MGM Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas.
It's supposed to be a Holiday Inn, but it's Las Vegas, you know what I mean.
This is a magnificent and modern mega-entertainment industrial empire.
A brand new hotel that was just built in 1989.
Its owner was Stephen Wynn, the emperor of Las Vegas.
Perhaps only in such a place can one find the ability to prove oneself and lay the foundation for Lin Lixin's next project.
At 8 p. m., just as the city was waking up, Lin Lixin and Blizzard's group arrived at the hotel.
Mike and his friends gazed out the window at the dazzling, Mew city, a mixture of nervousness and excitement.
To be honest, although they are already the second largest subsidiary studio under Gamenova, second only to Activision, a publishing giant, Mike and his team are ultimately not Gamenova's main editors.
Faced with such a scene, it's simply impossible to remain aloof.
Las Vegas!
A land literally flowing with gold. It's completely different from Silicon Valley, or even the rest of the West Coast.
It's a strange feeling that even though it's right next to California, it feels like two different worlds.
"Mr. Lin, Mr. Wynn has prepared exclusive VIP suites for everyone."
The person in charge of reception must be a senior executive; judging from their uniform, they are certainly not a regular concierge.
Since he was visiting under the name of Gamenova, Lin Lixin had already contacted and greeted them beforehand.
However, arranging such a high level of hospitality right from the start shows that they have gone to great lengths.
"Well, let's not waste any more time. I still have plans to play with Mr. Wynn."
The VIP suites are located on high floors and feature large glass curtain walls, offering panoramic views of the street.
Private bar, ice bucket, whiskey, cigars, Jacuzzi...
If Lin Lixin hadn't been in a hurry to gather material, he really would have liked to stay here and enjoy himself for a few days.
But they're not here for fun. Well... at least not entirely.
After letting the others settle in and get used to their surroundings, Lin Lixin himself was taken to Stephen Wynn's private suite by his assistant.
He wore a light gray suit with a white inner shirt, paired with dark suit trousers. His tie was slightly loose but very neat, and he always had that ever-present smile on his lips.
His appearance was definitely carefully designed; he neither gave off the imposing aura of Wall Street old money nor the unrefined manner of Silicon Valley newcomer.
On the contrary, it is precisely in the right position, which is a very comfortable kind of uprightness.
"No wonder he's the king of Las Vegas... he's got a knack for psychological warfare."
Lin Lixin thought to himself.
Compared to academics like Skinner and Bandura, Wynn is a true hard-working and ruthless individual who made his way up in the industry.
If we're really talking about the ability to manipulate people's minds, he's actually more dangerous than the academics.
"Welcome to my kingdom, Mr. Lin."
Wynn took the initiative to step forward.
The emperor of California is still an emperor. "I've come to gather material for our new work, and incidentally... to learn from your skills, in every sense of the word."
Lin Lixin laughed and took the initiative to shake hands with the other person.
You can learn very little from just looking at a control panel.
Although he had already learned a lot of levels by discussing with Bandura on the way here.
But if you really want to apply them flexibly in practice, you still have to learn from true masters.
"If we're talking about learning from someone as ruthless as Mr. Lin, it's you I should be learning from."
Wynn waved his hand and said something polite.
Damn it, before Lin Lixin appeared, Wynn always thought he might be one of the most successful people in the world.
Even when Lin Lixin began to make a name for himself in California, Wynn never took him seriously.
After all, in California, genius is the least valuable thing.
But those who truly have the ability to grow to the point where they are qualified to compete with the old money are very few and far between.
Wynn was a man who navigated the worlds of new and old money; in Las Vegas, he held absolute power. However...
Lin Lixin is clearly an unreasonable guy.
It's expanding at an incredible rate almost every year... no, every month.
First it was arcade games, then consoles, then handhelds, and eventually it dominated the entire United States gaming industry.
Just when Wynn thinks, "Maybe this is the limit of Gamenova?", they suddenly create some new big commotion, shattering his worldview once again.
Semiconductors, consumer electronics, film and television, music, publishing, the Internet...
Is there anything these people wouldn't do?
It can be said that Lin Lixin's existence has already become a trendsetter in California, and even in the entire cutting-edge field.
If you follow Lin Lixin's lead, you'll never make a wrong call.
This is way more exciting than gambling!
Even playing cards sometimes results in losing a little!
Just look at Corning and Lockheed's soaring stock prices these days; those who dared to follow Gamenova's lead are already reaping the rewards. However, compared to Gamenova's many earth-shattering achievements, what truly made Wynn feel despair was something else entirely.
He glanced at the incredibly young man in front of him, feeling the soft, delicate skin of his hands.
Lin is only in his early twenties! Are you trying to kill him?
Even a company as powerful as Wynn had only just taken over the bingo business in Maryland at that age.
If we give this guy another ten years...
He didn't even dare to think about it.
"No, no, no, I'm serious, Mr. Wynn."
Lin Lixin's expression became slightly more serious; this time, he was genuinely there to learn.
"Video games and your 'games' business have a lot in common, although this isn't very obvious yet, but believe me, the future of video games will increasingly move in this direction."
"Of course I believe that Mr. Lin's judgment has never been wrong."
Wynn nodded, silently imprinting those words in his mind, before continuing.
"We installed dozens of Hotline Miami machines downstairs, and frankly, this was the first time I'd ever witnessed the terrifying power of video games." A machine that doesn't actually pay out any money, yet it gets people throwing in dozens of coins at a time, playing until they can't stop.
This is simply a miracle.
This thing is basically selling emotional value; there are no rebates to entice players to make mistakes, so it's on a completely different path.
Casinos are a field that heavily relies on psychology and mathematics.
What appears to be a casual gameplay mechanic is actually backed by a meticulously designed set of numerical values.
Lin Lixin can say without exaggeration that the designers responsible for these things are the most powerful numerical planners in the world.
Wynn itself is an expert in this field.
As a Las Vegas king who started out running bingo games, he absolutely couldn't have gotten to his current position without some real ability.
He's already played through " Hotline Miami," and even played through it very thoroughly, digging deep into its secrets.
He knew why the project was so successful.
The essence of this thing is indeed very similar to his business.
It was a kind of... a strange power that distorted the brain. The screen and the arcade machine frame were deliberately designed and adjusted to precisely focus the viewer's vision.
The side frames of the device filter out other clutter in the environment, allowing players to focus on the screen.
The relentless psychedelic electronic music and the almost imperceptible loading and retries cause players to quickly lose their sense of time once they start playing.
The immediate and powerful positive feedback is even more intense and exciting than a slot machine.
All these factors combined together to form this terrifying coin-devouring monster.
The only drawback is that it doesn't dispense coins.
In a sense, it was designed from the very beginning to be a "gambling machine".
"If you ask me, it would be perfect if we added a module that dispenses coins based on the score at the end of each level."
"Goodness, that'll be even more terrifying... But I think video games have a better solution, it just needs some time to develop."
Lin Lixin neither confirmed nor denied the matter, and did not continue the discussion on this topic.
"Imagine a future where there's a mobile game that allows players to use money directly from their bank accounts, like a slot machine—you put in money and wait for the result."
"Casinos are powerful, but their biggest problem is that they are casinos." "But video games are different; they can easily step outside of Las Vegas, and they can easily be given a cute, appealing exterior."
"See, players can play for free; we won't force anyone to spend money, right?"
"With just a simple layer of packaging, everyone will think... 'Wow, it's so beautiful...'"
Wynn's expression froze for a moment, then his eyes widened slightly.
He was just moments ago basking in the glory of his brilliant idea.
However, in the blink of an eye, a truly terrifying future blueprint unfolded before him.
Mobile devices...
Based on the most widely owned devices, the two most common are the NP (Player on Fire) with over 100 million units and the Walkman with over 300 million units.
Assuming that imagined futuristic device could reach this level of ownership...
Then he could have 300 million potential customers.
Even if only one percent is selected, that's still millions of customers. And if just one percent of them are willing to keep pouring money into it, then it can have a continuous cash flow.
What's even more frightening is that this model is extremely easy to replicate.
Unlike Las Vegas, which requires investing tens or hundreds of billions of dollars to build lavish buildings, it doesn't need to design all sorts of fancy things.
It doesn't even require giving players a single penny!
All you need to do is extract the core mechanics and then put it in the shell of a video game...
At that moment, Wynn suddenly understood what Lin Lixin meant when he said at the beginning, "Future video games will increasingly move in this direction."
He saw further than anyone else, much further.
Combining Gamenova's willingness to burn through cash at a loss, and its commitment to fully open-source internet technology even at the cost of no profit, all in an effort to aggressively promote it...
What exactly is Lin Lixin plotting? That's quite frightening.
Wynn's throat bobbed, and he swallowed hard.
Compared to this guy, I felt like a complete greenhorn.
He now had a strong urge to get on the train as fast as he could! While there was still time, he needed to grab onto the rapidly accelerating Gamenova train.
I call this... " Digital Capitalism," the commodification of data.
"However, as I said, the infrastructure is not yet mature, so this can only be a fantasy in the short term. Our project this time is actually a feasibility verification in advance. Like I said, you are the expert in this area, right?"