nucmednet Chapter 51 The World's First 3D Game!
Chapter 51 The World's First 3D Game!
"I never thought I could actually make something like this..."
Sam pushed the joystick on the controller, moving the character around the scene.
As he presses the B button, the gun in the center of the screen fires straight ahead.
This is actually a 3D game!
Sam had thought that such exaggerated visual expression could only be seen in a future with extremely advanced hardware.
Surprisingly, with Lin Lixin and Carmack working together, it was actually possible to achieve this using the hardware capabilities of NovaBox.
The game's objective is not complicated, or rather, it's too crude and straightforward.
Players will take on the role of a spy who escapes from a prison castle and fights and eliminates enemies in the process.
Each level is designed as a combination of multiple rooms, separated by interactive doors.
Find the elevator to proceed to the next level.
From knives and pistols to machine guns and Gatling guns, the variety of weapons and enemies is very rich.
It's hard to imagine that all of this could be condensed into such a small floppy disk.
"This is absolutely outrageous! I even need to rotate the camera to aim!"
Sam used his pistol to kill several enemy soldiers running towards him, letting out a cry of alarm.
"Tch, what a fuss."
Carmack looked disgusted, but his own expression wasn't much calmer.
Lin Lixin took his pseudo-3D creation to the extreme and added a whole bunch of optimizations that even he couldn't understand.
A first-person action shooting game!
This immersive experience is unprecedented and unparalleled; no one else in the world can achieve it.
Lin Lixin didn't join the group trying out the game. Instead, he stood at the landline and dialed Mayer's number.
Sales are something that should be left to professionals.
"What?!"
Meyer's voice was so high it almost pierced Lin Lixin's eardrums.
"Distribution of cartridges and NovaBox... Of course, Mr. Lin, of course."
On the other end of the phone, Meyer's hands trembled as he listened intently to what Lin Lixin was telling him, afraid of missing a single word.
That all-powerful genius Lin has actually entered the home console market!
only……
"Mr. Lin, now is probably not a good time to put it on the shelves."
"What's wrong?"
"NOA President Minoru Arakawa just announced that a trial sale of the new console NES will be held in New York this week."
Meyer didn't finish his sentence, but his meaning was clear.
Launching now means going head-to-head with the Japanese gaming giant, Paradise.
Given the sluggish performance of the home console market, Mayer believes that letting Nintendo test the waters first would be a safer option.
"Trial sales?"
Lin Lixin was slightly taken aback; it was only the first half of 1985.
According to the original timeline, the official launch of the NES was scheduled for late October.
"Could it be that our revival of the arcade market has caused Nintendo's plans to be brought forward?"
Lin Lixin could only speculate in this way.
After a moment of silence, Lin Lixin suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, GAMENOVA is quick to act. Even though Nintendo entered the North American market ahead of schedule, they were already fully prepared.
"That's perfect, Mr. Meyer. We've also arranged a trial sale this week, let's set it for Los Angeles."
……
Such a risky plan completely went against Meyer's instincts.
But he was ultimately just a distributor, and having taken Lin Lixin's money, he naturally had to get things done.
Thus, in the late spring of this year in America, a strange picture emerged in the gaming market.
Nintendo, located on the East Coast, was the first to announce a trial sale of a new home entertainment system called NES, priced at $199.99.
Following closely behind, GAMENOVA, located on the West Coast, announced a trial launch of its NovaBox home video game console in California, priced at $249.99.
As if by prior arrangement, both parties launched trial sales on the same day.
However, the results of the two sides were quite different.
In its first week of trial sales, NES achieved an overwhelming and complete victory.
NovaBox's sales were unexpectedly low.
The reason for this is naturally the extra $50 cost of NovaBox, and the word "home game console" that NovaBox prominently displays in its promotional materials.
The shadow cast by Atari was truly exaggerated, almost completely destroying the commercial potential of "game consoles".
The NES did this very cleverly, packaging itself as an entertainment system and placing it openly on the shelves of department stores.
On the other hand, let's look at Lin Lixin's side.
NovaBox is placed on the merchandise shelves of large arcades, clearly targeting not housewives and children, but the hardcore gamers who spend all day in the arcade.
While ports of major titles like Metal Gear Solid, Street Fighter, and Contra are tempting, you can still have a blast playing them all at an arcade for just one dollar.
However, what truly brought about the decisive difference was the release of Super Mario Bros. bundled with the NES.
The king of horizontal jumping games, with no competitors in its category, has perfected every detail.
"Mr. Lin, the trial sales results of NovaBox... are not ideal."
After hesitating for a long time, Meyer finally reported the results truthfully.
Trial sales are market tests conducted before a product is officially launched, and they best reflect a product's sales potential and market response.
This result has practically branded NovaBox as a "flop".
"I think GAMENOVA should shift its focus back to arcade development as soon as possible. Home console development is a completely different field, Mr. Lin."
In Mayer's view, NovaBox was simply an overly radical and whimsical ideal product.
Its architecture, featuring a floppy disk drive, dual sound chips, a custom Z80 processor, a coprocessor, and dual graphics chips, gave it the most luxurious configuration of its time, and also commanded a price far exceeding that of other products.
With each floppy disk costing $50 to $60, playing games became a luxurious way to flaunt wealth.
"Excuse my bluntness, Mr. Lin, the NovaBox project has botched."
"Did it smash? But I feel like it's only just begun."
On the other end of the phone, Lin Lixin was playing with a glittering gold cassette tape in his hand. Its special coating made it look like it was plated with gold.
The cover features an image of Arnold Schwarzenegger, GAMENOVA's chosen actor.
Below is the title of "Wolfenstein 3D".
After a week of work, we finally managed to produce the first batch of cartridges.
Lin Lixin was very clear about GAMENOVA's market positioning. From the very beginning, they took a different path from Nintendo's all-ages approach.
If the NES can bundle and sell "Ultramar," then our NovaBox can naturally bundle and sell its own launch titles as well.
……
That morning, several large arcades in California displayed a brand new game cartridge on their shelves.
It is quite different from other cartridges, using the NovaBox's unique floppy disk size, but with a shiny gold casing that is particularly eye-catching.
You can get a free copy of Wolfenstein 3D with your NovaBox purchase voucher.
Meanwhile, GAMENOVA's game trailers reappeared on television after a long absence.
This time, however, it was exceptionally simple.
After Schwarzenegger's brief appearance at the beginning, the rest of the footage consists entirely of actual gameplay footage.
But it was this footage that shocked all the viewers who were watching.
It is three-dimensional.
A first-person 3D shooter game?!