New Era for PC Games

The tide was turning in the portable music player market. Giants like Tora, Suzuki, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, and SamStar, once dominating the landscape, found their grip loosening in the face of the rising iPod juggernaut. While they scrambled to develop their own advanced players, the early mover advantage had already swung decisively towards KiShin.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the digital divide, a different kind of excitement was brewing. September marked the end of a gaming drought, with consoles like the KS1 receiving a deluge of highly anticipated titles. "Tomb Raider III," the next chapter in Lara Croft's action-adventure saga, promised even more death-defying stunts and exotic locales. The charming marsupial Crash Bandicoot returned in a new sequel, and even the timeless plumber Mario graced the console with another vibrant adventure.

But amidst this feast of familiar favorites, one newcomer stole the spotlight. It is a new KiShin PC groundbreaking game called "Half-Life", it was poised to change the landscape of gaming forever. While "Tomb Raider III" achieved respectable sales of 320,000 units, it was "Half-Life" that generated the most excitement.

Even its pre-release glimpses offered a tantalizing glimpse into the future of gaming.

For PC gamers in 1998, worrying about their hardware struggling with graphics was becoming a thing of the past. The recent arrival of NVIDIA's RIVA TNT, a major leap in consumer-grade graphics cards, had changed the game. Its ability to handle multi-texturing and its substantial performance boost compared to rivals like 3dfx provided developers with powerful tools to build stunning and immersive 3D worlds. This newfound graphic muscle was put to impressive use in games like Half-Life, showcasing the potential of the RIVA TNT.

NVIDIA's success this year of 1998 was undeniable. They captured over 50% of the discrete GPU market, meaning more PCs were equipped to run demanding 3D games like Half-Life. This wider adoption created a larger potential audience for the game and incentivized its development.

As NVIDIA empowered PCs with increasingly impressive graphics capabilities, KiShin could push the boundaries of game design. This paved the way for ambitious PC titles like Half-Life, marking a watershed moment in the industry.

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October 1998 saw the highly anticipated Half-Life finally gracing PC screens in the United States and Japan. For three thrilling days, gamers in these regions became the first to experience KiShin's revolutionary shooter.

The release then marched eastward, reaching South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore before culminating in a European launch across the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Denmark. With each stop, the excitement and anticipation crescendoed.

Then came the moment of truth. As Half-Life booted up, gamers across the globe were instantly captivated by the leap forward in PC gaming. The immersive world unfolded before them, starting with the iconic tram ride accompanied by the soothing, yet authoritative, voice of Dr. Freeman's AI companion. It was an experience previously reserved for the silver screen, now vividly rendered on their own PCs.

This immersive world was a significant leap forward for PC gaming. The graphics, while not fully 3D due to hardware limitations at the time, pushed the boundaries of what was possible. The lighting effects, textures, and fluid animations created a believable and engaging environment that drew players into the heart of the story. The sound design also played a crucial role, immersing players in the world with its unsettling ambient sounds, chilling music, and well-acted dialogue.

Beyond the technical advancements, Half-Life captivated players with its narrative and gameplay. The story, unfolding through in-game events and subtle environmental cues rather than traditional cutscenes, offered a sense of agency and engagement rarely seen before. The seamless blend of action, puzzle-solving, and exploration kept players on the edge of their seats, eager to discover the next twist in the story and the next challenge awaiting them.

It redefined the expectations for PC gaming, setting a new standard for immersive storytelling, technical excellence, and player engagement. Its impact continues to be felt today, influencing countless games that may follow in its wake.

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While the immersive world of "Half-Life" captivated PC gamers in 1998, Microsoft also paid close attention to its commercial success. The game's critical acclaim and strong sales confirmed the growing importance of 3D worlds and engaging narratives in the PC gaming landscape.

Will Gates, Microsoft's CEO, understood this all too well. His company had already been quietly working on its own game engine in 1995, but witnessing Half-Life's stunning visuals and seamless gameplay, powered by KiShin's Unreal Engine, gave him pause. It became clear that simply replicating Unreal Engine's capabilities would be a daunting task, let alone surpassing it.

This concerns was shared within the Microsoft board. Skepticism grew amongst the members, wondering if surpassing KiShin's established engines, VG Engine and Unreal Engine, was even a realistic goal.

Adding to the complexity, KiShin held an 8% stake in Microsoft, giving them a significant presence within the company. This meant that Microsoft's actions were largely visible to KiShin, providing them with valuable insights into their competitor's plans and strategies, while Microsoft lacked the same reciprocal advantage. Unlike Microsoft, which was a publicly traded company, KiShin was privately owned by Shin and operated with greater secrecy. This limited Microsoft's ability to glean insights into KiShin's plans and strategies, adding another layer of complexity to the competitive landscape.

This lack of transparency could have played a role in Microsoft's assessment of KiShin's Unreal Engine. While they observed the engine's success in powering games like Half-Life, they may not have had a complete picture of KiShin's future plans for the technology or its potential impact on the wider gaming market.

The power dynamics at play were further complicated by KiShin's dominant market position. With nearly all major game developers relying on their VG Engine or Unreal Engine, KiShin effectively held significant sway over the industry. This made it even more challenging for Microsoft to enter the market with a competing engine and gain traction.

KiShin's years of expertise and dominant market presence, with nearly all major game developers relying on their technology, meant the gap between Microsoft's fledgling engine and KiShin's established offerings could only widen further.