"Book, what is this thing?" Rosa discovered the peculiar mail in the mailbox early in the morning. Upon opening it, she found a box whose purpose was unknown.
"Where did this come from?" her husband, Book, asked, glancing at the box curiously.
"Didn't I get a Netflix membership? Netflix sent it. There's a letter from Netflix too!" Rosa handed the letter to her husband. Book unfolded it and saw that it was indeed a letter.
The letter stated that Netflix, in gratitude for the support of all its members, was gifting everyone a device called a Digital Network TV Box.
Furthermore, because the number of these devices was limited, the first batch would be sent to users whose membership had exceeded three years. Subsequent batches would be distributed as more arrived.
This device, when connected to the internet, would allow free viewing of programs from a television station called Los Gatos TV. Additionally, Netflix stated that in the future, they would be able to offer more comprehensive services and a better user experience to all members through this Digital Network TV Box.
Initially, Book wouldn't have been too interested in such a letter and device. After all, he rarely watched television. Television was primarily his wife's domain; he preferred to sit in front of his computer. The computer belonged to him, and the television belonged to his wife – a tacit understanding between the couple.
Since this device needed to be connected to the internet, it would surely affect his internet speed. Book's immediate thought was to toss the box aside to avoid impacting his network.
However, when he reached the end of the letter and saw that the Los Gatos television station would be exclusively broadcasting the television adaptation of "Piaomiao Journey" nationwide on May 4th, his opinion changed.
Book, you see, had read all three installments of "Piaomiao Journey." He already knew online that there was a television version of "Piaomiao Journey," and it was rumored to have already started airing in other countries about a week ago.
Countries that were broadcasting faster had even reached the seventh episode. This made Book extremely indignant.
He was a proud American, yet Americans couldn't watch the latest television programs, while other countries got to see them first. Did this make sense? Was it reasonable?
What was even more critical was that although there were rumors online that several domestic television stations had purchased the broadcasting rights for this TV series, there had been no promotions from any station. Many fans of "Piaomiao Journey" online were already despairing. Unexpectedly, here was a promotion for the television version of "Piaomiao Journey."
With this in mind, Book no longer had any intention of discarding the TV box. He immediately grabbed the manual and began to study it.
He then discovered that the TV box was quite user-friendly. First, if there was only one internet cable in the house, it needed to be connected to the TV box. Then, another network cable would be used to connect the TV box to the computer. By accessing the TV box's control page through the computer, one could input the network account and password, enabling the TV box to connect to the internet.
After that, a video signal cable, used for televisions, could be used to connect the box to the TV. Then, by adjusting the TV to the video input mode, one could directly watch the programs provided by the box.
If a router was installed at home, it was even simpler. There was no need to manually input account information. Just connect the box to the router with a network cable, then connect the box directly to the TV, and it would be ready to use.
While this seemed a bit complicated, for any household with internet access, the operation was not overly difficult; these were everyday procedures.
If one truly didn't understand how to operate it, the box also provided a 24-hour hotline where one could schedule a dedicated staff member to come and assist with setup and installation.
Alternatively, one could directly visit a nearby Atari service center to book an on-site installation service.
These operations were naturally no challenge for Book, who spent his days with computers. He quickly installed the digital TV box onto his home television and adjusted the video input channel.
He expected to see television programs immediately after the adjustment, but instead, a colorful interface appeared on the screen.
This interface looked quite complex, but in reality, only three functions and buttons were usable. In the most prominent position on the interface, there was a small playback window with the words "Enter Los Gatos TV" below it. Clicking this window should allow direct access to the Los Gatos TV station's programs.
In addition to entering Los Gatos TV, there was a smaller option on the interface labeled "Past Programs."
Furthermore, there was an option for the Netflix Content Library.
Book and his wife curiously clicked on the Los Gatos TV station first. They found that the TV was currently broadcasting a TV series, with an angry woman shouting something on the screen.
"This is Growing Pains! Oh my goodness, I haven't seen this TV series in so long, it's so nostalgic!" his wife Rosa exclaimed upon seeing the content.
"Ahem, this TV series is over 10 years old. What's so good about it? Let me see what's in the past programs library!" Book said.
"No, no, no! This episode seems to be one I haven't seen, one I missed back then... Oh my, I loved watching this episode so much. I was secretly dating you back then, which left me no time to watch TV, and I missed so many important series!" With that thought, Rosa glared at Book.
Book chuckled a few times, then got up and said, "Forget it, you watch first. It's not like there are many episodes anyway, and I estimate watching TV over the internet will be incredibly laggy. I'm going to play some games!"
After saying this, Book returned to his room, turned on his computer, and went directly to the oo Game Center. He habitually tried to click on World of Warcraft, but then he remembered his wife was watching TV over the internet, so his internet speed for online games would surely be terrible.
He therefore gave up on online games and instead opened the single-player game section of the oo Game Center, finding Need for Speed: Underground 2 from within.
This was a game recently added to the oo Game Center, along with the entire EA Games Super Gift Pack, as all EA Games titles had collectively joined the single-player game section of the oo Game Center.
This had caused quite a stir in the gaming community at the time. Before this, there were only two or three major companies with notable titles in the oo Game Center's single-player game section. The most famous among them was naturally Blizzard, followed by two large game studios.
These were Epic, the creators of Unreal, and Rockstar Games, the creators of Grand Theft Auto.
After that, there was a game manufacturer from Jiangnan. This manufacturer hadn't released any hit games yet, but there was a game called Minecraft reportedly in its internal testing phase, and it was quite mysterious.
However, according to some prominent figures in the oo gaming community forums who had participated in the internal testing, this was the best game in the world, the greatest game imaginable, which made Book quite eager to try it.
Besides these, there were no other major game studios. But this didn't mean the content of oo Games was limited; on the contrary, the oo Game Center now boasted over 40,000 different games.
And 98% of them were produced by various small game studios or even independent game developers. Anyone interested in developing games could directly upload their developed games to the oo Game Center. Once approved, they could be listed immediately on the oo Game Center, receive a novice recommendation benefit, and get a 70% revenue share.
If a game performed well, it could receive continuous recommendations. For example, the currently most popular casual game, Lianliankan, was reportedly developed by an independent Chinese developer, earning over $40 million in net profit in less than a year.
The second-ranked game, called My Trip to Japan, also earned over $20 million in a year... Who would have thought before that a text-based game could earn so much money?
Both of these games were developed by independent game developers, meaning only one person created the game from start to finish. This made Book also feel a surge of ambition, as he was a programmer himself.
Moreover, the oo Game Center truly provided comprehensive game development support. If you were a newcomer, knew a little bit of technology, or even had no technical knowledge at all, all you had to do was click on the "I Want to Make a Game" link on the oo Game Center to be directly directed to the oo Game Center's Creator Zone.
In this Creator Zone, anyone could download various dedicated game development tools for free.
The most popular among these was the Unreal Engine 3, the latest game development engine launched by Epic Studios in early '05. This was a very powerful game engine with a considerable amount of various game assets.
This included scene screenshots, character models, monster models, and so on. As long as your technical skills were sufficient and you didn't mind using a lot of public assets, you could even create a rich 3D game by yourself.
Of course, you could also create your own assets using the Unreal Engine 3, and even sell these assets in the store after creation to other users who needed assets to make games... After all, public assets were used so extensively that player-created assets were relatively rare, making it less likely to see the same boss in two different games.
And if assets were made well, it was said that one could earn over $50,000 per month, which was incredibly good.
In fact, Unreal Engine 3 was indeed the best game engine in the world at the moment. Not only was the oo Game Center using it, but it was rumored that about 60% of major game development companies worldwide had also secretly downloaded the free Unreal Engine 3 from the oo Game Center to develop their own games.
Therefore, many people had started looking for similarities in recently released products from major game companies, that is, trying to find public Unreal Engine 3 assets or privately sold assets within these large games, and then mocking the game companies that refused to join the oo Game Center.