Once Upon a Time In Hollywood

Chapter 85 Spielberg with the instinct to "save the world" and Roland Allen who loves games

For Spielberg, movies are his toy since he was a child. When other children were still at the stage of going to the movies occasionally, he had a senior engineer father, and he was already a director who was shooting around with an 8mm camera. Yes, because of this, he didn't think there was anything wrong with the eleven-year-old Roland making movies, because that's how he made them back then!

Of course, after he had a son, the importance of the child increased along the way.

He can give up working overtime in order to accompany the children, he can turn down those night shootings for the sake of the children, he can stay away from projects that need to go abroad for the sake of the children, but he can’t give up his hobbies for the sake of the children—

game.

Yes, if movies are Spielberg’s dream career, then games are his friends who grew up with him. As the world’s first video game addicts, he was the first to play Atari’s first game in the movie circle. Arcade Pong Guy.

In the golden age of American arcades, Spielberg's movie studio was actually a game hall.

The game consoles such as the classic game Arkanoid designed by the two founders of Apple, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, made Spielberg obsessed. He has been a fan of the future godfather of Apple since the 10s—this is why Jobs was able to buy Pixar animation for 10 million. No matter how much I like animation, it is impossible to sell my studio to a layman.

The reason why Pixar Animation was able to invite Tom Hanks to dub "Toy Story" and hook up with Walt Disney is also because of the Jewish gang behind it. With Spielberg as a fan, Jobs naturally Being able to hook up with Jeffrey Katzenberg, the then chairman of Walt Disney, a friend of Spielberg, and one of the Big Three of DreamWorks.

Of course, Jobs is only one of the key figures in Spielberg's game career. The game that really made him addicted to it was the famous Japanese game "Space Invaders". In zero years, he transplanted this game to his own machine, and after playing this game, Spielberg, who had just achieved great success with "Raiders of the Lost Ark", locked himself in the studio and cleared the entire level. game, and personally wrote a guide.

On the first page of the guide, he even directly marked it—

‘The reader who wants to read this book is a game fan’.

If Nintendo and Disney are the two companies with the best IP operations in the world, then Spielberg is definitely the first guy in the world to produce derivative products without the concept of IP. His enthusiasm for games made him appear in " Before Jaws was released, the game company was contacted to create the same pick-up machine. When the Atari 2600 was launched, Spielberg also asked them to make their Hollywood debut "Speed ​​Duel" into a game.

When filming "Alien E.T.", the guy who joined the team with him was the latest game "Donkey Kong" at that time.

If the time stayed in 1982, the myth of Atari and Spielberg's madness about games would definitely be praised in the market, but it is precisely because of this continuous success and the high influence on his own works Confident, in 1983, Spielberg, who had just established a film production company and was in urgent need of funds to grow and develop, cut his friends.

Spielberg wants to develop his Amblin Entertainment into a film production company like Lucasfilm.

Although there is no such national IP as "Star Wars", he thought of an idea.

Movies + games + various other derivatives.

If the movie sells well, the game can be adapted.

Adapt the game, and you can make crazy money.

Games strengthen the concept of movies. Unlike going into theaters, it can enter thousands of households by itself. In this case, with their company, the value of derivatives will increase exponentially.

Ever since, when Atari came forward to purchase the game production copyright of "Alien E.T.", Spielberg, who wore a pair of trousers with Universal, opened his mouth and asked for a licensing fee of 25 million, as well as a high divided into.

Of course, if it’s just these, then forget it.

This kind of rip-off behavior made the whole negotiation last from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year. Not only that, when the contract was signed, they also asked Warner’s Atari to release the game that year—

The contract was only signed in July, and it had to be officially launched in December. In the age without digital products, the development cycle was only six weeks, and what kind of game could be written in six weeks?

If it is put into the present, for a company like Rockstar that has not been able to perfectly port "Red Dead Redemption 2" from consoles to PCs in a year, it will not be able to write a BUG in six weeks.

Of course, if it were Ubisoft, perhaps the potatoes would have already been planted.

So, the failure is obvious.

More than 10 million copies of the game were produced, but only 1.5 million copies were sold in the end.

Countless cassettes that could not be sold were buried by Atari in the desert of New Mexico.

Of course, if it's just a failure, then forget it.

The most difficult thing for Spielberg to accept is that his "Alien E.T." has always been hailed as the last straw to save the market-because at that time, the market was full of all kinds of **** games that made up numbers, because This industry makes money, and even food companies want to get a share of it. The poor quality of the games developed makes people speechless, and while causing a lot of homogeneity, the enthusiasm of users is rapidly fading. The public's love for video games The enthusiasm for the game disappeared without a trace, and consumers are unwilling to buy games. People hope that the director who loves games can bring a different experience to the market, but—

Spielberg finally chose money.

In the Internet age, as long as there is a video about the history of game development, Grandma will mention the biggest defeat in game history "Atari Shock" in 1983. Many people bankrupted the "all" of the American game development studio. , the second generation of game consoles officially perished, and a series of results such as the transfer of the world video game development center from America to the island country, etc., are all attributed to Atari's stupidity. game quality.

but-

Only Spielberg knew that he stabbed his friend to death on the way to chase Lucas.

Self-proclaimed number one player, he completely failed the expectations of all game lovers.

25 million licensing fees!

This can already make hundreds of games!

You know, the total R&D cost of Atari's new game console is only 100 million!

And it was precisely because of Atari's failure that Nintendo's red and white machines had an opportunity.

In 1985, "Super Mario Bros.", which was launched in America, set off a frenzied game storm. It took only three years for Nintendo to restore America's game market to the heyday of Atari.

At that time, there was even a saying in the market that "a toilet repairer saved the American game circle".

Games with a sense of accomplishment, rich plots, and a strong sense of substitution are deeply loved by people.

And all of this should have belonged to Spielberg's glory.

But he personally buried his identity as the savior.

After the complete failure of the game "Alien E.T.", Spielberg never mentioned his love for video games, and he no longer cared who his film would be licensed to by the film company and what kind of game he would produce. .

He felt that he was sorry for those game fans who pinned their hopes on him, so that he would rather start DreamWorks again than continue to drag Amblin Entertainment. On the road of the company's development, he did not lose to anyone—

He just lost to himself.

Even if he made a good movie, he couldn't accept the act of strangling his friend to death with his own hands.

Because of this, when Mohamy moved out the Super Nintendo home game console and the game cassette they had just produced, Spielberg, who wanted to introduce Mohamy to his job, felt that his heart had been touched by his own hands. Stabbed a knife.

At a certain moment, the idea of ​​letting Mohamy and Roland go out together came into his mind.

But when he lowered his eyes and looked at the familiar game cassette, the guy who should have been furious picked it up unexpectedly, and asked in a low voice, "A gamer? What? game?"

Spielberg is the 'culprit' thing, only the guy who watched "Ready Player One" knows.

In this day and age, people only know that he is the film director who licensed the IP to Atari, as for other—

Then there is only the status of a legendary game lover.

That's why Mohamy took the initiative to move the game out when Spielberg asked, and after seeing the other party's 'interested' inquiry, his words were like a slanting flood, flowing endlessly. Absolutely said it.

"The game we developed is called "RPM Racing"."

"It is adapted from the sixty-four destructive competitive racing game produced by Electronic Arts in 1985."

"Electronics? Trip Hawkins? I know this guy." After learning that the core of the game is still a game made by America's own people, Spielberg, who wanted to be serious, softened his face a lot. "Didn't Tripp work under Jobs before? Jobs switched from games to computers, but this guy left Apple to make games..."

"But I remember, isn't he playing computer games all the time now?"

"Why are you guys making video games?"

When Spielberg asked about this matter with a little curiosity, Mohamed, who wanted to promote the game to Spielberg, suddenly became energetic, "Because Nintendo's sales in 1989 and 2019 It has reached two billion US dollars, and the video game market is recovering. At the same time, Sega also brought their MEGADRIVE to America, hoping to compete with Nintendo. Since video games have a good prospect, we certainly hope to be able to Through this piece, first make a name for yourself.”

"Get famous first?" Spielberg's voice rose, "Aren't you going to help Nintendo all the time?"

"No...we want to make computer games." Mohamy shook his head again and again, and while speaking, he also cast his eyes on Roland, "Roland knows this, and we all think that computers are the future trend."

"We're doing Nintendo video games now, just trying to save money."

“As soon as home computers become commonplace, we will switch careers as soon as possible.”

"Of course... this is just our plan. If we want to get to that point, we have to expect the game to be successful."

Practical words are the development path that Mohamy and his friends have researched in the past six months, but after hearing Spielberg's ears, the situation is not the same...

'This bunch of gamers... really don't want to talk to Nintendo. '

‘Roland Allen, does this guy also like games? Moreover, he is also very optimistic about home computers? '

"Really? Roland, you also like games and computers?"

When Spielberg looked away from the game cassette and turned to Roland, the little guy who was still thinking about how to separate himself from Mohamy was stunned for a second—

Spielberg is not angry?

In Roland's view, Spielberg who heard about Nintendo would probably cut off the mentoring relationship directly and kick himself out of the crew without mercy. After all-games are his biggest pain now.

But now—

He can chat calmly?

It appears—

The rumors in the future are true!

The relationship between Spielberg and the game is naturally impossible to end because of the failure of "Alien E.T."

As Liang Rengong said-‘Drinking ice for ten years, it is difficult to cool the blood. '

Even if "Alien E.T." failed, Spielberg never mentioned that he was a game player, but he has actually been working as a screenwriter for Lucas's game, and after directing "Saving Private Ryan", Whenever he remembered the scene where the Allies were attacked on the beaches of Normandy, he insisted on making that scene into a game.

However, the two groups of people from DreamWorks and Amblin strongly opposed it.

In their view, World War II-themed games are outdated.

This realistic FPS game is very boring.

Not only that, the failure of "E.T." is in sight, and there is no need to go to this muddy water again.

But—this time Spielberg didn't compromise.

Because his son likes playing the classic FPS game "007: Golden Eye" on the Nintendo N64 platform very much.

Isn’t playing Nintendo games against me?

So, "Medal of Honor", produced by DreamWorks Interactive and exclusive to Sony PS, appeared.

Once "Medal of Honor" was released, it was a great success. In two thousand years, the DreamWorks led by Spielberg also made a sequel "Underground Resistance". Since the most popular platform for FPS at that time was still PC, the IP has long been known. When selling it to his friend Electronic Arts, Spielberg left behind his ideas and inspiration, patted his **** and turned away.

Of course, this also has something to do with the fact that DreamWorks was besieged by Hollywood giants at that time, and the situation of overseas distribution could not be opened.

However, although Spielberg "completed" half of the regrets and left the rest to others, the ideas and people he left behind were directly poached by EA, and they used the old to bring new ones. way, we found the '2015' studio and asked them to bring "Medal of Honor" to the PC, and the veterans from DreamWorks Interactive naturally used the scripted real-time performance left by Spielberg, using the first-person It interprets "Saving Private Ryan" in a unique way. In the generation of "United Assault" when "Medal of Honor" was ported to PC, the sales volume of all platforms reached an astonishing three million.

Later, because of the terrible sales and money, half of the old and new '2015' studio was poached by AVIC. Those veterans brought out by Spielberg were divided into two groups. Bo joined EA's Los Angeles studio, and the two sides worked hard to expand on the ideas left by Spielberg and made two games.

One is the **** military multiplayer shooting game "Battlefield" that has survived for nearly twenty years.

The other one is Call of Duty, which is known as a cancer in the industry but has repeatedly created sales myths.

Yes, in 1982, after betraying the trust of the players and personally destroying the video game market in America, after 15 years, Spielberg, relying on his own persistence, added two more players to the PC game market. A super IP belonging to America.

Although Nintendo is still hot, no one can compete with them in the FPS field.

It is precisely because these two games wiped out the remaining half of Spielberg's regrets that "Ready Player One" was born. Many people think that this movie is crazy, and the last line should also be mutated For 'thank you for watching my movie', but in fact, what Spielberg wanted to say was really that sentence—

‘Thank you for playing my game. '

Spielberg, who was supposed to save the world in 1982, finally put his regrets on the screen after thirty-six years. While cooperating with Atari parent company Warner, Spielberg also abandoned I joined DreamWorks, and chose Amblin Entertainment, the source of the mistakes of the year, to produce—when Halliday, the father of Oasis, appeared wearing his favorite "Space Invaders", when the father of Oasis brought his childhood from there When leaving through the virtual door—"Thank you for playing my game", it became Spielberg's response to those players who bought game cassettes because of him and still support video games in the future—

The most affectionate confession.

He knew he was wrong, and he made up for it.

As for whether the former player will forgive him?

he does not know.

But he may never be able to forgive himself.

Because of him, he personally ruined the dreams of a generation.

He likes to watch children play games. He never thinks games are electronic heroin. He also thinks it is normal for adults to play games. Everyone likes to dream. Which child doesn’t want to be a hero?

When I was five years old, I saved the world in "Hyrule Fantasy".

Although people who play games have grown up, who doesn't want to be that dreaming child...

When these deeds are like spring water, when Roland's alarm clock keeps coming—

Roland, who was still nervous and wanted to sever ties with Mohamy, was relieved...

What is the use of being rich?

Sometimes if you take a wrong step, you will regret it for the rest of your life.

Many people can't understand why the rich always have some inexplicable pain.

Because in many cases, the pain of these guys cannot be eliminated with money.

Just like Spielberg, he instinctively saved the world, and as the IP owner of "E.T." asked Atari to make games well.

But he voluntarily gave up all this.

The identity of the savior cannot be bought with money at all.

Feeling the curious gaze cast by Spielberg, Roland suddenly felt that the guy in front of him was a little different.

If before, Spielberg only viewed Roland as an apprentice of Robert Zemeckis, if we say that these days, Spielberg only thinks that Roland is a very good investor...

Now, he seems to be looking at himself.

At the age of eleven, he was able to shoot everywhere with an 8mm camera...

And the current Roland is taking much better photos than he did back then...

When he was nineteen years old, he graduated from high school and worked in Universal Studios, hoping to get advice from people in the industry.

And now Roland seems to know Robert Zemeckis from Universal Studios? !

At the age of twenty-six, he was already frantically collecting all kinds of arcade machines...

Now Roland has advanced his interest in games by fifteen years...

At the age of twenty-nine, he finally tasted the taste of being popular...

And now Roland is already on fire...

The feeling of similarity became stronger and stronger.

Not only that, the forty-four-year-old guy suddenly felt.

Compared with Roland, in the first 30 years of his life, it seems that all of them lived on dogs...

If "Home Alone" corresponds to "Jaws", then "Terminator 2" will be compared to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"?

No…

"Terminator 2" may become "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

‘I hope this kid won’t make the mistakes I made back then...’

'No...I can't let him make the same mistakes I made...'

Spielberg doesn't believe that Mike Mohamy will directly bring over the Super Nintendo and the newly developed game when Roland doesn't like the game. In his opinion, only if Roland is interested first, the other party will will do this.

Since this is the case, it doesn't really matter whether Roland admits it or not.

Since this child’s preferences are the same as mine, and since his life trajectory is the epitome of his own essence, then—

Not being able to repeat the same mistakes is Spielberg's biggest idea. As for miracles?

Isn’t it just a dream to overturn the current Nintendo?

Hope that those guys who are interested in computer games and have the ability to do it can keep this market, that is already his greatest wish, as for other...

Why are you asking so much from an eleven-year-old?

If after seeing the ghost's IP address, Spielberg felt that Roland's training value had to be reassessed, then now, the guy who is very similar to his epitome of life can no longer be introduced by any student. .

Robert Zemeckis couldn't remember whether he taught Roland or not?

Then now... just pretend he didn't teach.

How can an apprentice teach a master in turn?

This guy who has been interested in movies since he was a child, the kid who has the guts to harass the director on the set, and the kid who can have the capital to lead the development of a game studio, let him take care of him...

It has nothing to do with money.

This has nothing to do with the name.

It has nothing to do with race.

He just wanted to make up for the mistakes he made back then...

Back then, he was short of money.

Now…

What is money?

Because of this, when the relieved Roland nodded in response, he finally laughed when he got the affirmative answer.

After glancing at the unmarked cassette on the table, this one was supposed to go out for food, take a nap at noon, then the director who presided over the shooting got up, walked to the door, called the assistant, and told the other party—

"Let's go, rest in the afternoon, everyone will take half a day off."

Not only that, he also said: "Get me a TV, the kind that can be plugged into a Super Nintendo..."

"Then get me three more lunches..."

Speaking of this, he suddenly turned his head, looked at the two people who had already reacted, and asked with a smile: "What do you eat? I asked my assistant to buy it. I haven't played games for a long time. I don't know that your imitation How about the racing game made by Trip Hawkins, if it disappoints me, then don't put it on the market..."

"Go back to the furnace and rebuild."

When Roland saw Spielberg utter the word 'reinvented' with a smile on his face, he suddenly discovered that it seemed that the other party's favorability was suddenly replaced by his own without doing anything. Maxed out.

Not right...

Roland didn't do nothing, right?

It is up to him to learn this kind of thing on the set.

He has a strong interest in computers, and he has to mention things he wants to learn by himself.

Expressed to Mohamy that he has a great interest in IMDb and games, and he has to say it himself.

In the final analysis, everything is still the first favorite...

In his previous life, he joined the industry because he liked movies, and he is still the same in this life.

In his previous life, he was addicted to games because he liked games, and he is still the same in this life.

In this case, he can accept Spielberg's changes calmly.

not to mention!

He is also from True Love Game!

Although he has never played "Space Invaders", he can pass "Red Fortress", "Green Corps", and "Salamander" with one coin; although he has never seen the cassette of "E.T." Started with BA from left to right; although he may never be able to shoot "Ready Player One" in his life, he is more skilled in playing 'Whosyourdaddy' than anyone else...

Besides, when I first saw Mike Mohamy—

What Roland thought was not about investing in Blizzard, but about smashing the knee of Mohamy, the founder of Warcraft!

It was the same as Spielberg thought, because the joy and anger of the game were Roland's first reaction.

The second reaction is investment.

he…

love movies;

I also love games.

Note: ① Jobs is the No. 40 employee of Atari. He knew Spielberg during the Atari period. When acquiring Pixar, Lucas, who wanted to lay off the computer animation department, offered a price of 45 million. But in the end, it was sold for 10 million. At that time, Bill Gates wanted to buy Pixar. Even though Pixar suffered consecutive losses in 1990 and 1990 four years later, Gates still hoped to buy it from Jobs at a price of 90 million. After buying it, Jobs still didn't sell it. Just as Spielberg wanted to overwhelm Lucasfilm, he also wanted to overwhelm Amblin Entertainment in the film field. ②Before "E.T." was made into a game, Atari actually fought to save the market once. They bought Namco's "Pac-Man", hoping to use big IP to promote the sales of game consoles. Unfortunately, due to operational problems, they produced 12 million copies when there were only 10 million units in the market, but only sold 7 million copies, and "E.T." is actually owned by the whole village. Hopeful, but shoddy game, rated as the nightmare of American children. So much so that there are still people spraying Spielberg, "the best director in the world plus the best movie, but the result is the most garbage game". ③The founder of Electronic Arts of the United States met Spielberg when he was at Apple, so when he was working on "Medal of Honor", Spielberg directly sold the IP to EA. When he plagiarized the plot of "Saving Private Ryan", Spielberg did not sue the other party because it was all scripts written by him.