Chapter 181: Grand Reveal

"Done?" 

When Ethan saw Carmack emerge with a visibly dejected Gokey following behind him, he couldn't help but grin. 

A genius who had always considered himself one of the best in the industry had just been thoroughly humbled in his own field by a peerless prodigy who seemed to have dropped straight out of nowhere. It was hard to imagine that being a pleasant experience. 

"Phew..." 

Carmack let out a long breath before turning to Gokey and waving him over. 

"Come on. Don't bother packing up. We still have work to do, and we can't keep Ethan waiting." 

Gokey was already convinced. 

'Please teach me.' 

That was all he could think about. 

He had just been completely defeated in the field he was most confident in, yet instead of feeling discouraged, he found himself more excited than ever. He was about to work alongside the developer of the legendary FPS Wolfenstein 3D, with the possibility of eventually becoming a developer under GAMENOVA. 

For Gokey, that alone made the whole experience worthwhile. 

"So, his technical skills are pretty decent?" 

"Passable. With OpenGL doing some of the heavy lifting, I'd say he's usable." 

"Give him a week to put together a working proof of concept demo. That shouldn't be a problem, right?" 

"Yeah, no problem." 

.... 

January 1987. 1

Ethan and Vivian stepped out of the terminal and into Las Vegas. Of course, the two hadn't come to check out the place, nor had they come to visit the casinos. 

Ethan was carrying a letter. It was an official invitation from CES, the Consumer Electronics Show. 

As the owner of the largest video game company in the United States, as well as Micron, Ethan naturally received countless invitations to CES every year. It was just that, to Ethan, there were always plenty of other, more important things to do than attend trade shows. 

It was only this time that he had finally accepted the invitation, and the reason was simple. Ethan glanced at the briefcase in Vivian's hand. Inside was the NovaRadeon manufactured by MicroNova. 

The world's first 3D graphics accelerator card, the first 16-bit graphics accelerator card, the first VGA-standard-compliant graphics accelerator card, and the first truly general-purpose graphics accelerator card. 3

Inside the Las Vegas Convention Center, the air was already filled with constant chatter. Excited geeks could be seen everywhere, along with reporters constantly snapping pictures with their cameras. 

CES was the largest exhibition in the digital electronics industry, and every major player had come prepared to show off its latest technology. The moment Ethan stepped through the entrance, he spotted an enormous logo. 

It was Atari's logo. 

After gradually withdrawing from the video game market, Atari hadn't simply given up. Instead, it had begun exploring other fields, desperately searching for a new opportunity to turn things around. That enormous fighter jet on the exhibition booth was the product they had brought this time. 2

Mounted inside was an Atari ST-series PC produced by Atari, which was being used to run a flight simulator. On the screen, pixelated snow-covered mountains slowly swept past as the aircraft flew through the landscape. 

"Oh? What a coincidence." Vivian rose onto her toes and took a couple of looks at the display. Then she suddenly laughed and lightly patted the briefcase she was carrying. "Did you do this on purpose?" 

"Hey, that's quite an accusation." 1

A knowing grin tugged at the corner of Ethan's mouth. 

How on earth had they managed to walk into CES on the exact day Atari was showing off the graphical capabilities of its ST-series computers? 

What a mess. If the reporters got wind of this, wouldn't they accuse GAMENOVA of deliberately trying to drive Atari into the ground? 

"All right, forget those unlucky bastards, Jim and the others are still waiting for us." 

Ethan shook his head, unwilling to waste another moment here. They were already running far behind the others, and he had no intention of falling any further behind. 

And GAMENOVA's delegation this year consisted of far more than just MicroNova. SGI, the giant of high-end graphics workstations, was naturally there as well. NeXT and DELL were also present, with their booths occupying the PC-compatible section of the exhibition. 

As the two continued deeper into the exhibition hall, the lighting gradually became dimmer. Soon, they saw a booth that was every bit as crowded as Atari's. 

Ring after ring of spectators surrounded the booth, completely blocking it off, and at the center of the crowd were several brand-new PCs, drawing everyone's attention. 

They were the Amiga 500, produced by Commodore. An animation was playing on the screens. 

It was a rotating metallic sphere, complete with specular highlights reflected across its surface. Though the rendering was a little choppy and sluggish, the three digit price tag was more than enough to make everyone ignore such a minor flaw. 

The Amiga 2000, also produced by Commodore, was in much the same situation, except the rendered graphics were somewhat more complex. It was obvious what Commodore was doing. This was pure flexing, plainly intended to show off the tremendous capabilities of the Amiga series. 

Now the expressions on Ethan and Vivian's faces became even stranger. 

"Welp, we're screwed. This really makes us look like we came here to crash the party." Vivian responded with silence. 

What a coincidence. No, this was too much of a coincidence! Why had so many PC manufacturers suddenly decided to showcase their 3D capabilities at this year's CES? 

"Ahem. Let's go. Once the reporters surround us, we won't be able to leave." 

Ethan tightened his scarf and hurried deeper into the exhibition hall. At last, they reached the PC-compatible section. Only after getting here did the two finally breathe a sigh of relief, they were back on their own turf. 

A glance around was all it took to reassure them, familiar faces filled every corner, and everywhere they looked, they saw their own people. 

NeXT's concept machines, DELL's low-cost assembled PCs, SGI's workstations, Logitech's peripherals booth. And, scattered throughout the booths, dozens of PCs surrounded by children practically bursting with excitement. 

Some gripped joysticks. Others hunched over mice. None of them paid the slightest attention to the crowds moving around them as they became completely absorbed in whatever was running on the screen. 

There were RPGs from their old acquaintance Origin Systems, including Ultima, and, of course, there were GAMENOVA's own games, including Minesweeper and Spider Solitaire. 

"Good grief, you guys finally made it." 

The voice came from one side of the exhibition area. 

A large booth had been sectioned off there, and Sam was busy directing a group of temporary workers. Sweat poured down his forehead as he hurried from one task to another. 

He had arrived two days ahead of Ethan and Vivian to oversee the setup of GAMENOVA's booth. 

NovaBox, NovaPocket, and NovaXeno were all among the undeniable stars of this year's CES. Who wouldn't want to see the NovaXeno, the machine that had single-handedly brought an entire era to an end? 5

After all, even now, an enormous backlog of orders was still piling up on the production line, waiting to be produced. So, getting one off the shelf was practically impossible. 

For many players who had traveled here specifically to see GAMENOVA's latest hardware, simply getting the chance to see a real NovaXeno in person was already enough. 

Ethan casually waved at the others in greeting before quickly making his way over to Sam. 

"Is the thing we asked for ready?" 

"Here. Just like you requested, it's right in the center of the booth." 

Sam gestured toward the center of the booth. 

A fully functional PC-compatible computer assembled with DELL's help had already been set up there. From the outside, it looked almost identical to every other ordinary PC on display, but internally, it was anything but ordinary. 

Its northbridge chipset, however, had been specially manufactured by MicroNova. That meant it was compatible with the SDRAM memory modules produced by Micron, which was MicroNova's memory subsidiary. 

At the same time, the motherboard also contained a reserved ISA expansion slot. Naturally, that was the interface reserved for the NovaRadeon graphics card. 

"All right, then let's not stand on ceremony. Shall we officially get started?" 

Ethan clapped his hands, signaling Vivian that she could begin. She stepped forward, placed the briefcase on the table, and opened it. 

Inside was a beautiful circuit board, resting securely in its protective casing. Beside it were two backup units, along with a complete set of emergency repair tools. And then there was one more thing, a CD-ROM marked with the cryptic label. 

DOOM 15

It was time to let everyone see what real 3D was.