Recaps

Enix presented a slate of upcoming Super Famicom games, culminating in the reveal of Dragon Quest III: The Beginning of the Legend, a year-end remake. After the brief press conference, David sensed that something was wrong.

• Sega ended its presentation, and Nakayama Takuya praised Hisao Oguchi for handling the press conference well.
• Enix introduced several Super Famicom releases, including The Vanished Darkness, Star Ocean, Lennus: Apostles of the Seal, and Project J2.
• Paul guessed that Enix was using late-life Super Famicom games to secure revenue while keeping its real trump card hidden.
• Enix revealed Dragon Quest III: The Beginning of the Legend as a year-end remake, drawing thunderous applause.
• David told Paul that something was off, and Paul asked whether the Super Famicom graphics had made him sick of 3D polygons.

At E3, reporters suspected Enix was secretly shifting its next-generation support from Nintendo to Sega after it showed only Super Famicom games. John Carmack then launched the Universal Engine as an open-source project, revealing Sega and Sony among its backers.

• David and Paul noted Enix had shown only 16-bit games despite the approaching Nintendo 64 launch and speculated that its next Dragon Quest was being developed for Sega.
• Paul planned to frame a report around questions about Dragon Quest's future because they lacked proof of Enix's alleged alliance with Sega.
• John Carmack introduced UniversalEngine as an open-source project managed by an independent foundation.
• Carmack displayed the foundation's co-founders and investors, including id Software, Sega, and Sony PlayStation.
• David and Paul were shocked to see Sony and Sega collaborating on the engine project despite their fierce console rivalry.

Sega, Sony, id Software, and major Japanese publishers backed the UE open-source engine, while Carmack outlined its technical and business model and took over the UE Technical Committee. The press conference ended with the project poised to reshape game development across the industry.

• Sony joined Sega and id Software as a UE co-founder to gain access to the engine's technology and improve PlayStation development tools.
• Konami, Square, Enix, and Namco invested in the project, while smaller developers saw its cross-platform tools as a way to reduce costs and EA chose not to contribute.
• Carmack explained the engine's modular architecture, lightweight DCO process, asset store, and revenue-based copyright fees.
• Carmack said Quake's underlying code was locked down and handed the remaining work to John Romero as Carmack took over as chairman of the UE Technical Committee.
• After the press conference, Paul predicted Nintendo would react angrily, and David said the engine could lead to a surge of games at the next E3.

Reporters David and Paul covered the small- and mid-sized developers’ session at E3, where studios pitched unfinished games and investors searched for promising projects. They left the crowded South Wing Hall with leads and business cards, weighing the uneven quality of the games on display.

• David and Paul headed to the South Wing Hall after finishing their morning reports and learned that the afternoon session featured small and mid-sized developers.
• David recorded a young developer pitching a nonlinear game and seeking $200,000 to finish it, while an investor asked him to send a business plan.
• David watched Mike Mohan study a real-time strategy game and saw Blizzard Entertainment’s assistant begin negotiating with its developer.
• David and Paul split up to gather material, as developers pitched their projects and investors considered prototypes across the crowded hall.
• Paul complained to David about a racing game with broken physics and a fighting game whose hit detection seemed random.

David and Paul covered E3’s South Wing, where publishers signed deals with small studios and independent developers competed for investment. David’s report on the market and John Carmack’s universal engine began to reach programmers, including Eric and his friends at UC Berkeley, who were struck by the opportunity it offered.

• David told Paul about a text-adventure developer and a math dropout whose business simulation had attracted Electronic Arts’ interest.
• David learned that Sega had signed an exclusive publishing deal with Clover and was delivering meals to the studio.
• David and Paul watched Ubisoft negotiate to buy a medieval war game’s developer and IP, while David noted that several empty booths belonged to studios already acquired.
• David finished and posted a report about the South Wing and Carmack’s universal engine, which drew little attention at first.
• Eric showed his friends the report at UC Berkeley, and they read about the engine and the business simulation’s potential investment.

E3’s open-source engine and small-studio success stories inspired software teams to pursue game development, while crowds of players and would-be developers flooded the convention on its public day. Eric and his roommates arrived hoping to find investors, as Nintendo, Sony, and Sega drew packed audiences inside the expo.

• Reports about E3’s open-source engine and small developers’ deals encouraged software teams across the country to enter game development.
• Thomas paused his company’s inventory-system work and decided to drive to E3 to recruit artists and form a game team.
• Eric and his two roommates drove from Berkeley to Los Angeles with a game proposal and code, hoping to secure investment.
• E3 opened to the public, and players crowded around Nintendo’s 3D Mario demo, Sony’s casual games, and Sega’s Virtua Fighter 3 cabinet.

David and Paul witnessed E3’s South Wing turn into a bustling hub of developers and investors, while Eric searched for backing for his RPG idea. In San Francisco, Nakayama Takuya reviewed Silicon Valley Online’s free email plan and Passport login system as Frank outlined its safeguards and Tom warned of security risks.

• David and Paul found developers, engineers, and writers debating game ideas in E3’s South Wing, where Eric asked David for help finding Ubisoft’s investment manager.
• Eric followed David’s directions into the crowd, while David reflected that E3 had become a marketplace for creativity, technology, and ambition.
• Nakayama Takuya left Hisao Oguchi in charge of game-related work and flew to San Francisco to meet Frank and Tom Kalinske at Silicon Valley Online.
• Frank reported that the free email service’s 2MB storage limit passed stress tests and that users could later receive more storage as a perk.
• Frank showed Nakayama Takuya the Passport system, which linked Silicon Valley Online services through one login, and Tom warned that a breach could expose users’ accounts.

Nakayama Takuya and Frank planned the launch of the go.com portal, centered on free email, Olympic coverage, community features, and search. They left the meeting with Frank tasked to mobilize development and investor-backed promotion for the launch.

• Frank told Nakayama Takuya that wealthy users were flocking to Silicon Valley Online’s paid vault backup service and that competitors were copying it.
• Nakayama Takuya chose the simple name go.com for the portal, and Frank confirmed that the company had already secured the domain.
• Nakayama Takuya proposed launching a countdown page immediately and unveiling the portal with free email in late May.
• Nakayama Takuya outlined an Atlanta Olympics special edition with regional TV schedules, real-time results, customized updates, and user contributions; Frank would combine wire-service content with community posts.
• Nakayama Takuya placed search under go.com, including a prominent portal search box and the dedicated search.go.com subdomain.
• Frank prepared to assign tasks and inform Sequoia Capital and KPCB, while Nakayama Takuya told him to direct their promotional resources toward the launch.

After E3, game companies, gaming media, and independent developers embraced hype, previews, and licensing as new business models. Sega planned to expand beyond games, while Eric’s team prepared to market its engine demo; the industry entered a more expansive and competitive era.

• David and Paul prepared a double-page feature on anticipated games and Carmack’s universal engine, while reserving space for Sega’s exclusive V Fighter 3 screenshots.
• Hisao Oguchi reported a 400 percent quarter-on-quarter increase in Sega’s North American brand licensing revenue, and Nakayama Takuya urged Sega to become an entertainment giant.
• Eric told his roommate to improve their collision detection demo and commission concept art to attract media attention and Electronic Arts investment.
• Developers, media, companies, and players converged around E3-driven hype as the video game industry’s new business models took hold.

Silicon Valley Online built anticipation for go.com with a nationwide teaser campaign and a countdown promising free email accounts, drawing heavy traffic before launch. As the launch approached on May 24, Frank and the operations team prepared the servers and waited for the countdown to reach zero.

• Richard saw the G0 advertisements, visited go.com, and bookmarked the countdown page after seeing its offer of a permanent 4MB mailbox for the first thousand users.
• Eric and his roommate discussed the mailbox offer and its cross-platform features while students at Berkeley crowded around the countdown.
• Frank told Donald Valentine that go.com had attracted more than three hundred thousand daily unique IP visits before launch, and Donald reviewed the service's costs and ecosystem strategy.
• John presented GO to KPCB partners as Silicon Valley Online's next Internet gateway, prompting them to reconsider further investment.
• Frank confirmed to Nakayama Takuya that preparations were complete, and Nakayama told him to keep the servers steady.
• At 9:59 a.m. Eastern Time on May 24, Frank stood in Silicon Valley Online's operations center as the team awaited the launch.

Silicon Valley Online launched go.com as a portal integrated with G0 Email, ICQ, and its BBS, drawing massive traffic without crashing. The successful launch sent the company’s stock soaring, while Frank watched traffic continue to climb.

• With the countdown reaching zero, Richard registered for G0 Email and received one of the first 4MB accounts.
• Eric and his roommate explored the portal’s linked services, and Eric recognized its shared account system as a unified online ecosystem.
• Three minutes after launch, Silicon Valley Online’s traffic surged past 100,000 concurrent requests, while the servers maintained fast response times.
• Donald Valentine heard from a hedge fund manager that users were impressed by go.com’s smooth, comprehensive portal experience.
• After the market opened, Silicon Valley Online’s stock jumped, passing $22 by 11 a.m.
• Frank learned that go.com had reached 98 million clicks, still rising by two million per minute.

Silicon Valley Online’s go.com portal drew more than 100 million clicks in its first two hours, sending SVOL’s stock soaring and demonstrating the value of its integrated services. Over the weekend, users explored the portal and its discussion boards, while the operations team tracked strong engagement and prepared for the next traffic peak.

• Frank announced that go.com had passed 100 million clicks in two hours, and traders rushed to buy SVOL shares as the price climbed past $28.
• Nakayama Takuya reviewed the portal’s server performance and service statistics, then told Frank to publicize the data and prepare the Atlanta Olympics special edition.
• SVOL closed at $28.80, with buy orders far outnumbering available shares and Wall Street investors waiting anxiously for Monday’s trading.
• Eric used go.com’s news links and comment sections, where arguments between Netscape supporters and Microsoft fans quickly filled hundreds of posts.
• Richard used go.com to check sports and financial news and post on its message board, while Frank’s team reported that visitors viewed an average of fourteen pages per IP.

Frank’s publicity campaign turned Silicon Valley Online’s traffic figures into a Wall Street buying frenzy, sending its stock to $41.80 and its market value above $4 billion. Frank reported the surge to Nakayama Takuya, who remained composed as they looked toward the Olympic special edition and further growth.

• Frank arranged for a photographer to document Silicon Valley Online’s traffic data and gave the Los Angeles Times exclusive access to the image.
• The Los Angeles Times published a report about go.com’s hundred million clicks, prompting Wall Street investors to prepare for a major buying spree.
• George Fisher ordered Goldman Sachs to buy SVOL at market price, and the stock opened at $31.20 before climbing throughout the day.
• Frank told Tom Kalinske that a database image-storage team had agreed to accept $20 million in Silicon Valley Online stock, and Donald Valentine said Fidelity Investments and Vanguard had offered a premium for Sequoia Capital’s shares.
• SVOL closed at $41.80, pushing Silicon Valley Online’s market value above $4 billion.
• Frank told Nakayama Takuya about the stock’s rise and anticipated further growth when the Olympic special edition launched.

Silicon Valley Online launched its Atlanta Olympics special section, using a customized schedule, event news, and G0 Pass profiles to draw users and guide its coverage. The section’s popularity impressed users and analysts, while NBC executives noticed that go.com had posted their broadcast schedule.

• Nakayama Takuya told Frank to use Silicon Valley Online stock for acquisitions, prepare for the Olympics, and make go.com work smoothly across browsers.
• With go.com stock around $45, Frank received confirmation that the servers and Olympic coverage preparations were ready, then ordered GG replaced by the Olympics banner.
• Richard entered the Olympic section, customized his news feed by selecting basketball, track and field, and swimming, and saved his preferences to his G0 Pass.
• Eric and his roommate recognized that the survey data would personalize pages, keep users logged in, and direct reporters toward the most popular events.
• The editorial team assigned coverage according to live vote counts and user interest in the Dream Team III, track and field, and popular BBS predictions.
• An NBC executive reviewed screenshots of go.com’s Olympic section after an assistant reported that the site had posted NBC’s broadcast schedule.

Silicon Valley Online’s Olympic zone drove user engagement, advertising demand, and SVOL’s stock price while revealing the value of personalized user data. As the Atlanta Olympic Organizing Committee discovered that go.com had accelerated public interest, its executives debated how to respond.

• NBC’s executives learned that Silicon Valley Online’s public Olympic schedule was legal, even as viewers used it to plan when to watch television.
• SVOL’s stock rose above $52 as Olympic sponsorship news and the launch of go.com’s Olympic zone increased clicks and attracted major advertisers.
• Nakayama Takuya told Hisao Oguchi to preserve users’ questionnaire data and expand the customization system into other sections to build a large user profile database.
• Frank observed rising dwell time and discussion on Silicon Valley Online, and told Donald Valentine that traffic would grow further once the Games began.
• Michael Jones reported that many people were getting Olympic information from go.com, prompting the Organizing Committee’s executives to consider sending the website a lawyer’s letter.

Silicon Valley Online negotiated a partnership with the Atlanta Olympic Organizing Committee, trading exclusive Olympic content and ticket links for user voting data. The deal transformed go.com into an official information and ticketing hub, boosted SVOL’s share price, and prompted a Wall Street Journal columnist to revise his view of internet media.

• Michael recommended cooperating with go.com by offering behind-the-scenes materials in exchange for a homepage ticketing link.
• Michael Jones met Frank Marshall and agreed that Silicon Valley Online would receive exclusive Olympic content while adding official ticket links and sharing voting data with the committee.
• Richard read an exclusive report about the Olympic Village on go.com and bought two track and field tickets through its official ticketing link.
• Eric and his roommate explored go.com’s athlete question poll, and Eric submitted a question that rose near the top of the trending list.
• Donald Valentine saw SVOL’s share price climb past $55 after the partnership announcement, while Charles revised his analysis of internet media and submitted it to his editor.

Silicon Valley Online’s Olympic coverage drove a surge in traffic, registrations, and advertising revenue, prompting Frank Marshall to turn user data into precise ad targeting. With investors still undervaluing the company, Donald Valentine decided the market needed a stronger signal of its growth.

• Frank Marshall reviewed soaring traffic and instructed the technical director to package user preferences for the GG Sales Department to use in sponsor negotiations.
• Michael Jones learned that go.com had received more than thirty thousand volunteer applications in forty-eight hours, far surpassing the traditional hotline.
• Netizens organized torch-relay welcomes and discussed the route online while advertisers rushed to buy placements on the Olympic section.
• Bill Campbell secured an on-site agency office and phone lines after Frank offered detailed placement data and paid targeting by user profiles and clicks.
• John told Donald Valentine that daily clicks averaged 120 million, registrations had risen 300 percent month-on-month, and GG revenue had quadrupled.
• Donald dismissed the idea that Silicon Valley Online was worth only $50 per share and decided to show Wall Street stronger evidence of its growth.

A covert leak of Silicon Valley Online’s traffic and revenue figures drove traders to buy its shares and prompted Sony to negotiate advertising on the site. The chapter ended with Frank Marshall and Bill Campbell welcoming Sony’s advertising contract.

• An account leaked a screenshot of Silicon Valley Online’s internal traffic and revenue figures into an ICQ finance group, and Richard sold his Apple shares to invest in Silicon Valley Online.
• Traders rushed to buy Silicon Valley Online shares, pushing the stock above $55 shortly after the market opened.
• At Sony, Nobuyuki Idei and Norio Ohga weighed the conflict with Sega against the marketing value of Silicon Valley Online and approved an electronics advertising deal.
• Frank Marshall and Bill Campbell reviewed Sony’s contract and noted that Panasonic’s advertising had pressured Sony to follow suit.

Frank’s GG advertising deal sent a massive wave of visitors to Sony’s website, which crashed before Sony expanded its capacity and the incident boosted Silicon Valley Online’s sales and stock. Frank then reviewed the European Championship section’s weaker engagement and recognized that football’s offline culture limited its appeal online.

• Frank ordered targeted GG banners for Sony, and Richard clicked one that took him smoothly to Sony’s dealer and service information.
• The surge from go.com overwhelmed Sony’s website, and Nobuyuki Idei ordered more servers and bandwidth to handle the traffic.
• Bill Campbell used Sony’s crash to sell more GG ads, while brands expanded capacity and SVOL’s stock climbed.
• Frank reviewed the European Championship section’s modest traffic and engagement compared with the Olympic section.
• A London student tried to share go.com match analysis at the Red Lion, but his companions ignored it and focused on the televised match.

Frank explained that the European Championship section’s limited traffic reflected low current internet adoption, while the Telecommunications Act and falling access costs would bring many new users to go.com. As go.com’s search engine gained traction, Richard used its official-site marker to find a Boston medical-device company’s patent disclosures safely.

• Frank told his manager that the European Championship section was a test of audience overlap and was not expected to attract Olympic-scale traffic.
• Donald Valentine warned Frank that hedge funds’ pessimism about go.com’s growth was weighing on SVOL, and Frank argued that the Telecommunications Act would expand internet access and the user base.
• Frank described go.com as a gateway that would benefit as cheaper internet access brought new users online, and Donald agreed to relay his confidence to investors.
• The popularity of go.com’s Olympic Games section helped it accumulate users, while its news, email, and search services became part of their routines.
• Richard searched for a Boston medical-device company and used go.com’s official marker to identify its genuine website and retrieve patent documents.

Eric examined Go Search's search results and ranking limits, while Frank insisted that Silicon Valley Online keep expanding its manual review team to verify official markers. By summer 1996, Go Search had become a trusted tool and an emerging internet standard, as a separate gaming carnival began in Japan.

• Eric tested Go Search's indexing and ranking in a Berkeley computer lab, and his roommate noted that it struggled with long natural-language queries.
• Frank heard that manual reviewers were overwhelmed by the work of verifying official markers and rejected proposals to cut the team or remove the markers.
• Frank argued that human verification was necessary to distinguish legitimate organizations from false or copycat websites, and ordered the review team to keep expanding.
• Go Search's official markers gained users' and businesses' trust, making the search engine a basic tool for navigating the internet by summer 1996.
• As traders and engineers followed Silicon Valley Online's stock and traffic data in June 1996, a video game carnival began in Japan.

As the N64 launch approached, Nintendo’s promotion and pricing drew Japanese players into waiting rather than buying PlayStations, even as Arc the Lad II sold well. At Nintendo headquarters, Yamauchi Hiroshi remained confident in the launch while dismissing concerns that cartridges and difficult development tools would slow third-party support.

• Arc the Lad II sold well in Tokyo, but one young man chose to save his money for the N64’s June 23 launch.
• Ken Kutaragi reviewed reports showing that PlayStation store visits remained steady while purchases fell as customers waited to see the N64.
• Nintendo’s sales manager told Yamauchi Hiroshi that launch stock and promotional displays were ready and that reservations could exhaust the first shipment.
• Yokoi Gunpei warned Yamauchi Hiroshi that cartridge limits and complex tools could delay third-party N64 games.
• Yamauchi Hiroshi insisted that Nintendo could rely on strong first-party games and did not need developers unwilling to prioritize gameplay.

Nintendo launched the N64 on June 23, 1996, and Super Mario 64 earned strong reviews that helped the console sell more than a million units in its first week. At Nintendo headquarters, Yamauchi Hiroshi, Yokoi Gunpei, and Shigeru Miyamoto celebrated the steady opening while acknowledging that Sega’s earlier 3D games had raised players’ expectations.

• Players in Japan waited eagerly for the N64 launch as rival manufacturers delayed their late-June releases.
• Nintendo released the N64 with Super Mario 64, Pilotwings 64, and Strongest Habu Shogi, while Sega avoided a direct launch-day challenge.
• Harada tried Super Mario 64 and experienced Mario’s smooth movement and responsive controls.
• Gaming media and players praised Super Mario 64, though some noted that earlier 3D games by Sega and Paper Pokémon Adventure had lessened its novelty.
• Yamauchi Hiroshi reviewed first-day sales of 210,000 units in Japan and 180,000 in North America, and the first-week global total reached 1.03 million.
• Yokoi Gunpei and Shigeru Miyamoto discussed the N64’s strong opening and warned that Sega’s earlier 3D titles had raised players’ expectations.

Nintendo planned to build on the N64’s launch by expanding its 3D game lineup and making development easier for third parties. Meanwhile, Quake’s release sparked strong sales, multiplayer play, and a growing community of creators, while id Software’s team turned to its next work.

• Yamauchi Hiroshi directed Shigeru Miyamoto to develop a 3D Zelda and told Yokoi Gunpei to improve N64 development tools for third-party developers.
• Quake was released in North America on June 22, 1996, and college students quickly played its 3D deathmatches over local networks.
• Players discussed Quake online, joined public servers, and began making custom maps and modifications with its editor and scripting tools.
• Computer Gaming World and PC Gamer praised Quake’s technology and openness, highlighting its potential to reshape PC gaming.
• John Romero browsed player-made maps at id Software while John Carmack checked the UE engine’s core mathematics library.

Carmack and Romero reconciled their creative differences after separating Quake’s content work from engine development. At Sega, Nakayama reviewed the N64’s strong launch and the company’s projects before summoning hardware chief Sato Hideki, leaving a new plan about to be discussed.

• Romero showed Carmack the community’s new Quake maps and described how the general-purpose engine framework had eased their conflict.
• Carmack agreed that engine technology and game content should be developed separately, while Romero offered to gather feedback on Quake’s editing tools.
• Hisao Oguchi reported that the N64 had sold over 1.03 million units in Japan and North America during its first week and gave updates on Sega’s projects.
• Nakayama praised Oguchi’s management of the games division and called Sato Hideki to his office.
• Sato entered the office and sat beside Oguchi as Nakayama prepared to discuss his next plan.