better, the greater the movement, the better. Remember, this is the second test for you during the probation period.”

Hu Yinmeng gritted his teeth secretly, nodded and left.

Looking at the other’s slender back, Tang Huan sighed silently. It was a good baby who had walked crookedly before.

Now that I have dug people around, I have to sullen my face and discipline myself so that I won’t be troublesome in the future.

The purpose of coming to Japan this time has been achieved. Tang Huan no longer wasted time, and quickly set off back to San Francisco, ready to participate in the COMDEX that is about to open.

……

Zheru, in order to develop a Japanese font library, previously recruited several Japanese technical personnel from the United States.

So, after bringing Shigeru Miyamoto to the company, Tang Huan first introduced these people to him so that he could quickly integrate into the work circle here.

Then, Tang Huancai led Shigeru Miyamoto into a secret office area that has always been guarded against outsiders-the Xiaobawang game console project team.

At this time, an engineer was playing Tetris on the Cassidy game console, Shigeru Miyamoto immediately stared at it for a long time. Obviously, he was attracted by this game.

Although there is Tang Huan’s guidance as a clear roadmap for the project, it still takes a lot of energy for technicians to quickly build a hardware platform for the Cassidy game console from scratch.

Therefore, there are not many results in the use of software to compile games. Currently, there are only Tetris and two other knockoff games.

In fact, Tetris alone is enough to take the lead.

The employees of Zheru’s company have long been obsessed with this kind of game. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as crazy.

Because the waiting in line is too painful, several engineers under the pressure of the secret military order, compiled the Mac version of Tetris to solve their greed, and they also compared their results with each other.

It can be seen how powerful the charm of Tetris is.

Cassidy game console is one of Zheru’s important products released on COMDEX, and its direct competitor is the Atari 2600 that has started to become popular.

Using the third-generation game console Xiaobawang, carrying the classic game Tetris, against the Atari 2600, which belongs to the second-generation game console, Tang Huan was bullied and bullied home.

Even with such superior technology, Tang Huan still dare not take it lightly. In order to create momentum for Xiaobawang, he deliberately prepared additional publicity methods on COMDEX.

The reason why Tang Huan walks on thin ice is mainly because Atari, where Jobs once worked, has considerable background in the field of video games. It not only created a brilliant arcade industry, but was also the first successful home game console manufacturer.

It is precisely because the Atari 2600 has been enthusiastically welcomed by people that it attracted Nintendo to formally enter the field of home game consoles and developed the FC game console, the red and white console.

It can be said that Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, was born in 1943. Although he is not the inventor of video games, he is the one who really allows the public to play video games.

In 1962, Bushnell saw Steve Russell’s pioneering game-“Space War” on the mainframe of a university, and he began to have a great interest in video games.

In 1968, Bushnell graduated from the University of Utah.

In 1972, Bushnell founded Atari Corporation.

First of all, Bushnell developed the world’s first commercial coin-operated game machine-which is what we commonly call arcade machines-“Computer Space”, thus rewriting the gap in the commercial market for video games.

However, for those who have never seen a video game, “Computer Space” is too complicated, and the game failed.

Subsequently, Bushnell reorganized his thinking and launched the revolutionary video game Pong, which is “Ping Pong”.

Compared to “Computer Space”, “Ping Pong” is much simpler.

There is a long line in the middle of the game screen, as the so-called “net”, and one person on each side controls a short line as a “racquet”, and then hits each other with a dot, the so-called “ping pong ball.” High score.

The first “Ping Pong” host was placed in a bar, and it turned out to be a big success.

It was during this period that Bushnell, Atari, and Jobs came into contact.

In February 1974, Jobs, who had spent 18 months at Reed College, returned to his parents and started looking for work.

A technology-based job advertisement-“Make money from pleasure”, caught the attention of Jobs.

In this way, Steve Jobs, who was ragged and wearing sandals, walked into the lobby of game maker Atari, and coaxed Niu, who was surprised by his hairstyle and outfit, said: “If you don’t get a copy Work, I will not leave.”

You know, Atari was already a very popular company at that time.

The supervisor hurriedly reported to the chief engineer Al Olcon, “There is a hippie kid in the lobby. He said that if we don’t hire him, he won’t leave. Should we call the police or let him in?”

Bushnell is a charismatic, talkative, and contemporary icon. After becoming famous, he likes to drive around in Rolls Royce, smoke contraband, and hold employee meetings in the bathtub.

In addition, Bushnell has the ability to transform personal charm into persuasiveness, and use the power of personality to persuade, coerce, and distort facts. Jobs will learn from him in the future.

Alcon is an optimistic and rational person. He is like a parent. On the one hand, he wants to help Bushnell realize his dream, and on the other hand, he wants to control the boss’ enthusiasm.

So, after knowing that a strange guy was here, Alcon, who had long been accustomed to it, said, “Bring him in!”

In this way, Jobs became one of the first 50 employees of Atari. The position was a technician and the salary was $5 per hour.

At that time, Jobs was known for his recklessness.

On occasions where he happens to communicate with people, he will call others “idiots” unscrupulously.

“The only reason I’m so dazzling is that everyone else is too bad.” This is what Jobs thought.

Or because of Jobs’ arrogance, he won the favor of Atari boss Bushnell.

In the beginning, Alcon asked Jobs to work with an engineer named Don Long.

The next day, Lang began to complain to Alcon, “This guy is a **** body stinky hippie, why did you arrange this? I couldn’t get along with him.”

At this time, Jobs firmly believed in a theory that the vegetarian habit based on ice fruit not only eliminates mucus, but also removes body odor. Even if deodorant is not used, there is no need to bathe often.

Obviously, people who are not strong enough to endure can’t stand this strange idea.

Lang and others wanted to get rid of Jobs, but Bushnell, who saw Jobs pleasingly, came up with a compromise solution, that is, let Jobs wait for Lang and others to come to the night shift after get off work.

It stands to reason that Bushnell admired Jobs so much. When Jobs ran for the production capital of Apple’s second-generation machine and asked him if he was willing to invest $50,000 to buy one-third of Apple’s shares, Bushnell should be able to use this The opportunity was a piece of the pie, but he didn’t agree, which was really intriguing.

In fact, the inventor of the world’s first home electronic game console was Ralph Bell, and had nothing to do with Atari.

In 1971, Magnavox bought these patents and then began to develop the “MagnavoxOdyssey” game console.

Nintendo obtained the production license from Magnavox and entered the field of electronic game consoles in 1977.

Seeing such a huge success for the “Ping Pong” game, Magnavox was the first to launch a corresponding version on its own electronic game console Odyssey.

In 1975, Atari established a CyanEngineering company and began to develop console game consoles.

When 　　 waited for Atari to launch its own home console version of the “Ping Pong” game, it was found to be very similar to Magnavox’s, and the company had to pay Magnavox a fee for this.

At the same time, according to the agreement, Magnavox will own the copyright of all Atari products within one year.

This is really a big deal, and a tragedy.

At the end of 1976, due to insufficient funds, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications for US$26 million on the condition that the game console, code-named Stella, be listed as soon as possible, so he received an additional investment of US$100 million. .

In October 1977, the Atari 2600, a second-generation home game console, was finally launched. Its biggest advantage is that it provides a variety of games through cassettes, unlike the previous product one unit. Only one game can be played on the console.

However, the Atari 2600 spent a total of US$100 million in research and development expenses.

It can be seen from this that Tang Huan, the reborn person, is technically against the sky.

Due to poor management, by the end of 1978, only 550,000 of the 800,000 mainframes produced by Atari had been sold.

In 1979, Ray Casal took over Bushnell’s position, and Bushnell left Atari.

Casal brought Atari modern management methods and implemented a series of marketing activities.

Following the original historical trajectory, the Atari 2600 will become the best-selling Christmas gift in 1979, with sales of more than 1 million units that year.

It is for this reason that Tang Huan is on the verge of an enemy.

Although Xiaobawang will face fierce competition from the Atari 2600 as soon as it goes public, Tang Huan still chooses to face the difficulties.

Because the next few years will be the golden age of the second generation of electronic game consoles, the Atari 2600 will attract countless gold.

This trend reached its peak in 1982. Atari sold 8 million units and its assets increased from 75 million US dollars to 2.2 billion US dollars, accounting for half of Warner’s revenue.

Of course, what followed was a big crash, but this was out of Tang Huan’s focus.

After setting up Shigeru Miyamoto, Tang Huan came to his office.

In order to be a blockbuster on COMDEX, he has a lot of things he needs to ask himself.