The 1982 Las Vegas Autumn Comex Show was dark for Microsoft, but it was a novel trip for Zhang Lexing, who came for the first time, and saw a lot of legendary "antiques" at this exhibition, such as purely mechanical mice and optical mice that needed a dedicated network mouse pad, and even the first version of AutoCAD, the pioneering work launched by the future CAD giant AutoDesk. At the closing ceremony of the exhibition, a company called VisiCorpd unveiled a VisiOn graphical user interface, which is very close to the graphical operating system, which made Zhang Lexing reaffirm his determination to develop a graphical operating system.

As a professional computer exhibition, IBM is naturally indispensable, but the most limelight is the newly established small company Compaq, with their new product - fully compatible with IBM-PC CompaqPortable (CompaqPortable) portable computer, in one fell swoop became the brightest star of the entire venue. IBM-PCs abounded on the exhibition hall, but visitors turned a blind eye to Compaq's booth and surrounded CompaqPortable laptops, all because of Compaq's commitment to "100% compatible".

In fact, it was not without IBM-PC compatible machines before, because PCs adopted a system open strategy, directly using off-the-shelf, different OEM accessories to assemble computers, and even put on the shelves the "IBM-PC Technical Reference" that included a piece of ROMBIOS source code when the first PCs were released. This not only led to thousands of companies designing a wide variety of add-on cards and software for PCs, but also to IBM-PC-compatible machines. After studying the technical information provided by IBM, some technicians found that as long as they copied the structure of the IBM-PC and bought back similar parts, they could quickly make up a decent computer, so that small companies established in various garages sprung up like mushrooms.

It's just limited to legal and BIOS technology, and the compatible machine at this time has to be different, and can only be branded as 99% compatible with IBM-PC. IBM is not interested in caring about these diseases of ringworm for the time being, after all, 99% compatibility means that a lot of software has to be modified to run, and the competitiveness is not strong. But this time, Compaq actually played a 100% compatible signboard, which is simply challenging IBM's bottom line.

As soon as the exhibition ended, the court summons had been sent to Compaq, and according to IBM's plan, the leading bird Compaq was eliminated through a lawsuit, so that no one would dare to question IBM's authority in the future. It didn't take long for the court to open, and then IBM knew how Compaq broke through the last 1%, and it turned out that Compaq's Deyi Three Musketeers were successful by reverse engineering analysis of the latest BIOS of IBM-PC, but IBM thought that it had won the game and was not worried at all, but the final result of the court's judgment surprised IBM, and the court actually believed that reverse engineering was legal, and accordingly ruled that Compaq did not infringe. IBM also tried to overturn the verdict through appeal, but unfortunately it backfired, and the verdict was still the same, and IBM had to swallow the bitter wine. And this verdict pointed out a bright road for the majority of garage companies, since then the wind of PC compatibility has intensified, and the original 99% compatible fig leaf has also drifted into the distance with the wind.

Of course, IBM's troubles have nothing to do with Zhang Lexing, and this situation of compatibility is even more conducive to the development and growth of VisualSystem. It was in this context that a small Texas company crashed into Zhang Lexing's hands. It's a typical garage company, only a few months old, and there are only three people, including the self-proclaimed boss Michael. Inspired by Compaq's success, Michael also wanted to have his place in the computer sales boom, but he was very ambitious, and he didn't want to see only the immediate benefits like other small companies, and wanted to build his own computer like IBM-PC pre-loaded with some common software, so he ran to VisualSystem, the most popular software supplier for PCs, to try his luck. Since everyone is so fateful, Zhang Lexing will certainly not let go of such a good opportunity to bring Yang Xinxin to discuss with him. After successively throwing out bombshells such as becoming a partner of VisualSystem, injecting $1 million to establish a new company, and the position of president of a new company, Michael, who can only be regarded as a junior brother in the market, surrendered, signed a "deed of sale", carried a check, and happily returned to Texas to start a new life.

In March 1983, the stock of Atari Atari, the leader of the industry, ceased trading, and the huge expenses instantly crushed Cassar's last illusion, and in less than two weeks, Atari laid off 1,700 employees in a row, and even considered moving its cassette production plant to Asia, where labor prices were low, in order to reduce costs. In fact, it all started with Activision's lawsuit victory last year and the legalization of third-party game development on the Atari platform. Apparel companies have also set up their own game development departments in the midst of this craze, and everyone sees the game industry as a gold mine that can reap a lot of dollars with a small investment, and no one cares about the importance of game quality. Many game studios that have rushed to launch games have not even figured out the hardware of the Atari platform, and they start making games in a daze, and it is sometimes a mystery to developers as to what the final finished product will look like in the hands of players.

Against this backdrop, a flood of low-quality games has flooded the market, and even industry bigwig Atari is not immune, and gamers who used to look like docile lambs in the eyes of game makers are angry and have begun to boycott these garbage games. Soon, the games on the Atari platform went from being a hot seller to being a scrap that no one cared about, and sellers had to start selling their inventory at a five, four, and three discount...... , even to a fold. As a result, the Great Depression of the game industry that swept the entire United States began, and the game industry, which once amounted to billions of dollars, gradually fell to the bottom, and the game developers who were originally chased by countless capitalists waving checkbooks have become poor worms that no one cares about.

Some professional gaming media are also full of various news after the shock, such as:

"Mr. Scott, the chief designer of Atari, declared: 'We have suffered great losses, but we are still alive......'"

"Quaker Oats declares: 'We are a specialty food company, we don't play ......'"

"New Mexico environmental groups protest Atari ...... dumping garbage"

"Merlinger Toys declared bankruptcy, which is already the 354th toy company to go bankrupt this year......"

"Activision has announced that it will close a cassette factory in Milpitas, and the Federation of Game Workers is seriously concerned about this......"

Wait a minute......

It looks like a gloomy fog, in this case, Zhang Lexing feels that his opportunity has come, and it is an excellent time to absorb the dip in the future, but in Yang Xinxin's opinion, this is simply a stupid choice, and a debate will kick off in Yang Xinxin's office.

"How can you still think of wading in the troubled waters of the game, don't you know what the situation is now?" Yang Xinxin frowned, her expression extremely serious.

"Of course, I know that it's impossible for Atari to turn over anymore, and since the garbage E.T. came out, players have learned to be obedient and not be as impulsive as they used to be. Zhang Lexing replied while flipping through the magazine, with a smile on his face.

"Then you still ...... I can understand that you want to start a game development studio, after all, the games on this computer are still very promising, but how can you think of buying Activision's cassette factory, and there are so many game designers who don't want to hire hardware engineers, don't tell me you want to design your own game console, you can't afford to waste some money in your hand. Yang Xinxin was very angry, the older the child became, the more disobedient he became, how well-behaved Zhang Lexing was, he didn't expect to change within a few years of coming to the United States.

"Don't worry, I'm measured, and now I'm not going to do anything stupid about designing my own game console, I'm just researching it. At the moment, game development studios will only develop games on computers. Zhang Lexing closed the magazine, looked at Yang Xinxin and said, "Sister Xin, don't be angry, women often get angry and get old." ”

"Dare to say that, be careful that I clean you up!" Yang Xinxin tried hard to make a vicious expression, but she didn't hold back, and soon turned into a smile.

Zhang Lexing knows that he has passed the test for the time being, as long as he performs better in the future and can achieve some results. However, Zhang Lexing's entry into the game industry is not just to make money, his expectations are actually very big, after all, he is very clear about the development of the game industry in the next 20 years or so. Zhang Lexing's biggest regret in his last life is that he did not use a real domestic game console, although in the mid-90s there was a Chinese game console called A'Can, but it disappeared like a shooting star, Zhang Lexing only saw advertisements in magazines, before investing in computer games, Zhang Lexing played the most Japanese game consoles, there are many good games, but it feels like there is always a little worse. Involved in the game industry, Zhang Lexing has two major goals, one is to develop a domestic Chinese game console that can occupy the market, and the other is to hope that domestic games can have their own status in the world, of course, this is not immediately realized.

There is an opportunity in front of him, there are still many months before the launch of the FC Nintendo red and white machine, speaking of which the structure of this popular game console is actually quite simple, at least Zhang Lexing knows that the processor uses MOS6502, so he specially recruited a few engineers from the hardware planning department of Atari game consoles, we can also taste the taste of being the game overlord!

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