Rebirth in America

Video games are a new thing.

In the early days of transistor computers, there were already simple video games. When Alex was developing the "first generation" improved computer, he created several games in his spare time, but the impact of those games at the time was limited to the laboratory.

When computers developed faster and faster, and finally personal computers appeared, this kind of game also entered the lives of ordinary people. The games written by Alex have all become small games that come with the system of personal computers launched by Ark Company. This kind of game is very popular among ordinary users. They can play one or two games to relax after work.

In this world, computer technology develops so fast that when people are just adapting to the speed of current personal computers, new, faster and better computers are launched within a few months. This speed of upgrading has long exceeded Moore's law of computer development.

In fact, the so-called Moore's Law is nothing more than a cover-up for capitalists in their pursuit of profits. Those companies that have mastered the core computer technology have complete control over the replacement of personal computers in the market. They just choose a speed and frequency that is more in line with their own interests.

In this world, Alex doesn't care about this benefit at all. What he needs is to push the technology forward as soon as possible. As for the computer market, if he can capture it, it's good. If he can't, it doesn't matter.

It is precisely because of his attitude that the frequency of computer updates in this era is much faster than Moore's Law says. It takes almost six months to double the performance of a personal computer and reduce the price by half.

Correspondingly, the development of software is far behind the speed of hardware development.

Even with Alex's intentional guidance, he was unable to make the IT software field half like it was in later generations, with software engineers as numerous as dogs and software companies everywhere. This involves human factors and cannot be changed once the technical hardware conditions are met.

The most prominent point is the game. At first, the popular games on the market were basically small games, such as shooting games, card games, minesweeper games, etc. Because software engineers are working hard to develop more practical tool software, they have no time to develop such entertainment software. On the one hand, there are too few software engineers, and on the other hand, tool software can make money. You can sell any set of tools for money.

As for game software? Who would pay to play with it?

It’s not that no one sees the potential of this market, but when there is a piece of cake in front of them that can’t be eaten, everyone usually chooses the bigger and easier piece to eat.

Before Blizzard, Alex had invested in a game company called "Attaya". This game company does not develop computer games, but arcade games. When Ark Company produced the microcontroller chip, Alex had someone build a game console.

At that time, just to relieve his boredom, he asked someone to make such a crude game console using a single-chip microcomputer. As a result, arcade game consoles were created in advance. After they were launched, they became very popular in some public places, and eventually electronic game arcades were created.

However, compared with the software market, this game market still seems too small. Alex himself didn't pay much attention to it. He just played some simple and fun games to entertain himself. For example, Tetris, Bubble Bobble, Magic Bubble, Masturbation, Gem Match, etc.

This game is quite popular and many people play it. It's just that the computer game market has been ignored, but this situation may have to change today.

It was entirely because a game called "Red Alert" was launched. It attracted much attention during its development period. Everyone knew about its existence and understood how this game was played. All these contents appear on the official website of the game, which deeply attracts people.

There are two sales forms for "Red Alert". One is online sales, and buyers can get a CDkey. When the user uses this cdkey, his personal Internet ID has the right to log in to the game platform. At this point, users can download the game from the official website and play the game after the installation is complete.

The other is physical sales. The buyer can get several floppy disks, through which the game can be installed on a personal computer. Along with the floppy disk is a CDkey, which also allows the user's personal ID to enter the game platform and start playing.

Of course, if users don’t want to play against others, they can also play stand-alone games. However, this kind of real-time strategy game still requires people to fight against each other to be fun.

People who come into contact with "Red Alert" for the first time will be shocked by its settings and gameplay. They have never thought that the game can be played like this. No other game can match it in terms of gameplay or confrontation.

The background of the "Red Alert" game is the same as the movie of the same name, with the former Soviet Union as the imaginary enemy of the war.

In the startup screen, players can see the Statue of Liberty standing in the center, giving a high angle of looking up. The overall color background is red, as a symbol of socialism. There are battle airships floating in the sky with flags like sickles and axes.

As soon as the game begins, players are drawn into the tense atmosphere of war.

And this kind of tension is so "real" compared with games such as "StarCraft".

As a historical reality, the Cold War confrontation ended in just a few years. The content of the game unfolds in such a familiar historical situation, and its appeal to people living in this era as a "real" illusion is undoubtedly very powerful.

It is precisely because of the authenticity of "Red Alert" that Alex chose to develop it first instead of developing games such as "StarCraft" first.

In this narrative context, players enter the game and, by controlling the characters and war materials on the screen, destroy the opponent's war base and annihilate the opponent's effective forces, and ultimately achieve victory in the game.

The ending of the game is open. If you choose the Soviet Union as your side, there is a 30% chance that the world will be controlled by red doctrine, and a 30% chance that the United States will be trapped in a small area and cannot move. There is also a 40% chance that we will enter the wasteland era and the earth's civilization will be destroyed by a nuclear bomb attack.

If you choose the United States as your side, there is a 30% chance that the Soviet Union will eventually disintegrate and China will replace the Soviet Union and become the world's largest communist country. There is a 30% chance that the entire world will be controlled by capitalism, and even China is no exception. There is also a 40% probability that the global human race will unite into a whole and the concept of country will disappear.

The story of the game deeply explores the deep consciousness of Americans, and the interpretation of some game symbols is meaningful. The two parties fighting in the original game include the United States, France, Britain and other Western countries as well as Asia's South Korea on one side; The options are the Soviet Union, Libya, Iraq and other countries.

There is undoubtedly an underlying contradiction in this: "If, as the opening screen suggests, the two opposing sides are the socialist Cold War camp, Iraq should not exist within this logical sequence."

Apart from the Soviet Union, the other side of the game is the vague "axis of evil" that has always existed in the imagination.

Once this game was launched, it immediately became the favorite of many netizens. Since Alex has implemented a real-name system on the Internet, piracy is very rare. Everyone who had access to the Internet bought a cdkey to activate their game account, and soon hundreds of thousands of cdkeys were sold in just one month.

Each cdkey only costs 10 US dollars, which is not very expensive, but Blizzard's marketing department adopts a monthly fee. After the first activation, you can use it for 3 months. Once the 3 months is up, you need to continue to recharge before you can use it.

In other words, Blizzard made millions of dollars in the first month, and could continue to collect money after three months. Such a huge market value makes people jealous, and many people have devoted themselves to game software development. Wang An Software Company is also ready to try the water.

Blizzard's success also caused many media to pay close attention to this game. After playing the game, one critic was deeply attracted by the game. He wrote an article in the newspaper: "In this "Red" In the game "Alert", people can clearly feel the problems between red alert culture and the mainstream ideology of the United States. The United States has a deep crisis for red civilization and a deep fear of the Cold War."

After playing the game, a celebrity talked to reporters about the game and said: "What shocked me the most was that in the opening animation of the game, the red civilization of UU Kanshu www.uukanshu.net suddenly appeared The scenes of landing from the air and sea clearly showed the United States' deep-seated fear of the Soviet Union."

No matter what, the "Red Alert" game became popular, Blizzard became famous, and Anderson became prosperous.

It was indeed developed. Blizzard was surprised to find that in the second month, the game sales exploded. The number of cdkeys sold is as high as one million, accounting for almost one-tenth of the entire Internet users! The sales volume in the third and fourth months still shows no slowdown and is still rising.

There are many people who do not surf the Internet. After seeing their friends, colleagues, and neighbors playing "Red Alert", they themselves were attracted. They asked their friends for an ID to try it out, and they became addicted as soon as they played. In the end, they all bought a cdkey and got a broadband connection to play online. Everyone's ID had their battle records and scores, which made many people keep fighting to refresh their own records.

The popularity of games is due to the role of the Internet, which allows many strangers to connect together, play against each other, and compete with each other. And because games attract more people to join the Internet life and experience the unique entertainment on the Internet. If this cycle continues, more and more people will be exposed to the Internet and play the "Red Alert" game. Not only will Blizzard make a lot of money, but Ark will also benefit a lot. rs