"Are you confident it will sell?" the supervisor asked.
"The news coming back from Los Angeles is that the entire industry is upgrading. Players need a guide to tell them what consoles and games to buy at the end of the year." The editor-in-chief put down his coffee cup. "This isn't just a magazine; it's a game shopping list for the second half of the year."
Tokyo, Famitsu editorial department.
Due to the time difference, it was the afternoon there. The editors were gathered around the conference table, looking at the photos that had just been developed.
"The scale of the American expo is insane." A young editor pointed to the dense crowd in the photos.
"Focus on the products," the editor-in-chief tapped the table. "Sega and Sony have already opened up a gap in their North American layout. Get the development interviews for Yakuza and Jumping Flash! organized. Also, for that engine we still don't know how to handle, find a few local Japanese programmers and ask them for their thoughts on open-source engines."
"Should we make the Final Fantasy VII gameplay footage from Square a double-page poster in the next issue?"
"Do it. Zoom in on that Bahamut screenshot. The readers will eat that up."
The first weekend after the E3 Expo concluded, the streets of Los Angeles and New York ushered in a new wave of commotion.
After days of non-stop work, gaming media outlets delivered their E3 special issues, thick as bricks, to the shelves of major retail stores and newsstands.
Over the past week, gamers across the U.S. who couldn't make it to Los Angeles in person had their appetites whetted just by listening to the lucky ones who had been there boast about what they saw at the expo.
Today, they could finally see for themselves.
Outside a gaming retail store in Queens, New York, a line of young people stretched for half a block.
The store owner cut the packing twine on bundles of "GamePro" and "EGM" special issues and had barely placed them on the display rack before several hands reached out.
"Don't push, limit two per person."
While loudly maintaining order and stuffing change into his apron pocket, the owner shouted, "There's more in the back, line up, everyone!"
Mark slapped twenty dollars on the counter and grabbed a regular edition special issue.
The magazine was thicker than any previous issue, feeling heavy in his hand.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, his peripheral vision caught sight of a few black boxes he hadn't noticed before, displayed in the glass cabinet behind the counter.
The magazine was thicker than any previous issue, feeling heavy in his hands.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of some unusual black boxes displayed in the glass cabinet behind the counter.
"What's that?" Mark asked, pointing to the glass cabinet.
Following his finger, the owner took out a black box and placed it on the counter. "It's a special deluxe edition from GamePro. Besides the magazine, it also includes a VHS tape."
"A VHS tape?" Danny leaned in from the side, staring at the box.
"The media took the footage released by the manufacturers at the E3 opening day press conference and edited and transferred it onto VHS tapes."
The owner tapped the surface of the box. "Sega's MGS2, Square's Final Fantasy VII in-game footage—it's all in there."
Mark swallowed hard. "How much?"
"Thirty-five dollars," the owner stated. "They didn't ship many. I only got twenty copies for the whole shop."
A regular issue of the special edition only cost eight dollars and ninety-nine cents. Thirty-five dollars was almost enough to buy a new game.
The media was incredibly shrewd in their commercial operations; they knew exactly how to push the buttons of hardcore gamers.
Mark felt his pocket—that was money he had saved for half a month, intended for a new pair of shoes.
"I'll take one." Mark pulled out the money, pushing it forward along with the twenty dollars he had just taken out.
Danny tugged on his sleeve. "Are you crazy? Spending thirty-five dollars on a magazine and some old VHS tape?"
"I bet you this is the highlight of this year's E3."
Mark clutched the black box and squeezed his way out of the crowd without looking back.
Danny had no choice but to follow close behind.
"I bet this is definitely the highlight of E3 this year." Mark picked up the black box and squeezed through the crowd without looking back.
Danny could only quicken his pace to keep up.
The two ran all the way back to Mark's house.
Mark's parents had gone grocery shopping for the weekend, so the living room was empty.
He placed the black box on the coffee table and held his breath as he tore off the plastic wrap.
Inside lay the thick special edition magazine and a black VHS tape imprinted with the GamePro logo and the title "1995 E3 Highlights Collection."
Mark pressed the power buttons on the TV and the VCR.
The CRT television emitted a faint electrical hum, and the screen flickered a few times.
He inserted the tape into the slot, a mechanical click sounded from the transmission, and the tape began to spin.
Mark thought to himself: I'm going to see if this thirty-five dollars was worth it.
Danny sat down on the sofa and grabbed a handful of potato chips, stuffing them into his mouth.
After the screen flickered, the static disappeared.
There was no lengthy opening, just a straight cut to the point.
Accompanied by deep background music, a man in a wetsuit appeared in the center of the screen.
He moved along the wall, dodging the searchlights, and hid inside a cardboard box.
"What game is this?" Danny stopped chewing.
"Sega's MGS2." Mark stared at the screen, not even blinking.
The scene cut to Square's Final Fantasy VII.
Cloud swung his exaggerated Buster Sword, moving through the steel jungle of Midgar.
Immediately after, a massive dragon descended from the sky, spewing dazzling flames.
"Good god," Danny crinkled his bag of chips, "this kind of graphics can run on a TV?"
The editing rhythm of the tape was extremely fast, with Capcom's Resident Evil following right after.
In the gloomy corridor of the mansion, a zombie slowly turned its head, its hollow eyes staring straight at the camera.
Mark recoiled, his back pressing against the sofa cushion.
This was far more intuitive than the static text descriptions and blurry screenshots in magazines.
The over-100-minute edited video packed the absolute best parts of the entire E3 exhibition into one.
The video ended, and the screen returned to a blue void.
The only sound in the living room was the hum of the VCR's cooling fan.
Rewind.
Danny snapped back to reality and pointed at the VCR. "Play it again. There were so many details I didn't catch."
"Hold on." Mark pressed the rewind button and popped the tape out. "We need to go find Paul and Mike. They were bragging just yesterday about seeing a King of Fighters '95 combo list in a magazine."
Half an hour later, Mark and Danny showed up by the basketball court on the corner.
Paul and Mike were sitting on a bench, flipping through a special issue of EGM.
Mark walked over and waved the black cassette tape in front of them.
"What's that?" Mike looked up.
"The highlights from this year's E3," Mark said, tucking the tape back into his jacket. "It's got the actual in-game summon animations from Final Fantasy VII, and a trailer for Resident Evil. The kind that actually moves, not like those dry pictures you guys are holding."
Paul closed the magazine and stood up. "You managed to buy the deluxe edition? I checked three different blocks, and the shop owners all said they were sold out."
"Thirty-five bucks, and I didn't even blink," Mark said, lifting his chin as he turned and started walking toward home. "Follow me if you want to watch it."
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