Building a Gaming Empire In 1984

As for the final Easter egg mentioned during the interview, it was claimed just one week later by an anonymous stay at home mother, also from New Mexico.

According to the interview with this unnamed Wolfenstein 3D expert, obtaining the chainsaw required pulling off a series of seemingly impossible actions on the highest difficulty setting.

The chainsaw itself was more like a deliberate "backdoor" left behind by the game's designer. Once you acquired it, you could effortlessly slice enemies in half.

The resulting scenes also weren't that family friendly.

Perhaps the most interesting part, however, was that inside the hidden area containing the chainsaw, there was a single line of bold, deeply carved lettering.

DOOM.

...

Ethan set down the magazine and glanced at the sign outside the car window. The MicroNova project had finally been completed before his departure.

As GAMENOVA's first genuine subsidiary, MicroNova's facilities weren't particularly luxurious. The studio was roughly the same size as the hardware department in Santa Clara. Aside from its manager, Vivian, and few other employees, the project was also supported by Kwok and Gerald, who dropped by regularly to help.

Yet it was inside this tiny office that the world's first truly general-purpose graphics card had been born.

"So? What do you think?"

Leaning casually against the CRT monitor, Vivian gave it a light pat. Displayed on the screen was a crude rendered image.

Of course, "crude" was only from Ethan's perspective as someone from the future.

Judging from what was on the display, the prototype card's performance already seemed comparable to IBM's Enhanced Graphics Adapter, or perhaps even better.

"That's honestly beyond my expectations."

Ethan praised her. But he wasn't referring to the graphics card, he was talking about Vivian herself.

From what he could see, her attributes had undergone a complete transformation since they had first met.

The improvement in her abilities was second only to Carmack's S+ level growth.

Not only had her hardware expertise practically doubled, approaching the three digit mark, but her graphics engineering skills had also nearly caught up to Kwok, who had originally been far ahead of everyone else.

Compared to this graphics card, she was GAMENOVA's true pillar for the future. A company ultimately had to be built around its people.

"Heh. You're not the only genius in the world."

Even Vivian, who had led the project from start to finish, found it difficult to hide her pride. Kwok put down what he was working on and stepped forward to briefly explain its specifications.

"At the moment, its performance is already on par with IBM's EGA chip, possibly even a little better."

His expression was equally excited, though he quickly tempered it before changing the subject.

"But I still have to pour a little cold water on your enthusiasm."

Vivian clearly understood what he meant. She shrugged and pressed a key on the keyboard. The screen immediately changed.

Instead of the earlier performance demonstration, it now displayed an image with relatively low resolution but remarkably rich colors.

"Right now, the maximum number of colors that can be displayed simultaneously is still only sixteen. The palette also has the same sixty four color capacity as EGA."

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"We're already working on that problem."

Vivian immediately picked up the conversation, pulling a draft from the filing cabinet.

"I'm planning to abandon the heavily restrictive EGA standard and create a new specification that's far more flexible and universal."

Across the top of the draft, she had written the title.

Video Graphics Array.

Beneath it was a somewhat rough architectural design.

"Huh?"

Ethan was startled and immediately took the document for a closer look.

According to the proposal, Vivian intended to create a new standard that would allow a single device to store four separate EGA palettes simultaneously while supporting rapid switching between them.

In her concept, quickly switching palettes would make it possible to produce almost instantaneous color changes on the screen.

This register-based multi-palette color system was already remarkably similar to the VGA standard IBM would introduce years later.

This was no small matter. Unlike EGA and CGA, both of which would eventually become obsolete, VGA would go on to become one of the longest-lasting graphics standards ever created.

At the same time, it would also become the most widely used graphics interface. Only after the arrival of HDMI and DisplayPort would VGA gradually fade from prominence.

Even decades later, after technology had advanced at an incredible pace, VGA ports could still be found on low-end devices and in school computer labs.

If Vivian really managed to beat IBM to the punch and establish this standard first… This would be a truly heavyweight project.

"We're doing this."

Ethan made the decision on the spot.

"Preferably within the next two years. If we can pull it off, we'll be able to get a foot into the PC market as well."

It seemed MicroNova really did need to continue expanding. For now, however, the graphics card remained the higher priority.

"We can put the color count and resolution improvements on hold for the moment. How's the power consumption? And the manufacturing cost?"

This chip was intended for their first-generation handheld, so those two factors mattered most.

"Ha! I knew you'd ask."

Vivian blinked playfully before producing the benchmark results.

"Under identical visual output, NovaWonder can reduce power consumption by as much as thirty percent. Under lighter workloads, it can save even more."

She laid several different circuit boards across the table for Ethan to compare. She didn't even need to explain which one was NovaWonder.

Compared with the competitors' products, its board was noticeably smaller, and the number of installed components had been dramatically reduced.

"Following Kwok's design, we used one ASIC core along with three supporting chips, for a total of eighty seven components."

"And as for the cost, you're most concerned about..."

She held up three fingers.

"If we continue optimizing the design and move to mass production, we should be able to keep it around thirty dollars, or even lower."

Ethan was slightly surprised. That price already met their target.

Ideally, their first handheld would retail for around one hundred dollars, with an absolute ceiling of one hundred fifty.

A cheap, efficient graphics chip was the key to keeping manufacturing costs under control. Combined with the custom Z80Y processor they had recently developed, they no longer had to worry quite so much about production expenses.

"Start producing the first test wafers as quickly as possible. Gerald's side is making preparations as well."

...

Several days later, after arranging all outstanding company affairs and personally taking Carmack to Gerald's home, Ethan finally boarded a flight to Japan with Sam.

Tokyo.

This city, immersed in the illusion of prosperity created by the economic bubble, was completely different from the sparsely built landscapes of California that Ethan and Sam were accustomed to.

Neon lit skyscrapers stretched in every direction. Confident, energetic people filled the streets.

The signing of the Plaza Accord had inflated what appeared to be a dazzling economic miracle almost overnight.

After spending a single night resting at their hotel, the two men wasted no time heading for the true destination of their journey. It was a modest storefront, roughly the same size as VideoSoft's office, but kept exceptionally neat and tidy.

A sign hung prominently above the entrance.

Game Freak Inc.

Inside sat its twenty year old president, Satoshi Tajiri, along with illustrator Ken Sugimori.

It was difficult to imagine that this tiny company, still publishing a small gaming magazine, would one day become one of Nintendo's flagship studios. This was the birthplace of Pokémon, the world-renowned intellectual property that would dominate global franchise value rankings for decades.

And Ethan had arrived here a full ten years ahead of schedule.

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