301 Elon

Meanwhile, in Japan and the USA, the KiShin latest video game, Quake, and Civilization were released for quite a while.

Although many Japanese were also quite thrilled to play the latest PC video games of KiShin, it is not as enthusiastic as in the USA.

In the USA, around 10-15% of American households owned a computer, and it was about 26 to 39 million or so households.

It can be seen that it even surpassed the owned video game consoles by households in the USA, as currently, SKES over the years was owned by 20-25 million households, and the KS1 that was owned by about 10-15 million households.

KS1 sales in just a year were quite outstanding; even the other companies who estimated KS1 sales were astonished, though they knew that KiShin was actually losing quite a bit of money by selling KS1 at such a low price. KiShin gained gradual profits with video games, and with the fact that most video game companies in Japan and the USA were using VG Engine, the royalty fees received by KiShin alone were already enough to fill KiShin's belly.

Although many companies using VG Engine didn't mind using KiShin software because of its usefulness, some companies were planning to build similar software as KiShin, but most of them found out that it was too time-consuming. Just by agreeing to the terms and conditions of KiShin to use their advanced VG Software was much more practical and realistic.

Although the licensing options for KiShin were quite limited, allowing only well-established companies to afford its use, it was still a reasonable deal since KiShin supported them to increase sales and contribute to the growth of the video game library for the consoles.

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Elon recently founded a company named Zip2 with his brother and friends. It's a city guide software company where they worked tirelessly in a small rented office in Palo Alto, with Elon personally coding the website.

At the age of 24, he saw the potential of the internet to revolutionize the world and decided to pursue it wholeheartedly. Despite having the entrepreneurial spirit, he still had a hobby – playing video games.

Having developed a video game and sold it at old arcades when he was young, this small achievement influenced his current entrepreneurial spirit, and right now, he also saw the potential of the internet and websites. He even dropped out of college to pursue the boundless potential of the web.

And also, the fact that a young man just a year older than him, the Japanese Shinro Suzuki, was featured in magazines, especially in Forbes. In some magazine information, Shinro Suzuki seemed to be investing a lot of money towards internet development with the acquisition of WorldCom, and the KiShin Foundation was spreading awareness of the internet. Elon knew that he was not the only one who could see the boundless potential of the internet and the wealth they could make.

Elon had a bit of admiration towards Shinro, especially considering Shinro's achievement as the youngest billionaire according to Fortune's data statistics.

However, Elon was not impatient to reach the top. In fact, he had already planned to donate 1 million to some charity if he became a millionaire, whenever that might happen. Elon trusted the process.

Currently, the Zip2 company had just been founded on November 6, and it would probably take a while before he became a millionaire. Elon, at this moment, was heading towards a video game store.

Why would he want to go to such a store? To buy video games, of course, but wouldn't it be a waste of time?

Well, Elon has invested a significant amount of time laying the foundation for his future. Playing video games is his hobby, and during his free time, he spends some moments immersed in "The Legend of Zelda" and the leveling video game "Pokémon" on his Gameboy.

Currently, he is on his way to "GameStop," a video game distributor in partnership with other distributors. Elon intends to buy the latest video games like "Quake" and "Civilization I."

The "Quake" video game has been a topic of discussion on the KiShin website forum. It's said to be the 3D first-person shooter that will bring an end to the domination of the "Doom" series in the FPS genre.

The "Doom" FPS genre truly reigns supreme, and when 2.5D or 3D graphics are mentioned in PC video games, the first thing that comes to mind is "Doom." It's even exaggerated to the point that many gamers refer to other 2.5D PC video games as "Doom clones" or something similar.

But with the advent of the PC video game "Quake," the dominance of the "Doom" video game among many gamers in the USA diminished, as the graphics and gameplay of "Quake" were superior overall.

Upon Elon's arrival at the "GameStop" store, he promptly headed to the PC video games section and purchased "Quake," "Civilization," and "Monopoly."

Leaving the store with a faint smile, Elon thought, "With this, I can calm the demons in my mind..."

Indeed, though Elon was just starting by founding the Zip2 company with a demanding workload, he gradually accumulated mental stress and pressure. Playing video games became a means for him to escape this mental stress and find temporary relief from the "demons" in his mind.

And those "demons" were anxiety and doubts, whether dropping out of college to pursue his goal and explore the potential of the internet was the right decision or not.

"Civilization seems like a fun game to play..." Elon muttered as he gazed at the CD cover of "Civilization I."

Elon had read about this video game in a video game magazine before.

Even before the release of "Civilization I" and with just its announcement, there were reports that even Will Gates became a bit addicted to the game.

Of course, Elon knew that the report could have been exaggerated, but since the news sources were from KiShin Power magazine itself, the report might have been reliable at some point, given KiShin's current alliance with Microsoft.

Perhaps due to KiShin Power's claims, the video game "Civilization I" attracted some people who admired Will Gates to buy and play the game for themselves.