AN : Prepare some song Muse - Time is Running Out lol
Sunday 18 Jan 2002
Damian Watson had been a gamer since 1997, although unlike many older players, he had almost no nostalgia for the earliest generations of video games. He came from a well-off American family, so getting new consoles or games had never been particularly difficult for him. The problem was simply that games before the 32-bit era had never impressed him enough. ZEPS 1, ZEPS 2, Sonaya Mugen Game Box, Titan Drive—he understood why people loved them, but pixelated characters and simple backgrounds had never been enough to pull him in. Even during middle school, he mostly watched other kids obsess over them without understanding the excitement.
Then ZEPS 3 arrived in 1997.
That changed everything.
For the first time, Damian looked at a console game and thought, Holy shit, games can actually look like this? Polygonal characters, three-dimensional worlds, real cameras, lighting, cinematic scenes, racing games with actual depth and perspective—suddenly gaming felt like something that could continuously evolve instead of simply giving him prettier sprites. Sonaya's Game Station 32 strengthened that interest even further, while PC gaming eventually became another obsession because ZAGE's PC releases frequently pushed graphics beyond what consoles could manage.
Damian became exactly the kind of gamer developers loved showing technical demonstrations to.
He cared about gameplay, obviously.
But show him insane graphics and he would immediately pay attention.
That was also why, recently, he had started favoring Xbox and iPlay over the aging ZEPS 3. He still respected ZAGE and owned plenty of ZEPS games, but there was no point pretending the older hardware remained technically competitive. Xbox had impressed him immediately with its raw graphical power, while Apple's iPlay had enough impressive technology of its own to catch his attention. For several months Damian had genuinely believed that the next few years would probably belong to those two machines while ZAGE prepared whatever came afterward.
Then he watched the first ZEPS 4 teaser.
Everything changed again.
The moment the black-and-silver machine emerged from darkness beneath those thin blue lights, Damian had fallen in love almost instantly. Then came the gameplay clips.bunch of incredible looking games And, more than anything else for Damian, that gorgeous nighttime racing game with customized cars flying through wet streets beneath neon lights.
The graphics looked fucking ridiculous.
Xbox suddenly did not seem untouchable anymore.
Neither did iPlay.
Damian had watched the teaser once.
Then again.
Then a third time.
Then frame by frame.
He visited ZAGE Forum, read hardware speculation, looked through screenshot enlargements, argued with another user who insisted the racing footage had to be prerendered, then watched the trailer again just to convince himself it probably was not.
By Sunday he was completely restless.
"AGHH, DAMN IT! ZAGE, RELEASE MORE!"
Damian leaned backward in his chair and looked toward the calendar hanging nearby. There were still roughly two weeks before 2 February.
Two weeks suddenly felt unbearable.
"I'll buy it now for double the price!"
He knew that was impossible. There was nothing to buy yet. ZAGE had not even properly opened the final launch floodgates, and Damian suspected the company was deliberately torturing everyone by revealing things piece by piece.
With nothing better to do, he opened the teaser again.
Then a notification appeared.
ZAGE uploaded a new video.
Damian practically jumped upright. "HELL YEAH!"
He clicked immediately.
Then frowned.
The upload was not titled ZEPS 4 Hardware Overview.
It was not ZEPS 4 Games.
It was not even another teaser.
Zaraki — Time Is Running Out
Damian stared at the title. "A Zaraki song?"
He was not disappointed exactly. Zaraki was one of the biggest bands in the world, and Zaboru had not released much new music with them recently. A surprise song was still exciting.
But right now?
During ZEPS 4 week?
Damian narrowed his eyes.
"…There's no way this is random."
He put on his Sonaya headphones, increased the volume, and pressed play.
The video opened on complete darkness. Then a thick bass line began, joined by a sharp electronic pulse and restrained drums. It sounded tense from the very first seconds, almost as though the song itself was building toward something that had not yet arrived. Damian slowly started moving his head with the rhythm.
Then the animation appeared.
Everything was stylized, almost like a high-budget animated short. A cartoon gamer sat happily in front of his television while a Z3 console rested beneath it. Unlike the real machine, this Z3 had expressive eyes and a small mouth built naturally into its design, giving it almost the personality of a loyal little machine that had spent years beside its owner.
Then the doorbell rang.
The gamer opened the door.
Two consoles stood outside.
One was large and muscular-looking with an enormous X glowing across its body. The other was sleek, polished, almost fashionable, with a glowing P across the front. Both wore arrogant expressions.
Damian's eyes immediately widened. "Damn! I understood the reference already!"
There was no question what they represented Xbox and I-Play.
The gamer looked excitedly between X and P, then hurried back inside. Z3 watched from beneath the television as its owner unplugged it, picked it up, and casually placed it inside a cardboard box beside old cables, controllers, and forgotten electronics. X and P took its place beneath the television, both looking toward the discarded Z3 with smug smiles before turning their attention back toward the gamer.
Then Zaboru's animated version appeared for the first time.
Not real footage.
The entire Zaraki band was animated in the same striking style as the console scenes.
Animated Zaboru stood in the center beneath dark silver lighting, guitar hanging from him while his layered dark hair partly covered his face. Kingo sat behind the drums, Kana stood nearby with her rhythm guitar, Bradley held the bass, and Masashi's keyboard rested within a wall of glowing electronic equipment. The animation exaggerated their movements just enough to make every beat feel sharper.
Zaboru leaned toward the microphone.
"I think I'm drowning
Asphyxiated
I wanna break this spell
That you've created"
As those words played, the video returned to Z3 inside the cardboard box. Above it, the muffled glow of the television flickered while X and P entertained the gamer. X flexed absurd mechanical arms as if boasting about raw power, while P projected beautiful menus and polished animations around itself. Both were completely convinced the old machine beneath them no longer mattered.
Z3 looked upward.
Its expression darkened.
Then the next words arrived.
"You're something beautiful
A contradiction
I wanna play the game
I want the friction"
A thin blue line suddenly appeared across Z3.
The machine looked down at itself.
Another line appeared.
Then another.
The old casing began glowing from within.
The transformation did not happen instantly. That was what made it look so savage. The animation treated Z3 almost like a mechanical creature evolving into something far more dangerous. Parts of the old shell separated and floated around it. Silver metal formed underneath. The body widened. The old disc mechanism disassembled itself into glowing pieces before reconstructing into something sleeker. Cartridge slots rose from the top. Blue illumination spread around the machine like veins of energy.
Above the box, X suddenly stopped moving.
P looked toward it.
Both had noticed the light.
Then the bass struck harder.
The cardboard box exploded apart.
Z3 was gone.
Z4 landed where it had been.
Broad black body.
Silver metallic trim.
Blue illumination beneath its frame.
Two cartridge slots across the top.
The animated console slowly lifted its face toward X and P.
Its blue eyes opened.
Then it smiled.
Not a friendly smile.
A smug, almost predatory grin.
Damian leaned closer toward the monitor.
"…Holy shit."
The perspective suddenly shifted almost entirely toward X and P.
They had been smiling seconds earlier.
Now both froze.
The gamer slowly turned toward Z4.
His eyes widened.
X immediately rolled itself closer to him, flexing again, while P projected increasingly elaborate menus around itself, trying desperately to regain his attention.
Neither worked.
Then the song continued.
"You will be the death of me
Yeah, you will be the death of me"
The camera showed X looking at Z4.
Then P.
Then back toward each other.
For the first time, neither looked smug.
A bead of sweat slowly rolled down the side of X.
P's polished expression twitched.
Cut back to animated Zaraki. Zaboru sang more aggressively now while Kingo's drums became heavier, Kana moved beside him beneath violent flashes of silver light, Bradley drove the bass line forward, and Masashi's keyboard added a cold mechanical pulse underneath everything. Behind the band, enormous animated outlines of X, P, and Z4 began appearing like giant shadows.
Then came the next section.
"Bury it
I won't let you bury it
I won't let you smother it
I won't let you murder it"
Each line received its own visual.
"Bury it."
X shoved the remains of the old cardboard box toward Z4, almost as though trying to force it back inside.
Z4 stopped the box with one foot.
"I won't let you bury it."
The console pushed it away without even changing expression.
"I won't let you smother it."
P surrounded Z4 with huge glowing advertisements, polished interfaces, and enormous banners trying to cover it from view.
Z4's blue lights flashed.
Every projection shattered.
"I won't let you murder it."
X and P charged from opposite sides.
Z4 simply disappeared between them as both consoles smashed directly into each other.
The animated gamer stared.
Z4 reappeared behind him, sitting perfectly beneath the television as though nothing had happened.
Then the chorus hit.
"Our time is running out
Our time is running out
You can't push it underground
You can't stop it screaming out"
The video became merciless.
The gamer grabbed Z4 and placed it proudly beneath the television. X immediately attempted to slide beside it. The gamer casually moved X farther away. P tried occupying the other side. The gamer moved P too then both X and P really showing fear!..
Another animated gamer entered.
Then another.
Then dozens.
Instead of gameplay footage, the video showed the consoles themselves becoming characters inside an expanding world. Z4 units rolled through stores while people reached past X and P toward them. A massive department-store shelf showed X and P posing dramatically while customers gathered around a glowing Z4 display several meters away. On another scene, X built an enormous billboard reading POWER, only for a larger silver Z to unfold behind it and completely block the sign.
P tried something different.
It dressed itself in an absurdly elegant silver cape and stood beneath a spotlight.
Z4 rolled past wearing nothing at all except its normal black-and-silver shell.
Every animated person immediately followed Z4.
P slowly lowered its head.
The scene cut back to Zaraki.
Animated Zaboru stepped forward toward the microphone while the camera rotated violently around the entire band. The band itself now appeared inside a futuristic black room constructed from enormous animated circuitry, almost as though they were performing somewhere inside Z4.
The chorus continued.
"Our time is running out
Our time is running out
You can't push it underground
You can't stop it screaming out"
The animated world changed again.
X and P now stood in a giant race.
Not a racing game.
The consoles themselves were racing.
X used raw power, enormous mechanical wheels erupting beneath it as it accelerated aggressively. P transformed its body into something sleek and aerodynamic, almost elegant enough to look like a futuristic car.
Then Z4 appeared behind them.
It did not transform.
It simply powered on.
Blue lights flashed.
The screen shook.
Z4 launched forward so violently that both X and P spun sideways from the shockwave.
Another cut showed all three consoles standing on podiums.
X confidently stepped onto the second-place position.
P fought it for the spot.
While they argued, Z4 calmly walked past both of them and sat on a completely separate pedestal far above the original podium.
A silver Z appeared behind it.
X and P stared upward.
Then came:
"How did it come to this?"
The music suddenly pulled back.
The video returned to the original room.
The same gamer from the beginning now sat happily on the sofa.
Z4 rested beneath the television.
Beside it sat the standard controller and the Z-Remote.
Where were X and P?
The camera slowly panned toward the corner.
A trash can.
X and P were both inside it.
Not destroyed.
Not broken.
Just sitting there together with deeply offended expressions.
X looked toward P.
P looked toward X.
Both slowly turned toward Z4.
Then the final vocal sequence began.
"Oh oh oh.. yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Oh oh oh.. yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Oh oh oh.. yeah yeah.. yeah yeah yeah"
Animated Zaraki returned one final time.
Now the band performed directly on top of an enormous animated Z4 stretching across the darkness like a stage. Blue lights pulsed beneath their feet with every beat. Zaboru stood at the front singing while the silver trim around the console reflected the band behind him.
During each "oh oh oh", the video cut toward X and P attempting one final desperate escape from the trash can.
On the first one, X tried climbing out.
Z4 turned its eyes toward it.
X slowly lowered itself back inside.
On the second, P attempted to leap out from the opposite side.
Z4's cartridge slot opened slightly.
P immediately reconsidered.
On the final "yeah yeah yeah", both consoles simply gave up.
They sat side by side inside the trash can.
The camera slowly pulled backward.
Z4 remained beneath the television.
Then the console turned its animated face toward the camera.
Its blue eyes narrowed slightly.
The same smug grin from its transformation returned.
The screen went black.
A single line appeared:
TIME IS RUNNING OUT For Them!
The last bass note faded.
The ZAGE logo appeared.
Then the video ended.
Damian remained completely still in front of his monitor.
He stared at the black screen.
Then at the title.
Then at the replay button.
For several seconds, his brain seemed incapable of producing anything more intelligent.
Finally he slowly leaned backward.
"…Holy shit."
Zaboru had made a console look like the protagonist of a music video.
Damian moved his mouse.
Clicked replay.
And watched the entire thing again.
To be continued.
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