Chapter 278 The horn of return! The great struggle begins!
There is a famous joke that when Fallout 4 was released, Pornhub's traffic plummeted.
But this is no joke, it's real.
Because the users of P station and the players of Fallout 4 are highly overlapped.
The effect this time is similar. The simultaneous release of "Halo 3" and "Fallout 3" directly led to a decline in the North American box office market and even the global movie box office market.
Halo 3 was indeed a smash, with sales exceeding $170 million in the first 24 hours after its release, setting not only a record for first-day sales of video games, but also a record for first-day sales of entertainment, including movies.
Microsoft also continued to issue battle reports, selling 1.8 million copies in 8 hours (of course 1.5 million of them were pre-orders).
Almost the entire North American, and even the entire global gaming community, has been dominated by Halo 3.
Of course, this game did not disappoint game fans around the world, and it is being promoted that Master Chief will meet his final ending in Halo 3.
Countless people were enjoying the game.
So much so that many people even began to doubt whether it was right to release "Fallout 3" and "Halo 3" at the same time.
In other words, is it right for Fallout 3 to copy Halo 3?
Because the Halo IP is so awesome, Halo 2 has sold nearly nine million copies worldwide, and the number of players alone exceeds ten million.
The global sales of "Fallout 2" were only 700,000 copies. In a sense, before Fallout 3, the Fallout IP was actually a niche one.
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Despite the tireless smear campaign by many public intellectuals and media, the reputation of Ergou Jiaozhu in China has become mixed.
But at least for fans of stand-alone games, they are still very much looking forward to "Fallout 3".
Because three and a half years ago, at Lin Xiao’s Facebook Night, Fallout 3 was considered the most important product of Lightning Group, shouldering the mission of promoting its culture overseas.
It shoulders the mission of revitalizing the national game industry.
Although Ergou has disappeared for a long time and has received mixed reviews, this does not prevent true single-player game fans from continuing to pay attention to this game.
However, it is difficult for the same grand occasion as before to happen again.
At that time, whenever the works of Master Ergou appeared, countless loyal fans would flock to them and buy them without thinking.
For example, for several movies, their initial box office success was entirely due to their loyal fans.
But this year, the box office of "The Hunger Games" was mediocre, as if announcing that Ergou's halo had disappeared.
Lin Feng was the once fanatical fan of Master Ergou.
He graduated from a pretty good 211 university with a master's degree and currently works in a pretty good foreign company.
He was already a fan of Ergou around the time of Yangwang.
I have read the four great books.
Facebook, registered.
I rushed to the cinema to support the movies of Master Ergou as soon as possible.
I also played "Zhu Xian" and was amazed by it.
But I don’t know since when he stopped being a fan.
Because an atmosphere has emerged that worshipping Master Ergou is a very low behavior, not advanced, and does not allow independent thinking.
Just like playing "World of Warcraft" is more advanced than "Zhu Xian".
He left Zhu Xian to play World of Warcraft and deeply agreed with this.
He did not leave Facebook because most of his social circle, including high school classmates, college classmates, and even many colleagues in foreign companies, were also using Facebook. The stickiness of the platform was too great and he really couldn't leave it.
However, he placed more focus on Renren.
Because everyone told him that the social atmosphere on Renren is more advanced.
Facebook is too common, and after Renren was acquired by Microsoft, it was also injected with high-end genes.
The lifestyle displayed by the people here, the brands promoted here, the tourist attractions recommended here, the books recommended here, and the movies recommended here are all very classy.
Of course...
Many people don’t understand the niche art films promoted here and the books recommended here.
But, it’s okay not to understand it, that’s the only way to be cool.
Moreover, employees of foreign companies are leading the trend among domestic white-collar workers, and they all use MSN.
Lin Feng has little say in clothing, travel, books, and movies.
But he has always been a game fanatic, playing everything from StarCraft to Age of Empires to The Elder Scrolls and so on.
I even played The Legend of Sword and Fairy and Xuan-Yuan Sword.
After playing World of Warcraft, he can't go back to Zhu Xian.
Moreover, he also became the backbone of the NGA forum.
In this forum, he also published a large number of posts praising "World of Warcraft", belittling "Zhu Xian", and even cursing "Dungeon Fighter".
Because among high-end game players, there is a unanimous opinion that "Dungeon Fighter" is a money-making scam.
Can Fallout 3 help you accumulate good luck?
Open the Facebook game, there are two options, one is to download directly, the other is to purchase the disc.
As for the mailing of CDs in large and medium-sized cities, it is entrusted to JD Logistics, SF Express, etc.
After all, at that time, the broadband speed of household users nationwide was only 1.8Mbps. Lin Feng worked in a foreign company and had a relatively high income, so the broadband speed at home was 4Mbps, and it took about 6 hours to download.
After the download was complete, for some reason, Lin Feng found himself entering the game with a critical eye.
I am no longer the person I once was.
I have improved and I am now more advanced than before.
So it’s hard for you to fool me, Master Ergou.
After entering the game, I was surprised to find that.
The graphics quality is so high? Even higher than The Elder Scrolls 4.
Even better than Call of Duty 3.
Next, he began to immerse himself in the entire game, and several hours passed by unknowingly.
Because it was the weekend, he played all night, for more than ten hours in total. He couldn't take it anymore, so he went back to bed to sleep.
But even though I was very sleepy, I still couldn't fall asleep. I seemed to be completely immersed in the game.
He returned to the computer, opened NGA, the 17173 forum, and the Renren game forum, just to see what many players had to say about Fallout 3.
Because he felt that this game was really good.
But it’s hard to explain, there’s a kind of extraordinary magic.
He has played a lot of awesome single-player games, including "The Elder Scrolls 4", "Far Cry", "Prince of Persia", "Call of Duty 3", "GTA3" and so on.
In the domestic gaming circle, he is considered a high-end player.
He had a vague feeling that Fallout 3 was more fun than all these games, even much more fun.
Whether it's the graphics, gameplay, plot, open world shooting, or the human choices within the game, they are all top-notch.
However, this is just a vague feeling.
He didn't dare say it out loud because this was, after all, a stand-alone game developed by a Chinese game company.
If you open these gaming forums, you will see that they are all promoting Halo 3's sweeping success in the global market and saying how many records it has created.
And he retweeted a lot of top reviews for Halo 3.
So, he finally made a post.
"Fallout 3" is not bad, just barely okay, but there is a gap between it and "The Elder Scrolls 4" and "Call of Duty 3".
Because he thinks it is safer to post like this.
Because of the two or three years of public opinion offensive, almost everyone has generally accepted a fact.
The West is leading across the board.
Whether it is games or movies, we are far ahead.
There is a huge gap in technology and culture.
So, this is a loss of overall cultural confidence.
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September 15th! Lightning Games, release announcement.
In the first ten days of the release of "Fallout 3", a total of 4.8 million copies were shipped!
This is not much different from the historical achievements, but in fact the public opinion and propaganda are higher than in history.
The core reason is that it is not on the XBOX platform, but because of the Chinese market and the Steam platform, which are stronger than in history, plus the strong recommendation of the PS platform.
Therefore, the disadvantage of not being on the XBOX platform is offset.
Immediately afterwards, Lightning Entertainment also issued an announcement that the global box office of "The Hunger Games" officially exceeded 720 million US dollars, which is about 20 million US dollars higher than the historical record.
Compared with the cautious domestic players, European and American players are much more straightforward.
Because Halo 3 has such a deep accumulation of content, most players play Halo 3 first and then Fallout 3.
And then... there was an unparalleled surprise.
Even die-hard fans of Fallout 2 can't find fault with the game.
Because it was so much beyond my expectations.
"Halo 3 was predictably good, but Fallout 3 was a total surprise beyond all expectations."
"Carmack didn't lie to me. This is the biggest surprise in the gaming industry in a few years."
Elon Musk said bluntly: "Fallout 3 is the best game so far, no doubt about it."
"It's undoubtedly better than Halo 3. It's better in every way."
"I can't believe this is the work of a Chinese game company."
As more and more players finished their journey with Fallout 3, the game's reputation began to explode.
Not only ordinary players, but also many technology giants have expressed their opinions.
"Halo 3 is excellent, and Fallout 3 is great!"
"Fallout 3 kicks off a new era of gaming."
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Not only that, the YouTube video website has also begun to support traffic for videos of the "Fallout 3" game.
Game broadcasters, who would have taken several years to appear, also appeared ahead of time, which once again boosted the popularity of the game "Fallout 3".
This game began to become completely popular all over the world.
People who didn't know about this game before, and even those who didn't play games much, also bought it.
Because this game is not available on the XBOX platform, XBOX players flocked directly to the Steam platform in order to play this game.
Gabe called Lin Xiao countless times because he was puzzled by the increasing number of registered users and online users on Steam.
Previously, all Steam players played Half-Life and CS, accounting for almost a quarter of the entire platform's users.
Now the number of online users of "Fallout 3" has directly surpassed that of "CS" and "Half-Life 2", and it has long dominated the platform.
Kazuo Hirai of Sony Electronics Entertainment was also delighted.
Because the sales of PS3 have started to increase recently, this is the charm of a phenomenal masterpiece.
Originally, the company vigorously promoted "Fallout 3" and gave it exclusive game treatment entirely because of its strategic alliance with Lin Xiao, but it did not expect that it would benefit the platform so quickly.
For a long time, Sony's PS platform has been more powerful, except for PS3 and XBOX360, which are evenly matched.
It has always been a tug-of-war, which has made Sony Group very nervous, fearing that Microsoft XBOX will overtake it.
I didn't expect that "Fallout 3" would bring such an unexpected surprise.
Next, Sony Group extended a visit invitation to Lin Xiao.
This time, Lin Xiao was received by three big bosses, Howard Stringer, chairman and CEO of Sony Group, Kazuo Hirai of Sony Computer Entertainment, and Amy Pascal of Sony Columbia.
Howard is a British aristocrat and has served as the boss of CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) for a long time.
"Lin, The Hunger Games has surpassed $720 million in global box office."
“Fallout 3 is a global hit. According to our most authoritative prediction, its final sales may exceed 13 million copies!”
"Our Sony Electronics Imaging Division will provide cameras for your mobile phone, and our Sony Semiconductor will provide you with COMS sensors."
"The two of us are simply inseparable."
The current Lin Xiao system has truly become the most important strategic partner of Sony as a whole.
Howard apologized, "Lin, I know you've run into a lot of obstacles with Sony Electronics in the past one or two years. Especially in screen production, because of some people's arrogance and ignorance, you gave up Sony and turned to work with Sharp."
"But don't worry, you are already our most important ally. Whether it is Sony Imaging, Sony Electronics, or Sony Semiconductor, we will do our best to serve you, provide you with the best quality products, and put you first among all mobile phone manufacturers."
"Also, although I have left CBS, I still have a huge influence there. In the future, I can strongly promote CBS's purchase and cooperation of the copyrights of Dream Vision's TV series and related variety shows."
However, this boss will step down soon, and Kazuo Hirai of Sony Electronics will become the big boss of Sony Group.
This time, "Fallout 3" abandoned XBOX and brought a boost to Sony's PS3 platform, allowing Lin Xiao to gain the friendship of this future big boss.
"Lin, I heard that you also invested in Poland's CD Projekt, and you helped them improve the script of The Witcher 1?" Hirai Kazuo asked, "What do you think of this game?"
Lin Xiao: "The Witcher 1 may not be as good as Fallout 3, but the potential of this IP is no less than that of the Fallout series, or even better."
Kazuo Hirai: "I understand. Let's not be so hasty this time. We at Sony Electronics Entertainment will provide relevant support for The Witcher 1 in advance."
"Also, a large-scale stand-alone game company will basically have more than two IPs. Now that the Fallout IP has been completely successful, have you conceived a second world-class IP?"
This is actually very difficult. Although 2007 was relatively early, most game IPs had already been developed.
GTA, Red Dead Redemption, Resident Evil, Uncharted, God of War, etc., are all out.
Even Assassin's Creed is already in development.
So sometimes I really have to admire people like Hidetaka Miyazaki and Hideo Kojima for their courage in creating new IPs.
There are many games with high sales, such as Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, Sekiro, etc.
But these games are not available now.
Both Elden Ring and Sekiro were successful through a lot of accumulation and preparation from previous souls-like games.
But Lin Xiao still chose an IP, which made countless players feel unhappy.
The Last of Us series is also known as The Last of Us.
She just wanted to see what would happen if Ellie finally killed her enemy Abby in The Last of Us 2. She wanted to see how the cycle of revenge would end.
"The Last of Us." Lin Xiao said.
Hirai Kazuo: “What subject matter?”
Lin Xiao: “It’s also a doomsday theme.”
Kazuo Hirai: "The challenge is enormous, because Fallout 3 itself is also a doomsday theme."
Lin Xiao: "The two are completely different. The Fallout series is an open world, while The Last of Us is a completely linear game with the plot first."
Sony's PS platform has several exclusive game IPs.
God of War series, Uncharted series, The Last of Us series, etc.
The Last of Us is also a phenomenon in terms of both sales and word of mouth.
The horizon is just a notch below.
Kazuo Hirai: “I’m looking forward to it.”
"If all three IPs are successful, then we at Sony Electronics Entertainment will be extremely dependent on you, Mr. Lin."
Lin Xiao: "We have a common enemy."
Kazuo Hirai: “We like to work with people like you the most because it is full of strategic inertia and a very long-term trust and friendship.”
Amy Pascal: "Lin, I know your expectations for Kung Fu Panda. You want to use it to improve your country's film industry and the ceiling of the film market."
"Don't worry, the entire Sony Group will make every effort to ensure that it will be a huge success around the world."
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The current situation in the country is a little embarrassing.
Because it is one version behind Europe and the United States.
Previously, the hostile forces of the Lightning Group desperately forwarded press releases from outside, and also produced and sold press releases themselves.
In short, the goal is to set the tone for Fallout 3.
The game is pretty good, but it is still far from the world's mainstream level.
Still talking about IGN and GS.
Especially after Halo 3 became a huge hit, people began to vigorously exaggerate the success and excellence of Halo 3, showing that Fallout 3 was completely suppressed in Europe and the United States.
Unexpectedly, after a brief period of suppression, "Fallout 3" began to rebound comprehensively in terms of sales and reputation.
It even has explosive reputation.
Mainstream players in Europe and the United States directly gave the highest evaluation.
This game has topped the list in major powers such as the United States, Japan, Britain, and France.
Then, the entire public opinion fell into an embarrassing situation.
In fact, Lightning Games has made a complete comeback and has raised its level of coolness to more than one level.
but……
The momentum in the country is still not building up.
Because "Fallout 3" is too closely tied to Master Ergou.
The mixed reputation of Ergou Jiaozhu has resulted in this game being unable to inspire national pride, even though it could have done so.
The hostile forces of the Lightning Department in the country originally thought that the Lightning Department and Ergou would take the opportunity to counterattack.
After all, Fallout 3 has achieved unprecedented success.
And this game is called Ergou Studio, and the leader Ergou is gradually becoming a legend abroad.
You should take advantage of the strong momentum and return to the country.
But, still nothing! Leader Ergou still did not make any statement in the country.
Even the Lightning Group was not given much attention.
Also because of the mixed reputation of Ergou, many of his former die-hard fans do not even dare to cheer for him with confidence.
Because of the long-term smear campaign, it is almost politically incorrect in the country to praise Master Ergou at this time.
but……
There is still a silent surge.
At least the number of players of "Zhu Xian" has increased rapidly again.
At least for players of "World of Warcraft", it will be difficult for them to justifiably point fingers at Lightning Games and call it low-end and LOW.
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"Fallout 3, even with such success, can't it restore your honor?"
"Can't it inspire their national pride?" Wu Lingxi said coldly: "I actually disdain this thing the most."
"Dog... maybe we need to change our plans a little."
Lin Xiao: "How to change?"
Wu Lingxi: "Build your personal IP globally."
"Don't think it's a fantasy. Today's young people in Europe and America are all rebellious. They are against authority and giants."
"If you fight against Microsoft and Google, you will become a hero in the eyes of European and American teenagers."
"You've made a desperate bet on starting your third business, betting everything on the mobile phone industry. I know you want to stage a comeback."
"But I suggest you put aside your nationalism a little bit."
"Reputation is not that important, power is important."
Lin Xiao thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "It is impossible for me to give up my nationalism."
Wu Lingxi: "Our goal is to be a global enterprise, not just a Chinese enterprise."
Lin Xiao: “No, our goal is to be a Chinese company, just going global, which is completely different.”
Wu Lingxi: "You have done so much, have you taken back your honor? What's even more ridiculous is that the forces that are trying to discredit you in China come from Microsoft and Google."
This was the first time that the two sides had a disagreement on their positions.
However, Wu Lingxi still completely stood from Lin Xiao's perspective.
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Wu Lingxi's ability to take action is off the charts.
Do what you say.
He directly used his Facebook and YouTube to connect with Lucas and Sony Group and started a vigorous campaign.
Who is the leader of Ergou? ! The author of "The Hunger Games".
The creator of Fallout 3.
The creator of Kung Fu Panda.
The creator of Breaking Bad.
The creator of Squidward Games.
Founder of Facebook, founder of YouTube.
It is a very simple and crude form of publicity, viral publicity.
It is to make young people in Europe and the United States feel that this is an unparalleled genius and an absolute role model.
Repeat, repeat, and repeat.
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October!
Breaking Bad Season 2 premieres on AMC.
The first season had 3.6 million viewers! Although it’s still not a huge hit, it’s already three times the ratings of the first season.
Moreover, each episode is higher than the previous one.
Then, Squidward aired on CBS.
In fact, the entire CBS did not dare to hold out too high hopes for this drama, because there were almost no Western actors in it, only Chinese, Japanese and Korean actors.
A purely foreign language TV series, although it has English dubbing.
However, with the full efforts of Sony Group, "Squid Game" still received massive publicity on CBS.
As a result, the first episode had a viewership of 8.3 million! Suddenly, the entire CBS was pleasantly surprised.
Although this result is still not very popular, it is already very good.
But the rhythm of this drama is really unbeatable.
After all, it has the highest viewership in Netflix's entire history, reaching a terrifying 265 million on-demand views.
The second episode's viewership on CBS exceeded 10 million.
Then, sing all the way.
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November!
An article suddenly appeared on the domestic Internet.
How much more does the Ergou Cult Leader have to do before he can come back? !
The author of this article is a professor from Peking University.
It has been almost three years since the departure of Leader Ergou.
It has been almost three years since he disappeared from everyone's sight.
It was not until the release of the game "Fallout 3" not long ago that this name came back into the spotlight.
But the funny thing is that this game has achieved unprecedented success and received unprecedented praise in every country outside of China.
Only in China, sales are so-so.
In fact, most people don’t even dare to praise it publicly.
Leader Ergou said he wanted to revitalize the national gaming industry, and he did it.
Not long ago, on CBS, the largest television network in the United States, the audience of "Squidward Fever" exceeded 13.8 million, ranking first in the United States.
He said he wanted to export his films and TV series overseas, and he did it.
"Kung Fu Panda" was originally scheduled to be released during the Lunar New Year holiday last year, and the people at Sony Group were very satisfied with it and felt that it was of a very high standard.
However, Leader Ergou directly rejected it.
He was not satisfied, so he re-produced Kung Fu Panda, and the original cost of $130 million increased to nearly $200 million.
Because he said he wanted to revitalize the film industry and raise the ceiling of the Chinese film market.
The Hunger Games is not a Chinese movie, but Kung Fu Panda is undoubtedly a Chinese movie.
He wants to bring Chinese films to the world.
Now "Kung Fu Panda" is coming out and will be released during the Lunar New Year holiday in December.
Judging from the status of Fallout 3, I doubt its success.
Because Fallout 3, a product that should have been the pride of the gaming industry and the nation, has mediocre sales in China, and even domestic players dare not praise it publicly.
So why did Kung Fu Panda succeed? Even if it was done well, it probably would have been difficult to succeed.
Because the people of this land are no longer objective.
Foreign groups led by Microsoft and Google are trying their best to strangle the Ergou Sect Leader and the Lightning Group.
However, many people in the country not only do not unite with the enemy, but instead become accomplices to the evil.
Then I would like to ask a question.
What did Ergou do wrong? How big a sin did he commit? How much more does he need to do to redeem his reputation? Can he become an idol and role model for countless people again? Or will he completely sink under the suppression of foreign giants such as Microsoft and Google? This article quickly caused a fierce response and discussion.
But, that’s okay.
The most important thing is that the online version of the country's top and most authoritative newspaper directly reprinted this article.
People with a keen sense of smell in China immediately felt that the wind was about to change! The horn of counterattack was about to sound.
But many people are still very confused, why? No matter how good Lin Xiao's games and movies are, it doesn't matter. After all, he is a person who has made mistakes.
Moreover, it would be difficult to recover after years of smear campaigns by many media outlets.
Why would such a high-ranking official like Renri personally intervene? This represents a very high official position.
It doesn't make sense! It's irrational! But in fact, the answer can be found.
Because at the same time, Google held a conference and formed the Mobile Operations Alliance (OHA).
At this conference, it officially released the Android mobile phone system, and almost all of the world's major mobile phone giants were present to show their support.
A major battle concerning the technological and industrial revolution has quietly begun.
In comparison, movies and games have become insignificant in the face of this industrial revolution.
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Note: This chapter was difficult to write and I deleted and revised it many times. I will definitely update it before 9 o'clock tomorrow. Thank you everyone.
Benefactor, can you give me two monthly tickets to boost my mood? Thank you!
(End of this chapter)
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