Rebirth of America, this is my time

Ethan admitted that he has always been greedy for Star Wars. This is not only because Star Wars is America’s number one IP, but also because America’s national IP is so easy to use.

When Ethan came into contact with video games in his previous life, he had seen the richness of Star Wars in the video game industry. They had collaborated with Lego to make a Lego version of the Star Wars role-playing game. They had collaborated with Nintendo. A home version of the Star Wars mini-game has been released.

In addition, there is a pinball version of Star Wars, a racing version of Star Wars, and a shooting version of Star Wars.

Star Wars seems to be the origin of all things, and no matter who comes, it can be intimately integrated.

But there’s nothing we can do about it, right?

Who makes Star Wars a fairy tale for generations?

When a story can influence those born in the 1940s and 1950s on the one hand, and those born in the 1980s and 1990s on the other hand, it will make money no matter how the story is done. In Ethan's previous life, Star Wars belonged to Mickey, but now...

He can also try wielding a lightsaber!

From now on, if anyone with special codes dares to steal his release date, then he will close his doors and release Star Wars!

He wants those enemies to know what it means that wherever the sword's edge reaches, not a single blade of grass will grow!

Hahaha--

Ethan suppressed his excitement to prevent himself from smiling like a villain. As for Lucas, he was actually trying hard to control his facial muscles, not wanting Ethan to see his true heart.

Of course he knows that if he independently produces Star Wars games, he can monopolize all the profits, but he also understands that while monopolizing the profits, the risks he faces will also increase.

Because Ethan Jones has always regarded the video game industry as his ban.

After Disney brought out Mickey and Warner brought out Superman, Ethan still had a way of suppressing them and making them speechless. This kind of situation where the mountain is higher and I am higher made Lucas not want to confront them head-on.

If George Lucas makes his own games, he is likely to become Ethan Jones's enemy. When no one can figure out what other inspirations Ethan Jones has in his mind, this kind of confrontation is very serious. It was unwise, so taking a commission based on sales was the best option he came up with.

Because no matter how crazy he is, he doesn't have the confidence to sell 100,000 Star Wars arcade machines.

but……

Ms. Pac-Man is just one step away from breaking the record!

As for ten percent?

If the future Star Wars arcade machine can sell 100,000 units, based on the calculation of 2,000 units, he can get 20 million for nothing without doing anything! Although it seems a bit small compared to movie dividends, it can...

Money from North American theaters cannot be obtained within a year and a half.

But the dividends from Ethan Jones can be calculated in one month.

It's all said and done, shall I pass? After a few words of celebration with a smile, Lucas pointed to the crowd aside and said, Steven is going to play soon, and I'm going to cheer him on.

Uh-huh. Ethan nodded and asked Lucas to please, Let's discuss the specific details next year. Although you don't have Christmas, and I don't have a day off on Christmas, the lawyers have a holiday.

Okay, then I'll come find you later in the year.

Okay, remember to bring the script, and I hope you have a good time.

He briefly hugged Lucas and watched him get into the crowd. Amidst a burst of regret, Ballmer also ushered in his failure. The bald man shook his hand in frustration and handed the controller to Spielberg.

Since Ethan only brought out one console, everyone's experience order was determined by drawing lots. This approach did seem stingy, but the scene of a bunch of people huddled in front of a TV was really lively. And the communication of cheering each other, cheering each other, cursing each other, and being a teacher, I am your father, is much better than the feeling of playing games alone.

After all, humans are social animals.

Playing in social games, socializing in games, that is the real happiness.

Hey boss~ The game you and the chairman secretly developed is really great!

The feeling of running and shooting is really exactly the same as the action in reality!

When Ethan was in a daze, a compliment disrupted his thoughts. Although he didn't look back, the loud voice had already proved the identity of the visitor.

Steve, if you have anything to say, just say it.

Ethan glanced at the direction of the sound and said, Don't you have a dog's nose?

George just came to sit with me for a while, and you smelled it?

Hey~ Ethan's joke made Ballmer smile shyly.

He sat on the sofa familiarly and said: Oh - boss - in your mind, am I the kind of person who uses the company as a springboard? Oh - your idea really makes me uncomfortable. ”

The pretentious accusation made Ethan snort and said, Then prove it with facts.

Okay! Ballmer looked upright, as if he wanted to live or die with the company.

Not only that, while responding, he reached back with his hands and pulled out a stack of documents from his waist.

Such a fact surprised Ethan, because when Ballmer appeared on Lucas's heels, Ethan instinctively thought that this guy came for his dream of being a screenwriter, but he didn't expect it...

Very well prepared!

Ethan rolled his eyes at Ballmer, and his wild expression of loyalty made him shake his head. He took the document and took a closer look, Good guy! How did this person think of reporting at the party?

The document Ballmer brought was a video game event plan that Ethan had asked him to write before. In his handwritten manuscript, he proposed three plans with similar but different ideas.

Since Ethan has previously stated that he wants to hold a competition that covers the entire United States, the process of selection for the entire United States is necessary. But the concept of all-meter selection is too big. If Destiny Games were to do it themselves, they would not be able to complete it at all. Therefore, Ballmer wanted to subcontract the city selection, and this involved three different routes. .

The first route is to communicate directly with arcade operators in various places and ask them to select spokespersons for the city.

Since the electronic arcade machines of Destiny Games are all sold directly, they have established communication channels with merchants from all over the world since Pac-Man, so it is a common idea to appoint them to help with selection.

Destiny Game directly brings together regional merchants and sets a game time for them. During this period, the merchants need to promote the game, provide machines and venues for the game, and finally report the results of the game to Destiny Game, which will be confirmed by Destiny Game. Candidates are then invited by merchants to participate in the state competition.

However, although this solution looks perfect, it has big problems in operation.

First of all, it is impossible to charge for the competition, but all merchants are rushing to make money. If Destiny Game requires the merchants who undertake the competition to provide machines and venues for the competition, then the merchants who cannot make profits during the competition will definitely have to ask They ask for a fee.

Even if Ethan has decided to pay out of his own pocket, the expenses related to the competition are actually difficult to define. If it is paid according to the daily turnover of the merchant, then the merchants who feel that there is no profit will probably not be willing to do so, and if it exceeds their daily turnover by a lot , then merchants will definitely fight for the right to host it.

In addition, when merchants host city selections, they may also engage in some behind-the-scenes operations. For example, some players have a good relationship with the merchant owner, spend a lot with them, and are big customers of the merchant. Then they Maybe because they want to get prizes, they communicate with the business owner, make up the content of the competition, make up the results of the competition, and enter the state competition directly.

Therefore, in Ballmer's annotation, he personally feels that this solution is the most convenient, but it is not easy to use.

The second route is to cooperate with North American theaters and let them undertake city selection.

The operation mode of this plan is similar to the previous one, except that small and medium-sized merchants are replaced by North American theater chains. There is actually a problem in this plan, that is, the carrying capacity of theaters in a region is not as good as that of merchants. Before, When Star Wars was released, the crazy North American people crowded the theaters. When the reception capacity cannot meet the reception standards, it is easy to cause major accidents if the theater is forced to host.

A large number of people watching may cause pushing and shoving. Once pushing occurs, the risk of falling and stampeding will increase, leading to a terrible tragedy of death.

This kind of accident is something no one wants to see, so Ballmer doesn't think it's okay either.

Therefore, under his continuous PASS, he felt that he still had to cooperate with an event group that had experience in running large-scale competitions, and in North America, there are many organizations with this experience.

So...outsourcing? Ethan understood.

Yes, for us now, outsourcing is the most convenient, isn't it?

Ballmer said: Boss, although I don't know your specific plans, since you have stated that Starry Sky will be released together with Alien and Alien will be released next summer, our finals will be the slowest. It’s going to be held in June, right?”

Even if we announce the competition details a few days later on January 1, the time left for us will only be half a month. In this case, it is obviously too late to organize it ourselves. Borrowing mature venues and operators can provide We save ourselves countless headaches.”

Ethan felt that the big bald man was right.

So he directly delegated power, Then I'll leave this matter to you.

Okay. Ballmer was not afraid and nodded in acceptance.

How much do you estimate it will cost?

Well... I'm not sure about this, but I think we should be able to make money, because there are definitely sponsors for this kind of competition, although they haven't come to us now...

To be honest, Ethan, who has memories of his previous life, has always known that this bald man has great wisdom of his own. Otherwise, he would not have been selected by Bill Gates to become Microsoft's chief steward.

But when Ballmer really showed his ability, he was still a little surprised.

This is not to say how great his ideas are, but the combination of smooth operations and strong emotions will make everything easy to solve.

In business, many accidents are unpredictable. When these difficult things arise, even if you don’t know how to solve them, as long as you can deal with them head-on, half the battle is won.

As for the other half?

As long as you dare to do it, it doesn't matter whether you succeed or fail.

Because as long as you do it, the problem will eventually be solved.

Only by procrastinating will things develop to an irreversible point.

Wow~ Is this data true?

Oh my God! Bill! You are really amazing!

A huge exclamation interrupted Ethan's thoughts, and also caused Ballmer to look curiously.

When they discovered that the sudden exclamation came from Evelin, and that the person chatting with her was Bill Mensch, the technical director of Western Design Company, they both smelled something abnormal.

After putting down her work and stepping forward to ask, Evelin did not hide anything and said directly: Bill said that he has made a series of modifications to 6502 in the past six months!

Although the new chip is still eight-bit, its performance has been greatly improved!

When the words '6502' and 'greatly improved' appeared at the same time, Jobs, Wozniak, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who were still gathered in front of the TV watching the game, all turned their heads. Everyone's face was filled with surprise, and everyone's pupils were full of curiosity.

Really? Ethan was also a little surprised.

Is there anything? he asked impatiently.

Of course. Bill Mensch smiled and nodded, It's in the car, I'll get it.

Although Ethan called them over today in the name of playing, none of these guys had the consciousness to play. Bill Mensch got out of the house and rummaged around, then he carried a suitcase with a combination lock. After coming in and opening it, an unnumbered black chip appeared in front of everyone.

This situation made Evelin reach out and take it, turned around and ran to the study. Woz also wanted to witness history, so he followed quickly with his short legs, while Bill Gates and Paul Allen were a little more reserved. …

They turned their attention to the design drawings in the hands of Bill Mensch.

After Ethan nodded, Bill Mensch handed over the information.

then--

Oh Sxxt! The new chip is at least 20% better than 6502?

The data on the file made Paul Allen look up suddenly.

Average clock period is one point five? Oh - how did you do that?

Bill Gates was also a little surprised.

Ethan didn't understand and asked what was going on.

Under his gaze, Paul Allen also spoke:

The average number of clock cycles refers to the number of clock signals required by a microprocessor to execute an instruction. The clock signal is a periodic voltage waveform, which determines the working speed of the microprocessor. Said To put it simply, the average number of clock cycles reflects the performance of a microprocessor. Generally speaking, the smaller the average number of clock cycles, the shorter the time it takes for a microprocessor to execute an instruction and the higher the performance. Of course, The average number of clock cycles is not the only factor that determines the performance of a microprocessor, it has to be looked at along with things like clock frequency.

Take 6502 as an example. The average clock cycle number of 6502 that is widely circulated on the market is 2.0.

At a clock frequency of 1MHz, the number of instructions the 6502 can execute per second is 1 times 10 raised to the sixth power divided by their average number of clock cycles of 2.0, which is 500,000.

And Bill's current chip has an average clock cycle count of 1.5.

At a clock frequency of 1MHz, the number of instructions it can execute per second is 1 times 10 raised to the sixth power divided by their average number of clock cycles, 1.5, which is approximately 666,666.

This means that at the same clock frequency, the new chip can process 33% more instructions per second than the previous 6502.

Ethan didn't understand, but he was shocked.

It only took Bill Mensch half a year to optimize the 6502 and improve its performance?

oh--

He made the right investment!

‘It seems like this guy really wants to prove himself in front of Chuck Paido! ’

Looking at the group of excited guys, Ethan's face was filled with smiles.

Although he can't join the group chat, it doesn't matter, right?

As long as he knows that everything is going in a good direction, that's enough.

And when Bill Mensch presented his work, the party that was originally centered around the game became more academic. Even Spielberg, like Lucas and Ethan, did not understand these things. But the former has a father who builds computers, and the latter is very interested in computer applications.

Well, I have a question. With the improvement of computer performance, will we be able to use computers to make movies in the future? Lucas, who was leaning on the sofa, raised his hand and asked.

Several people present did not understand what he meant, so Spielberg helped explain, Oh, George's meaning is very simple, that is, whether many pictures can be completed using computers.

For example, when we were making Star Wars, the Death Star explosion was made out of cardboard and titanium blocks, and Luke's land speeder looked like it was gliding on the beach, but it actually had wheels.

This kind of creation makes us very excited, but we also encountered a lot of troubles during the production process. So, what we think is, in the future, with the development of computers, they may bring great convenience to film production? Just Like Starry Sky, no one thought that a game could do this before Ethan and Evelyn used pixel blocks to stitch together a world.

Oh—— Everyone understood.

It should be possible. Woz took the lead in saying, Everything is possible.

Human imagination is endless, isn't it? Bill Mensch said: Before Intel came up with the micro CPU, no one thought that these things could be brought together.

As long as there are people doing research, then everything is not a problem. Jobs was even more cheerful, pointing at Woz and said: Just like me and him, I put forward ideas, he came up with technology. And then...

Pah - he clapped his hands and said, Apple has appeared.

Hahaha—— The behavior of standing and talking without pain in the back made everyone at the scene laugh.

Woz, the little fat guy, rolled his eyes and was too lazy to pay attention to his good brother.

As they expressed their opinions one after another, Spielberg and Lucas also looked at each other, seeming to have some ideas, but before the people around them started asking questions, these two guys turned their attention to Microsoft again.

William, Paul, what do you think?

This question caused everyone at the scene to shift their attention.

Just when everyone wanted to know what kind of answer the two people who were not famous in society but came to the party would give, the duo, who had no sense of presence since they greeted everyone, pursed their lips.

They did not answer immediately, but turned their attention to Ethan.

After seeing Ethan sitting on the sofa and staring at him with a smile, Bill Gates said: I think this question must be answered by Ethan...

Paul Allen nodded in time and said: Just like what Steven publicly praised before. Steven said before that as soon as Ethan Jones closes his eyes, he can see the tomorrow of video games.

We feel this sentence is inappropriate.

Because he seems to be able to see more than just video games, he can also see movies, chips, computers, etc. Whatever he wants to see... he seems to be able to see it.

These words silenced the scene.

Almost instantly, everyone instinctively turned their heads and looked at Ethan.

The zombie-like gaze made Ethan feel a little hairy, but the next second, he looked at Bill Gates and Bill Gates with a smile, and said, You guys are bringing something too, right?

Yes. The somewhat student-like Bill Gates nodded shyly.

Then show it... Ethan waved his hand, motioning for them to hurry up.

The endless conversation left everyone at the scene confused.

But when Bill Gates said that he needed an Apple computer and an external floppy drive, he obtained the demonstration tool and took out a disk from the briefcase he carried with him.

Power on, plug in, run.

Then, a rough Excel appeared in the center of the screen.

This situation caused everyone present to frown, narrow their eyes, and sit upright.

They always feel like something is wrong.

While waiting for the menu to appear, Bill Gates hit Enter, and a blackboard divided by vertical and horizontal lines, similar to accounting paper, appeared in front of everyone.

The cursor flashes and the keyboard clicks.

Bill Gates typed the number 1 in column A1, typed the number 2 in column A2, and then the number 3 popped up in column A3...

“Oh Sxxt…”

This action made everyone at the scene instinctively swear.

You moved the accounting forms onto the computer?

Spielberg raised his voice.

Bill Gates, standing next to the computer, looked at everyone with a smile.

When he caught a glimpse of Ethan with his arms crossed and his legs crossed...

The slight nod of approval made him sigh in relief.

He put his hand on the Apple computer monitor.

Everyone——

Welcome to witness the future——

Note: ① The data related to 6502 in this article was obtained from Stack Exchange. There may be problems because the 6502 that was circulated in those years was too complicated and there was all kinds of data.