Chapter 172: Chapter 172: A New Storm Emerges - Part 1
Three hours later, in a spacious flat in downtown Santa Clara, Don Valentine and Nolan Bushnell sat opposite each other, with cans of Coca-Cola and bottles of Budweiser on the coffee table before them. Despite the different containers, they shared a common feature: beaded with condensation.
"I don't have anything else here. If you want something different, I can call someone to bring it over," said Don Valentine, lounging on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, gesturing casually with a Budweiser in hand.
"This is fine. I can't really stomach anything else right now," replied Nolan Bushnell, grabbing the Coke and popping the tab with a sharp snap, the fizz bursting forth.
He guzzled down the drink, the gulping sound deep and consuming.
The next second, Bushnell clenched his fist around the can, causing the brown liquid to spray out.
"Oh! Sxxt! Why am I so unlucky?"
"If the previous failure was due to a product deficiency, 'Breakout' wasn't as outstanding or dazzling as 'Pac-Man,' but this failure wasn't my fault, was it?"
"The New Generation console was the most perfect product of its time!"
"From the CPU to onboard storage! From tape cartridges to the launch games!"
"I had perfected everything!"
"And yet, people still refused to buy my console???"
"MFxxk!!!"
He roared, flinging his arm down forcefully.
The deformed can crashed onto the floor, emitting a pitiful thud.
Despite the spillover of soda due to Bushnell's action, Don Valentine didn't care, sipping his Budweiser and laughing, "People refuse to buy your console? Oh, Nolan, didn't you bring this upon yourself?"
"Your greatest failure wasn't the product itself."
"It was announcing it before it was ready for market."
"That move gave Ethan Jones breathing space!"
"From what I understand, he only saw 'Star Wars' earlier this year, right? After your announcement of the New Generation?"
"'Star Wars' the game was entirely a rush job!"
"If you hadn't pre-announced the product, or if the gap between announcing and launching the product hadn't been so long..."
"I believe Destiny Game wouldn't have been a threat to you at all!"
Bushnell was stunned by these words.
The next second, his slightly swollen face flushed with rage!
"Oh, Don, mentioning this just infuriates me further!"
He exclaimed, gesticulating wildly, "If it weren't for those idiots at Magnavox, how could I have possibly released the new product prematurely? If Magnavox hadn't made a big deal about their damn Apollo, making Warner think we were falling behind and eager to catch up on publicity, I certainly wouldn't have showcased the New Generation at the start of this year!"
"In my plan, the Chicago expo was the ideal timing!"
"And a few months' gap would have been sufficient for us to buy media for marketing!"
Bushnell was livid discussing this matter.
And how could Don Valentine not know about it?
He said with a laugh, "So you were the scapegoat?"
"Of course!" Bushnell exclaimed loudly, "I was just the scapegoat!"
"The scapegoat for those incompetent executives at Warner!"
His shrill outcry seemed like a sharp knife, ready to slice through all injustices above.
The gasping breaths were like shadows creeping up, dragging Bushnell towards the abyss.
After staring at Valentine for a long while, his posture gradually slumped, "Forget it, discussing this now is meaningless."
He leaned back, sighing with a laugh, "Even if time could turn back, I think I couldn't have withstood the pressure from Warner. And even if I really could withstand it, with Magnavox's fools around..."
"Ethan Jones would still have trampled us into the ground just like now."
"Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's talk about you."
"When I learned of the incident at your factory in Milpitas, I speculated that you might be involved. Because Milpitas... is your territory..."
Bushnell watched Valentine with a knowing smile.
But the man, who had grown his hair long over the past year, quickly waved it off, "Oh, Nolan, you can't just say anything. What do you mean Milpitas is my territory? You make me sound like a mob boss!"
"Isn't it?" Bushnell retorted, "If you weren't a mob boss, how could you have thought of such a bizarre way to irritate Ethan Jones?"
"Hey! Mind your words!" Valentine scolded with a stern face, "I was merely providing certain assistance to those in need!"
Valentine gave Bushnell a serious look.
Yet, under their intense gaze, he couldn't hold for more than half a minute before yielding.
"Okay, okay..." he laughed, "You're right,
I did go and irritate Ethan Jones, or rather, I wished he would just die!"
As Valentine narrated, Bushnell finally understood what had transpired after their separation.
Ever since Valentine sold his Atari shares to Warner two years ago and left with the cash, he settled down in Santa Clara. Being close to Silicon Valley allowed him to conveniently invest in high-tech projects.
While scouting for projects, he never stopped monitoring Ethan Jones. Whether it was the public humiliation or the financial loss, he sought to reclaim what was lost.
Perhaps due to constant surveillance, he witnessed Ethan Jones's entire rise: from a humble startup to hitching a ride with Ralph Baer, to the sensational launch of "Pac-Man." This meteoric rise was uncomfortable for him.
But during this period, he also discovered that Jones had purchased land in Milpitas, Silicon Valley, to build a factory, still employing the most favored hiring criterion of manufacturing companies: using hippies to lower costs.
When this fact emerged—
"Honestly, I was quite excited at the time," Valentine confessed with a laugh, "I knew the hippies were very lax and hard to manage."
"Although they need to integrate into society now because they can no longer protest and sing like before, the real key to managing them isn't their now-peaceful hearts but becoming one of them."
"Just like you did before, drinking with them, singing with them, smoking with them, racing with them. Only by doing all these could they respect you."
"Ethan Jones couldn't do any of these."
"So, from that moment, I felt his factory would face problems."
"Then I asked my friends at Intel to keep an eye on the situation there."
"And then..."
"The people who could provide the demand and those who wanted help connected."
As Valentine chuckled, Bushnell already understood the implication.
The so-called connection between those who could provide and those in need essentially referred to the drug dealers making house calls. When such hints emerged, Valentine had practically confessed everything to him.
"But the tactic you used hardly affected Ethan Jones."
Bushnell cracked open another Coke, "The factory was only in chaos for a few days, then returned to calm. Ethan Jones wasn't affected at all."
"Oh, oh, oh—Nolan, I don't like hearing that."
Valentine shook his head, "Ethan Jones wasn't affected at all?"
"Don't deceive yourself!"
"You, Atari... well, Atari at that time benefited a lot from this incident!"
"If those guys hadn't caused trouble, Ethan Jones would probably have started developing a new game right after coming back from the notebook, how could he have waited until the beginning of this year?"
"Such 'no impact' talk is just to fool others, it doesn't work with me!"
"Alright, alright, alright..."
Bushnell nodded, conceding, "I admit it had an effect, but not much..."
Valentine's laughter in response to the repeated denials, "Oh, Nolan, I get what you mean. You just want to see Ethan Jones suffer sooner."
"And it's fine to tell you."
"Because my original plan is now useless, forever useless..."
In fact, connecting those who could help with those in need was just the first step of Valentine's plan, mainly to see how Ethan Jones would respond to such emergencies.
If Destiny Game viewed those hippies as unstable elements and fired them all, he would then directly incite them to start protests. He'd then contact the media to expose Destiny Game's capitalist practices.
He even had the media headline ready—
[The Beat Generation Embraces Society Only to Be Rejected, Destiny Game Fires All Signifying What?]
He wanted to turn the whole situation into a social issue!
To tarnish Destiny Game's reputation through public pressure!
But unfortunately...
"He didn't fire all those people." Valentine raised an eyebrow, "They chose the kindest way, just firing those who affected the company."
"But that's not important, right? Because he hired a new batch."
"Vietnam veterans."
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