ASK ANY teenage boy in Hong Kong what he would like to do on the weekends and the answer in all probability would be to play video games.
Welcome to the world of computer gaming, where avid players sit for hours glued to the screen, hammering away at the buttons of a controller, trying hard to win the latest war between good and evil.
Few other forms of digital entertainment can evoke as much enthusiasm and passion as gaming, a multibillion-dollar industry that has captured the imagination of millions worldwide.
Nowhere is this better reflected than in Hong Kong and on the mainland, where the craze for computer games has reached fever pitch.
The mainland, with its population of more than one billion, has the world's largest number of online game players - about 25 million.
The industry is expected to average 30 per cent to 35 per cent growth over the next few years.
Gino Yu, associate professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and director of digital entertainment and game development, said design posed one of the toughest challenges for developers in Asia, given their traditional strength in production rather than creative design.