Chapter 977: A New Streaming Perspective
February 16, 10:00 AM, Zou Zhuo's livestream.
As soon as the stream started, a flood of question marks scrolled by.
"????"
"What's going on? Streaming to snag a Matrix Game Pod?"
"But Fatty didn't even try to grab one. Has he given up? Or did he cut some shady deal with Chen Mo and already buy one?"
Zou Zhuo held up his selfie stick while streaming and said, "Snag a Matrix Game Pod? Snagging one is impossible, absolutely impossible in this lifetime. Don't I know Lehui's tricks? Starts selling at 10:00 sharp; if there's still stock by 10:01, I'll eat my words. Even if there's stock, clicking in and actually paying successfully? I'll eat my words again."
"Can't snag one, can't cut a deal, so I can only crash the experience zone's Matrix Game Pods like this. The people here are all super talented, talk real smooth, ah, I love it here."
"See? Sold out. That's my bro Zhou Jiangping for you—ruthless and low on stock."
As he spoke, Zou Zhuo opened Lehui's official website on his phone. The product details page for the Matrix Game Pod indeed showed the glaring words "Sold Out."
The barrage instantly filled with "Holy crap."
"Fatty really knows the deal, damn, it sold out in a second!"
"So mad, Zhou Jiangping in a dress!"
"Heh, I was smart. Came early this morning to line up at the Thunder Game Experience Store in Shanghai. I'm definitely playing today!"
Although a lucky few managed to snag a Matrix Game Pod, the vast majority could only be cloud players. On the Touch Fish streaming platform, the popularity of several major streamers' channels soared. Any streamer broadcasting Matrix Game Pod gameplay of *Detroit: Become Human* was flooded with massive audiences.
Zou Zhuo actually managed to grab a Matrix Game Pod at the experience store and crawled inside with no intention of coming out.
This experience was different from before. On the eve of the official release, Thunder Interactive Entertainment's headquarters VR gaming experience zone had added a full 500 Matrix Game Pods, with plans to increase the number later. With these pods, supply wasn't as tight anymore. *Detroit: Become Human* was the full version, and trial time was no longer restricted.
Zou Zhuo entered the pod, and the stream screen went black. After fiddling around for over ten minutes, he finally managed to adjust the streaming signal in the new Matrix Game Pod.
This time, there was no login interface like a computer desktop. Instead, he entered directly into a dedicated login space.
Since the transformation of *Oasis* wasn't fully complete, Zou Zhuo found himself in a pure white space, empty and barren.
The Matrix Game Pod had dedicated streaming features built in. Barrage messages, streaming perspectives, and more could all be adjusted. As long as the pod's streaming function was turned on in advance, the streaming interface could be summoned at any time for modifications.
Zou Zhuo set the interactive barrage to display at the upper edge of his field of vision. A slight upward glance would reveal it, and he could toggle it on or off at will (though viewers couldn't see it). As for the streaming perspective, there were three options: first-person perspective, third-person follow perspective, and cinematic perspective.
The first two were the traditional perspectives from VR pods. The so-called "cinematic perspective" used real-time AI calculations, synthesizing the current scene, characters, actions, focal points, key information, and more to automatically switch camera angles, achieving a movie-level shot composition. It was essentially a perspective tailor-made for streaming.
When Zou Zhuo played, he used full first-person for maximum immersion. But for viewers, that immersion might not translate. So Chen Mo specifically introduced this cinematic perspective, greatly enhancing the watchability of these VR games.
At this moment, Zou Zhuo's character was the default *Oasis* avatar: a chubby, endearing little fatty.
Zou Zhuo touched his own cheek, then pinched his thigh. "...So real, damn, it's so real!"
On the stream signal, viewers saw the angle facing Zou Zhuo's character directly, clearly catching every move as he touched his face and pinched his thigh.
"How do I start the game?"
Just as Zou Zhuo was wondering, the world around him began to shift subtly. The pure white space started to fill with techy light blue and white grids. Directly in front of him, a beautiful blonde girl emerged from a stream of data, wearing a professional smile as she walked gracefully toward him.
"Hello, Mr. Zou Zhuo. Welcome to the next-generation virtual reality world. I am an android, and your personal attendant. Before we begin your dreamlike gaming experience, please allow me to confirm some settings to enhance your gameplay."
This blonde girl was a classic European beauty—deep-set eyes, high nose bridge, stunning like the Best Actress at the Oscars. Every move, every word was dignified and proper, and her fluent Chinese added extra charm.
Of course, Zou Zhuo knew the Chinese voice was dubbed. The game's setting was in Detroit, but Chen Mo had already made so many games that his Chinese voice-acting team was highly polished, so it sounded perfectly natural.
In front of the girl, many virtual facility options appeared, patiently waiting for Zou Zhuo's choices.
Voice language, subtitle language, subtitle toggle, subtitle size, environment brightness, game difficulty...
Zou Zhuo confirmed each setting in turn.
"All set. You are about to enter the next-generation virtual reality world. Remember, this is not just a fictional story—it will also become our future."
After saying this, the blonde girl vanished back into the data stream. At the same time, the surrounding data stream began to deconstruct and reassemble, transforming into a different scene.
Zou Zhuo's character was also continuously reshaped by the data stream, eventually becoming Connor.
"The girl was really beautiful," Zou Zhuo couldn't help but remark.
He had to admit, the girl's body language and facial expressions were exceptionally well-done. When she spoke, the facial muscle reactions were incredibly detailed—even the slight twitch of her eyebrows, the subtle movement of her eyes, the gentle flutter of her lashes—all clearly visible.
The surrounding data stream rapidly converged. The scene before Zou Zhuo became an elevator car, and his own character had transformed into Connor, the negotiation expert.
The following plot was pretty much what everyone had already seen: Connor's first appearance, bravely fighting an abnormal android and killing (strike that) saving a little girl.
But after this segment ended, the world around Zou Zhuo shifted again, returning to that pure white space. In front of him appeared a long flowchart of scenes.