In the same period of July and August that was operated into a lively summer file by Fengyun Interactive, a lively ceremony was also held near the Shangdi Information Technology Industrial Park, and the China Education and Scientific Research Network (CERNET) optical fiber backbone network project was constructed by the Oriental Industrial Group and the engineering company under the Post and Telecommunications Bureau, and the groundbreaking ceremony was held, and the important leaders of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the Ministry of Science and Technology were present, and the Oriental Industrial Group was also personally participated in the ribbon-cutting by Hua Ziqing, the general manager.

A burst of crackling firecrackers rang out, a few scissors waved over, and the long red silk ribbons responded into several segments, and the scene immediately resounded with warm applause. Putting down the scissors in their hands, several leaders, plus Hua Ziqing, each dug shallowly with a shovel, and the cameraman followed closely to take the key shots. When the leaders dispersed, the real construction personnel were able to enter, the machine also roared, and the CERNET optical fiber backbone network project finally officially started.

Of course, Zhang Lexing didn't see all this with his own eyes, but he only learned about it through Yan Feifei, who went with Hua Ziqing, and relayed it, but activities such as leading ribbon cutting, even if Yan Ruofei didn't say it, Zhang Lexing was already familiar with it. Although the optical fiber backbone network project has officially started, Zhang Lexing also knows that if he wants to complete it all, it will definitely not be a year or two years, but fortunately, he does not expect to be able to use it immediately, as long as a few backbone nodes can be connected in the next three or four years, it is basically enough.

The optical fiber network is not built overnight, neither need nor need Zhang Lexing to intervene personally, and when it comes to the need for network equipment, he can use his experience to come up with ideas, after all, he has seen what the future backbone network and metropolitan area network will look like. However, at the moment, there are not many things that need Zhang Lexing's personal action, and all walks of life have their own business divisions and companies in management and operation, so that they have enough time to accompany Chen Zishan or pay attention to the "Adventure King" that is under development.

In addition to paying attention to the development process of "The Adventurer" and accompanying Chen Zishan, Zhang Lexing will also pay close attention to the situation in the game industry, such as today, he called Wang Mengyao to listen to her report on the game industry intelligence collected during this time.

"Boss, let me start by talking about the competition for consoles that you are most concerned about. The information gathered through our investigators shows that in the current next-gen console wars, the PS consoles are temporarily in the lead, and the advantage is very clear. As of the end of August, the sales of PS game consoles in Japan have reached 3.5 million units, 3 million SS game consoles, 1 million N64 game consoles, 2.1 million PS game consoles in North America, 800,000 SS game consoles, 1.6 million PS game consoles in Europe, 250,000 SS game consoles, and N64 game consoles have not yet been sold in North America and Europe...... "Wang Mengyao first focused on the latest competition of game consoles.

According to Wang Mengyao, the joint development of PS game consoles with Sony has seized the opportunity in this next-generation game console war, and it seems that it is gradually occupying an advantage, and there are more and more game manufacturers willing to invest in the PS camp, even including many heavyweight manufacturers like Square Enix. Sega's SS console worked hard, even surpassing 1 million sales earlier than the PS console, but unfortunately the console's performance was congenitally lacking in 3D performance, coupled with having a leader who was close to brain-dead, it was gradually left behind by the PS console, which is especially obvious in North America and Europe.

As for Nintendo's long-brewing N64, although it set a sales volume of 300,000 on the first day of listing, which makes people feel the strong reputation of the old manufacturer, but due to the scarcity of games, except for the first three, other games will have to wait at least four or five months to be listed, and then sales began to deteriorate, and weekly sales fell behind the PS game console, and the result is barely past the 1 million unit line now.

In addition to buying the so-called 3DO upgraded version, the Panasonic company codenamed M2 released some news from time to time, what "M2 console is stepping up development, the listing date is not far away", "many manufacturers are optimistic about the prospects of M2" and the like, but they always see the sound of the stairs and no one comes down, just like the legendary "bubble piece" It also made players who had been looking forward to it gradually lose patience and threw themselves into the arms of PS, SS or N64.

In fact, even if Wang Mengyao doesn't say these things, Zhang Lexing knows about them. The result of this round of game console competition can be said to be Sony's victory, this newcomer in the game industry with the PS game console pushed the original boss Nintendo off the altar, which can be regarded as an indirect realization of their dream for Sega for many years, but unfortunately this is not what the hapless Sega company wants to see. In the eyes of many people, Nintendo, the original big man in the game industry, is now in the twilight, and only the part of singing "I haven't been a big brother ......for many years" is left, and the failure of VRBoy, the retirement of Junhei Yokoi, the poor development of N64 and the poor sales after its official launch seem to prove this.

For these situations that should have been clear, the reason why Zhang Lexing deliberately sent investigators to investigate was actually because he was worried that his existence would bring too many variables, which would make the battle for next-generation game consoles from 16-bit consoles to 32-bit and 64-bit consoles unforeexpectedly changed. Whether it is Sony's PS game console, Nintendo's N64 game console, or Sega's SS game console, either side has a decisive victory and leads to a monopoly situation is not what Zhang Lexing wants to see, because that will mean that his game console will face an overly strong opponent when it is launched, so the best situation is that Nintendo, Sony, and Sega will fight each other, and do not prematurely divide the final result. This is also the reason why after the joint development of the PS game console with Sony, he did not do his best to support Sony, but turned part of his strength to the N64 console, which is not very good, Zhang Lexing does not want Nintendo to suddenly collapse in this most difficult period, so as not to have no one to help disperse the firepower in the future.

In terms of game software development,Zhang Lexing adheres to the same considerations,There is no restriction on which game platform its video game development company chooses,As long as it can make money,Whether it is PS、SS or N64 can be considered,Of course, short-lived platforms like 3DO are definitely not good。 And the heavyweights such as "Final Fantasy", "Dragon Quest", and "The Legend of Zelda" mastered by Zhang Lexing's company will be used as a balancing weight to control the development of PS, SS and N64 game consoles, so as not to let their gap widen, especially between PS and N64, Sega's SS game console Zhang Lexing also thought about pulling it, but unfortunately they themselves are too angry.

After introducing the main competitors of the next-generation game console, Wang Mengyao began to introduce Nintendo's main actions during this period in detail, which is also a point that Zhang Lexing is more concerned about, and he wants to grasp Nintendo's next development trajectory.

“…… In mid-May, at the E3 exhibition in Los Angeles, Nintendo North America exhibited the N64 game console, and spent $4 million to set up a rather luxurious booth, and put out more than 50 N64 for the audience to try on the spot, the game on display is ......mainly "Super Mario 64" "Wang Mengyao started from the E3 exhibition in May, introducing Nintendo's recent actions on the N64 console.

Many game manufacturers are not optimistic about the future of N64 game consoles, although this is the future console promoted by Nintendo, but the repeated postponement of the launch has made manufacturers lose confidence, if it were not for the end of last year when Nintendo came up with the N64 actual machine and the demonstration of "Super Mario 64", after experiencing the failure of VRBoy, many people doubt whether Nintendo has the ability to complete the development of the N64 game console. Although there is hope for the launch of the N64 game console, its backward cassette media has disappointed the manufacturers, which has led to a very small number of N64 game support manufacturers, especially Square Enix's sudden jump, which has cast a shadow on the prospects of the N64 game console that has not yet been listed. In the run-up to E3, even quite a few Nintendo employees were worried about the future of the N64.

However, Yamauchi's son-in-law Arakawa is not a guy who is willing to give up easily, not to mention that the N64 was developed by him, just for the sake of the future of Nintendo and Nintendo North America, he can't give up the N64 game console at will. But the situation faced by Minoru Arakawa is too sinister, because of a brain-dead decision, the N64 can only use cassette media, not only the cost is a lot higher than the CD, but also the capacity is much smaller than the CD, as a result, few manufacturers are willing to develop games on it, if it weren't for Nintendo's decision to make some concessions, even "The Legend of Sedar" would have to be spent elsewhere.

There are few games to take, and Minoru Arakawa is embarrassed to copy the propaganda techniques of Nintendo's red and white machines and Super Nintendo era, but fortunately, he is a flexible person, and it doesn't matter if there are few things, he can use the banner of a masterpiece, such as "Super Mario 64" and "The Legend of Zelda 64" that someone promised them. This E3 exhibition was an experiment by Minoru Arakawa, and the final result was exactly what he expected, and the masterpiece's strategy achieved quite good results, basically relying on "Super Mario 64", a masterpiece, to achieve similar results as Sony and Sega. But before Minoru Arakawa could rejoice, Sony announced that it would reduce the price of the American version of the PS game console to $199, and even the SS game console with Sega was forced to lower the price, and the estimated price of $250 for the American version of the N64 became very embarrassing. Arakawa was not willing to let the good situation be lost in one fell swoop, and immediately flew back to Japan to negotiate the adjustment of the price of the N64 American version.

“…… Minoru Arakawa's moves are quite effective, not only avoiding the weaknesses of N64 games, but also successfully attracting players to those limited masterpieces, and touching the hearts of players with their meticulously crafted masterpieces...... However, at present, the future of the N64 American version is mainly in the price, if the price cannot be adjusted to the same level as the PS game console, I am afraid that the future ending will not be much different from the Japanese market......" Wang Mengyao said in the end, and couldn't help but bring out her personal evaluation of Minoru Arakawa.

Zhang Lexing also knows that Arakawa can be said to be the hero of the N64's resurrection, and if it weren't for his efforts to make the N64 successfully popular in North America, Nintendo might not have survived for two years. However, many things have been changed by himself at the moment, and Zhang Lexing is also very worried about whether this price adjustment will change.

"Meng Yao, the day of the N64 US version of the launch should be approaching, you arrange for people to pay more attention to see if the official launch price is $250 or $199, which will determine the future of Nintendo, and it is also related to our strategy adjustment in the home game console market. Zhang Lexing solemnly explained to Wang Mengyao.

"Okay boss, don't worry, I'll report back to you as soon as there is news. Wang Mengyao replied respectfully.

Just waiting for the N64 US version of the console to be released, the GameBoy, which had gradually fallen silent, suddenly set off a storm, "Pokemon Red" and "Pokemon Green" became fashionable among children with their correct positioning and endless variety of monsters, coupled with the promotion of magazines and the newly launched animation, not only children fell in love with cute "Pokemon", but even adult players who were no longer children became interested in "Pokemon". Sales of Pokemon Red and Pokemon Green skyrocketed, successfully breaking the 1 million unit mark, becoming the rare best-selling GameBoy games this year, and even the GameBoy, which had begun to slow down, became the new favorite of gamers, and the PocketGB (a new GameBoy handheld developed by Gunhei Yokoi) bundled with Pokemon Green sold nearly 900,000 units.

For a while, even the "FAMI Pass", which was the first to fall down and joke about the two handhelds, GB and GG, changed direction and began to sing praises for the new GameBoy. It's a pity that the success of the GameBoy at the moment is not what Nintendo wants, because "Pokemon" is not out of their own, and even the PocketGB that bundled "Pokemon Green" was also brought out by the departing employee Junhei Yokoi, which is simply slapping the faces of those who looked down on Gameboy at the beginning, especially Pu Yamauchi, who personally launched Yokoi Junhei out of the company, has a wonderful face, but Nintendo can't jump out against it, after all, "Pokemon" A combination of marketing restarted the GameBoy market, and even attracted many manufacturers to follow the trend to launch similar works, these are all white flowers for Nintendo in distress, even if Yamauchi Pu is not happy, he can't push out the silver sent to the door, if he really does this, I'm afraid the life at the shareholders' meeting will not be good.

The rebirth of GameBoy,The direct reaction is that the long-dormant Nintendo stock began to rise,At the beginning, Zhang Lexing took advantage of the Yokoi Junping and other factors caused Nintendo's stock price to plummet,Arrange people to eat a lot of Nintendo stocks,This time it also rose wildly,If you are willing to sell now,At least you can make tens of millions of dollars。 However, Zhang Lexing is not greedy for this small profit at the moment, and still orders his subordinates to continue to sweep the goods when the time is right.

On September 29, the N64 American version of the console officially landed in the North American market, and the price was the same as Zhang Lexing's expectation, at $199. The attractive price, coupled with the blockbuster titles such as Super Mario 64, immediately sparked a sales frenzy, which exceeded 1 million units in just two weeks, and there was a large-scale out-of-stock phenomenon. In order to replenish the stock in time, Arakawa did not hesitate to charter a commercial cargo plane to ship N64 game consoles from Japan to North America day and night. The sales frenzy continued, and many of the N64 consoles were parked in front of the store and surrounded by waiting players, with the result that many N64 consoles were bought directly from the container trucks before they had time to enter the warehouse. By the end of the year, the N64 had sold more than 3.3 million units in North America, surpassing the PlayStation consoles that had been on the market for a year.

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