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Time flies. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Approaching the GDC annual game developer conference in '06, everyone who attended this year knows that Jester has not participated in this conference for several years. Lee will be attending the meeting again.

It is said that he will also give a speech.

This may be the last time he will speak at this conference.

Because just over a month ago, Jester officially resigned from all his positions in Mars Entertainment, including the position of director of the WOW development team for more than six years. Pardo is also an excellent designer who was single-handedly pulled out by Jester.

Since Jester officially resigned from all his positions at Mars Entertainment more than a month ago, everyone in the industry has known it, as he said back then.

He's really going to retire.

Pull the dying video game back from the edge of the cliff and create a video game legend, the greatest game company president, helmsman and greatest game designer. Lee is really about to leave the industry he has been fighting for for 22 years.

Jester's speech was placed on the closing session of the GDC.

After the awards.

Previously, Hideo Kojima had just won his Lifetime Achievement Award, and Game of the Year was won by Rock Star's post-GTA3 masterpiece Red Dead Redemption with undisputed votes.

Everyone was looking forward to Jester's final speech.

The audience was silent.

Jester was dressed in casual clothes, his usual favorite outfit, and slowly walked onto the stage.

Casual wear is his favorite outfit, and he once talked about the reason why he wears casual wear on almost all occasions in an interview, because he thinks that the most important thing for a game designer is freedom, don't be bound by anything, casual wear can be worn as you like, how comfortable you want, and suits are fine. And joked that the only time he wore a suit since he founded Mars Entertainment was at his wedding.

Even if he went to Citibank's annual board meeting every year, and then the charity dinner. Wear only casual clothes as well.

Of course, no one at Jester's level is qualified to judge him.

"Hello everyone, the last time I stood here to speak, it was about eight years ago."

Jester's speeches always like to start with a humorous one. And sure enough, with his ridicule, the scene, which was originally quiet and a somewhat serious atmosphere, suddenly became relaxed.

It was here the last time Jester talked about his plans for motion games, WOW's development plans, and his retirement plans.

Eight years later, he'll be here, the video game business he's been fighting for for 20 years. Saying goodbye, everyone was curious to see what Jester would say.

"I was already thinking about what I should say today, I thought about it a lot, but I didn't think it was appropriate, and in the end I still felt that it was the last time anyway, so let's say something from my heart, so. I had the first draft of this talk, and the title of this time was very simple, 'I'm just a player'. ”

Jester smiled. Eloquent.

"A lot of people, they put a label on my body, and these labels are varied, they call me chairman, they call me president, they call me director......"

"But in my own opinion. I'm just a very ordinary game developer, and I came up with a small idea that was recognized by my peers. ”

"In the back of my mind, I've always been just the most ordinary player."

"It's the same as the 100 million players of Mars Entertainment, players."

"Today, I would like to introduce our work and industry here, which may be a little verbose or a little annoying, but for the last time, I hope you can bear with me."

"I can't remember the first time I played a video game, which game it was, maybe it was an Odyssey or maybe not, but the first time I remember was Atari's Pong, I loved it so much, I knew for the first time that games could be so fun, and I was very curious about how such an amazing thing could be made."

"When I was in junior high school, my dad gave me an Apple computer, which was a second-hand item that one of my father's colleagues didn't use, but I was very happy because I was the first one in my class to have my own computer, and it was completely my own, not because I could use it to play a lot of games that seemed to be fun to see in magazines and publish code directly."

"Instead, I can learn programming with this computer."

"My first game of my own was a tennis game when I was in my third year of junior high school, and I don't expect anyone to say, 'This game is awful' because it doesn't have graphics and it's just a matter of numbers. However, my friends love this game. This makes me very proud. ”

"This fuels my energy and passion for gaming. This passion for gaming finally set me the course of my life. ”

"In '82, I went to the University of California, Los Angeles, a very good school, I chose electrical engineering, minored in computer programming, after class, I didn't go back to the dormitory like other classmates to rest and sleep, but rode my bicycle through more than ten kilometers to my father's place of work to see how the Atari arcade machine was produced."

"When I was in my second year, something very unpleasant happened in the industry, and everybody knows about it, the ET incident and the Atari shock, it was a real disaster, everyone seemed to lose interest in video games for a moment, and my ambition was to be able to work at Atari after graduation and become a guy like Eugene. Developers like Jarvis. ”

"If you've lived through that era, you'll know how ** Eugene is, "Defender" is really an incomparably amazing game, it completely changed my way of thinking about games, before I thought the best game was just like "Donkey Kong", but "Defender" let me know that the original game screen can also move!"

"Yes, a lot of people know this game, side-scrolling. Mr. Eugene's masterpiece, that was my idol at the time. ”

"But the situation at the time made me wonder, is there a future for video games?"

"There is always a voice in my heart that keeps reminding me, yes. I know that there was a company called Nintendo in Japan at that time, and when everyone was not optimistic about the game industry, they released their game console, and that console was called FC, and our North American model was called NES. I asked my father to help me get the FC ahead of schedule, because the machine wasn't available in North America at the time. ”

"There were only three or four game boards, and I was playing so much that I suddenly realized that if games were as fun as games on FC, how could games be an industry with no future?"

"I convinced my father, and my father at the time, Mark . Mr. Saini, he was my first partner. ”

"I finished working on American Cubes. The cue from a graphics game - this game was very successful, I still remember how the first five arcade machines of this game, my father and I built them by hand, and then I personally went to the arcade store in Los Angeles to sell them, and now these five consoles are in our Mars Entertainment exhibition hall, if you have the opportunity to visit, you can check them out. ”

"It's worth mentioning that these five arcade machines are still running because of our good maintenance!"

"Of course, I founded Mars Entertainment at this time. Twenty-two years ago, I developed my first console, and now the console of this name is about to go on sale with a total of more than 280 million units. It's the best-selling host in the world, and I'm proud of it. ”

"To be honest, my colleagues and I really grew a lot in game development back then, and now it seems that the graphics were so much worse than they are now. It's very crude, so we're constantly thinking about how to get the player's imagination beyond the limits of the screen. ”

"It's a bit abstract to say that, for example, we often think, what should we do if one day, the graphics of the game can't be improved?"

"There are other growths, for example, because of the capacity, we have to make our code extremely refined and accurate, without any margins, and in fact, the best programmers we have now are still working at that time."

"There are many more such and such growths, and the space is limited, and I don't want to go into details."

"The later story is actually a bit old-fashioned, many people know that the tragic console wars, one game after another, one developer after another, one game company after another, I want to say that although many things have changed over the years, there is one thing, in Mars Entertainment, from the day he was created, to the current position, even if I have left the management position of Mars Entertainment, it has never changed."

"That is, the first thing we do when we develop a game is always fun."

"Why not change? Quite simply, because human entertainment is not going to change, and like any other medium, we in the gaming industry need to create an 'emotional response' in order to be successful. Laughter, fear, pleasure, emotion, surprise, and so on. In the end, whether our product can 'resonate' with players will be used as a criterion for judging the success of the product. At the same time, it is also the minimum line for 'measuring' success. ”

"Actually, there is one other thing that hasn't changed."

"It's about the challenges we set in the game and the impact of the rewards on the player. Different players are able to accept it to varying degrees. A 'heavy' player can take on more challenges, but a normal player can handle relatively less. We believe that it is the responsibility of Mars Entertainment to develop games that are suitable for all players. Of course, the 'all players' I mention here also include friends who haven't played our games yet. ”

"I can't stop talking about this, I just wanted to say that one thing hasn't changed, but I immediately came up with a second one, but before the second one was finished, the third one popped out of my mind."

"Then let's talk about the third constant."

"The third thing that doesn't change is the 'importance' of ideas. Of course, this also includes providing a new development idea for existing games. However, the most valuable thing is to be able to come up with a completely new game idea. I'm sure there is such a genius in today's audience. That's the kind of genius we need in the gaming industry! ”

"The fourth thing is what I always insist on and will never change. It is a sales model that relies on software to sell hardware. People buy games to play the games they love. I like to be outspoken, and maybe I will upset Mr. Ken Kutaragi when I say this, and I despise the PS3's sales strategy of relying on the DVD function to attract players. ”

"It's true that the PS3 has sold a lot of units by this means. But if you look at their game sales, you know, our total sales of 4, as of the third quarter of this year, are 130 million units. The PS3 also has 120 million units, which is not much different, but our total game sales are more than double theirs. ”

"On this point, I agree with Steve. Steve Jobs's view that "software is the user's experience" and that "software will not only drive the development of computer technology, but will also promote the development of the entire consumer electronics industry". ”

"After talking about what doesn't change, then we can talk about what can be changed or what has changed."

"As I pondered this, one word immediately 'jumped' to my mind, and that was 'bigger'. In the Western Hemisphere, the gaming industry has become 'bigger'. in North America. The value of gaming retail stores alone is already close to $17 billion. Last year, U.S. game sales grew by another 8 percent. Now games are everywhere. It's in your living room, in your office, in your PDA, in your phone, and of course in your handheld, and maybe in your phone in the future. ”

"Many media reports show that young people nowadays spend far more time playing games than watching TV. At the same time, the game itself is getting 'bigger' in different directions. ”

"In order, there are bigger development teams, bigger development budgets, and bigger challenges when it comes to launch deadlines. In addition, 'bigger' also means that previously large development companies have become 'bigger' by destroying their relatively smaller peers. We all know very well. The development budget for next-generation games will be at least 3 times more than the current one. The development cost of any game will reach 8 figures. Such a huge budget can only be afforded by the 'bigger' developers. Developers investing 'bigger' in key games will bring them more profits. This is perfectly normal to everyone. ”

"However, I don't know if you have noticed, the books, movies and TV shows that the developers provide to every consumer are the same. To this end, we will make our own 'unconventional' style. In the game. We'll help players fulfill their dreams and create their own exciting endings. ”

"On the other hand, it is more obvious that the industry is 'shrinking'. Now, the risks we can encounter are getting smaller and smaller. It's getting easier and easier to define 'what a video game is'. ”

"The genre of the game is also very clear: shooting, sports, puzzles, etc. Who remembers, though, the last time we created a new genre? Probably when I posted the sensation, right? Do you suddenly find that as we play more and more games, make more and more money, we have fewer and fewer ways to interpret them? ”

"Are the games we develop for everyone?"

"Do you have friends and family who don't play games? So what do they like to do? ”

"I'd like to ask everyone in this room: Have you ever challenged yourself to develop a game that you didn't even want to play? I think these are a very important challenge for all of us who have income. ”

"I can tell everybody. Never, I've never done something I'm not interested in, I've made games that have to be something that makes me passionate enough. ”

"What kind of game can give me enough passion?"

"I'll sum it up in four I's."

"The first i, a real innovation, has something in our game that we didn't have before."

"The second i, intuition, how to naturally control the character during game development and how to position the gameplay, all comes from intuition."

"The third i, the charm of the game. What will make you willing to spend time on the game? That's the beauty of the game. ”

"The last i, the interface,. What kind of interface will attract players? Can players start the game in a whole new format? In fact, there are very few games in the gaming industry that can do all four at the same time, including all the games I've done before. ”

"But that's the standard by which I make games, in practice. We really use this standard in our hardware and software development. A recent example is my WOW, and many of you have probably played this game, and there are a lot of interesting stories about the development process of this game, but now is not the time to say it. ”

"Having said so much and wasting so much of everyone's time, I think it's time to put an end to it."

"Everyone says goodbye sometimes, and twenty-two years ago, when I was nineteen, I released my first game. This year, I'm 41 years old, a father of five, a loving wife, and I've spent almost all of my energy on games for the previous 22 years, so I thought it was time for me to do something else. ”

"Of course, it wasn't just the complaints from my wife that made me decide to quit, it was that I felt like I had lost inspiration for the game. I couldn't come up with ideas that I couldn't get excited about, as I had done before. ”

"I'm not a person who likes to walk the way I walked in the past."

"I've done countless games. But only one sequel has been made. ”

"Okay, there's a lot more I want to say, maybe I can't finish it for a few days and nights, so let's just say that, it's time to end."

"I love everyone here, even though we come from different parts of the world. Some are from South America, some are from North America, some are from Asia, and some are even from Africa. ”

"Even if we speak different languages, even if we eat different foods, even if we have different experiences in the game, even if our views are on the left."

"But each of us here today has a very important thing in common."

"That's what I want to say."

"The common denominator is that we all have a 'player's heart.'"

"Thank you."

Jester finished the last word of his speech, bowed slightly, turned around, and walked to the audience.

The tens of thousands of people in the audience gave a standing ovation.

Thunderous applause.

Some people's eyes even left tears in their eyes as they watched Jester slowly walk off the stage, because these people knew that the legend who had accompanied them through an era had left.

The era of a 'god of games' has come to an end.

Years later, in IGN's 100 Greatest Game Developers, Jester Brown was named the best game developer. Lee was elected first by an indisputable margin and was recognized by everyone as the 'God of Gaming', and IGN, in order to show their respect, directly adopted Time Magazine's evaluation of Jester's entire video game career when he was selected as Person of the Year the year when he announced his retirement.

"Now, if there's a game designer who says he's never been influenced by Jester. Lee's influence, that would be very ridiculous, it's like a film director saying he has never seen a Hitchcock film, a writer has never read a Shakespeare play. In the gaming world, Jester. Lee is Hitchcock, Spielberg, Shakespeare, Tolstoy. His design ideas, rooted in human nature, will be more valuable than all current or future technologies, and will live forever. ”

And while all this is happening, Jester is leisurely on his private island with his wife and children.

Nothing about these things.

Since he retired, he has not expressed his opinion on any of the games, nor has he made his own suggestions for the development of Mars Entertainment, nor has he interfered with any decisions made by Satoshi Iwata, because he knows that his time is over.

And Mars Entertainment, under the leadership of Satoshi Iwata, is also thriving, even better than in the past.

He just watches the tide rise and fall every day, and sometimes he plays a little new game.

When watching the ebb and flow, the ups and downs, there is always a song that he likes very much in his mind.

The sea laughed, surging the tide on both sides of the strait.

The ups and downs follow the waves, only remember the present day.

The sky is smiling, and the tide is in the world.

God knows who loses and who wins.

The rivers and mountains are smiling, and the smoke and rain are far away.

The waves are exhausted, and the red dust is so delicate.

The breeze laughed, but it was lonely.

There is still pride left, and a photo of the evening.

The people laughed, no longer lonely.

Pride is still smiling infatuately. (To be continued.) )