Chapter 1404 1322 The Reactions

Only a couple of days had passed since the FAMICOM Game of the Year ceremony, yet Seamus Blackley had already become one of the most discussed people in gaming. More specifically, SEAM had become a meme. Clips from his speech spread everywhere: the awkward pauses, the strange confidence, the dramatic declaration that graphics, "badass," and multiplayer were apparently the core of video games, and especially his challenge toward ZAGE all became endlessly replayed. But one particular line somehow escaped the speech and developed a life entirely of its own.

"Xbox is ROCX."

Nobody seemed completely sure what Seamus had intended it to mean. Was it supposed to be Xbox Rocks? Was ROCX some bizarre abbreviation? Was it meant to sound cooler because the final word contained an X? Nobody knew, and that uncertainty only made the phrase spread faster. Within days, people were putting XBOX IS ROCX beneath signatures, printing homemade stickers of it, editing Seamus's face onto fake rock-band posters, and deliberately typing the phrase whenever Xbox appeared in an unrelated discussion. Even people who barely followed the console war knew the line now.

One of the other repeated jokes was simple: "He really thinks he is Zaboru Renkonan." Another variation went even further: "SEAM thinks he unlocked protagonist mode." Some people were genuinely angry with him, especially after he implied Vagrant Story should not have won Game of the Year because its graphics were not as advanced as HORI. Others simply found the whole thing hilarious. Plenty of ZAGE fans immediately began saying the same thing: they could not wait for ZEPS 4 to release and crush Microsoft. Not because they disliked Xbox itself—many of them openly admitted Xbox was a good console—but because Seamus had made the rivalry personal. He had practically walked onto the GOTY stage, pointed toward ZAGE, announced that Microsoft would overthrow them, and then departed with "Xbox is ROCX" as though he had just delivered the hardest line in gaming history. Naturally, the console war became louder. Much louder.

Yet there was another side to the discussion. Some players agreed with him. Not completely, but enough. There were people who genuinely valued graphics above nearly everything else. They had spent months playing Xbox and had become accustomed to sharper textures, better lighting, higher detail, more advanced effects, and larger environments, so going back to ZEPS 3 or Sonaya Game Station 32 suddenly felt strange to them. Some exaggerated it for attention while others seemed completely sincere. One Xbox fan wrote that older-generation graphics now gave him "bad eye pain." Another claimed that after playing HORI for several days, returning to ZEPS 3 felt like "watching games through dirty glass."

Naturally, this annoyed everyone else and the result was endless arguing. Some players insisted graphics were one of the most important reasons to buy new hardware, while others responded that a beautiful game could still be boring. Some argued that better hardware gave developers more possibilities, while others countered that limitations often encouraged creativity. And, as usual, neither side was particularly interested in admitting the other had even a partially reasonable point.

Zaboru found the entire thing amusing because he had seen this mentality before. In his previous life, something similar had become increasingly common around the PS2 era and later generations. As console hardware improved rapidly, certain players became obsessed with visual fidelity, and for them graphical advancement itself became one of the central reasons to care about a new generation. Now the same type of gamer was beginning to appear here.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, or perhaps fortunately depending on how one looked at it, the arguments surrounding Seamus only increased Xbox's visibility. For several days, Xbox discussion dominated gaming media. Project 8 received far more attention than it probably would have from a normal announcement. HORI's GOTY nomination was discussed again, Xbox Online was praised again, and even the old launch debate surrounding Xbox graphics returned. Then Bill Gates appeared for an interview, and the tone changed completely.

The interview was conducted by a major American technology and entertainment network, and from the moment Bill sat down, he looked calm, relaxed, and surprisingly friendly. The interviewer naturally began with Seamus. "Mr. Gates, Mr. Blackley's speech after the FAMICOM awards caused quite a reaction. Some people felt Microsoft was openly insulting ZAGE and the judges. Was that intentional?"

Bill smiled softly and adjusted his glasses. "No, not really. Seamus is passionate. Very passionate. Sometimes maybe too passionate. He had been working extremely hard for several days, travelling, preparing announcements, reviewing Project 8, dealing with development schedules. I think he was tired, excited, and probably spoke more aggressively than he normally would."

The answer was incredibly smooth. No condemnation, no apology, just enough distance.

The interviewer smiled slightly before bringing up the part practically everyone had been waiting for. "And what about the phrase everyone keeps repeating now? 'Xbox is ROCX.' Is that actually an official Microsoft slogan?"

Bill paused for half a second.

Then he smiled.

"It's probably a new SEAM slogan."

The interviewer laughed immediately, while Bill offered absolutely no additional explanation. Somehow, that made it even funnier. Within hours, the interview clip began spreading alongside the original Seamus speech, with people joking that even Bill Gates apparently had no idea what Xbox is ROCX was supposed to mean.

The interviewer eventually returned to the more serious subject. "So you disagree with what Mr. Blackley said?"

Bill paused carefully. "I disagree with how he said some of it. Vagrant Story won because the judges believed it deserved to win. Microsoft respects that. We were obviously very proud HORI was nominated, but awards are awards. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't. And honestly, ZAGE has made a lot of great games. I don't think anyone can seriously deny that they're basically the king of the video game industry right now."

That sentence alone surprised plenty of viewers. Bill Gates publicly praising ZAGE.

Then came the important part. The interviewer asked, "What about the claim that Microsoft wants to end ZAGE's dominance?"

Bill laughed lightly. "Well, of course we want Xbox to grow. We are competitors. ZAGE wants ZEPS to succeed. Sonaya wants Game Station to succeed. Apple wants iPlay to succeed. Microsoft wants Xbox to succeed. That's normal. But I don't think competition needs to become some personal war."

That was almost funny considering what Seamus had done only days earlier.

Bill continued, "What we want is simple. Xbox wants to improve. ZAGE wants to improve. Sonaya wants to improve. Everyone tries to make better games, better hardware, better services, and then the players decide. Let's do it fair and square."

That sentence spread immediately. "LET'S DO IT FAIR AND SQUARE." It sounded humble, sportsmanlike, reasonable, and almost completely opposite to Seamus's presentation.

The interviewer asked one final question about ZEPS 4. "Do you think Xbox can compete when ZAGE's next system launches?"

Bill smiled. "Absolutely. ZAGE has earned people's trust, and that deserves respect. But Microsoft also believes in what we're building. Xbox is already strong, our teams are expanding, and next year should be exciting for everyone. If ZEPS 4 is amazing, good. That pushes us to become better. If Xbox is amazing, hopefully that pushes ZAGE too." He laughed softly. "That sounds healthier than everyone screaming at each other, doesn't it?"

The interview ended.

Zaboru watched the entire thing from his office. When it finished, he remained silent for several seconds before chuckling softly. "Ah… so that's the game."

He leaned back in his chair and looked at the frozen image of Bill on the television. Good cop, bad cop. Seamus went onstage, acted aggressive, attacked ZAGE, told everyone Microsoft was going to dominate, got Xbox fans excited, got ZAGE fans angry, made sure everyone talked about Microsoft for days, and somehow ended by creating a meme that even Bill refused to explain. Then Bill came afterward acting calm and mature. Hey, guys, let's just compete fairly. We respect ZAGE. We just want healthy competition.

Zaboru grinned. That's actually pretty smart.

He was not angry. If anything, he was impressed. The strategy had worked. For several days Microsoft had controlled gaming discussion without announcing a new console, price cut, or major game release. Seamus created controversy. Bill cleaned it up. Both kept Xbox in the conversation.

Zaboru took another bite from the taiyaki in his hand and looked toward several discussions still open on his monitor. One of them had somehow replaced the Xbox logo with the words XBOX ROCX written over a badly drawn mountain. Zaboru stared at it for several seconds before snorting. "Damn it, SEAM."

The arguments about graphics remained especially entertaining. "So this type of gamer is appearing already," he murmured.

His memories immediately supplied dozens of examples from his previous life. Players arguing over resolution, frame rates, texture quality, lighting, polygon counts, and eventually ray tracing. People zooming into screenshots to compare tiny details they would never notice during actual gameplay. Some would become completely obsessed with technical performance, and honestly, that was fine. People enjoyed different things. Some players cared about graphics, some about story, some almost entirely about gameplay, some loved indie games, some bought sports titles every year, and some played FPS almost exclusively. Eventually, some maniacs would play one MOBA for ten thousand hours while somehow complaining about it every day.

Zaboru smiled to himself. That one is going to happen. Absolutely.

The point was that different audiences enriched the community. Different audiences forced developers to become good at different things. Some studios would specialise in visual spectacle, others in systems, others in storytelling, multiplayer, simulation, strategy, or strange experimental games. That was healthy. The only thing he wanted to prevent was one group deciding their preference was universally superior, especially the idea that graphical quality alone determined whether a game belonged to the future.

Zaboru looked toward the Xbox article again and chuckled. "Well… for ZEPS 4, I'm sorry, Microsoft." His grin widened. "But graphics-wise, we definitely aren't losing."

That confidence was not empty. Zaboru knew exactly what Zanichi, AMD, NVIDIA, and ZAGE's hardware teams had been building. ZEPS 4 was no longer an abstract research project. It was almost finished. If development continued without major problems, the final hardware design could be ready around early January 2002. After that would come manufacturing preparation, final software integration, launch testing, production scaling, developer certification, logistics, and everything else required before release.

But the machine itself was almost there.

And Zaboru found the current assumptions hilarious. Xbox fans were comparing ZEPS 4 to Xbox because Xbox represented their understanding of modern console power. Some expected ZEPS 4 to be slightly stronger, some expected them to be roughly equal, and others believed ZAGE had fallen behind and might actually release weaker hardware.

They had no idea.

ZEPS 4 had never been designed merely to respond to Xbox. Its architecture had been planned around a much broader philosophy: hardware, online systems, media, digital distribution, social features, storage, profiles, communication, gameplay sharing, and several ideas the public had barely begun to imagine functioning together inside one console.

Zaboru smiled. "They're going to be surprised."

That thought immediately led him toward another problem: the reveal itself. A normal advertisement would be terrible. Zaboru rested his chin against one hand and stared toward a blank section of his desk. We can't just show the console rotating slowly with dramatic music, throw specifications on-screen, and expect that to explain what ZEPS 4 actually is.

No.

The reveal needed scale. Something people would remember. Something that demonstrated what ZEPS 4 represented instead of merely describing it.

His eyes slowly brightened. "Hehehe…"

Zaboru immediately grabbed a nearby notebook and began writing several rough ideas related to the ZEPS 4 reveal. He filled half a page before suddenly stopping.

Something else had entered his mind.

ZEPS 4 was nearly complete. That meant ZAGE's next major hardware question would eventually shift elsewhere. Zaboru slowly looked toward the ZGBA sitting near the edge of his desk, then toward another blank sheet of paper. His grin widened again.

"Well… after ZEPS 4, there will eventually be the next handheld."

He picked up his pen. "And if we're already thinking about the next generation…"

The first rough draft appeared across the page.

Zaboru chuckled quietly to himself. While the entire gaming industry was still arguing about Xbox, repeating "Xbox is ROCX," and waiting desperately to see ZEPS 4, Zaboru Renkonan had already started thinking about what would eventually come after ZGBA.

To be continued.

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