" 50 Blessings (50 blessings)?"
Hideo Kojima repeated the name Lin Lixin had been chanting, his eyes gleaming.
The name is very interesting; "fifty" obviously refers to the 50 states of the United States.
As for "blessing," it naturally means blessing or protection, usually referring to God's protection.
The name of an organization with strong religious connotations.
"Yep, according to the setting, this is a secret guerrilla organization whose goal is to overthrow the new United States regime occupied by Russia."
Lin Lixin nodded.
Despite its impressive plot, Hotline Miami is actually a game where players can easily skip parts of the story.
However, its core narrative is actually quite "mainstream".
Against the backdrop of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the story of Hotline Miami began in 1989, at the end of the Cold War, which was last year.
Some say that the Soviet Union was the first to popularize nuclear weapons, and a single nuclear bomb razed the San Francisco Bay Area in California... which is also the headquarters of Gamenova.
The Cold War quickly escalated into a hot war, ultimately ending in a Soviet victory and the complete takeover of the America. [ 50 Blessings ] is a patriotic force that emerged against this backdrop.
Strictly speaking... it's an assassin/secret agent organization.
"It's definitely very much in line with the mainstream ideology..."
The Kojima nodded noncommittally.
This kind of subject matter is indeed very suitable for this time of year.
Those who America flag would probably not refuse to take on such a role, playing a great secret agent to save their country from imminent danger.
... or so?
" 50 Blessings is not such a benevolent organization."
Lin Lixin shook his head. The power distribution in this game can't be figured out simply by asking "Who's good?"
"That's roughly it, that's the system structure. You'll be in charge of the specific supervision details. Consider it practice for future Metal Gear."
"I see."
Of course he knew about this. In fact, when Lin Lixin asked him to be the director of this project, Kojima already understood Lin Lixin's intentions.
Tears welling up in my eyes, I swear to be loyal to the death!
With Kojima and Guohao guarding the area, Lin Lixin didn't need to worry about much of the subsequent filming work.
I took Sam for a nice stroll on the beaches of Miami, ostensibly to "gather material for some amazing future project."
After staying for two days, they returned to Gamenova ahead of the film crew.
After all, further development work still needs to be done. Although you can take the equipment anywhere, it's still not as comfortable as having it at home.
Just then, Zimmer also made progress.
A true master is a master. Ever since Lin Lixin showed him what "synthetic wave" and "psychedelic electronics" were, this guy has practically thrown himself into it.
Lin Lixin was unsure whether this would drastically alter his future path.
But he was certain that the background music in the Gamenova version of Hotline Miami would only be better than the original.
Inside the recording studio, Lin Lixin picked up the cassette tape that Zimmer had tossed in front of him.
Although it's called a magnetic tape, it uses high-quality gold-plated DAT master tape.
Only a company with the financial resources of Gamenova could afford to use this kind of medium.
But it was all worth it.
Lin Lixin was absolutely certain of this.
Music is the soul of " Hotline Miami ".
I wonder how many players were drawn in by its music, only to be turned away by its incredibly difficult difficulty.
Hydrogen
Its name is laser-etched on the master tape.
This wasn't Zimmer's idea; it was Lin Lixin who decided on it.
Zimmer had to do was write down the voice in his mind based on this name.
"Listen to this?" He gestured with his chin toward Lin Lixin, a smile playing on his lips.
Just as Lin Lixin has absolute confidence in his abilities, Hans Zimmer also has his own pride in the field of music.
"Of course."
Lin Lixin met his gaze and smiled as well.
He'd been looking forward to this for a long time.
"Click"
The. dat master tape was fed into the player by Lin Lixin.
A very faint background noise was detected first.
What followed was a very obvious and proactive bass line.
That unique texture, only found on a bass, instantly amplified the power of the entire piece.
Superb intracranial technology!
The drum machine didn't rush to break the bass solo, but let it continue playing. Hans Zimmer cleverly incorporated stereo sound, which made good use of that high-end music workstation.
The bass line loops continuously from left to right, creating a truly magical auditory experience along with its equally catchy tune.
I'm afraid ASMR isn't all that great.
It feels like you're being massaged on your scalp with a deep, rhythmic, and gentle low-frequency motion.
Even my heart skipped a beat.
After a full 15 seconds of bass solo, the drum machine suddenly came into play, filling in the final gap in the rhythm section.
As we all know, bass and drums are a perfect match. As the rhythmic core of a band, they work together as the rhythm section, shouldering the mission of maintaining a strong and powerful beat in the music.
The moment the drums sounded, Lin Lixin could no longer suppress the smile on his face.
Fuck it!
You've found the right person!
We need to find a genius at synthesizers to do this job!
"Bang--bang--bang--" The addictive loop showed no signs of ending; on the contrary, it grew increasingly lively.
Subsequently, more and more synthesizer sounds were added, and the piece was finally complete.
Not only Lin Lixin, but even Hans Zimmer, the creator of it, couldn't help but shake it.
The two of them swayed and nodded to the rhythm.
The feeling was like being thrown around and then lying on Miami Beach watching the sunset in the distance.
The flashing Japan along the street and the palm trees on the beach...
They've now mastered creating a "hallucinatory" effect using music.
With the world's only top-of-the-line music workstation, coupled with the exceptional sound quality of this entire tractor, and the innovative design by Lin Lixin and the compositions by Hans Zimmer...
They successfully created a non-drug medium with the most potent hallucinogenic effects in this recording studio.
"Call--"
After the song ended... or rather, after about seventeen loops, Lin Lixin finally let out a long sigh of relief.
He nodded in satisfaction. "Perfect! Next, we just need to throw this thing into our game and promotional PV. Looks like we've got our Grammy lined up again this year."
With this thing, anyone with normal hearing can taste the saltiness of everything they pass by, no matter how high or low.
Coupled with his meticulously designed psychological traps, the commercial value of this thing is, in some ways, even more frightening than the previous super arcade game, Ace Combat.
After all, while Ace Combat is powerful, it's actually more about building influence.
In terms of pure commercial value, the payback period is simply too long.
Unless they sign a revenue-sharing agreement with Gamenova, and unless they're in the casino business, it's hard for anyone else to accept such a high price.
But this thing is different.
It's inexpensive.
Of course, this is in comparison to the large arcade machines of the past.
After all, having two complete hardware systems is quite expensive.
Unlike Ace Combat, where you might be in the air for quite a while, a loop in Hotline Miami might only last a few seconds...
Even mainstream arcade games that emphasize fast-paced gameplay typically have loops that last for one minute or several minutes. This is because only in this way can the game's content be displayed as fully as possible.
Nothing has ever been as extreme as " Hotline Miami ".
Thinking of this, Lin Lixin put the mother tape back on the table and said:
"Finish the remaining demos for my album, I need to go to the arcade."
He needs to install a sneaky little gadget on this arcade machine, making some inconspicuous modifications.
novaarcade, the headquarters of Nova Arcade.
The person in charge Gary, led Lin Lixin to the warehouse.
"The micronova test platform has arrived. We've set it up temporarily and checked it with the test demo. It should be... fine?"
In front of the two was a very simple and unadorned arcade machine.
The wooden frame is about the same size as other arcade games, such as Dragon's Lair.
It's fully equipped; they didn't go overboard by upgrading to a high-end LCD screen, but instead dutifully installed a CRT television. That's good.
Lin Lixin naturally had no objection to this.
Although they had already tried to create a slightly larger LCD screen during the previous Hermes laptop project.
But the yield rate of that stuff is so poor it's almost unbelievable; it's basically just a matter of spending money to produce it.
There's no need for "high-end customization" for this; using a CRT camera is the best solution.
"Yes, we're almost done on our end too."
Lin Lixin nodded, then rubbed the mixture together a couple of times to test its feel.
There are basically no problems.
The omnidirectional analog joystick has only two function buttons on the right side.
In other words, it's about picking up/dropping/interacting with items and attacking.
To make someone fall in love with a game the moment they start using it, simple and easy-to-use operation is naturally essential.
"But that's not why I came here today." Lin Lixin released the joystick and looked down.
The coin-operated machine was properly installed there.
It's their customized version, with electronic lead seal, directly synchronized with the substrate.
"The coin-operated machine needs some special modifications."
"Huh? Didn't we just build a new coin-operated machine?"
Gary blinked.
How long has it been since coin-operated machines became widely used?
I didn't expect President Lin to come up with a new iterative solution so quickly.
He truly is a god!
"Hmm? Oh, no, it's just adding a little gadget; nothing else needs to be changed."
Lin Lixin waved his hand and glanced around.
This is the warehouse of Nova Arcade, filled with all sorts of arcade machines. His gaze swept over the machines, finally settling on a coin pusher.
Besides video games, this thing was also a mainstay of arcades in the 1980s.
Lin Lixin led Gary to the device and touched its coin-operated machine.
"Here, add a buffer track, nothing else needs to be changed."