Video Game Empire

Wang Shi felt that he was an eye-opener this time. He never thought that the game could be played like this! He just counted it. There were as many as 5 cameras on the scene, which was even more grand than when Deep Sea TV broadcasted the New Year's Gala last year.

And such a high-level live broadcast team actually only serves the four or five hundred viewers on the scene. Of course, what Wang Shi didn't know was that all the people in charge of camera and director were actually not professionals, but part-time students of the Asian Academy of Arts.

The so-called Asian Academy of Performing Arts is the original ATV artist training class. With the continuous efforts of ATV Group, it has passed the review of the relevant departments of the Hong Kong government and was promoted to a post-secondary college. Any preparatory student who completes a two-year study at the Asian Academy of Arts can earn an Advanced Diploma degree.

Of course, the Asian Academy of Performing Arts only enrolls some majors through the college entrance examination, such as screenwriting. Like the most popular acting majors, in fact, on-site interviews are still the main focus. After all, an actor is a profession that relies more on talent. This talent can be a good-looking appearance or the spirituality of performance, but it has little to do with the score in the cultural class.

After the ATV training class was promoted to the Asian Academy of Performing Arts, the biggest change is that the school's enrollment scale has expanded several times at once. From the original fifty or sixty people every year, one ◎︾dǐng◎︾ǎn◎︾小◎︾ said, .◎⊙ suddenly swelled to two hundred people. In addition to the performance major, the school also offers other majors such as directing, camera, lighting, etc. It can be said that it has cultivated all kinds of reserve talents for the ATV Group, and of course, it has also indirectly sent a large number of fresh blood to the Hong Kong entertainment industry!

The Asian Academy of Performing Arts has a very significant feature, that is, applying what you have learned. The school will try to create a variety of learning and practical opportunities for students. For example, the directing department, don't look at the very prosperous Hong Kong film industry now. Hundreds of films are made each year, but newcomers want the opportunity to direct the mic. It's actually very difficult.

Not every director can pull in the funds to make his own film, and many may be a commercial director all their lives. This is especially true for those students who have not yet completed their studies. The Hong Kong Arcade Club League sponsored by Dongyou Company just gave everyone an excellent opportunity to practice their skills.

Although there is still a gap between the game live director and the movie director. But the opportunity to direct several cameras and earn a living allowance is actually a very rare experience.

The Hong Kong Arcade Club League will be staged on time every Saturday and Sunday afternoon in an industrial building in Charcoal Industrial Park, Shatin. Starting this year, the league's competition system has become more formalized, with three seasons per year.

There are 7 rounds in each season, and exactly 8 clubs who sign up for the competition can complete a single round. There is a round of competition every weekend. There are four clubs each on Saturday and Sunday, with two head-to-head matches.

"When Ma Chao was in Mong Kok, I even played a teaching competition with him! He was so good at using the broom head, I was directly used by him to use a set of combos to O!" Several students sitting next to Wang Shi, while While watching the game, there was a lively discussion.

Wang Shi has collected some information before. "Broomhead" is the nickname of arcade game fans in Hong Kong for a game character in the "King of Fighters" game who can shoot a ball. In the official character background of the "King of Fighters" game, the character's name is actually Mike, who is set to be an American with blue eyes and blonde hair. Mike's most impressive place. No doubt it was his broom head.

There is another thing about this character that everyone is talking about, which is that its shape and skills are all designed by the "God of Wealth Li". Of course, Li Xuan never told anyone. The name of this person in his mind was actually called "Nikaidou Benimaru".

The current "King of Fighters" is a game made in Hong Kong. There are only four characters with Japanese names, and the backgrounds of these four game characters all come from Japan. When Dongyou Company was developing "The King of Fighters". It has fully considered its global promotion, so all the characters in the game come from all over the world.

Although Li Xuan in his previous life was a fan of The King of Fighters. But of course he couldn't remember all the characters in the game. In fact, he hadn't played The King of Fighters for at least four or five years before he was reborn. He can still remember it fresh. In fact, it is just the most famous characters, such as Kusanagi, Yagami, and Nichiado Benimaru.

Therefore, in the "King of Fighters" developed by Dongfang Games, in Li Xuan's view, in addition to the basic gameplay unchanged, most of the characters in it have been changed beyond recognition. For example, there is an image of a British gentleman wearing a tall hat, a tuxedo, and leaning on a civilized staff in the game, which is a character that does not exist in "The King of Fighters" in another time and space.

"I don't think Ma Chao is very good except for his ability to blow water! His 'broom head' is not as good as Tuen Mun Kuaishou Li's 'broom head'!" Another student immediately retorted.

At this time, the big screen in front of the audience just gave a close-up shot of the two players in the next game. Wang Shi saw that in front of the game-specific arcade table on the left, the player who looked to be in his early twenties and had a somewhat rebellious expression. The name of the Chinese subtitle was Ma Chao.

He represented the Gangdong Xinhui Club in the competition today. In the wheel battle system just now, he used his best "broom head" to eliminate one of the opponent's opponents.

According to the competition system, each game is divided into four rounds, the first three rounds are one-on-one heads-up, and the winning club gets one point. In each one-on-one match, each player has three characters who can play consecutive relays, two of which are chosen by themselves, and the other designated by the opponent.

If one of the clubs in the first three single challenges leads directly to 3-0, then the game ends directly. And if the score between the two clubs is 2 to 1, it will enter the final round of the round. The winning side of the wheel battle can score 2 points alone, which means that the club that was 1-2 behind before also has a chance to turn a defeat into a victory.

In the last round of the battle, the two teams can each send 4 players. Each player can choose a character that he is best at, and the game will not be decided until all the characters on one side's health bars are exhausted.

The two clubs in the first game today. They are Hong Kong East Xinhui Club and Shatin Elite Club. Actually it is not easy to maintain a club because according to the league rules. Each club needs to have 5 to 8 players and at least 1 coach. and a leader.

And only players who have registered with the league committee are allowed to play on behalf of the club. The prerequisite for completing the registration is that the club must sign a formal labor contract with the players. In order to relieve the worries of the players, the registration regulations not only stipulates that the minimum contract period is one season, but also stipulates that the minimum guaranteed income for a single season is 20,000 Hong Kong dollars.

A season is about 4 months, which means that all league registered players have a minimum monthly salary of 5,000 Hong Kong dollars. This income can basically reach the level of the middle class in Hong Kong, which is enough to allow these game-based people to live a decent life.

In fact, there are now all 45 registered players across the eight clubs. Less than one-third of those who really only get the minimum base salary. Among them, the highest salary is Lu Shaocong of the Tuen Mun Yabang team. This player won the championship of the world "King of Fighters" individual competition in this year's Oriental Games Global Carnival. Won the first world championship for Hong Kong.

This is Hong Kong's first world game champion, and Lu Shaocong has gained countless fans in Hong Kong. In order to recruit him, the Tuen Mun Yabang team even offered a sky-high contract of HK$300,000 for three seasons. The three seasons are actually only one year, which means that Lu Shaocong's annual salary this year has reached 300,000 Hong Kong dollars.

In addition to the salary paid by the club, Lu Shaocong also received a two-year 200,000 endorsement contract from Yabang Game Company. Yabang Games is also an arcade manufacturer, and its best-selling arcade product is a fighting arcade game called “Road of the Brave” that imitates the “King of Fighters” series.

Arbon Games' arcade manufacturing facility. Moved into the newly established Tin Shui Wai Electronic Industrial Park last year. So when several video game halls in Yuen Long jointly established a club to participate in the Hong Kong arcade league, Yabang Company took the initiative to ask for sponsorship.

And after Lu Shaocong became famous, Yabang Company made a decisive move. Take him in your arms first. You must know that in the huge contract offered by the club to Lu Shaocong, half of the funds were directly advanced by Yabang Game Company. The speed of Yabang Company was so fast that even Dongfang Game Company did not respond for a while. And when the people from Dongyou Company found Lu Shaocong. He has signed an endorsement contract with Yabang.

"Axiao, I think if you practice hard, you will still have a chance to become a professional. After all, you are also one of the top 32 in the Hong Kong Individual Challenge!" The fat student sitting next to Wang Shi reached out and stabbed Said the classmate who was wearing glasses on the other side.

"If my dad knew that I was going to play games to eat in the future, I would have to break my leg! Don't look at Lu Shaocong's popularity now, but the club will only sign him a contract for three seasons!

If he cannot successfully defend his title in next year's World King of Fighters Challenge, the price of his next contract will be cut by at least half! Don't look at these professional gamers who make a lot of money, but the job preservation period is too short!

The longest contract these clubs are willing to give is only six seasons, or two years. Who knows how many of the current group of players will continue to keep their jobs after two years! So I still study hard and try to be admitted to CUHK, so that I will have the opportunity to work in Dongyou Company after graduation! "The student wearing glasses said very calmly.

"That's right, with our Ah Xiao able to get 5 A's in the test, we will be developing "The King of Fighters 4" in the future, which is much better than playing "The King of Fighters 4"! At that time, you can simply design a new character based on fat as the prototype. , let him also be famous in the world!" Another student in the group said with a smile.

According to the news released by Dongyou Company, "The King of Fighters 3" will be released soon, and this classmate with glasses is obviously unable to keep up!

According to Wang Shi's investigation in the past few days, most of the arcade games in Hong Kong revolve around the "King of Fighters" game. Among them, the All-Hong Kong Club League, which was funded and established by the Oriental Games Company, can be said to be at the dǐng end of the pyramid in all competitions. Below it is a "King of Fighters" personal challenge jointly hosted by the Hong Kong Video Game Hall Association and the Oriental Game Company. Those at the top of the Challenger League have a good chance of being selected by the eight clubs to become the players of the future arcade league.

And even if they don't have the opportunity to join the club, these people who have already shown their game talents may still be spotted by an arcade hall and become resident players. Because the "King of Fighters" game has always been one of the most popular arcade games in Hong Kong game arcades. Therefore, most game halls will sign several resident players. These resident players also have regular work contracts and their monthly salary is about 3,000 Hong Kong dollars.

Their main job is to teach players some tricks to enlarge or combo when playing games. Of course, this kind of teaching is not all free. If players really want to learn real kung fu, they need to spend money to invite these resident players to accompany them to play coaching competitions. The fee ranges from 50 to 200 Hong Kong dollars per hour.

In fact, those top players who participated in the club league, in addition to participating in the games on weekends, also spent most of the time in the arcade hall, playing games with the players who came here. It's just that their fees are more expensive than the resident players. For example, Lv Shao-cong, who is blessed with the world championship title, charges up to 200 Hong Kong dollars for each teaching game.

The so-called game is to fight against both sides, each person chooses 3 characters for wheel battle. For a dǐng expert like Lu Shaocong, it only takes two or three minutes to play a game with an ordinary player. Most people almost didn't even have a chance to make a shot, so he used an endless combo to o. But every day there are still many game fans who go to Yuen Long to find the world champion to be abused. These highly popular players are also one of the important means for arcade halls to attract players.

In fact, maintaining the normal operation of a club requires at least HK$500,000 per year. It is impossible for one game hall to support such a large expenditure. Therefore, in fact, each of the eight clubs participating in the Hong Kong arcade league is jointly funded by multiple game arcades.

Under the guidance of Dongfang Game Company, most of these game halls form alliances based on their respective regions. For example, the Yuen Long Yabang Club was jointly established by five game halls in Yuen Long.

In addition to the more formal Hong Kong arcade leagues and the Hong Kong "King of Fighters" personal challenge, there are actually many other arcade competitions in Hong Kong~www.readwn.com~ such as private battles between various game arcades, and game arcades Challenges they set up to attract players.

For the kind of challenge held by a single game hall, the bonus is generally not much, ranging from a few hundred yuan to one or two thousand yuan. And the battle between the game halls is even related to "gambling" in many cases. You must know that all video game halls in Hong Kong are the same as nightclubs.

It can be said that the entire Hong Kong has formed a huge arcade industry, which is naturally driven by the Oriental Group. You must know that in another time and space, the professionalization of games began to appear gradually after the Internet was fully popularized.

However, according to the statistics of "Game World" magazine, the total number of semi-professional and professional players in Hong Kong now rely on participating in various game competitions to obtain bonuses or wages to maintain a living, and the total number has exceeded 200.

And Oriental Game Company is gradually promoting these successful experiences. For example, Taipei and Tokyo have also begun to appear professional leagues of "The King of Fighters". And Hong Kong's arcade league is planning to change its name, because in addition to the game "The King of Fighters", Dongfang Games is also preparing to add another very popular game on handhelds and home computers - "Pokémon", also added to Coming to the league! (To be continued.)