InZane Chronicles
By Blake Widener
"Dude, this line is taking forever!" the snobby kid behind me cried out. He was waiting, we all were, in line for the newest, greatest video game that was going to innovate the industry forever; the introduction of a virtual reality. The technology had been around for maybe ten years, led by Kayaba Akihiko, but now it was going to be in the hands of us, the gamers. And the first game to come out for the NerveGear, the virtual reality video game system, was Sword Art Online.
I stood anxiously in line, hoping that my preorder would get me a copy. In all honesty, I was just excited to finally get my hands on the game. I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to all this virtual reality stuff. I've been reading up on it since it was invented. It had this mystery behind it and I just felt intrigued. It drew me in. And that was the problem.
One by one each person moved closer to the counter. "Next!" I heard the salesman call out, signaling me to come up to the register.
"Hi there," I said, trying to keep the pitch of my voice from reaching a girly scream due to my excitement.
"Well how's it going, man?" The man looked at me with a rather perky smile. "What can I do ya for? Here to pick up a copy of Sword Art Online?"
"Yeah I am. Oh and I have my beta key number with me." I had been a part of the beta version of Sword Art Online. Beta is part of the development process of a game in which randomly selected people are given early access to the game to give feedback on what needs to be fixed or balanced, although this was done over computer and not over an actual virtual reality system. The benefits of being in the beta process is that when Sword Art Online, or SAO, is released, we all get extras because we helped out.
"Oh! Well aren't ya the special one. I'll be right back with your copy." The man exclaimed as he finished scanning my beta number.
He walked back in with a copy of the game with a silver casing. "Here ya go, lad. Sword Art Online, and when ya get in game, ya'll find a coupon that you can use for extra bonuses. It'll give ya special little upgrades and whatnot. Oh and don't forget ya NerveGear system." He handed me a big box. "That'll be $120."
After I returned home from the shop and the agonizing line, I rushed into my room, ignoring my mother's questions about where I was. I put the box on my bed as I opened up the NerveGear system. I couldn't contain my excitement. My hands were both shaking.
I shoved the empty box of the bed and plugged the NerveGear into my laptop. This was the first time I had actually taken a good look at the thing. It was a helmet, almost like a motorcyclist's helmet, but with a bunch of wires, buttons, and other confusing elements. As I said before, this sort of stuff amazes me. I just had to give it a good observation.
I began to turn the bizarre piece of metal around and around, looking at it from every angle I possibly could. It is equipped with a new generation diamond semiconductor central processor. The NerveGear's high density microwave transceivers can determine what the user's face looks like. The transceivers not only block every transmission from the brain to the body, but also from the body to the brain, thus, while using it, the player is completely insensate to the physical world. A real work of art in my opinion.
Enough gazing, I thought. Just put the disk in your computer, put the helmet on, and let's go already! I put in the disk and it asked me for an identification, a username to go by in game. Oh how I hate coming up with names. Such a real pain in the ass. I sat around staring at the walls, trying to figure up something. I never had a name in beta. It was just BETA057. I guess I hadn't thought of a name yet.
Maybe I'll just use my first name. I input "Zane." Apparently someone had beat me to it and already used that name. Well, bullocks. Maybe my last name? Nope, Agnew was taken as well. And then by some stroke of luck, it just came to me. J-i-n-s-o-k-u. Jinsoku. I had no idea where I got the inspiration for that name, but it just fit perfectly. "Access Granted. Please put on the NerveGear system."
I did as my screen instructed me to do to. I placed the helmet over my head. "My name is Zane Agnew, and I'm entering SAO! Link Start!" And then it began. My prison.
