Wang Shi felt that he had opened his eyes this time, he had never thought that such a thing as a game could be played like this! He had just counted that there were as many as 5 camera positions set up at the scene, which was even more grand than when Shenhai TV broadcast the New Year's Gala live last year.

And such a high-standard live broadcast team turned out to be just serving 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 filming and directing were not professionals, but part-time students of the Asian Academy of Arts.

The so-called Asian Academy for Performing Arts is the original ATV artist training class. With the continuous efforts of ATV Group, it has been approved by the relevant departments of the Hong Kong government and promoted to a post-secondary college. Any matriculation graduate can obtain an Advanced Diploma degree after completing two years of study at the Asian Academy of Arts.

Of course, the Asian Academy for Performing Arts only recruits some majors through the college entrance examination, such as screenwriting. Like the most popular acting majors, in fact, they are still dominated by on-site interviews. After all, being an actor is a profession that relies more on talent, and this talent can be a high-value appearance or the spirituality of acting, but it has little to do with the score of the cultural class.

After the ATV training class was promoted to the Asian Academy of Performing Arts, the biggest change was that the school's enrollment scale expanded several times at once. From 50 or 60 people a year, it suddenly swelled to 200 people. In addition to the performance major, the school also offers other majors such as directing, photography, lighting, etc., which can be said to cultivate all kinds of reserve talents for ATV Group in an all-round way, and of course, it also indirectly sends a large number of fresh blood to the Hong Kong entertainment industry!

One of the distinctive features of the Asian Academy for Performing Arts is that it is a practical application of what it has learned. The school will try to create a variety of learning and practice opportunities for students as much as possible. For example, the director department, don't look at the Hong Kong film industry is very prosperous now. Hundreds of films are shot every year, but newcomers want to get the opportunity to direct the microphone. It's actually very difficult.

Not every director can get the money to make their own films, and many people may be a commercial film director for the rest of their lives. This is especially true for students who are not yet complete. The Hong Kong Arcade Club League, sponsored by Dongyou Company, just gives everyone an excellent opportunity to practice.

Although there are still 108,000 miles between the director of the game live broadcast and the director of the movie. But the opportunity to command a few cameras and earn a living allowance is actually a very rare experience.

The Hong Kong Arcade Club Tournament is staged every Saturday and Sunday afternoon in an industrial building in the Charcoal Fire Pioneer Park in Sha Tin. Starting this year, the format of the league has become more formalized, with each year divided into three seasons.

There are 7 rounds per season, and exactly 8 registered clubs can complete a single round-robin. And every weekend there will be a round of competition. On Saturday and Sunday, there are four clubs each, and two head-to-head matches are staged.

"When Ma Chao was in Mong Kok before, I also played a teaching match with him! He was so powerful with a broom that I was directly knocked out by him with a set of combos!" several students sitting next to Wang Shi discussed enthusiastically while watching the game.

Wang Shi has collected some information before, "Broom Head" is the nickname given to a game character in the game "The King of Fighters" who can discharge ball ultimate. And in the background of the official character of the "King of Fighters" game, the character's name is actually Mike, and he is set to be a blue-eyed blonde American. Mike's most impressive place. Undoubtedly his broom head.

Another thing about this character that everyone talks about is that its shape and skills were designed by the "God of Wealth Lee" himself. Of course, Li Xuan never told anyone. The name of the person in his mind was actually "Nikaido Red Pill".

The current "King of Fighters" is a Hong Kong-made game, and only four characters in it have Japanese names, and the background of these four game characters is all from Japan. Dongyou Company at the time of the development of "The King of Fighters". Its global promotion has been fully considered, so all the characters in the game come from all over the world.

Although Li Xuan in his previous life was a lover of "The King of Fighters". But naturally 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. It can still be remembered by him. In fact, there are only the most famous characters such as Kusanagi Kyo, Yagami-an, Nikaido Red Pill, etc.

Therefore, in Li Xuan's opinion, in addition to the basic gameplay, most of the characters in it have been changed beyond recognition. For example, there is an image of an English gentleman in a high hat, a tuxedo, and a civilized staff in the game, which is a character that is not at all in "The King of Fighters" in another time and space.

"I don't think Ma Chao is very good except for being able to blow water! His 'broom head' is not as good as Tuen Mun Kuaishou Lee's 'broom head'!" another student immediately retorted.

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

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

According to the format, each game is divided into four rounds, with the first three games being heads-up, with the winning club getting a point. In each heads-up match, players have three characters who can play in successive relays, two of which are chosen by themselves and the other is designated by the opponent, and the first of the three characters to run out of health bar is considered a loser.

If one of the first three games is directly 3-0 ahead of a single challenge, then the game will end directly. And if the score of the two clubs is 2-1, it enters the final round of the wheel battle. The winner of the wheel battle can get 2 points alone, which means that the club that was previously 1-2 behind has every chance of turning the defeat into a victory.

In the final wheel battle, the opposing teams can each field 4 players. Each player can choose a character they are best at, and the match will not be decided until all of the characters' health bars are depleted.

Today's first match against two clubs. They are Gangdong Xinhui Club and Sha Tin Elite Club. It's not easy to maintain a club because of the league's statutes. Each club needs to have 5 to 8 players and at least 1 coach. and 1 tour leader.

Only players who have been registered with the league committee are allowed to play for the club. In order to complete the registration, the club must sign a formal employment contract with the players. In order to relieve the worries of the competition players, the registration regulations not only stipulate that the minimum term of the contract is one season, but also stipulate that the minimum guaranteed income for a single season is 20,000 Hong Kong dollars.

A season is about 4 months, which means that the minimum monthly salary for all registered players in the league is 5,000 Hong Kong dollars. This income is basically the level of Hong Kong's middle class, which is enough for these people who make a career out of gaming to live a decent life.

In fact, there are now all 45 registered players in all eight clubs. Less than a third of those who actually receive the minimum basic salary are earned. Among them, the highest salary is Lui Siu-ching of the Tuen Mun Arbis team. This player won the World "King of Fighters" individual championship in one fell swoop at this year's Oriental Game Global Carnival. Won the first world championship for Hong Kong.

This is Hong Kong's first world gaming champion, and Lui Siu-cong has gained countless fans in Hong Kong. In order to recruit him, the Tuen Mun Yarbis team even offered a sky-high contract of 300,000 Hong Kong dollars for three seasons. 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 an endorsement contract of 200,000 yuan for two years from URBIS Games. URBIS Games is also an arcade manufacturer, and its best-selling arcade product is a fighting arcade game called "Road to the Brave" that parodies the "King of Fighters" series.

URBIS Games' arcade manufacturing facility. Last year, it moved into the newly established Tin Shui Wai Electronics Industrial Park. So when several video game halls in Yuen Long jointly formed a club to participate in the Hong Kong Arcade League, URBIS took the initiative to ask for sponsorship.

After Lu Shaocong became famous, URBIS was even more decisive. Take him into your arms first. You must know that half of the huge contract issued by the club to Lu Shaocong was directly advanced by URBIS Games. The speed of URBIS is so fast that even Oriental Game Company did not react for a while. And when the people from the Dongyou Company found Lu Shaocong. He has signed an endorsement contract with URBIS .

"Ah Xiao, I think if you practice seriously. There's still a chance to play professionally. You are also the one who has entered the top 32 of the Hong Kong Individual Challenge!" said the fat student sitting next to Wang Shi, who reached out and poked the classmate wearing glasses on the other side.

"If only my dad knew that I was going to play games to eat. You have to break my legs! Don't look at Lu Shaocong's current scenery, but the club is only willing to sign a three-season contract with him!

If he doesn't successfully defend his title at next year's World King of Fighters Challenge, the price of his next contract will be cut in at least half!

The longest contract that these clubs are willing to offer is only six seasons, or two years. Who knows that in two years, there will be a few people in this current batch of players who will continue to keep their jobs!, so I still study hard and strive to be admitted to CUHK, so that I can have the opportunity to work in Dongyou Company after graduation!" The classmate wearing glasses said very calmly.

"That is, with our Ah Xiao being able to get 5 A's, we will be going to develop "The King of Fighters 4" in the future, which is much more powerful than playing "The King of Fighters 4"!

According to the news released by Dongyou Company, "The King of Fighters 3" will be released soon, and this classmate with glasses obviously can't catch 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 Hong Kong Club League, funded by Oriental Game Company, can be said to be at the top of the pyramid of all competitions. There is also a "King of Fighters" Individual Challenge, co-organized by the Hong Kong Video Game Halls' Association and Oriental Games. Those who rank at the top of the challenge have a good chance of being selected by the eight clubs to become players in the arcade league of the future.

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

Their main job is to teach players some tricks to zoom in or combo when playing games. Of course, this kind of teaching is not all free, and if players really want to learn real kung fu, they need to pay for these resident players to accompany them in coaching matches, which can cost anywhere from 50 to 200 Hong Kong dollars per hour.

In fact, the top players who participate in the club league, in addition to participating in the weekend competitions, spend most of their time in the arcade to play games with the players who come to play with them. It's just that their fees are more expensive than those of the resident players, like Lu Shaocong, who has the blessing of the world championship title, and the fees for each teaching match are as high as 200 Hong Kong dollars.

The so-called first game is the battle between the two sides, and each person chooses 3 characters to carry out the wheel battle. A top master like Lu Shaocong can play a game with ordinary players for only two or three minutes. Most people barely even had a chance to make a move, and they were knocked out by him with a continuous combo. But every day, there are still many game fans who go to Yuen Long to find a world champion to be abused. These popular players are also one of the important ways to attract players in the arcade.

In fact, it takes at least HK$500,000 a year to keep a club running. It is impossible for a single game hall to support such a large expense. Therefore, each of the eight clubs participating in the Hong Kong Arcade League is actually jointly funded by a number of game halls.

Under the guidance of Oriental Game Company, most of these game halls are formed into alliances based on their respective regions, such as the Yuen Long Yabang Club, which is jointly formed by five game halls in Yuen Long.

In addition to the more formal Hong Kong arcade league and the Hong Kong "The King of Fighters" individual challenge, there are actually many other arcade competitions in Hong Kong. For example, private battles between various arcades, as well as challenges set up by arcades to attract players.

The kind of challenge held by a single game hall itself generally does not have a lot of prize money, ranging from a few hundred yuan to one or two thousand yuan more. And the battle between game halls, in many cases, will even be related to "gambling". You must know that all video game halls in Hong Kong are the same as nightclubs, which are watched by the club, which will inevitably be tainted with some shady things!

It can be said that the whole of Hong Kong has formed a huge arcade industry, which is naturally driven by the Oriental Bloc. You must know that in another time and space, the professionalization of games only gradually began to appear after the full popularization of the Internet.

However, according to the statistics of "Game World" magazine, the total number of semi-professional and professional players in Hong Kong who rely on participating in various game competitions to obtain bonuses or salaries to support their lives has exceeded 200.

Oriental game companies are also gradually promoting these successful experiences, such as Taipei and Tokyo, where professional leagues for "The King of Fighters" have also begun to appear. Hong Kong's arcade league is in the process of changing its name, because in addition to The King of Fighters, Oriental Games is also preparing to add another game that is very popular on handheld and home consoles, Pokémon, to the league! )