The audience, especially the action game enthusiasts, felt like they were on cloud nine after watching Lucien's demonstration. The thrilling, close-quarters swordplay with the boss was something you usually only saw in CG cutscenes or quick-time events...
But now, players could actually step into the arena themselves and execute these breathtaking, adrenaline-pumping combat sequences. This was a monumental breakthrough in the realism of action games. Who knew how terrifyingly immersive the actual gameplay would feel.
Hearing the passionate buzz from the crowd, Lucien smiled slightly and called out, "Your voices are too quiet. I can't hear you. You want to play the game with that little enthusiasm?!"
"We want to play it!!!"
"Let us play!!!"
"Please, release it now or i'll stroke my dih to your picture."
The players' shouts instantly amplified, sending the entire arena into a frenzy!
"Tsk, he's pretty good at working the crowd. Still, that only works on gamers who've never seen the real world." Sitting amidst the deafening roar, the Nintendo CEO sneered dismissively. Suddenly, a middle-aged man's voice ripped through the air with desperate, throat-tearing volume: "I want to play!"
Huh?
The CEO was dumbfounded. That voice was incredibly familiar. It belonged to one of Nintendo's top executives, whose office was quite far from his own.
He was screaming so loud that the sound carried all the way over here?!
'Good lord, is there a traitor in my own company?!'
"Good! That's the spirit!" Lucien nodded, visibly pleased with the audience's overwhelming response. He continued, "After careful consideration by our team, Sekiro will maintain the same price point as Subnautica. It will be priced at $99. As for the release date, it will launch next Saturday at 8:00 PM EST."
"Holy shit, $99 again? Still so cheap?"
"Can't you raise the price a little? We aren't short on cash!"
└ "Ngga, i'm broke! $99 is already enough."
"Yeah, please think about yourself for once."
"At this price, is the New World Studio an angel sent from above to save us?!"
"The eternal GOAT!"
The audience gasped in amazement. Having experienced Subnautica, they already knew just how absurdly high the value-for-money ratio of New World games was.
For $99, the sheer amount of content and experience provided was staggering. Take Subnautica, for example. You could treat it as a genuine, thrilling alien vacation, the kind of vacation that would easily cost over $2,000 in real life!
Who would have thought their second title, Sekiro, would stick to the exact same price.
Even as consumers, they were starting to feel genuinely bad for Lucien's wallet.
He was just too generous. Compared to Anon, the bigwigs at other gaming companies were a bunch of black-hearted vampires. They practically deserved to be strung up from the streetlights.
"Even though the price is incredibly fair, isn't the wait a bit too long? We have to wait a whole week?!" [TL/N: This fucker won't survive at our world, we waited for 10 years for GTA 6!]
"Yeah, how am I supposed to survive the next week without Sekiro!"
"Ah, my katana has long thirsted for blood!"
Besides the praise, a significant portion of the audience complained about the "late" release date for Sekiro.
Lucien actually wanted to release it immediately, but the truth was, Sekiro wasn't even finished yet. How could he possibly launch it?!
Ignoring the players' complaints, Lucien moved on. "Alright, for the final segment of this showcase, I will randomly select four lucky members of the audience to come on stage and ask questions. I will answer them patiently."
"Every player attending this press conference has now received a number. I will use these numbers to select players at random."
The players looked down and, sure enough, found a string of virtual digits in the bottom right corner of their vision.
"I'm number 67!"
"I'm 696969. i liked it!"
"Tsk, that's nothing. Look at mine! My god, how many people are actually attending this showcase? I'm so far down the list!"
└ "Yeah, it's gotta be in the hundreds of millions. It's absolutely insane how their server hasn't been blown up yet."
The crowd erupted in another wave of awe. Meanwhile, on stage, Lucien waved his hand. "Let's draw the first number."
With that, a massive roulette wheel materialized in the air above the arena and began spinning rapidly.
"Stop!"
At Lucien's command, the wheel froze.
"First up, number 1738!"
The next moment, Player 1738, who hadn't even processed what was happening, vanished from their seat and instantly reappeared on stage right next to Lucien.
When the audience laid eyes on Player 1738, they burst into roaring laughter. New World's character creator allowed users to customize their skin tone, and this guy had actually made himself Fetty Wap!
People worldwide couldn't help but crack up at the avatar.
Lucien expertly suppressed the smile tugging at his lips and asked, "So, Player, what question do you have for us at New World?"
Clearly, Player 1738 hadn't expected to be chosen. The expression on his face was visibly tense, awkward, helpless, and tinged with a hint of absolute despair.
Under the watchful eyes of millions and Lucien's polite gaze, 1738 finally stammered out, "Uh, so..."
At that moment, 3566 was filled with despair. He had dressed up like this purely on a whim, and before he could change it back, Lucien had forcefully taken the customization system offline, trapping him in this form.
To make matters worse, out of hundreds of millions of players, Lucien managed to randomly select him. 'What kind of garbage luck is this?'
"Uh, Anon..." 1738 looked bitter as he stared at Lucien. "If I told you I'm just naturally obsessed with Fetty Wap and dressed like this for no other weird reason... would you believe me?"
"I believe you, of course I believe you!" Lucien quickly recovered, nodding enthusiastically. "Don't worry, player. As a host, I am thoroughly professional. I generally don't laugh... unless I absolutely can't hold it in... pfft!!!"
"..."
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The players' faces were practically hurting from smiling so much.
"Sigh, whatever, forget it..." 1738 decided to just roll with the embarrassment. It was the internet; no one knew who he was in real life anyway. He pressed on, "Anyway, Anon, my question is about Subnautica."
"Oh, please go ahead," Lucien quickly regained his composure and replied.
"I wanted to ask, can players actually kill the Leviathans?" 1738 asked.
The moment this question was asked, the audience's anticipation flared. 1738 had actually asked a solid question.
"Hmm, that is a great question." Lucien smiled and nodded, looking out at the audience. "I can tell you all that, yes, in the game, it is possible to eliminate any type of Leviathan. Except, of course, the ancient ones."
"Whoa, you really can kill them!"
"But how the hell do you kill a Reaper or Ghost Leviathan that's hundreds of feet long?!"
"Yeah, apart from a little pistol and tiny torpedoes, we can't craft any other weapons. Neither of those can even pierce a Leviathan's armor, so how do we kill them?!"
The players were astonished and full of questions. Anticipating their confusion, Lucien elaborated, "Everyone, don't forget, the creature with the highest attack power in Subnautica isn't a Leviathan. It's actually a small creature that release poison!"
The people quickly connected the dots.
"Oh, I get it! It's the Gasopod!!!"
"He actually made the Gasopod the strongest creature in Subnautica?"
"But the question remains, how do we use the Gasopods to kill them?" Hearing Lucien's answer, 1738 fell deep into thought, evidently trying to brainstorm a strategy to slay a Leviathan.
"Alright, next player!" With a wave of Lucien's hand, 1738 vanished. The wheel spun once again, quickly selecting a new player who materialized on stage.
This time, the player appeared to be female. Her avatar was mostly normal. There was only one glaring issue. To put it mildly. Why in the world were her chest muscles so exaggeratedly massive?!
"This player selection segment is just a massive public execution!"
"She practically attached two yoga balls to her chest! This is getting out of hand! I feel like she's going to float away any second!"
"When it comes to customization, players really let their imaginations run wild!"
"I suspect Anon did this on purpose! He set up this segment specifically to watch us players make fools of ourselves!"
The players couldn't stop chuckling. The selected female player was thoroughly embarrassed. Lowering her head, she shyly asked, "Uh, sadist, I'd like to ask... since Sekiro requires players to clash swords with enemies, will there be overly bloody or gory scenes?"
Since she spoke in Japanese, indicating she wasn't a local player, Lucien considerately translated her question into English for the American audience before answering in both languages.
"Players can rest assured. While Sekiro is an action combat game, it won't be excessively gory. There will certainly be blood, but nothing extremely gruesome."
Lucien understood that games were still games. Given the unparalleled immersion of his titles, making them excessively brutal and gory would cross the line into the inhumane.
Hearing this, the female player relaxed. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she bashfully asked, "Then, sadist, I have one more request. Can I give you a hug?"
"Of course, no problem!" Lucien readily agreed to such a small request.
The female player proactively stepped forward to hug Lucien. Then, an incredibly awkward problem arose.
They couldn't get close. The two "yoga balls" were completely in the way, preventing their arms from even touching each other. A hug was physically impossible.
"Pfft, hahaha!"
"I'm crine! I keep getting the illusion that Anon is going to bounce right off her the next second!"
The players laughed playfully. Ultimately, the female player failed to execute the hug and left the stage with a flushed face.
"Alright, player number three." Lucien continued the drawing.
The third player was completely normal. Whether it was his face, his build, or his clothes, everything was remarkably average. This briefly disappointed the players who were eager for more comedy.
However, the moment this utterly average-looking player opened his mouth, he dropped a bombshell.
"Sadist, I want to know, when are you going to fix the bug that prevents players from physically interacting with Tifa?!"
The moment those words left his mouth, every single player in the venue instantly revered him as a god.
"That's a goddamn $1,000,000 dollar question right there!"
"Getting right to the heart of the matter!"
"Who is the true hero? You are the true hero!"
"HELL YEAH!!!"
[Advanced 30 chapter on patreon.com/EdgyReader]