America: The Godfather of Game Development

Chapter 23 Invite the Governor to Play Contra

Lin Lixin, who is familiar with the modern, advanced film industry, finds it difficult to objectively evaluate the quality of the fantasy action film "Conan the Destroyer".

However, Lin Lixin did have some impression of this IP.

It seems that a developer called 'Funcom' later developed a multiplayer online survival game based on the original 'Conan the Barbarian' manga.

Unfortunately, the development team didn't pay much attention to this, resulting in the game not receiving good reviews.

Sam, standing beside him, was thoroughly enjoying the film; this kind of subject matter suited him perfectly.

When Conan, wielding his sword, utterly defeated the attacking cavalry as if they were nothing, he even unconsciously pumped his fist and secretly cheered.

Lin Lixin's attention was entirely drawn to the image of the young governor on screen, who was only wearing a pair of underwear.

The end credits begin to scroll.

Sam jumped to his feet before everyone else, clapping excitedly.

The striking appearance of this bag immediately drew the attention of those around him, including Schwarzenegger himself, who was sitting in the front row.

This man, who has just completed his transition from bodybuilder to movie star, is surrounded by reporters, producers, and admirers.

Lin Lixin managed to squeeze to the edge of the crowd; the invitation he had bought was not enough to give him a real opportunity to talk to Schwarzenegger one-on-one.

After waiting for quite a while, he and Sam were finally able to squeeze into the inner circle.

Taking advantage of a break in their conversation, Lin Lixin cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"Mr. Schwarzenegger, congratulations on the film's release! Your performance is even better than in 'Conan the Barbarian'!"

"Thanks."

Schwarzenegger glanced at Lin Lixin and Sam, returning their smiles politely.

"Mr. Schwarzenegger, I'm a game developer and we're looking for a great 'tough guy' spokesperson for our project. Would you be interested in learning more about him?"

Upon hearing Lin Lixin's words, Schwarzenegger, who had been looking away, paused, raised an eyebrow slightly, and showed some interest.

"A game? What kind of game?"

Lin Lixin quickly opened his briefcase and took out several concept drawings, which depicted two tough soldiers fighting side by side.

Before he could even begin to introduce himself, a middle-aged man with meticulously combed hair suddenly barged in like a wall.

The identification tag on his chest identified him.

Agent Dave.

"I'm sorry, young man." His voice was gentle, yet carried an undeniable air of authority. "Arnold is at a crucial stage in his career, and all business activities must be handled with utmost care."

Dave looked Lin Lixin up and down a few times. Although he didn't say anything, Lin Lixin could clearly feel a sense of distrust stemming from his youth and race.

"Video games? Forgive my bluntness, but if you've ever read the news these days, you should know what video games are really like."

"Atari buried millions of cassette tapes in a New Mexico landfill."

"You want Arnold's name displayed alongside those outdated plastic boxes? That won't do his career any good."

"Does anyone else have questions?"

His words were harsh, but they were true.

From the perspective of people in an era where the mainstream view is "video games are dead," advocating for video games is naturally a recipe for disaster.

This is a death sentence, a path only those has-been stars whose popularity has faded and who are about to leave the industry would choose.

The atmosphere instantly cooled, and the surrounding listeners all showed expressions of surprise or mockery.

Before Lin Lixin could say anything, Sam was the first to object.

No matter what industry you're a big shot in, if you dare to say anything bad about video games in front of him, he'll argue his point even if it's unreasonable.

"We're not Atari! Tetris sold in arcades all over California, are all those players fake?!"

"I'm sorry, we..."

Before the agent could say anything more, a strong hand suddenly pressed down on his shoulder.

Schwarzenegger's gaze lingered on Lin Lixin; he had just astutely grasped the key point in the other man's words.

"A tough-guy protagonist in a game? What kind of game is that?"

"The soldier who saves the world, Mr. Schwarzenegger," Lin Lixin smiled, "like Mr. Stallone's 'Rambo'."

"Rambo..." Schwarzenegger repeated the word.

As a fellow movie star, he naturally knew about Sylvester Stallone, this remarkable senior.

It's no exaggeration to say that Sylvester Stallone is the epitome of 80s action films.

That's exactly what Schwarzenegger, who is just beginning to make a name for himself, wants to become.

The agent frowned; he sensed that Schwarzenegger's attitude seemed to be wavering, which was not a good sign.

As his agent, he didn't want Schwarzenegger to get involved in a video game that was barely hanging on at such a crucial time.

"Young man, video games are not movies. With such crude graphics, they can't compare to the effects of movies at all."

He directly exposed the biggest flaw in video games today.

"You call him a tough guy, but in the game, he'd probably just be a bunch of moving pixels, right?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Lixin and Sam exchanged a glance, both able to see the barely suppressed smile in each other's eyes.

Sam had, of course, already played the game demo that Lin Lixin had spent a lot of time developing, and knew exactly what kind of "monster" it was.

Lin Lixin reached into the bag he was carrying and pulled out a strange-looking circuit board covered with various components.

"Mr. Schwarzenegger, if we can find a monitor, you can try it out right now."

Schwarzenegger was somewhat surprised by Lin Lixin's confident demeanor.

Somehow, his intuition told him that this might be a good opportunity.

After thinking for a moment, he simply pointed to the screen behind him.

"A monitor? This screen should be big enough, right?"

The professional cinema they were in was equipped with a large-screen video projector, which, in addition to simply projecting film, also supported mainstream composite video signal input.

The others present exchanged bewildered glances, surprised that Mr. Schwarzenegger would actually be interested in the proposal.

"Arnold, there's another meeting with Fox later..."

The agent was clearly getting anxious, and even accidentally leaked Schwarzenegger's schedule for the day.

"Dave, just give me ten minutes." His tone left no room for argument, and he gestured with his chin towards Lin Lixin, "Right here."

He could still produce it in just over ten minutes.

More importantly, it's not a bad thing to try to understand something you don't know, even if you don't cooperate.

……

Lin Lixin handed the prototype's control panel to Schwarzenegger and connected the video cable to the projector.

The screen flickered a few times, and a line of special effects text appeared in the center.

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