August 16.

  Blizzard has been a subsidiary of ID Software for just uwo months. The acquisitioails are still a bit unclear, but the pn is for them to tinue w on the games they've been developing. They reached an agreement tactics, and the creation of World of Warcraft is just an ambitious project that the founders have been w on autonomously for some time. Michael Morhaime, Frank Pearce, and Aln Adham have been w like a well-oiled mae. The anization provided by the multinational pany Lux Animation, along with all the graphigines, was a godsend for these video game geeks nning one of the most preheories in video games—a universe extending over nearly ten installments, along with other releases to create the MROOP matrix, a series of orategy games.

  -You are the smartest people in the world,- Raimon ented, admiring the work on Warcraft, one of the best pieces of art he had seen i years.

  Frank Pearce blushed at Raimon's words, who admired the masterpiece of Warcraft.

  -It's still a new idea,- ented Aln, the most grounded of the three, the logical thinker among the three founders of the former Sili & Synapse, now part of Lux Games, the main hub of six video game panies.

  -Not at all, Billy has a simir cept, which is why his interview caught my attention so much. We're creating a game called Baldur's Gate, an RPG, open world iwined with cssigeon & dragon gamepy. Now I see you’ve already thought of it and want to unicate with pyers through a unique online multipyer process. Yeniuses,- Raimon said, regretting not sidering them earlier.

  -Billy? The boss, right... the Billy who is the you billionaire by his means?- Frank Pearce asked.

  -Ah, yes, now he’s a billionaire... What I want you to uand is that with Billy, we’ve worked on two essential things: optimizing games to a symbiotic beauty between gamepy, graphics, and story. You have it. We o hire a writer or talk to Billy to give us wings oory. Maybe use our animators to make a brief introdu. Adding ses will give us a better market for the teaser,- Raimon said, boung ideas around.

  -Sounds great,- ented Frank Pearce. -I’ve spent some time oory, and to top it off, I think the first thing is to present plex details and make a simple story so that Billy or whoever revises it has plenty of room to work.-

  -Sounds brilliant. Now, I think we o py a round of Baldur’s Gate so you know what I’m talking about,- said Raimon, rubbing his hands, esg from Anne, pying a game of Baldur without ahering him with the perfect excuse of it being work-reted.

  He was stopped by Aln, who smiled heavily.

  -Anne already mentiohat you might suggest pying Baldur's Gate and prohibited us from pying it with you. You leave the game, and we’ll have a chat ter,- Aln said.

  Raimon was left breathless knowing that Anne had outsmarted him again. It was likely that Rachel had done everything to sabotage his gaming afternoon.

  -Sure, now you’ve fallen to the dark side,- Raimon said, walking away to check the ats. One major issue with having many branches is the need for a careful ma pattern. Everyone has projects, but eapany needs adjustments to avoid excessive expenses and ensure loy.

  -Are you going to make ges?- Aln asked, notig the evident shift.

  -We’ll hire financial advisors, and assistants, and expand our advertising and design market. For now, ID Software ha along with Pixar and Lux Animation, but we’re expanding all the teams,- Raimon ented.

  The hiring of twera animators to handle video games, w hand-in-hand with ID Software and RPG ptforms, was just a sign—a tinuous group that would handle all video game designs, mini-stories, cover art, albums, posters, and covers, along with small assigs for the entire advertising branch.

  -That sounds fantastic, but we want to do our designs,- Aln said.

  -You o discuss that with the newly created group. For now, the important thing is to sider that you hat team to meet the minimum requirements of video games, which are introdus, expnations, and attractive designs for ers,- Raimon said, pointing out just a basic part of video game marketing, the appeal.

  -It’s not iable.-

  -I didn't say that! But you must follow certain standards. It’s almost a strategy,- Raimon said.

  Now they longed for the chubby guy who came in with nothing but smiles.

  ***

  -This is pure gold,- said Ricardo Sanchez, one of the most popur video game critics from all the magazines, as he pyed the demo of Baldur’s Gate, one of the most ambitious games on the market from the new pany RPG Ptforms.

  -It’s incredible,- Rimented, feeling like a kid again pying Pa twenty years ago. After many ups and downs, he decided to study journalism and a small video game magazine.

  -Tony, e py this game, it’s for two pyers,- Ricardo shouted, pletely absorbed by the simplicity of the gamepy, the amazing graphics, the medieval setting, and the Roman war-like music. The sound, everything, erfect.

  Tony arrived with a pen tucked behind his ear, looking at the ughter with some curiosity. The new game, sold for soles and now avaible for puters, was distributed by ID Software on three soles: PyStation, Nintendo, and PC.

  -Give me a sed, I’m detailing the boom of the Nintendo 64 in an article about why Nintendo will be the big petitor of the decade. I think it will put some panies out of business. The game modes are simply amazing,- Tony ented.

  -Wow, ID Software has been doing this since 1991, and no one was kissing their feet. The issue is the market monopoly; it’s nothing great. Plus, if you look at it, ID Software's graphics level is better than Mario’s,- Ricardo said.

  -Maybe, maybe,- Tony replied, turning back to his essay.

  The gaming unity loved the games produced by ID Software.

  ***

  For many, the ges at Lux Nation may seem great, but for others, it’s just the beginning of their problems. The animation battle is one lived by three panies, each absorbed in distrag and creating their aspirations, but it ot be answered satisfactorily.

  -The movie wasn’t as effective as we hoped. Even when we published the story, the expenses of 65 million pared to the 35 million fs is a big difference. Even though they exceeded the 150 million mark, which was the limit for a healthy profit, and reached 306 million, the blow was already dealt, and the response wasn’t less friendly. Lux Animation made 260 million, which means without petition, our profit would have been at least 500 million. Their fight against us is just the beginning,- Joe Roth eo Phil Lader, both now the directors of eai.

  -You’re being sarcastic. Even without petition, our revenue pace could have been lower her. There are no what-ifs in ema,- Phil Lader ented, approag to see that only three movies were released this time, and uhe two released, they may release others at the end of the year, creating a plete surprise. How do they ma? Three movies in three years, and two of those have been hits.

  -We have to keep doing what we always do. Michael Eisner always believes we’ll pull through. Even though the acquisition of ABC has already been annou 19 billion, the press still siders it one of the biggest corporate acquisitions in history,- Joe Roth mentioned with some doubt in his voice. -I think it was a dumb move. ABC is just a problem for us, and for the pany’s stitution, it brings many els, but as a mega produedium, it tains a wide variety of assets and liabilities to sider. Disney makes movies; without movies, we’re just a medium without wings.-

  -We’re just employees. Eisalks about the annual showdown, and we’re already preparing to face the battle year, though we have no idea what the pany’s project is. We’ll be releasing “The Gremlins,” from a book by Roald Dahl that Walt Disney wao produce but never did,- Phil Lader ented, who was in charge of the Tarzan series for 1998 along with Mort, based on Terry Pratchett’s stories.

  Like the tinuous search for princesses or quality of princesses, which Disney doesn’t uimate from any angle, examples have been taken, like The Princess and the Pea, Donkeyskin, The Twelve Dang Princesses, The Wild Swans, and The Snow Queen. All have undergone numerous studies and efforts to tinue peting. With the test frontation, Billy proposed the story of Mun, a ese woman iime of the Mongols.

  -I wouldn’t trust that much. It seems he prefers to be elsewhere. Since Jeffrey Katzenberg left, everything has been different for all of us, - Joe Roth ented.

  ...