Bab 293: Bizarre annual selection
By the end of 1997, with the arrival of Christmas and the traditional American marketing holiday Black Friday, gaming consoles became top sellers.
Just two years ago, this was merely a product that the public was beginning to pay attention to, accompanied by some skepticism.
But now, they had no doubts about the joy that electronic games brought them.
Meanwhile, a wildly popular program video appeared on the internet.
The program was performed in a format without a host.
At the beginning of the program was a montage music video mixing multiple games and classic game music.
Accompanied by rhythmic and distinctive game music, classic scenes from games released this year were presented.
There were first-party masterpieces from GameStar Entertainment like Doom, Dr. Mario, and the Blood series, as well as the latest installment of the Sun Knight series vigorously promoted by Surry Electronics. There was also a fighting hero released in the latter half of the year, which had already gathered some popularity in a short time. It had many similarities to Street Fighter but with cooler scenes, no longer emphasizing realism, just being cool.
There were also first-party games from GameStar Entertainment's collaborations, such as the fourth installment of the Ninja Project and the rhythm game Era of Music.
This year was an explosion of game releases, especially high-quality games. As people around the world gradually got the hang of game development, they also started to produce excellent games.
Sometimes the gaming industry indeed needed a stroke of genius, but industrially produced electronic games were also very popular. As long as you worked hard, you could produce passable works that averaged over seven points. This would certainly be welcomed by some players.
People in this world finally began to understand this rule.
This also gradually led to more and more three-star-rated works. Besides GameStar Entertainment's game consoles, other game consoles also had many three-star-rated games, although four-star and five-star games were still rare.
The montage video of games lasted about four or five minutes, showcasing all the fun games of the year. Then, a cute little figure appeared in everyone's sight.
It was a cartoon character designed by a male game website.
The host was naturally this cartoon character.
The program was very innovative, refreshing, but after the appearance of the cartoon character, the voice-over host seemed not as enthusiastic. Instead, he sounded a bit stiff, as if just going through the motions, as if he was just reciting lines.
Firstly, thanks to the TV station, thanks to all the game companies for bringing games, and then thanks to several sponsors of this episode.
When it came to sponsors, he seemed to be more emotional.
After rambling for about a dozen minutes, the selection of the first game was announced.
The Best Visual Award was presented to a game that sounded somewhat unknown, seemingly a copycat work of some game company.
Then there was a bunch of boring speeches and thanking sponsors.
Then came the second award, the third award.
These awards were minor, but the awards for Best Action, Best Role-Playing, and so on were relatively fair.
As for the highlight of the game of the year, when it was announced, it was slightly unexpected.
The award went to the new installment of the Sun Knight series.
It's not that the Sun Knight series didn't do well; this series had been steadily rising and already had a certain fan base.
The quality of this work could now reach four and a half stars.
However, this game definitely did not live up to the best game of the year, because this year there was a game with more groundbreaking significance and higher popularity, and that was Doom.
Doom pioneered the new genre of first-person shooter games and maximized the pleasure of shooting, making any player interested in shooting games unable to resist once they played it.
This unique charm was not seen in any other game this year.
But this kind of game unexpectedly didn't win the Game of the Year award, which was somewhat surprising.
However, this did not affect the popularity of this awards program.
American players realized after watching this awards program that electronic games had also evolved into an industry similar to the film industry.
In the film industry, there were multiple award organizations, especially important events like the Oscars, Cannes, and Berlin.
And now, electronic games also had their own awards program. Although this year's awards were somewhat puzzling, they were still difficult to resist the enthusiasm of players.
This made them feel that their status as game players had also risen.
Perhaps many people were wondering why Doom didn't win the Game of the Year award, but Takayuki didn't really care.
He secretly supported the establishment of this awards ceremony in the first place. If he really wanted to win an award, it wouldn't be difficult, so he focused more on game development.
As for those lawsuits, Takayuki left them all to Matsubashi to handle. He only occasionally inquired about them.
So, half a year passed, and it was now 1998.
The lawsuits had also lasted for half a year. Regardless of how the opponents tried to interfere, GameStar Entertainment could continue to maintain a stable posture and harvest the American market.
Moreover, American market users willingly allowed themselves to be harvested because all of GameStar Entertainment's games were truly enjoyable.
Despite paying a hefty price, GameStar Entertainment could still bounce back. Many companies and individuals who initiated lawsuits were starting to struggle.
They initially wanted to delay GameStar Entertainment's development pace through litigation, but this move had no effect. Instead, during this time, GameStar Entertainment's games surged, allowing more players to accept GameStar Entertainment, and the user base continued to expand.
According to rough estimates, the number of GameStar Entertainment users had probably exceeded fifty million, including users of FC, SFC, and GBC.
With fifty million users, Takayuki had no worries even if he just lay flat. Not to mention that GameStar Entertainment was still growing rapidly.
It seemed like GameStar Entertainment's creativity would never run dry.
The opponents were very angry, but they were helpless.
Slowly, more and more people began to give up lawsuits. They couldn't afford to continue.
In half a year, they had each spent a considerable amount of money to confront GameStar Entertainment on equal terms. GameStar Entertainment was completely under Takayuki's control. He could spend as much money as he wanted, and no one could intervene. Even if he put all his income into litigation, no one could say anything.
But for other large companies, spending a little more money on lawsuits would be a loss on paper. Over time, if people's hearts were in turmoil, these guys would start to have plans to disband.
The group that was originally formed to attack GameStar was now gradually disintegrating.
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