Hisao Oguchi nodded and wrote it down in his notebook.
"What about Blizzard?" Nakayama Takuya changed the subject.
"The pressing for Diablo is already complete." Hisao Oguchi opened another document. "'s server tests are going smoothly too. It can launch at any time."
"Proceed according to the original plan." Nakayama Takuya stood up. "Next January, light a fire under the PC market."
December 28.
Santa Monica, Los Angeles.
In the entertainment room converted from Mike's garage, the colored string lights left over from Christmas had not yet been taken down. They still hung in the corner, blinking and glowing.
Scattered across the floor were no longer empty beer cans from a party, but a dozen or so crumpled paper coffee cups, along with several pizza crusts that had long since gone cold and were as hard as rocks.
David sat in the center of the sofa, both hands clamped tightly around the Jupiter controller.
He was no longer staying up all night, every night, the way he had a week ago. Instead, he was barely maintaining a routine of at least five hours of sleep a day.
The forced socializing over those two days of Christmas had yanked him bodily out of Midgar's steel jungle for a breath of air, letting him make it through the worst of the withdrawal.
But now, his breathing grew rapid once again.
On the TV screen, a long and magnificent CG sequence was playing.
A meteor dragged a long tail across the sky, falling with a crushing sense that it would destroy everything.
Immediately after, the Lifestream surged up from beneath the earth, turning into green light that wrapped around the entire planet.
David's hands dropped weakly onto his knees. He tossed the controller casually to one side, where it landed with a muffled