"Fifty thousand? To buy one of our albums? Or to give away video games?"
"----right."
Guitarist Slim and bassist Tommy exchanged a glance, then looked at Lin Lixin with eyes that seemed to regard him as a lunatic.
"Could he be the Fed? Trying to entrap someone?"
Such an exaggerated situation is something I wouldn't even dare to dream of.
"He is not."
Paul picked up the business card, and after sobering up, he finally recognized the person in front of him.
The chairman of GAMENOVA, Grammy Award winner!
No wonder they said it was an album for games.
There's really only one person in the industry capable of doing something like this.
"That's the price, but I must point out that I want a buyout, not royalties for a mechanical copy."
"What's the meaning?"
"After I pay this money, the rights to use this song in the video game industry will belong to me permanently, and I will not have to pay royalties for any further licensing or other uses."
1
Paul's cloudy eyes cleared slightly.
"So you're saying—you're betting our song can make you way more money than this?"
"Hmm, this is my own risk. If the game doesn't sell, I'll just consider it a failure and take the loss. How about that?"
"How can your game lose money?"
Paul suddenly chuckled, "Mr. Lin, we're not some old-fashioned folks; don't try to fool us like we're three-year-olds."
He pointed to the corner of the room.
Lin Lixin followed the gaze and noticed that there was actually a Street Fighter arcade machine there.
This thing costs about the same as a top-of-the-line bass.
Lin Lixin raised an eyebrow, surprised that the other party was much more knowledgeable than he had thought; it seemed that it would be difficult to pick up the bargain.
So you mean... a share?
"No, no, no," Paul quickly waved his hands, "Mr. Lin, we can license this album to you for free, without charging a single penny!"
Paul!
Upon hearing his words, the other members of the band were startled and immediately showed signs of anxiety.
That's a free $50,000!
Moreover, judging from what the other party said, there might even be a chance to negotiate a profit-sharing arrangement.
"Ahem, we're die-hard GAMENOVA fans. But... may I ask what kind of gameplay your next title will have?"
Video game music programming is not the same path as those who seriously play musical instruments.
Paul was genuinely curious why Lin Lixin would choose a rock band like theirs who knew absolutely nothing about music programming.
Even if it might involve trade secrets, he wanted to find out the details.
Lin Lixin chuckled; this guy was unpredictable.
"Wow—an amazing idea!"
After hearing Lin Lixin's audacious and unbelievable idea, the group exchanged bewildered glances.
I've never seen anything so outrageous in my life.
Paul licked his dry lips before continuing, "Mr. Lin, I have a small request. Of course, if it's not possible, that's fine too; it'll still be completely free, just like before!"
Tell me about it?
"Hmm—the game you're talking about must have a song selection screen, right?—I was wondering if you could put our album, or even just the single from 'I Will Dare,' a little bit higher up in the list—"
"Humm----"
Lin Lixin smiled slightly, then immediately pulled out his mobile phone and dialed a number, " Sam, draft a new contract as I suggested----"
According to the original timeline, The Replacements was supposed to disband in three years.
He didn't know if this collaboration would change the course of events, but he had certainly found a cheap partner.
And this was a partner eager to become a role model, which suited him perfectly.
Lin Lixin's speech at the Grammy Award was published in various magazines.
As time went on, discussions about a truly music-themed game intensified.
Some paparazzi with a keen sense of smell even uncovered Micron's latest collaborative project with Motorola.
It's really hard to tell how much of this information was actually leaked by GAMENOVA themselves.
"Yes, oh, let's also arrange for some people to spread an urban legend, like how you can beat Temple Run if you get 500 million points—"
After hanging up the phone with his editor-in-chief Steve, Lin Lixin stretched.
All the necessary preparations have been completed; the next step is to develop the game itself.
With Steve helping out behind the scenes, many so-called "rumors" could pass through his hands and be released by those tabloids after several twists and turns.
Finally, it reached the players' ears and became a strange tale circulating among the people.
This viral spread is even more outrageous than spending a fortune to buy GG.
There was a time when Lin Lixin was truly terrified by the legend of "passing through the Temple Run ".
If it weren't for a reverse engineering team later dissecting and cracking the data to uncover the truth, this urban legend would have continued for who knows how long.
Similar interesting anecdotes include the classic Minecraft urban legend Herobrine.
Compared to dry, uninspired promotional slogans, these elements that spread and ferment through the community are far more effective for games.
"The issues with the piano and amplifier also need to be addressed—"
Unlike the semiconductor industry, where prices are clearly marked, the prices of musical instruments are sometimes so high that even Lin Lixin feels a bit overwhelmed.
A set of amplifier heads with around 50 watts can range from a few hundred dollars to over ten thousand dollars.
This is especially true for guitars and basses.
A good violin can even cost as much as a year's college tuition, or half a year's apartment rent in a big city like New York.
Putting all this stuff on an arcade machine----
That's fucking extravagant!
This is an excessive amount of money.
So Lin Lixin immediately summoned the two Koshiro figures who hadn't yet returned to Japan to the Hardware Department, where he spent the entire afternoon discussing the matter in detail with Gerald, Sam, and others.
The final plan was: a $500 sound system, a $300 guitar, and a $300 bass.
This configuration already puts this arcade machine at a price far exceeding that of other mainstream arcade machines from the outset.
At the same time, Paul also sent over the complete sheet music for the album, including the tracks for each section and the original soundtrack.
The signature area bore the name "Paul Westerberg" scrawled in a mess.
In late March, GAMENOVA's legendary new title, Rocksmith, was officially released.
25-year-old Flea was carrying a bass bag and walking back to her hotel.
He has just finished his tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
As a rock band that primarily plays funk and alternative rock, the importance of bassist Flea in the band is self-evident.
However, the recent series of performance problems within the team has made him quite anxious.
The creation of the third album was delayed, and the performance of the tour also began to encounter frequent problems.
Flea hasn't felt happy playing in a band in a long time.
While pondering the issues surrounding her new album, Flea suddenly felt her ears twitch.
"Hmm? The sound of bass?"
Although the electric guitar's higher pitch completely drowned out the other instruments, Flea, as the bassist, instantly caught the strong low frequencies underneath.
The powerful punk rock music, which was in no way inferior to his own, instantly stopped him in his tracks.
"Sounds like Tommy from The Replacements, but the playing technique is just too—"
It's clear that while the piece chosen by the person playing was very much to FIea's liking, their technique was simply too poor.
Flea looked up in the direction the sound came from.
[Arcade Area]
That was actually an arcade?