Industry News, Invitation List, and a Rant of Oscars!

Chapter 94 Industry News, Invitation List, and a Rant of Oscars!

Thursday, June 1976, 4.

That day, Steve Wozniak was pulled away by Steve Jobs, and Ethan knew the reason: to found Apple.

Ethan had no time to deal with this for the time being, because after half a year, he logged back online and visited the company he was loyal to.

To be honest, Ethan felt that his company was a huge loss. After six months of operation, he hadn't made a single sale, and he still had to pay the full salaries of two administrative staff and one finance staff. Why didn't he encounter such a good thing in his past life—getting paid for doing no work?

In a daze, he even thought he was Boss Jia.

The person disappeared, but the wages were still paid. This perfectly illustrates that the person a company most needs to fire is the boss...

Because it's all the same whether he's there or not!

But this thought didn't last long before it disappeared.

When he arrived at the company in Thomas's Ford pickup truck, carrying the newly released Pac-Man arcade machine, Damio Dean, the male administrator who had received the news, very shrewdly instructed Alan Massey, the finance manager, to unload the machine from the truck and bring it into the company.

Ethan felt very comfortable with this gesture of handing toilet paper to his boss while he was taking a dump.

What made him even more comfortable was the tea-serving report from another administrator, Julie Noble, after he entered the office.

Although Ethan hadn't assigned them any work in the past six months, the woman in business attire presented him with a stack of documents, reporting on their recent work achievements: "Mr. Jones, although our company hasn't conducted any business in the past six months, we haven't been idle. We've been collecting information about the industry."

"Um? 』

This topic piqued Ethan's interest, and he asked, "Industry news? What kind?"

In the pre-internet era, half a year of seclusion was practically the same as being cut off from the world. Ethan really had no idea what was happening in the outside world.

In response to his inquiry, Julie Norble immediately opened the documents in her hand and said, "Mr. Jones, after sorting and verifying them, we think there are three pieces of information that you should be very interested in."

"The first piece of news is the video game sales rankings for last year, compiled and published by The Wall Street Journal."

"In this ranking, our company's Snake Game ranks first in North America with 12,000 installations."

"Wow...that's great!"

Ethan was very satisfied with the result.

Although the game "Snake" brought him a lot of trouble, it also brought him countless coins and praise.

When Ethan initially chose it, his starting point was that it was easy to make and easy to make money. However, after experiencing this setback, he hopes that Snake will receive some positive and encouraging reviews.

This wasn't because he was seeking profit or fame, but because he wanted to let those who coveted "Snake" know...

You read that right!

Snake is an awesome game!

It became the best-selling product in the United States in 1975!

Eh!

The important thing is that I still own the copyright!

How infuriating!

Hahahaha...

Ethan chuckled inwardly, a hint of smugness showing on his face. At the same time, he became interested in the entire list.

"And what about the next few?" he asked.

Euryth Noble immediately replied, "The second place is a game invented by Liben Games, called Speed ​​Race, which was distributed by Midway Games. The first and second editions sold a total of eight thousand units."

Ethan had heard of this game. It was a racing game with both single-player and two-player versions. Although it couldn't compare to racing games of later generations, its quality was still quite good for its time.

"Third place is Tank, released by Kee Games, with sales of 5,000 units."

Ethan also knew about this game; it was a two-player battle game where two players controlled different tanks to attack their opponents and try to defeat them. Sound familiar? Because it was the true predecessor of the classic NES game "Tank Battle".

"Fourth place is a billiards game released by Meadows Games, with sales of 3,000 units. Fifth place is a game released by Atari before reaching a settlement agreement with Milrova, called Gran Trak 10, with sales of 2,000 units."

"The sales figures for games ranked sixth to tenth are all estimated at 500 units by the Wall Street Journal, which isn't very reliable..."

With Julie Noble's presentation, Ethan also gained a basic understanding of the North American gaming industry in 1975.

Although the gaming industry currently appears to be thriving with diverse and competitive landscapes, as the top-selling games come from various companies, these companies will all disappear in a few years. This is not only because Ethan doesn't remember them from his past life, but also because these companies cannot simultaneously pay exorbitant patent fees to Mirova while making significant strides in advancing their own products from the circuit board era to the CPU era.

And this... is a good thing for Ethan!

As a gamer, he naturally hopes there are as many games on the market as possible.

As a businessman, what he wants to do most is to strangle his competitors!

"What about the other two news items?" Ethan asked. "They're not also some kind of ranking list, are they?"

Ranking lists are just old news, you can listen to them once and forget about them.

After he asked, Julius Noble decisively shook her head and said:

"No, Mr. Jones, the other two pieces of news are unrelated to the rankings."

"The first piece of news comes from Mirova. At the end of November last year, Mirova officially announced that the Odyssey, the first generation of home consoles, would be officially discontinued at the beginning of this year. At the same time, they will release new products this year."

"A month ago, they announced that the new Milo Odyssey 300 would be available to the public this summer. According to them, the console will have three built-in games: Tennis, Hockey, and Squash. They have also designed three different difficulty levels for the games: beginner, intermediate, and expert. In their words, their design is a revolution in the gaming industry because no game has ever been able to differentiate between difficulty levels before."

"Furthermore, they also stated that this difficulty level is more user-friendly than our Snake game because it gives players real choice and allows the game to return to its essence of fun, rather than the pain of torture."

WTF?

This news surprised Ethan.

Is Mirova releasing a new machine?

And they even made adjusting the game's difficulty a key selling point in their marketing?

Did you also step on him at the same time?

This……

Ethan didn't know what to say.

The third piece of news surprised Ethan even more...

"The third piece of news is related to Atari. Atari founder Nolan Bushnell announced that they will release their new game, Breakout, in two months, in June. Nolan Bushnell stated that this game is the best work Atari has ever created; it is a truly infinite-flow game, much more fun than our Snake..."

At this point, Yulis Noble glanced nervously at Ethan.

Because she thought Ethan would be angry after hearing Nolan Bushnell's disparaging remarks.

But when she turned her gaze to Ethan, she saw the boss suddenly laughing.

That's right!

Upon hearing that Milovaro was about to release a new console and Atari was going to release Breakout, Ethan's biggest wish was to laugh!

So, these three families with grudges and animosity have squeezed together again?

Ethan admits that Breakout is an excellent game, and the difficulty adjustment in Mirova Odyssey 300 is a landmark innovation in gaming history, but no matter how awesome they are, they can't compare to the anthropomorphic AI of Pac-Man!

He had just finished making Pac-Man when he learned that his two rivals were going to release new products.

hiss……

This situation...

Wouldn't that force him to be a good person?

"Okay, I understand."

Thinking of this, Ethan smiled and nodded, saying, "Julis, you've done a great job. I'll give you bonuses at the end of the year."

"Then, I'm here at the company to tell you that the company's new product has been developed. Next, our company needs to apply for a provisional patent for the new product and then hold a press conference."

"Have Damio Dean handle the patent application."

"Regarding the location of the press conference, could you contact Stanford University to see if there are any large lecture halls or auditoriums on campus that we can use? If so, we can discuss the timing of the event. If not, we can simply set up a stage downstairs."

"A new company has limited resources, so it's understandable that things are a bit rough around the edges, right?"

"And the attending guests..."

Ethan took a list from his briefcase and handed it to the other person. "I have a list here. After you confirm the location of the press conference, send them invitations according to the time of the press conference."

"Then……"

"Add Nolan Bushnell and Milrova to the list!"

Yes!

Ethan hadn't originally planned to invite Atari and Milova to the Pac-Man launch.

He's not some kind of devil; once he's taken his revenge, that's it.

But now that these competitors still want to put him down, he'll be a good guy and help them save on operating costs!

He's already shown Pac-Man to both companies, so if they release a new product under these circumstances, then it's their own problem, right?

hehehe~

Of course, Julius Noble had no idea what her boss was thinking.

At that moment, all she knew was that the company, which had been on hiatus for half a year, was about to get busy again.

She nodded in agreement and went out to get busy, but she returned a short while later.

"What's wrong?" Ethan asked, puzzled.

"Mr. Jones, there is a guest you need to invite personally," said Julie Noble.

"What?" Ethan was a little confused.

"Who?" He wanted to know who was so important.

"It's Mr. Steven Spielberg," said Julie Noble. "He's very angry right now, so we can't send him a letter."

"? 』

Ethan was completely bewildered by what Jules Noble said.

When Yulis Noble produced a copy of the Los Angeles Times, the bold headline on the front page shocked him even more.

Because it says on it—

[Hollywood rising star, "Jaws" director Steven Spielberg, angrily criticizes the Academy for not understanding film!]

Upon closer inspection, the news inside was even more explosive—

At the recently concluded 48th Academy Awards ceremony, *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest* swept all its competitors, winning five awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

[Hollywood's newly crowned director Steven Spielberg was extremely dissatisfied with this result, stating that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences doesn't understand film, and that his *Jaws* was the truly beloved Best Picture winner. He argued that neither *One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest*, Stanley Kubrick's *Barry Lyndon*, Al Pacino's *Dog Day Afternoon*, nor Robert Altman's *Nashville* could compare to his record-breaking film!]

He also stated that he will never attend the Oscars again!

"Holy crap! That's brave!"

The Los Angeles Times' report was absolutely eye-opening for Ethan.

He never expected that after not seeing him for a few months, Spielberg would actually start arguing with Oscar.

Given this situation, it's no wonder that Julie Noble didn't dare to send a letter!

Because anyone would look incompetent in this situation!

Of course, Ethan was only surprised, not afraid.

After reading the report, filled with curiosity, he promptly dialed Spielberg's number.

Because Spielberg didn't know the company's number, he couldn't get through at first. But after Ethan called a few more times and had a Universal staff member transfer him, he finally heard a panting voice.

"Oh, Ethan, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you calling."

"Oh, it's not your fault, I forgot to give you the company's phone number."

"Did you call me because you need something? I'm quite busy right now..."

"Is it because of the Los Angeles Times?"

Upon hearing the name, Spielberg immediately raised his voice—

"Yeah! These bastards completely misunderstood me!"

"I didn't even get an Oscar nomination this year, why would I criticize the Academy for not understanding film? Am I crazy?"

"This is what I said in an interview at the time: I said 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' was great, but commercially it couldn't compare to my 'Jaws.' There was absolutely nothing wrong with what I said, right? I made the highest-grossing film in North America! It was even the world's first film to break $100 million on its opening weekend! Can't I say that I'm great?"

"Then what……"

"Those sons of bitches of journalists said I didn't understand film when I said the Oscars..."

"Oh! Sxxt!"

"These are a bunch of sons of bitches!"

Upon hearing Spielberg's explanation, Ethan immediately laughed.

But instead of expressing sympathy, he continued to fan the flames, saying, "Oh? Is that so? I was going to support you..."

"I've already got my people at the company to contact the Los Angeles Times. I'm going to buy a front-page headline saying that you, Steven Spielberg, will be the greatest director in America! Jaws is just the beginning! The whole of Hollywood will tremble under your rule in the future!"

"Cough cough cough..." Ethan's arrogant words made the guy on the other end of the phone cough incessantly.

Suppressing his anger, Spielberg said, "Oh, Ethan, I think so too, but movies have to be shown through the movies. I'm starting to film a new movie in May, and when it comes out, I'll show them what a real movie is!"

This confidence made Ethan laugh.

Indeed, every successful person possesses a steadfast heart.

He thought to himself with a sigh, then said, "Really? You're very lucky."

"What?" Spielberg didn't understand what Ethan meant.

Ethan didn't keep him in suspense and said directly, "It's very simple. The new game is finished, and I'm preparing to hold a product launch event."

"Steven, would I have the honor of welcoming you here?"

After he finished speaking, there was a moment of silence on the other end.

Before long, a roar rang out—

"Oh—Fxxk—"

"You finally finished the new game, you idiot?"

"Do you even know how long I've been waiting for you?!"

"Oh, wait a minute..."

"I do!"

"When is the press conference? I'll bring a whole crew and swarm it!"

(End of this chapter)