Chapter 129: The Texas Cyclone Sweeping Across America

Although Steve Jobs was unhappy, he generally fulfilled his task. William White did give him a fair amount of face, so this favor was considered owed.

Some things are actually paradoxes. Don't be fooled by William White’s generosity; in reality, he gained even more. Deals delivered to one's doorstep are rarely good ones.

If the Apple II saw significant improvements without a major price hike, its competitors would certainly go insane. Tandy and Commodore were already trailing behind Apple; another heavy blow would likely leave them questioning their existence. They would inevitably follow Motorola’s lead—that was entirely predictable. The Japanese factories were not yet running smoothly enough to churn out production, and once everything was ready, at least three months would have passed. Steve Jobs knew William White’s intentions, but he still had to owe him a favor. This support was already quite good, and it would be wrong to be overly greedy. That is the advantage of an open conspiracy: even if you know what is happening, it is useless.

Apple, of course, would not change its model overnight. They still needed a series of tests, but since the changes were minor, the timeline remained manageable.

The sudden appearance of arcade games in the United States quickly attracted many gaming enthusiasts. Americans truly loved to play, and demand soon outstripped supply. Those who were the first to "eat the crab" were clearly very happy, as their returns were excellent.

Buy them immediately? It was not that easy. The three Japanese manufacturers could not keep up with production, so there was no hope for this year. Overcapacity was not news in this era; almost all products suffered from it. The fact that there was a shortage here was truly maddening.

Tetris? Good grief, why was it all Russian music? Perhaps "Russian Blocks" would be a more appropriate name. Americans were interesting in this regard; they did not associate this music with the Soviets. They viewed Tchaikovsky as a Slav, distinguishing him completely from the modern Russian state. No one would criticize William White over this music, as that would only make them look dim-witted. If someone claimed that music knows no borders, the critic would simply become a laughingstock.

"Mr. William White, why isn't it Texan music?"

Facing the reporter's follow-up, William White had no choice but to respond. Being blindly arrogant was inappropriate, and since no one explicitly mentioned "the Russians," playing along would only make one look foolish.

"The inspiration for this game came from nesting dolls. While I was playing the piano, I saw the nesting dolls on the cabinet. I thought it was very cool, so I decided to develop a game. My engineers did a great job."

"I think it was Tchaikovsky who gave me the inspiration; he guided me forward. You can view this music as a tribute; it is very important to me."

This high-brow reply immediately left the reporters stunned. They had never doubted William White’s gift for storytelling, but they hadn't expected him to reach such a level of sophistication.

In truth, this was yet another piece of nonsense from him. He was simply accustomed to the music from his past life, and changing it would have felt uncomfortable. Furthermore, there was the issue of copyright. In the United States, that would be a massive expense; without significant funding, how could one obtain the rights to The Beatles' music? If the game sold well, he would be gouged later on; otherwise, he could forget about using it on home consoles.

In fact, everyone knew he was talking nonsense. The game "Battle Tank" proved this point—why on earth would he use the Tiger tank when an M1 Abrams would have been far more appropriate? And what was up with Russian tanks protecting the German headquarters? American copyright protection was notoriously paranoid. To avoid embarrassment, one had to avoid anything too close to real-world products. Yes, you read that right: these tanks were products owned by defense contractors. If you dared to use the M1, you had to pay, whereas other countries’ equipment didn't matter as much.

Especially when it came to Russian hardware. It could be used freely; the Soviets didn't care too much and were even slightly proud of it. Regrettably, arcade machines were banned from export to the Soviet Union. Don't be surprised; that 6502 chip, which William White thought little of, was on the restricted list for hostile nations. Do not try to defy this, or you would be fined into bankruptcy.

Could this thing launch missiles? The answer is yes. North Korea used home appliances and computers, and didn't they do quite well? Brand-name computers at the same price point were far inferior to DIY builds. One could only imagine how trashy mass-produced appliances were, yet even those were used for aerospace technology. You can figure out the rest yourself.

In reality, the Americans were being reckless. Russian semiconductors were inferior, but they were certainly not that bad. On the contrary, their CPUs for aerospace were incredibly stable—far more reliable than Japanese products. They were designed to function under extreme conditions; while their performance might be poor, their stability was exceptional. However, such was the era; under the bipolar world order, all irrationality was set aside, and a single decree was enough to keep everyone in line.

Since the game was so popular, naturally, no one wanted to share the profits with William White. As long as a project was profitable, there were plenty of banks willing to help. It could pay for itself in less than a year—what a fantastic business. Even if the popularity faded later, weren't there new games? As long as new games were constantly added, profit was a certainty.

The three Japanese "bastards" were all conflicted. The immediate profits were too great to give up. Start over? That was easier said than done. Everyone’s energy was focused on manufacturing; ensuring quality and increasing yield were their true priorities. As for new product development? That had to be put on hold for now. If they wasted a year, their competitors would laugh themselves to death.

Fortunately, the Japanese were patient. They could suppress their ambitions for the time being; this process was also a form of valuable accumulation. William White had no intention of suppressing them forever—that was unrealistic; he just wanted to disrupt their rhythm. Orders were the best tool for entrapment. He was now certain that no Famicom would ever appear; the Japanese game manufacturers had been completely led astray.

Want to develop games? Fantastic. My software platform is available for you to use; I will just charge a small royalty. If you dare to withhold payment, I will spare no effort to crush you.

Shameless, right? Whether it has teeth or not, as long as it makes money, that is all that matters. Game companies in the future all operated this way; it didn't seem so wrong!

The accountants on Wall Street had lost the ability to calculate. Was William White stupid? With something so profitable, why couldn't he produce it himself? No money? Was that an excuse? "Tell us how much you need, and we guarantee to lend it all to you. We will make sure the interest rate satisfies you. Even giving us some shares is fine; we are very eager to invest."

Hindsight is always 20/20. Now that he had succeeded, they could say whatever they wanted. If he had taken that business plan to them for a loan or financing beforehand, he would have been mocked by those same scoundrels. William White had tried, of course, and not a single bank was willing to help. Naturally, those scoundrels were now miserable. They had been dismissive back then, but now that the situation had reversed, they could only bang their heads against the wall.