28 Chapter 26: Company updates and True goals
[3rd Person POV]
The following day, Ven heard from Gotham news that the 'Joker' rumor was starting to go around. But with no substantial evidence or witness sightings yet, he still remains as rumors for now.
A quick search regarding Central City though was that Barry was now awake. And rumors of a 'streak' started going around.
"Looks like Barry has begun his journey as well. Though I have to wait for AFTER Thawne gets time erased before I even think of interacting with anyone there."
"Kind of a shame I can't be there to watch Barry discovers his abilities though. Would have been fun watching in person."
Ven got word that the controller they developed was ready for promotions. It wasn't anything big anyway. It was just to allow playing of his games on PC via controller to keep the Playstation feel of the game. He didn't think the experience would have been the same if it was mouse and keyboard.
He then had the team start promotions for the controller and advertise that a different colored one will be available for bundle with Xenogears, mostly a combination of dark blue and violet to match Weltall's colors. Since the game was almost done, he had the team do a simple trailer as well and allowed its promotions.
While the graphics of these PS1 games he's developing aren't ground breaking, they were of similar qualities in the games of that world. So to most people it would still be in 'current generation CG'.
"Has the expansion gone well?" Ven asked in an online conference meeting.
"Sir we have several new teams ready for projects. We have multiple veterans shadowed by new hires so we should be big enough to handle multiple games now."
"Good, I've sent the documents of several games and all the details to your email. Have it these made as well. Make sure to check the first few pages of each document first. I included a list of people I want in the projects specifically."
Ven made sure to get as much of the OG teams remake their games in this reality so he can still somehow give the original makers their credit. Even if he's the one doing all the heavy lifting and conceptualizing everything.
"Sir Team 2 is already half way in the other project, named Final Fantasy VII. And with these new projects, we can have Team 3 handle this... Metal Gear Solid, Team 4 on Chrono Cross."
"Oh and make sure to tell Team 1 that after they complete Xenogears, including all the bug checks and game testing, to remake the whole game in first person view."
"S-sir? first person? how to you mean?"
"Exactly like that. As if it was first person. I want it as an incomplete game for now. But I want them to start modifying the game itself to run as if a first person game. But prepare all the models, textures and assets to be replaced in the future. Just have them focus on changing the combat and experimenting for now on making it first person." Ven explains.
"See what I envision for it later on is a Remake of that game in Extremely higher graphics and played as a first person view in Virtual Reality Simulation. But the VR technology we plan to used, hasn't been invented yet so I want the team to focus on converting everything first. But have them remake it under the assumption that we will eventually reach a VR ready game."
They are quite curious as to how Ven plans to make this a reality since he mentioned the tech hasn't been invented yet but they realize that its his money so they can only follow orders and only give minor advices.
"So what engine are we going to use as a base for this remake Sir?"
"Don't worry about that for now. Just convert the assets. We are still under talks about acquiring Potomac Computer Systems." Ven already started negotiating with them so he can obtain the unreal engine earlier. In this world, Potomac never or at least it hasn't yet, been changed to Epic games but for some reason their Unreal Engine was already being used not for games but hospital, engineering or military CG. Technically he only wanted to acquire Unreal engine and go from there.
"Sir we have news regarding Hiro Okamura as well. We were told that your tutors were running out of things to teach the boy. He's absorbing information at an usually high rate that we struggle to even see him as a human now."
"Really, so how much does he currently know?" Ven asked curiously.
"Sir at his age, he's already into more advanced electronics and programing."
"Alright, set him up to have a few meetings with me as soon as he can."
Ven wanted him to act more as a child for now but the kid is too much of a genius. So he decided to have him try developing a proper VR machine with him. At least if the VR tech becomes a success, Hiro should get at least enjoyment out of the results.
Later on, they were in a private conference and Ven explained what he wanted created.
He wanted a true VR sleep state machine. Using knowledge of how he as a symbiote connects to a host's mind, how it feels and affects the host, he collaborated with Hiro and a team of neuro surgeons and scientists hired and signed with non-disclosure agreements to developing a machine that can connect with a person's mind fully, using their mindscape as sort of a lobby or entry point. Ven told them he wanted the machine to work while the user is asleep and his mind is connected as if on a controlled dream.
This was going to be a huge project since he wanted to recreate the 'Oasis' from Ready Player One and make all his games run in VR. Except he wanted it to be like the online novels he used to read. A full dive VR that runs while sleeping. This was his true long term goal.
He's makin sure the heroes exist so he doesn't need to be one himself. Though he still intends to help out in case it's a dangerous situation, He's making the Oasis his reality instead. And to do that, he had Hiro Okamura work with an entire team of support for this endeavor.
If Hiro somehow manages to make this, using his knowledge of how his symbiote body connects with a host's mind, then it might be possible. Worst case scenario, he might try kryptonian tech or even enlist the help of brainiac 5 who happens to come to his time period by Season 10 in the show. Unfortunately that means he's gonna have to wait that long in that scenario.
There's also the possibility of asking for cyborg's help which is a bit earlier than braniac 5 so that's also another backup plan. For now at least, Hiro and his team of scientists and neurosurgeons will do.
To increase the chances of success, Ven had Hiro granted access to whatever knowledge he needed and had them recruit what specialists they would have needed. All signed under NDA's. Ven made sure the NDA's were properly in place and that the punishments were extremely heavy, as were the rewards.
One way or another, Ven wants this full dive tech realized.
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After a long day at work and the complications of hunting meta humans, Cisco Ramon came back to his apartment and booted up his PC to catch up on some gaming and check for news on upcoming titles. Normally he would be hanging out with Barry but this time, he was alone since Felicity Smoak was in town and they had a double date with Iris West and Eddie Thawne.
He opened up one of the gaming forums he frequented and saw the new announcements of Squaresoft regarding their new controller and upcoming title Xenogears. Square also announced that they have multiple projects in the works already and this is merely a first one.
"Holy Frak! Looks like Wayne Enterprises is seriously gonna dive head first into the gaming industry! Awesome!! Its been so long since we got decent games. You'd think having a high tech world that's got Star Labs would have better games but damn! Took them long enough!"
Cisco checks out the teaser trailer showing both character combat and mech or gears combat which made him excited. As a long time geek, he enjoyed this kind of stuff. And having a huge mech included in the game excited him more. The fact that the game is an RPG also made him anticipate its launch. To explore a new world in the game would be such and exciting and fun journey.
Cisco checks the released concept art of the Gears posted on the website.
"The mechs look sweet! I would have gone a different way with the design though, but this is cool as well. Oh SNAP! Pre-orders are now available!"
All across the US and Japan, pre-orders were being done online and the numbers are climbing up. Squaresoft started panicking and started planning for possible stock shortages. They expected the hype and the number of sales but not by this much. They totally underestimated it.
Cisco could have made his own controller for the game but he wanted to support the industry as a fan so he pre-ordered the bundle instead. After the pre order, he totally lost interest in the old games he was originally gonna play. So he opted to check his emails instead.
He saw a particularly curious email notification from the company he was just thinking about earlier. The message was from Wayne Enterprises and a request for a project collaboration. Cisco read through the email and was shocked at first then incredibly excited.
He was being invited for a gaming device related collaboration. It wasn't a permanent job offer but it was related to one of his hobbies so he was quite interested. The email didn't specify details and he probably wouldn't until he signed the NDA's. After thinking for a bit, he decided to accept the offer and agreed to visit Gotham in a few days to meet personally with Ven.
Ven had invited him as well for the full dive VR project.
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