"Holy crap! That's just way too awesome!"
As the video ended, Ben's shocked voice came through the voice channel.
"Is this called modern warfare? This looks like a world war! It's insane!" Zack chimed in at this point.
He couldn't help but click replay.
This short promo video, less than two minutes long, gave him a huge shock.
The video wasn't just playing in the country; it was also shown overseas.
After all, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was the flagship title for the Nebula VR devices.
The fight wasn't just for the domestic market, but for the global one.
This time, the overseas publisher was still Target Software.
But it was a bit different from before.
Now, Target Software had basically become part of Nebula Games.
In simple terms, Nebula Games had bought a chunk of Target Software's shares and was now the biggest shareholder.
If it came to selling, Target Software definitely didn't want to, since their profits were growing.
But the key was that most of their overseas revenue came from Nebula Games' titles.
Now Nebula Games had made this offer. They could say no, sure, but future partnerships would get tricky.
It was just turning into Nebula Games' shape, and once they got used to it, it might even feel better.
With heavy promotion, this promo trailer landed on major video sites overseas, complete with subtitles in multiple languages.
Overseas players were thrilled too.
After all, Nebula Games wasn't some unknown player anymore.
Earlier titles like Dark Souls, followed by Minecraft, Monster Hunter: World, Warcraft, and the recent Rainbow Six Siege had all gotten tons of attention abroad.
And overseas, the top three game types by audience were shooters, racers, and sports.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare fell into the biggest category: shooters.
These explosive scenes instantly fired up countless overseas players.
Especially those totally wild moments, which sparked hot debates worldwide.
Back home with domestic players.
"Oh man! Is this Lucas's new game? It's freaking nuts!"
"All I can say is I'm buying it like crazy! And it feels totally different from Rainbow Six Siege!"
"White House falls, Eiffel Tower collapses, space station breaks apart, city gets nuked—this is there anything Lucas won't do!?"
"Yeah there is! Lucas won't set the story in our country! Forget blowing up famous buildings, he won't even mess with the flowers and grass!"
"Ahem, think bigger! It's not that Boss Lucas won't, it's for the bigger picture. Nebula VR is aiming for the global market, so setting the story abroad helps crack the overseas one better."
"Forget all that, I'm more curious about what Call of Duty: Modern Warfare actually plays like. Is it more multiplayer or single-player?"
"Multiplayer or single-player, I don't know, I just hope it's fun and satisfying. Rainbow Six Siege is cool but I just can't get into it."
"Can't get into it +1. The me who's alive but always dead and watching cams feels useful."
Overseas, plenty of people were talking about it too.
"Atari just dropped their Storm Action promo, and Nebula Games follows with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare stuff. So cool!"
"Haha, yeah, the clash between Zeus and Nebula. I was gonna buy Zeus, but now I have to hold off. That Modern Warfare trailer is just too awesome!"
"Friend up top, you know Dark Souls, Warcraft, Minecraft, and Rainbow Six Siege? All from Nebula Games. They never fake anything in their promos."
"Yeah, I went to some Chinese sites to learn more about this company. Especially their boss, who's the lead designer on these games. In China, he's nicknamed 'Warrior of Love,' meaning every game is full of his passion for players, so he never does stuff that makes them miserable."
"Oh man, that's awesome! But yeah, even so, we gotta wait till the game drops to judge. Still, I'm way more hyped for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare now."
Clearly, the quality of this game CG was top world-class, showing players what 'ten years of gaming, nine years of CG' really means.
But cool visuals aside, Modern Warfare didn't show much about the gameplay, leaving a lot of players unsure what the game was really like.
This was all in Lucas's expectations. The promo was mainly to get players excited.
To let them know what kind of explosive content this game called Modern Warfare would have.
........
News about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare spread around the world.
Players chatted about it in all sorts of ways.
Meanwhile, Lucas was in Nebula Games' office, working with the team on the story arrangements.
For the game's plot, Lucas used two ways to show it.
The first was cutscene CG videos.
For example, when switching scenes needs loading, a CG video explains the story to the player.
The second was real-time story plot.
That means in the game levels, players talk to teammates around them to reveal the plot.
Not like finishing a level and then watching a real-time rendered animation.
This approach had upsides and downsides.
Upside: smoother gameplay for players.
Downside: if the player's not paying attention, like picking their nose midway, and an NPC is talking right then.
They might miss some stuff.
No real fix for that, since everything has pros and cons.
Just pick one over the other.
Lucas's choice was smoother gameplay.
Plus, VR games keep players more focused than PC ones anyway.
It kinda makes up for it in a way.
Now for the plot itself.
"Boss Lucas, if we write the plot like this, players might send you death threats again!"
In the office, Anna, who handled the story details, looked at the outline and sighed.
It was just too heartbreaking.
Even the key points and script had her, the emotional one, feeling down.
And as a VR game, with that high immersion.
"No way around it. It's all to give players a better experience. For them, I can handle the misunderstandings." Lucas said with a smile.
The delivery companies won't ship knives anyway!
And Nebula Games' security, he beefed it up earlier this year.
(End of Chapter)
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