Do you have something you're looking forward to these days? anything at all?
I used to be excited whenever a new game was announced. I used to follow their development closely and would look forward to their news and updates. but then i realized, somethings off and the magic just isn't there anymore.
You can barely find soul in games nowadays. most of them are a miss. maybe because greed became a major theme in their game design. their bad practices would ooze in the cracks of their pretty looking games. that's if it managed to see the light of the day.
But still, I have something I am looking forward to. When I think of the types of games that were promised to me in science fiction stories: full virtual reality worlds, complete five senses interface, pain receptors, and maybe zero millisecond network delays, just to give a few examples. It’s not just a simple brain stimulation activity anymore, but itll be a life experience and it makes me excited for the future.
This “future” is supposedly happening in a few hours according to the game store clerk.
Yeah, nothings happening. not yet. not this time. Now that I think about it, the store clerk got me. This game isn't on my radar. What do I do with this purchase? the fact that it got four free additional copies for “my friends”, screams of them trying to get rid of it.
But since i got duped into buying this, i got no choice but to follow through. So here I am in this dark room tonight, hungry. I wanted to sleep away my hunger but I'm forced to watch the launch livestream. I still have a job tomorrow, but my bad decision won't let me sleep peacefully. I have to see for myself if the clerk is telling the truth or not.
The game store clerk, with his eye-catching afro, really left an impression on me. He was so passionate about promoting the game’s pre-launch sales event earlier. In fact , I couldn't forget. I couldn't possibly be mistaken. The clerk and the guy talking on the livestream right now are one and the same. but he's wearing a tuxedo now. small world. they probably used up all their budget and could not afford to hire additional people.
The livestream production felt cheap too.
But despite their marketing side lacking a bit, their product is looking good. too good in fact. it seems their whole budget went into it. people had already seen how the game might look in their trailers in the past, but the livestream confirmed how it looked and provided even more in-game footage. It was beautiful.
In a brief demo you could see something like drone flyby footage of a rural european landscape but, you know it's not real because of different hints of colors that feel magical and do not exist in real life. not to mention if you start noticing the animals and entities that move around. There are so many things going on, the world felt like an actual living and breathing ecosystem. it's more than just having realistic graphics.
As the livestream progressed throughout the night, I started to lose track of what the tuxedo guy talks about, probably out of boredom.
him throwing all these big boy words had lost me in thought. where exactly are the “game features of the future” he was talking about? The “MMOs” are nothing new. There are games that have already implemented what I've seen so far, if he was so confident earlier, there's gotta be even more to it.
“AI”? Having the “AI” tag screams of something that just rides the Artificial Intelligence craze that's going on these days. so if anything it acts as a red flag. this all might be a waste of time.
My brain is still forming its opinion regarding what I heard so far, but my train of thought go to a sudden halt when I hear the tuxedo guy suddenly utter the words- “10 Billion Dollars.”
With an eyebrow raised I was like, “huh?”
I haven't even recovered and he right away said, “10 Billion Dollars for anyone that can find the artifact from my game, The Golden Augustus”.
My eyes would pop out of its socket and my jaw would drop in disbelief. my first thought was- nothing. a big nothing. I can't form a thought at this instant.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
And the tuxedo guy would deliver the final blow with a big smile- “You heard that right folks, capital B as in boy. find my artifact and your lineage will never have to work again. ever.”
The sudden burst of influx in livestream messages would jolt me awake. Those words by the tuxedo guy came out of nowhere. people would be confused at first, imagine going from boring technical talk to suddenly offering something you couldn't possibly refuse, it's like it was done deliberately to filter people out or something.
But after a moment of silence, everyone would cheer. Although there's only crickets' noises during these times, and maybe some barking dogs, I could hear the cheering around me very clearly.
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***some lines on live stream***
“HOLY SHHHHHT”
“no way dude”
“his hair looks funny”
“im gonna be a billionaire”
“YEEEE HAWWWWW”
“where to buy?”
“sirs please do the needful”
======
Noticing the viewer count still in the low thousands, my hands are beginning to shake. Assuming this is real, I'm sitting on a gold mine right now, maybe together with a few thousand people. I can't think straight and I'm beginning to panic.
I started considering the fact of it being a prank, but I think you'll get sued if you do things like that. so there's a part of me that believes that it might be real but there's also a part of me that says it's fake. I mean 10 billion as a prize for a game is unheard of. What I ended up doing is wait, and try to see how things will go.
And this proved to be a mistake. I should have made my move. any move at all. curious, i head out to get back to the store to ask and confirm some things, since their email seems to be busy. And this is where i realized, the queue in the store is very long now. When did this happen? holy sht, i should have picked up even more copies. By this point i knew this is going to be a big deal. it's a no brainer, each game copy is going to fetch a fortune.
Clips of the livestream would quickly make rounds on the internet which in turn, would increase livestream viewer count. It didn't take long for the local news station to pick up what was happening and then it would bring in yet another batch of curious people. From a local event it quickly snowballed its way into the national spotlight, and soon globally. All in a blink of an eye.
“Now do I have your attention?”
Well if you're dangling that amount of money for sure you'll have everyone’s attention, the tuxedo guy continued on his address.
“You better be, because in about a minute, someone's life is gonna change. Will it be for the better or the worse? that will be entirely up to you. good luck and have fun folks”
In a low inaudible voice he exits.
“till we meet again”.
Hearing this, I immediately started getting my VR gear out of the box. My shaking hands can't plug the cord properly. it's just a normal VR gear by the way. He was purposely being vague with the features, so I'm off to actually check out the game. Is the promised future already here? I want to see it for myself. I swear it's not about the money, haha.
The livestream comments would go haywire like it goes so fast it stutters and has difficulty displaying all messages. viewer count had skyrocketed over time i didn't notice.
======
***some lines on live stream***
-WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!!!
-BRUHHHH
-im gonna die of heart attack!
-its gonna launch now
-hehehehehhh
-HELL YEAH!!!
=======
Seeing the comments made me pinch my cheeks to just confirm this is really happening. I added an additional slap too for good measure. and yep. It hurts. this isn't a dream. I can’t stop myself from grinning. For once in my life I finally hit a jackpot. It seems like all the bad luck in my life built me for this moment alone.
After the tuxedo guy made his exit, the master of ceremony had taken over the livestream.
The master of ceremony runs around as he enters the stage like a kid losing his mind over his christmas gift.
"WOW! just WOW! i cant believe what i just heard! 10. mthrfking. billion. dollars. bruh."
It seems he has no idea what's happening. probably not briefed earlier for that authentic reaction.
“Sorry for cussing out, I'm still having a hard time processing these revelations. I'm not very big on games, I'm just a common master of ceremonies guy. but you mthrfcking bet I'm going to check it out.”
Sensing the people are getting restless, and becoming too chaotic, with the viewer count at its peak, the wait would be over. They are finally launching the game.
The master of ceremony will do a quick warm up and suddenly crouch, something like a runner will do before they start running, with his mic on his one hand, he continued.
“And without further ado, the game will launch at 5…”
I started donning the VR helmet. finally. lets get this thing started.
“4…”
Not yet…
“3…”
*gulp*
“2…”
Being so nervous i can't help but spam click the login button even though it throws an error.
“1…”
*POP* *pop* *POP*
The master of ceremony would bolt quickly away from the stage full of confetti while shouting at the same time,
“THE GAME IS NOW ONLINE!!!”
Presumably going home to play the game.