novellk Chapter 19 The Genius Engineer Who Was Ruined by Atari
Chapter 19 The Genius Engineer Who Was Ruined by Atari
Lin Lixin had always assumed that Vivian worked at some cutting-edge graphics lab.
I never expected it to be VideoSoft.
This is the company Gerald founded after leaving Fairchild Semiconductor.
A video game development company.
"Wait a minute, you work part-time at VideoSoft, but you never play games?"
"No." Vivian shook her head. "Although our boss designed some game prototypes, none of them have been completed. I'm just responsible for some miscellaneous tasks like graphics optimization. The boss said it's because of Atari..."
"Bang!"
Lin Lixin suddenly slammed his hand on the table and stood up, startling Vivian, who swallowed the rest of her words.
"Thank you so much, Senior Vivian, you've really helped me a lot! Oh, and could you watch the shop for me? I need to go out for a bit!"
Vivian gave him a major wake-up call.
The opportunities that the Atari crash presented to him were not just a brief vacuum.
As the leading company in the North American video game industry, it's fair to say that all third-party game developers in the country rely on Atari for their livelihood.
Atari's collapse caused the North American game market to evaporate instantly, and almost all third-party developers went bankrupt.
This includes Gerard Lawson and his VideoSoft.
If his memory serves him right, Lawson's initial motivation for founding VideoSoft was to develop games for the then-popular Atari 2600.
But that was 80 years ago.
No one could have imagined that such a severe upheaval would occur in the entire gaming market just two short years later.
At this point, VideoSoft was probably already teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and would have shut down completely by early 85 at the latest.
Gerald Lawson is about to become one of the countless dreamers in the gaming industry who will be swallowed up by the tides of time.
Thinking of this, Lin Lixin couldn't help but swallow.
The solution to the problem had always been right in front of him!
……
Mountain View, Santa Clara County, California.
This city, which transformed from an agricultural town into a technology hub with the development of Silicon Valley, now gathers countless industry leaders.
Lin Lixin found the place he was looking for on a secluded street.
The low-rise row of office buildings is scattered in a haphazard manner, and the streets are lifeless, not at all like an office area should look.
He spotted the VideoSoft sign immediately.
It was a board with its edges curled up, with the company name engraved in a somewhat rustic, space-age font.
Lin Lixin looked through the window next to the door and saw that at least half of the workstations in the approximately 80-square-meter office area had been emptied.
On the remaining tables, the computer monitors were all off, except for an old Atari 2600, which displayed some pixelated graphics.
Ding-dong
The doorbell still works.
Lin Lixin saw a somewhat bloated figure appear deep inside the room.
He was wearing a plaid shirt, his skin was the typical chocolate color of an African American, and a pair of sunglasses hung on his forehead. His beard and hair already showed signs of aging.
That's Gerald Lawson.
He pushed open the glass door, and Lin Lixin could clearly hear his heavy breathing.
He is only 44 years old this year, but he already looks like an old man in his twilight years, with no trace of his former vigor.
Bad luck.
Lin Lixin couldn't think of a more suitable word to describe the hardware master in front of him.
Gerald Lawson
Overall Rating: S (The Tragic Entrepreneur)
[Hardware Technology]: 153 (Growth Value: S)
[Script Creation]: 11 (Growth Value: D)
[Programming Development]: 51 (Growth Value: A)
[Administration & Finance]: 21 (Growth Value: D-)
【state】:
[Frustrated and Unsuccessful]: All attribute values -50% (rounded down).
The large "S" that was flashing with colorful lights made Lin Lixin unable to open his eyes.
His hardware specifications, which are in the triple digits, prove his capabilities.
"Hello? What can I do for you?"
Gerald looked somewhat tired, and upon seeing that the visitor was a young Chinese man who appeared to be a student, he showed a hint of doubt.
Lin Lixin bowed politely and said, "Mr. Lawson, I was introduced by Senior Vivian."
Gerald looked enlightened, but quickly put on a wry smile: "Sorry, we don't have any plans to hire at the moment."
"Mr. Lawson, I'm not here for a job." Lin Lixin's gaze passed over him and landed on an arcade machine on the wall that wasn't even powered on. "I'm a game developer and I'd like to ask you some questions."
Gerald showed little emotion in response to these words, simply looking silently at Lin Lixin.
After a long pause, he sighed and stepped aside to let Lin Lixin into the house.
He rummaged through drawers and cabinets, finding a bottle of purified water in the pile of clutter. This was the most polite gift he could offer.
"I'll call you Lin," Gerald said, nodding as he sat down beside Lin Lixin after hearing his self-introduction. "Lin, getting involved in the video game industry at this time isn't a good idea."
His words sounded like he was mocking himself.
He was once so full of vigor at Fairchild Semiconductor, and now he's just as down on his luck.
"Why?" Lin Lixin asked knowingly.
"Video games are dead." Gerald had long since come to terms with it. "Atari itself erected a monument to it in New Mexico, not far from California."
"That's Atari's self-construction monument," Lin Lixin shook his head. "I don't think Atari represents video games."
Gerrard sighed softly.
Once upon a time, he, like Lin Lixin, was full of enthusiasm and believed that he could make a name for himself.
"I used to work as an engineer at Fairchild Semiconductor..."
"I know that Channel F was a project you spearheaded; the programmable cartridge design was simply amazing!"
"Hmm...maybe." Gerald remained noncommittal, this being one of the few things he could still boast about. "But did you know that only 30 of these 'excellent' machines were sold?"
He gestured with his hand to indicate quotation marks, his words dripping with sarcasm.
"And Atari? They filled the shelves with game consoles like home appliances, and the Atari 2600 alone sold over 3000 million units! 3000 million!"
On average, one in less than ten people owns an Atari 2600.
No matter how much Lin Lixin argues, Atari is undoubtedly the synonym for the North American game market.
Gerald waved his hand, indicating that he did not intend to continue arguing with Lin Lixin about this matter.
"So, what question did you come to me with, Lin?"
"I'm developing a new game and I've encountered some hardware bottlenecks. It's becoming increasingly difficult to improve the situation significantly with algorithms alone. Senior Vivian suggested that I could consult you about this."
Lin Lixin didn't rush to persuade Gerald. For a prodigy who had been badly burned by Atari, words were powerless.
But Lin Lixin knew what was powerful.
He pulled two black chips from his pocket; they were Tetris and a 1942 EPROM.
This thing is powerful.