Chapter 495 399 What Is an Open World? !

…

When the price of 249 was shouted out, it really shocked the whole audience. Countless reporters and friends were stunned. Everyone had confused expressions on their faces and couldn't believe it was true.

A game console that is much more powerful than the PS, and also has various additional value functions. Everyone has seen Shenmue's expressiveness with their own eyes. It is not Qing Zhiyuan's spiel to manage players' expectations.

A game console like this only costs $249? !

If it didn't come from Qing Zhiyuan, who would dare to believe it? !

Hua Hua Hua...

There was warm applause.

The audience stood up and applauded.

Such exciting news is simply a carnival. If nothing else, the price of Sega’s new game console DC249 will become the biggest news at this E3 electronics show, even overshadowing what Rentiantian showed you this morning. The Legend of Zelda.

It's exciting and exciting.

From now on, there will be one more god-level game console in the world!

Qing Zhiyuan said that this price is really nothing. If you knew that Sega’s price in the previous life was only $199, your eyes would probably fall to the ground.

The price of 249 was a decision made by Qing Zhiyuan after careful consideration, because it can maximize profits.

There is also a bottom line when selling game consoles. It does not mean that the cheaper the better. The bottom line is often an attitude, which shows that we have the strength and have made a sincere price.

Not only is it far ahead of PS in terms of game performance, but the price is already much lower.

Although I haven't found out the bottom of Qing Zhiyuan yet, the price tag is placed here to reserve space for the future Sega console war.

Once you play your cards right from the beginning, there will be nothing you can do in the future.

Moreover, according to Qing Zhiyuan's judgment, the price of 249 has basically reached Sony's bottom line.

pokeni also has Nvidia to support it, which can push down the price space, but Sony is probably going to lose money at 249.

It just depends on how much loss this price will cost, and whether Sony will be determined enough to fight a price war in the future.

To put it bluntly -

When the cost of your game console is too high, you will lose money every time you sell a game console. The more you sell, the greater the loss. If it can cause a large enough amount of bleeding per unit, then Sony may not dare to follow suit in the future.

Think about it, if the PS2 is sold according to this structure and a machine loses 6 or 7,000 yen, then selling 100 million units will result in a loss of more than 600 billion. How terrifying this number is, and how much software profit is required to recover it. ?

Of course, the same goes for Sega.

Therefore, cost control has become a crucial part of future wars.

Fortunately, Qing Zhiyuan now has enough confidence that DC is absolutely impeccable in terms of cost performance. The only thing that needs to be guarded against is whether Sony will engage in underhanded tactics, false publicity and expectation management like in previous generations.

…

At the scene, everyone looked at Qing Zhiyuan on the stage, and the applause continued for a long time.

This scene really seems familiar.

When Sony's PS was launched four years ago, it was a similar scene.

It's just that the person standing on the stage at that time was Ken Kutaragi instead of Qing Zhiyuan.

Everyone still remembers how enthusiastic the applause was when Ken Kutaragi shouted "299".

Almost the entire audience cheered.

Exactly the same as now.

Unexpectedly, four years later, Qing Zhiyuan would follow the same method and achieve shocking results.

The entire audience, including friends and businessmen, applauded, shook their heads and sighed.

"It's amazing. The price of 249 is something I never expected." Masashi Miyamoto, Square's president, felt a breath resounding in his chest.

Qing Zhiyuan shouted the price as if he was ordering a charge. It was such an ordinary sentence, but it made people's blood boil.

"It's terrible. Is this the strength of pokeni?" Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto of Rentendo also looked shocked.

Other outsiders may not understand it, but game manufacturers like them, which have their own console production, must be aware of this.

In Miyamoto's view, the price of 249 simply cannot exist.

As soon as you hear it, you know it will lose money, and Sega is not as good as Sony. Many parts depend on other manufacturers. After being harvested by parts manufacturers, how much profit can you still make?

I’m afraid the cost can no longer be recovered, right?

In short, Miyamoto Shigeru has doubts about the price of 249.

Selling a game console at this price, and it is such a high-performance game console, can only be described as crazy.

Otherwise, Qing Zhiyuan is very wealthy.

However, Shigeru Miyamoto couldn't figure this out. It was clear that Pokeni had spent US$1.5 billion to acquire Sega. How could he have other money to supply game consoles?

This can no longer be described as simply burning money. This is simply throwing money into the sea!

No matter how much money pokeni makes, pricing it at 249 is too ridiculous, right?

But...

Shigeru Miyamoto thought about it, and this is actually good. Sometimes, the enemy may fall down due to its own shortcomings before you even attack it.

It was impossible to stand up.

Unless there is a high enough software/hardware ratio on DC, that is to say, the profits generated by the game software are enough to cover the losses of the game console. ,

…

"249?!"

Ken Kutaragi of Sony was directly frightened by the price.

You know, the current selling price of Sony PS is 299 US dollars.

What does Qing Zhiyuan think about setting the price to 249? !

Are you crazy?

Kutaragi Kendu laughed in anger, looking at Qing Zhiyuan on the stage as if he were looking at a madman.

Or maybe he was looking at himself four years ago.

However, no matter what, when he quoted 299, many outsiders thought he was crazy.

Now Qing Zhiyuan is even more crazy than him.

Even if Kutaragi Ken thinks about it with his toes, he will feel that it is impossible to recover the cost at the price of 249.

I'm afraid pokeni will go bankrupt just by selling game consoles, let alone compete head-on with Sony's PS.

When Ken Kutaragi saw the performance of the game console just now, his heart trembled, but after hearing the price, he became much calmer.

Just lower the price as much as you can, and one day you will eventually fail.

If it fails, it will be entirely Qing Zhiyuan's fault.

According to Kutaragi Ken's idea, the price will be set at least 299, which is the same as Sony's game console.

In this way, the generation gap can be overcome through cost-effectiveness, and more advanced game console performance can be used to achieve a leading position at the same price.

You are really stupid, Qing Zhiyuan.

…

However, except for Rentendo and Sony, everyone else at the scene was immersed in the carnival of Sega's new console.

This news is really shocking.

Whether it is for friends, businessmen, media or players, it is a blockbuster that is enough to shock the world, directly overturning everyone's Tianling Cap.

Those who applaud and applaud Qing Zhiyuan, those who are looking forward to Sega’s new console...

It goes on and on.

Even the on-site director couldn't help but laugh and shook his head in the control room.

"Qing Zhiyuan once again turned E3 into his home court."

…

"Okay. That's it for introducing the game console."

Qing Zhiyuan had enough of the applause and pressed it down with his hand to silence the sound.

Everyone looked at him eagerly, wanting to see what kind of surprises this young president would bring to everyone.

In fact, even if Qing Zhiyuan doesn't say anything later, Sega & Pokeni's press conference is over, and everyone will feel that there is no regret today.

“Next, I present to you the new game of pokeni——

Insect Master. "

After Qing Zhiyuan finished speaking, he stood aside.

In the big screen behind, the light gradually brightened.

There was a rustling and noisy sound from the audio equipment at the scene.

To be precise, it's more like the white noise of rain hitting banana trees and wind blowing fallen leaves.

It makes people's hearts become silent all of a sudden.

When the screen lit up, a large green mountain forest appeared, and the distant peaks were shrouded in clouds and mist, as if they were wearing a hat made of clouds on the top of the mountain.

The sun fell through the gaps between the leaves, casting mottled light and shadow on the ground.

Everything is so fresh, natural and beautiful.

[In the world, there is a creature called "worm".

They are different from ordinary animals and plants and have their own way of survival and special abilities.

When the world of "worms" overlaps with the world of humans, various wonderful and weird phenomena will occur.

In order to study and solve these problems caused by "insects", people established the profession of "insect master". 】

…

Everyone's thoughts were still immersed in the price of Sega DC249 just now, but as the music slowly started to play, the game screen was gradually revealed.

The Mushi Master has a magical power that is completely opposite to the excitement of Sega. It is a magical power that can make people relax and quiet down.

Just seeing the picture, everyone felt as if they had been soothed by the spring breeze, filled with warmth.

This is probably the quiet time in the legend.

It’s just that I don’t know who is carrying the burden forward.

The beauty in Mushishi is closer to nature. If anything, this game feels more like a fairy tale written by Hayao Miyazaki.

On the big screen behind Qing Zhiyuan, a man with short silver hair was running on the road carrying a large luggage.

"In the world where insects intervene, all kinds of bizarre and wonderful scenes will occur, and many unsolved mysteries may also arise."

"In the game, you can experience how as a bug master you get along with these guys."

On the screen, there appeared some strange creatures that looked like insects but were not the insects everyone recognized.

Some have very long tentacles that extend into the distance, and some look small, like bean sprouts, but they run on the ground with many little legs, giving people a cute feeling...

On a mountain peak, covered with white snow, a huge turtle slowly opened its eyes. Its shell was covered with countless flowers and plants, as if it was carrying a huge forest.

It looks both shocking and truly beautiful.

The most commonly used color in the game is green, which brings out the freshness of nature.

It even makes people forget for a moment that this is actually a game, but seems to be an animation about man and nature.

The protagonist moves throughout the world and has experienced various wonderful journeys.

Finally, we stopped in front of a long golden river.

The light flows, as if there is life.

"There are many unknown secrets hidden in this world. You never know what insects are and what magical stories will happen between insects and humans.

Come to "Insect Master" and start a wonderful fantasy journey. "

…

After the game CG was played, everyone felt a sense of sadness.

I don’t know why, but my mind, which was a little impetuous before, has become calmer.

It's really an amazing thing.

Qing Zhiyuan smiled and said, "We spent more than a year making the game "Insect Master", and will present to everyone an imaginary human and nature, human and insect, and human beings." A world of symbiosis and contradiction between people.

If you are willing to put in the effort to experience the game, you will definitely gain extraordinary insights. "

"and……"

Qing Zhiyuan paused and said with a smile, "This is the first fully open world 3D game developed by our company."

Although it is animation rendering and has a similar technical foundation to "Princess Mononoke", the scale and difficulty of Mushi Master are not comparable to that of "Princess Mononoke".

"And it's not just an open world, it's a seamlessly connected large map."

Qing Zhiyuan asked the staff of the "Chongshi" development team to demonstrate it for everyone.

…

Ultima, released in 1981, is now generally considered the first open world game.

But unlike the general open world game definition, the game map is not seamlessly connected. At the same time, the game's combat system adopts a "cut-in" and first-person perspective.

In the true sense, a seamless large map would have to wait until 2001's "The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind"

Developed and published by Bethesda Softworks, the game has been widely praised for its large and well-designed game world, rich and diverse missions, and breakthrough freedom.

Players can play the characters they create in the game, explore various regions and cities on the Vishal continent, interact with various NPCs, and complete main and side tasks.

The world in the game is very large, and players can adventure, explore and discover as they wish.

The success of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind brought open-world gaming into the mainstream and served as an inspiration for subsequent titles.

After that, "Red Dead Redemption" and "GTA"... have become synonymous with the development world.

In short, the open world, sandbox game, with its very free exploration mode and extremely high degree of freedom, gives players a very novel and wonderful experience.

Even in 2023, open world games will still be the mainstream stand-alone games in the world, and it is the emergence of these games that has swept up the entire game industry.

The graphics must be sophisticated enough, the game performance must be excellent enough, and the various tasks and side quests must be interesting enough...

What this brings is a substantial increase in R&D costs and manpower, and it also sets off a so-called 3A wave in the world.

When the major game categories are determined, the major game manufacturers can only fight to see who can win more.

But from now on, Qing Zhiyuan took the lead in rolling up.

…

At the beginning, the audience at the scene did not have much concept of the open world, and the so-called 3D open world had no concept at all.

However, under Qing Zhiyuan's demonstration, everyone's eyes slowly became clear from confusion at the beginning, and then from clarity to confusion...

Then the confusion turned to surprise.

Because what Qing Zhiyuan showed, the world of the insect master is really as he said, a vastly open and seamlessly connected world.

You have no idea the size and scope of each map module, as well as the connections and transitions between them.

When pokeni was produced, it was done very cleverly. The game was not implemented on a grid, but was developed using a more sophisticated dot matrix. The transition of the entire game world was smoother, and it was precisely this natural feeling that Give people a sense of reality.

Even though the painting style of the game is so two-dimensional, after using animation rendering, it doesn’t look like a 3D game at all. However, when the protagonist Yingu walks in the game with a backpack on his back, you can still see the game. 3D changes among them.

The surrounding mountains, grass, trees, flowers, birds, fish and insects all look so real and vivid.

Especially the trees, with their thick trunks and various shapes, make people feel like they are in a lush jungle.

The light and shadow fall on the ground, giving people a sense of tranquility over time.

They finally understood what an open world is and what a seamless map is.

In this game, you can go wherever you want. There is no one or anything to restrict you, and there are no prerequisites to open the map.

The main thing is to do whatever you want.

However, being free does not mean being aimless. In the game, you can learn different stories through dialogues with different characters.

And in different scenes, Yin Gu can also encounter various [insects]

…

"Great, this game, I can't tell it's a game at all, it's like controlling the protagonist's actions in a cartoon. And it's also an animation by Hayao Miyazaki."

"Yeah, I feel the same way, what a great game.

The graphics alone are amazing, better than the previous "Princess Mononoke".

More natural, more warm."

"Yeah, Pokeni has made progress again! The technology is improving year by year, is this going to kill us?"

In fact, for outsiders, players are more concerned about the graphics and the gameplay content of the game.

However, for many game producers present, the shocking feeling given by Mushishi is far more frightening than what everyone sees on the surface.

"How did they do this? A large open world, a seamless large map... so scary." Square Enix President Masashi Miyamoto was so scared that his mouth almost dropped to the ground.

Others may not know, but he knows very well in his heart that it is very difficult to realize the development of a large world in a 3D game.

Before Qing Zhiyuan's presentation, Square Enix had never even thought about it.

You should know that Ocarina of Time by Rentendo is only a semi-open world.

Because for them, if they want to show the whole world to players, the first problem is performance.

If so many scenes, so many objects, and so many models are loaded at the same time, I'm afraid the machine would have exploded long ago.

It's impossible to run at all.

And now when Pokeni is showing it, it's not a DC game console, but Sony's PS.

According to Masashi Miyamoto's idea, if it is a DC, because it is the latest ultra-high-performance hardware product developed by Sega, you don't know if there is any black technology in it, maybe it can run because of the technology gap.

But, PS?

Square Enix has been researching this for four years. They know how difficult it is to create an open world.

And it has to be seamless.

Apart from the fact that Qing Zhiyuan knows magic, Miyamoto Masashi can't think of any other reason.

"This is beyond human understanding."

"Such a game actually exists in the world! What is Pokeni doing? Are they going to kill all games of the same type?!"

"It's terrible. Mushishi looks ordinary, but I didn't expect that there is such a powerful technical force behind it."

Not to mention that Miyamoto Masashi can't figure it out, other game manufacturers can't figure it out.

This game should have crashed from the moment it was created, but Qing Zhiyuan can run so smoothly.

It's as if they have transformed Sony's PS in some magical way.

"Are we using the same game console platform? I don't think it's possible anyway?" The developers of EA were also surprised.

In fact, the technology used by Qingzhiyuan here is the LOD technology that will be most commonly used in the open world in the future, that is, the game is divided into many layers, and then the loading is selected according to the distance relationship.

In addition, Qingzhiyuan has made the face number merging function in the pioneer engine from the beginning...

In short, under Qingzhiyuan's design that transcends the times, Paradox's game technology is far ahead, so it can present such a wonderful game effect to everyone.

Open 3D world.

From this moment on, it will be redefined by Pokeni.

…

“It’s terrible. How did Pokeni achieve such technology?”

“I finally understand this. Everyone thought that Pokeni’s producer or artist was great, but now I find that Pokeni’s programmers are even better.

Such a function is simply a whimsical task that could be completed in our company. I’m afraid that the planner will be scolded by the programmers if he proposes it.

In fact, for us, the best way is to wait for the hardware to develop.

But Pokeni is indeed a great company that is independent and unique.

They don’t care what hardware you provide, and they rely on their own software technology level to break through obstacles.”

“Amazing, my pig brain can’t figure out how this is achieved, and how it is possible not to cause an explosion in computing power.”

“Is this Pokeni? With this level of technology, they can definitely lead the next ten years!”

“What is an open world? Today I finally saw it. This is an open world.”

Pokeni’s open world is not just a gimmick, but has actually turned it into reality.

This technical ability amazed everyone present.

…

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There will be another chapter in the evening (end of this chapter)