Chapter Summaries

Lin Lixin explained to Vivian why the 3DO’s high price and lack of launch games doomed it, then called Sam to ask him to contact Ted Turner. The story left Lin planning a new game tied to the Gulf War and seeking CNN’s help.

• Lin Lixin told Vivian that Panasonic’s need to profit on each 3DO forced its price high, unlike GameNova’s loss-leading consoles that earned money through game sales.
• Lin Lixin pointed out that Trip’s 3DO presentation had not mentioned any games or launch titles, and Vivian agreed that the omission was a major flaw.
• Lin Lixin recalled asking Sam whether he would buy a powerful Atari without games, using the example to explain why hardware specifications alone could not sell a console.
• Lin Lixin decided to make a game that would exploit the Gulf War’s publicity and help expand internet growth through LAN multiplayer.
• Lin Lixin called Sam, who agreed that the 3DO’s price and lack of launch games were problems, then arranged to contact Ted Turner for him.

Lin Lixin recruited Ted Turner and CNN to gather frontline footage for GameNova’s planned Gulf War shooter, tentatively titled “Battlefield 1991.” He then brought the game’s ambitious large-scale multiplayer and combined-arms requirements to NovaGraphics, where Ben Gokey and Carmack warned that the era’s hardware could not support them.

• Lin Lixin met Ted Turner and proposed working with CNN’s war correspondents to obtain firsthand battlefield footage if conflict broke out in the Gulf.
• Ted agreed that CNN would stay on the front lines and accepted GameNova’s support for satellite communications and international transmission lines.
• Lin showed Ted the tentative title “Battlefield 1991,” a large-map shooter built around coordinated combat.
• Lin presented the game’s requirements at NovaGraphics, including 64-player battles, drivable vehicles, and extensive military environments.
• Ben Gokey and Carmack objected that available memory and hardware could not handle the game’s scale, leaving Lin to consider whether a solution existed.

Lin Lixin proposed ways to make GameNova’s Battlefield-inspired game run on limited hardware while preserving its large-scale combined-arms gameplay. He began outlining a desert-map optimization plan using heat haze, levels of detail, and distance fog.

• Lin Lixin suggested reducing the player count to sixteen versus sixteen, shrinking the maps, simplifying physics, and lowering texture resolution to ease hardware demands.
• Lin Lixin argued that large-scale combined-arms combat was the game’s defining feature, so GameNova should optimize the engine rather than sacrifice its core gameplay.
• Lin Lixin proposed setting the game during the Gulf crisis, where desert terrain would require fewer complex models, textures, and lighting effects than an urban battlefield.
• Carmack pointed out that open desert offered little to block distant views, making rendering culling ineffective.
• Lin Lixin explained that desert heat haze could blur distant scenery, then wrote levels of detail and distance fog on the whiteboard as optimization techniques.

Lin Lixin explained how triangle rendering, occlusion culling, LOD, heat haze, and sandstorm fog could make Battlefield’s enormous 3D map practical on limited hardware. Carmack estimated the techniques could nearly triple processor performance and boost graphics performance by almost fivefold, while Michael Abrash understood why Lin Lixin wanted a dedicated optimization team.

• Lin Lixin explained why 3D worlds relied on triangles and how occlusion culling avoided rendering what players could not see.
• Lin Lixin proposed using sandstorm fog to hide distant scenery and limit draw distance naturally.
• Lin Lixin described combining heat haze, LOD, distant textures, and sandstorms to reduce rendering costs.
• Carmack estimated the optimizations could nearly triple processor performance and improve graphics performance by almost fivefold.
• Michael Abrash realized Lin Lixin needed a dedicated optimization team because his ambitions exceeded what one person could accomplish.

Lin Lixin and Carmack began developing the Frostbite Engine for Battlefield, while Lin explained how interest management and dedicated servers could make 16-on-16 battles possible despite limited internet bandwidth. The chapter left the technical plan in place, with the Gulf War approaching and the new engine in development.

• Lin Lixin persuaded Carmack to create a specialized Battlefield engine, and they named it Frostbite.
• Lin watched CNN footage of an M1 Abrams being unloaded from a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy as he gathered visual references for the Gulf War game.
• Sam questioned whether internet connections could support Battlefield's planned 16-on-16 matches, and Lin outlined the severe bandwidth demands of synchronizing every player.
• Lin explained that interest management could limit synchronization to nearby or relevant battlefield activity, reducing the data each player needed to receive.
• Lin told Sam that Battlefield would use dedicated servers, building on GameNova's earlier experience renting server facilities for Screeps.

Harvey visited an electronics store to see EA’s new Real 3DO console and discovered that EA had its own dedicated section alongside the established console makers. He pushed through the crowd toward the displays and spotted something that shocked him, but the chapter ended before revealing what it was.

• Real 3DO launched with three major games, including an upgraded One on One: Gold Edition and two FMV games.
• Harvey skipped his usual basketball game and rode his bicycle to a crowded electronics store to check out the console.
• Harvey saw few Real 3DO consoles among shoppers and passed through the GameNova displays, buying a copy of Wolfenstein 3D for his collection.
• Harvey noticed EA was absent from the publisher displays and realized it now had its own section as a console platform holder.
• Harvey entered EA’s spacious Electronic Arts & 3DO section and saw something that shook him.

Harvey examined the 3DO’s expensive hardware and sparse launch lineup, deciding he would not buy one. After first-day sales came in at 7,532 units, Trip worried that the platform lacked enough games and learned that Origin Systems’ Wing Commander port would not arrive until at least May.

• Harvey saw the 3DO’s $699.99 price and inspected its hardware and One on One: Gold Edition demo.
• Harvey found only two other launch games, both built around live-action FMV, and concluded the 3DO was promoting playable movies rather than a strong selection of games.
• Harvey watched customers try the 3DO and saw only one buyer leave with a unit, deciding he would rent one rather than spend the money.
• Trip received the report that 7,532 3DO units had sold on launch day and worried the installed base was too small to attract developers.
• Trip asked about Origin Systems’ 3DO port and learned that Wing Commander required substantial redevelopment and would not be ready before May of the following year.

The Real 3DO’s first-week sales disappointed, and Panasonic and EA moved to cut costs and refocus it on games. Trip Hawkins saw the platform’s problems as sales reached only 30,000 units, while Lin Lixin arrived at the Lockheed Marietta Plant.

• 3DO’s first-week sales collapsed despite strong public claims and an impressive roster of corporate partners.
• The chapter explained how Panasonic’s VHS standard defeated Sony’s Betamax by offering longer recording times and opening the format to other manufacturers.
• Panasonic’s attempt to apply its VHS strategy to 3DO left the console expensive and unfocused, with weak first-party and developer support.
• Trip Hawkins recognized that 3DO’s strategy and pricing needed to change before EA’s efforts became a failure.
• Panasonic announced a cheaper FZ-10 model with reduced features, while EA shifted its marketing toward games and promoted several upcoming titles.
• Trip Hawkins studied a first-week sales report showing 30,000 units, while Lin Lixin arrived at the Lockheed Marietta Plant.

Lin Lixin toured the C-5 Galaxy cargo compartment at the Marietta Plant while discussing his plans for a realistic modern warfare game with Lockheed CEO Tailaipu. The tour left him considering the immense scale of military equipment, though the chapter ended without revealing what would happen next.

• Lin Lixin walked through the C-5 Galaxy cargo compartment with Lockheed staff and engineers.
• Tailaipu asked Lin Lixin whether he planned to develop a realistic modern warfare game.
• Lin Lixin said Quake was a proof of concept and that his eventual game would pursue greater immersion.
• Lin Lixin noted that the enormous C-5 could carry only two M1 Abrams tanks and reflected on the tanks' size.
• Lin Lixin imagined a blue whale attacking a nuclear submarine and compared the collision to a truck accidentally sending someone to another world.

Lin Lixin’s team successfully tested a massive desert map in a 3D game, with its terrain compressed to just 8 MB. The chapter ended with Lin Lixin explaining that the desert’s low information entropy made such compression possible.

• Tailaipu and Lin Lixin tested the desert battlefield’s graphics, radar, and multiplayer systems using white-box models, and the test ran smoothly.
• Tailaipu marveled at the enormous 3D map and asked whether GameNova had developed a new disc format to store it.
• Lin Lixin revealed that the desert map itself used only 8 MB, shocking Tailaipu.
• Lin Lixin explained that the terrain compressed so efficiently because its patterns were predictable and its information entropy was low.
• Lin Lixin recalled how he had previously compressed Fire Emblem maps into strings of characters for players to share.

GameNova unveiled a trailer for Battlefield 1991, a modern-warfare game set in a parallel version of the Gulf Crisis, and stirred anticipation for its expected Presidents' Day release. The next day, President Bush announced the start of Operation Desert Storm, and the Gulf War erupted.

• GameNova announced that Infocom would remain focused on adventure games as Richard Vander Wende took over from Jon Van Caneghem, who planned to rebuild New World Computing.
• GameNova kept quiet about the 3DO launch while players looked forward to its Presidents' Day announcements and a new game described as large in scope.
• On January 16, 1991, television hosts introduced the first trailer for Battlefield 1991, which depicted a satellite-guided campaign involving aircraft, troops, tanks, and a carrier battle group.
• The trailer presented Battlefield 1991 as a game about a parallel-timeline Gulf Crisis escalating into full-scale war and gave February 18 as its probable release date.
• On January 17, 1991, President Bush announced that Operation Desert Storm had begun, marking the outbreak of the Gulf War.

As the Gulf War began, CNN reporter Bernard Shaw used GameNova's portable Nova media terminal to broadcast live from Baghdad. In New York, Vincent and his mother Emma watched the coverage and received a letter from Vincent's father, Kent, who had been sent to Saudi Arabia.

• Bernard Shaw and his crew set up GameNova's Nova media terminal at the Al-Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad.
• Bernard connected to the satellite and confirmed that CNN was receiving the broadcast.
• Air raid sirens sounded, and Bernard began reporting live as the war started.
• Vincent stayed up with his mother Emma to watch CNN's live coverage of Baghdad.
• A postal worker delivered a letter from Kent, who had written to Emma while serving in Saudi Arabia.

George objected to GameNova turning war into entertainment, while Emma defended “Battlefield 1991” and planned to buy it. As the Gulf War’s air campaign continued without a ground invasion, Emma and Vincent returned from shopping with the game, leaving George to inspect its box.

• George condemned “Battlefield 1991” over breakfast, arguing that war was nothing like a video game and that the campaign risked trivializing soldiers’ suffering.
• Emma defended GameNova’s game, while Vincent timidly suggested they skip it; George remained unconvinced despite reports that GameNova would support veterans and the Pentagon had praised the game’s accuracy.
• Over the next month, coalition forces carried out massive air strikes against Iraq, and people began to wonder whether the war would avoid becoming another Vietnam-style quagmire.
• Emma and Vincent came home from a shopping trip as CNN continued its coverage of the air strikes.
• George picked up the large box and read the title, “Battlefield,” and its subtitle, “[1991].

Emma, Vincent, and George watched Battlefield 1991’s opening cinematic, which showcased the Gulf War’s land, sea, and air forces with stirring music and sound. The cinematic impressed George despite his skepticism, while Vincent felt that the game conveyed the gravity of war and human life rather than the thrill of slaughter.

• Lin Lixin secured DoD authorization and used official footage and support to present Battlefield 1991 as both a game and military publicity.
• George accused GameNova of rushing out a Quake rehash, but the cinematic’s marching music and desert battlefield drew him in.
• The cinematic showed M1 Abrams tanks and coalition naval forces, including carriers and warships presented through live footage and prerendered scenes.
• Aircraft formations appeared before the Battlefield 1991 logo, and George admitted that the cinematic was respectable.
• Vincent compared Battlefield 1991 with action-focused shooters and felt that it carried the weight of war, history, and life.

Emma and Vincent tried to join a Battlefield 1991 multiplayer match, while George became absorbed in the game's Gulf War briefing and class system. After the match loaded, Emma chose scout, but George urged her to pick a class that would help the team advance.

• Emma and Vincent chose multiplayer and waited several minutes before securing a place in a 32-player match.
• The Operation Desert Tomahawk loading screen presented a battlefield map and a Gulf War briefing that George read closely.
• Emma reached the spawn selection screen and realized that available spawn points belonged to coalition forces, while enemy positions were unavailable.
• George pointed out the five classes and explained that teamwork between infantry, armor, medics, engineers, and anti-tank troops shaped the battlefield.
• Emma selected scout because she trusted her sniping aim, but George criticized the crowded scout role and told her to choose assault, medic, or engineer.

Emma and the others entered Battlefield 1991, where the enormous desert map and its playable vehicles made the game feel like a battlefield simulator. Emma climbed into a Humvee’s machine-gun position as an F-15 streaked across the horizon.

• The game began at an American forward base, where Emma noticed the low frame rate and examined her M16A2.
• Vincent and Emma were stunned by the immense scale of the map and the sprawling base.
• A player named Simon climbed into a Humvee and called for the others to follow.
• Emma joined Simon’s Humvee at its working machine gun while George watched with a furrowed brow.
• An F-15 fighter jet streaked across the horizon as Emma gripped the machine gun.

Emma experienced the chaos and scale of Battlefield 1991, where she was killed in combat and revived by a medic before her team captured the strongpoint. She told George that the game was very different, and found him sitting silently with red, swollen eyes.

• Emma manned a Humvee’s machine gun, struggled to aim amid the vehicle’s restrictions, and jumped out to fight on foot with her teammate.
• Emma and her teammate exchanged fire with enemies from behind cover, and she killed an enemy before an aerial bomb killed her teammate.
• Emma requested support, then a recon soldier shot and killed her with an SVD sniper rifle.
• An M1 Abrams and supporting troops arrived, and a medic revived Emma while the team advanced and captured the strongpoint.
• Emma told George that Battlefield 1991 was very different, and saw that his eyes were red and swollen.

After the Gulf War ended in a rapid coalition victory, Battlefield 1991 became a sensation as the public embraced its accurate war simulation and praised GAMENOVA. Lin Lixin finished a banquet celebrating the game’s success, then visited GAMENOVA’s developing Delta Base, where he met Lucas and discussed their projects.

• Operation Desert Sabre ended in a 100-hour coalition victory, and CNN and Battlefield 1991 gained enormous public attention.
• Battlefield 1991 sales and public enthusiasm surged after its detailed portrayal of the Gulf War drew praise from media outlets and players.
• Lin Lixin hosted military contacts at a banquet and agreed to provide dedicated servers for an internal network on a base.
• The next day, Lin Lixin visited Delta Base and admired the developing ocean-view villa.
• Lucas met Lin Lixin at the site, discussed building Skywalker Estate with Trevor, and praised Battlefield 1991 before asking why Lin Lixin had ignored 3D0.

Lin Lixin explained why GAMENOVA planned to build an affordable 32-bit next-generation console around the powerful ATHENA processor, while Lucas considered making adventure games before reclaiming Star Wars video game rights. In Helsinki, Linus discovered an unexpected file on his computer and found a message claiming that an optimized version of his operating-system project had been sent to his public email.

• Lucas said he wanted to make a Star Wars game, but explained that Atari still held the video game adaptation rights.
• Lin Lixin suggested that Lucas start with adventure games and revealed that GAMENOVA was preparing a new console.
• Lin Lixin argued that clock speed, cost, and a healthy ecosystem mattered more than choosing a 64-bit processor, and said ATHENA could approach 80 MHz.
• Linus worked on an operating-system kernel using C and assembly on his i386 PC.
• Linus found an unfamiliar file in his project and read a message criticizing his tools and pointing him to an optimized version sent by email.

Linus arrived in California to join GAMENOVA, intrigued by the company and by Lin Lixin’s unusually personal recruitment. On the drive to headquarters, Carmack challenged Linus’s suitability to develop an operating-system kernel, and Linus defended his focus on reliability over raw performance.

• GAMENOVA secured Linus an H-1B visa, and after a week of travel he arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• Linus reflected on his love of Zork Idle and Screeps and how Lin Lixin’s polished solution to his code had persuaded him to accept the offer.
• Carmack picked Linus up in his Corvette and asked whether he was the player known as “The Finnish Guy” in Screeps.
• Carmack challenged Linus’s kernel work as inefficient and argued that he could better exploit the i386’s performance.
• Linus defended his priority of stable support for many programs and hardware devices, then questioned why Carmack did not simply use UNIX or NeXT-STEP.