Recaps

Lin Lixin turned Rocksmith into a major arcade and console hit, then expanded GAMENOVA’s technology and recruited Blizzard and Westwood to build ambitious new games. The stretch left Blizzard rebuilding its Star Wars RTS around Lin Lixin’s technical direction as Rocksmith sales continued to rise.

• Lin Lixin won the Grammy for Classical Producer of the Year, then developed Rocksmith with a real-instrument interface and partnered with Motorola on a high-performance audio processor.
• Lin Lixin recruited the Replacements for Rocksmith, and Flea and Slash drew crowds with their perfect-score performance as the game and the band’s album became hits.
• Lin Lixin recruited Blizzard to make a combat-focused racing game, supplied its motion-simulation hardware and music, and helped the team develop smoother 3D visuals.
• Senna challenged Little Jimmy in Rock N' Roll Racing, but Jimmy won by firing a laser on the final straight, and racing teams and players soon embraced the game.
• Lin Lixin created Shanghai for the NovaPocket, and its rapid sales led him to announce tiered licensing for GAMENOVA’s NovaEngine.
• Lin Lixin launched Mahjong Academy with Satoshi Tajiri and Toru Muranishi, then brought Westwood into Blizzard and secured Lucas’s approval for a Star Wars RTS.
• Lin Lixin directed Blizzard to replace its pathfinding and map systems and redesign its controls for large troop battles, while proposing sound-card networking for multiplayer.
• GAMENOVA released Rocksmith on consoles with a standalone 16-bit sound card, and sales passed 500,000 copies as beginners played at home.

GAMENOVA expanded into display manufacturing and online services while launching Command & Conquer and developing The Sims: Urbz. The new game drew women and teenage girls to NovaXeno and NEXUS as Christmas approached.

• Lucasfilm and GAMENOVA released a Command & Conquer trailer, and fans discovered its local network multiplayer at the convention.
• Lin Lixin moved to acquire Westinghouse’s electronics division and patents, then began building Micro-Nova’s TFT-LCD production plans.
• Lin Lixin assigned the NovaSwift a lighter game library and began developing The Sims: Bustin' Out, later renamed The Sims: Urbz, with a clothing-design and sharing feature.
• Lin Lixin established NEXUS and launched Pixel War, where Benjamin’s donut drawing grew into a player community that later split into rival teams.
• Lin Lixin brought Glass and Ruth Handler into plans to connect Attitude, Barbie fashion, and The Sims: Urbz through player-designed clothes and sharing codes.
• Gerald and Lin Lixin settled on ROM cartridges for NovaSwift and planned to use Micro-Nova’s NAND research to address storage limits.
• Sean and Yuli played The Sims: Urbz, where Yuli took over outfit design after Sean struggled with the controls and spent his starting money.
• As Christmas neared, women and teenage girls began buying The Sims, NovaXeno consoles, and NEXUS subscriptions.

Lin Lixin launched Zork Idle, NOVA Kart, and Hill Climb Racing as GAMENOVA expanded its consoles and games. He helped bring the World Wide Web to NeXT computers and began addressing the W3C as Jobs and Sculley argued over Apple and Microsoft.

• Lin Lixin developed Zork Idle with Infocom, using a custom chip and software techniques to support huge numbers on 16-bit hardware, and Linus became hooked on the game.
• Lin Lixin planned NOVA Kart as an accessible, character-driven racing game and worked with Gerald to create a low-cost steering-wheel attachment from a 3D-printed part.
• Vincent and Emma played NOVA Kart together on Christmas, and Vincent thanked GAMENOVA for the game.
• Lin Lixin followed NOVA Kart’s sales success by developing Hill Climb Racing for NovaSwift, focusing on simple controls, clear goals, and a custom 2D physics engine.
• Robert bought a NovaSwift for Yuli but became absorbed in Hill Climb Racing, while the console sold over ten million units in its first month.
• Lin Lixin showed Jobs how the World Wide Web and a browser could make NeXT computers useful, then launched Neus Browser and built the first website at info.neus.com.
• Sean created the Good123 web directory, and Lin Lixin arranged for NEXUS to link to it after its traffic grew.
• At the W3C’s first headquarters opening, Lin Lixin began speaking while Jobs and Sculley argued about Apple and Microsoft.

Lin Lixin developed Cut the Rope into a hit through its characters, level design, and partnerships, then turned a mansion into the basis for Biohazard. The game launched with costly enhanced graphics and left Hawk frightened after his first encounter with a zombie.

• Lin Lixin chose Cut the Rope for NovaSwift, recruited Sam to help design its physics puzzles, and introduced stars and a level editor.
• Lin Lixin created Om Nom, recruited Katherine Schwarzenegger for voice work, and arranged an Om Nom Stories series and merchandise partnerships.
• Cut the Rope became popular before release, and Hunter won a NovaSwift from John before Vincent and Emma helped him try the game.
• After Sam's prank gave Lin Lixin the idea for psychological horror, Lin Lixin rejected torture-focused games and proposed Biohazard, a 3D mansion horror game for the NX.
• Lin Lixin and his crew filmed scenes with Schwarzenegger, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford, then renovated a Denver mansion to serve as the game's setting.
• Carmack and Lin Lixin designed Biohazard around fixed camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds, while Lin Lixin used a dark mansion search to teach Sam about scarce resources.
• GAMENOVA promoted Biohazard with a cinematic trailer, and Hawk preordered three copies despite the game's high price.
• Hawk began Biohazard as Jill Valentine, explored the mansion, watched a zombie kill Kenneth, and quit in fright before mistaking his cousin Tony Hawk for another zombie.