“Can’t be helped.” This from Chad. He waved his hand at the others. “You wanted our top gamers. Okay, we’re here. Now what?”
Colin rose, but instead of heading for the front of theroom he made his way slowly around the table, introducing himself, taking in each of their names. Five men, two women, all in their twenties, all fiercely intelligent, all skeptical, but at least by the time he finished their attention was fully on him.
Colin began, “The announcement of every new EA game generates huge excitement. EA has become the trademark brand for fully immersive experiences. Gamers do not simply play an EA game. Theybecomeit. Theyidentifywith their online avatar. The evidence backing this claim is clear enough. Last year, EA sold just over fifty million dollars’ worth of personalized merchandise. Seventy dollars for a T-shirt, ninety for a plastic avatar, all bearing the weaponry and name of the individual user. A brilliant move, by the way.”
The in-house attorney asked Chad, “Is that public knowledge?”
“Probably not,” Chad replied. “Doesn’t matter. Go on.”
“I say it’s time to expand this identity issue,” Colin went on. “Take it to the next level. With music.”
Liam was seated on a stool in the rear corner, headphones around his neck, with two portable tables in front of him supporting the control gear. At a nod from Colin, he switched on the massive flat-screen monitor they had positioned at the front of the room. There was a similar screen imbedded into the wall. But Colin had decided on this move so as to maintain full control of his pitch.
He stepped to one side and said, “This is a proprietary system I have developed.”
“The patents are now in place,” Aaron confirmed.
“This is a two-part algorithm for game music. It is totally new. There is nothing like it anywhere. As most or all of you know, formulas like this are called interactive or parallel algorithms, because they restructure results based upon incoming data. If we ever manage to create fully independent and free-thinking computers, these interactive algorithms will most likely form the design basis.”
Colin fit his hands around the top two-thirds of the screen. “This is the foundational structure. It and all the primary data remain in the EA central computer.” He shifted down to the bottom third. “This secondary algorithm is inserted into the player’s own system. The result—”
“Hang on a second.” Chad Helms leaned forward. “You’re that kid.”
Jerry from Legal said, “Who?”
“Sure, I heard rumors about you.” To the others, “Some Wilmington kid caught wind of the Legend buyout a week before the rest of the market.”
“They weren’t rumors,” Aaron said. “And it wasn’t a week. It was a month and a half.”
Troy, the senior techie said, “I always thought those stories were bogus.”
“Far from it,” Aaron said. “Not only did he set up a long position on Legend stock in advance of the first press notice, he did it twice.”
And just like that, they were with him.
Colin said, “You licensed Legend’s original hit,Barsoom, to UNC’s software engineering department. So that’s what we’re using for today’s demonstration.” This time, Liam beat him to it, throwing up the game’s logo before Colin looked his way. “If you’ll open the laptops in front of you, and please select your avatars. We are going to play level seven.”
“My absolute favorite.” Troy again. “I grew up wanting to move permanently to level seven.”
Everyone except Jerry showed glimmers of genuine excitement, even Chad. The in-house attorney asked, “Do I have to play?”
“Absolutely not.” Troy again. “Same goes for you, Aaron. Can’t allow Legal to slow us down.”
Aaron said, “And here I was, all ready to go battle hot.”
“That’s not even a term,” Chad said. “I’m head wizard, and nobody gets to complain even a little bit.”
When they were all named and suited and armored and weaponed, Colin halted them with, “Before we start, you need a heads-up on what is about to happen. Each of you have now become a musical instrument. The melody I’ve chosen is a fusion jazz number from Steve Winwood’s latest album calledMozambique. I’m using this without proper licensing. This is for today’s trial run only. This song works because it follows a number of very distinct musical patterns, with unique solo opportunities for each instrument. Which means in this demonstration, each of you can stand out.”
Troy asked, “How?”
“By taking the lead in a battle.”
Two of the other gamers leaned back, breathed in unison, “Oh. Wow.”
Chad asked, “What?”
One of the women said, “This. Is. Totally. Wild.”
