HK poised to redraw games map

Hong Kong is not the first place that most serious computer gamers consider when they think of great game software makers. Austin, Texas, perhaps. That is the birthplace of some of the most complex, addictive and best-selling games produced in the past decade. In Asia, even Japan, Taiwan and South Korea have the lead on Hong Kong when making games that have global or regional appeal. However, that may be about to change as several Austin veterans set up shop in the SAR and local universities step up training efforts. The gaming business is worth billions of dollars each year, in hardware and software, and there are people convinced that Hong Kong is in a position to take a slice of it. Among long-time believers is Gino Yu, head of the Multimedia Innovation Centre (MIC) at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. For several years, MIC has offered diplomas and bachelor's degrees in conjunction with the university's school of design. This year, it admitted its first batch of master's degree students. It hopes hands-on experience gained in MIC's laboratories will help graduates enter the industry, which Mr Yu said was only in its infancy in Hong Kong. Unlike filming, SAR developers without deep pockets still have a chance of breaking into the market, even though there is a rising trend in game budgets worldwide. 'If you look at the budgets for games - a couple of hundred thousand, a million, now a couple of million to make a game - it's still within reach, particularly with the low labour costs here,' Mr Yu said. Aside from university programmes, local developers interested in gaining experience creating three-dimensional fantasy worlds also can obtain training from a growing number of graphics and animation studios. Industry veterans Menfond, Centro Ditigal, Cinefex, Imagi, Tomato Moving Pictures and Apply Entertainment are among digital studios operating in Hong Kong, producing works of their own and contributing to films and games for other markets. There is still only a handful of dedicated game developers in Hong Kong. However, as Harry Miller, formerly of game publisher GodGames, said, it only took one brilliant studio in Austin - Origin, which was founded in 1983 (a year before Austin's Dell Computer opened for business) - to attract talent and spawn other studios in what was formerly a sleepy state capital. Japan's Squaresoft had broken into the world market with its Final Fantasy games and film, but the rest of the region had some way to go to make games with global appeal, Mr Miller said. 'There is a learning curve to making games for the global market. Asia just hasn't been about to do it, including Taiwan and South Korea,' he said. Nevertheless, he added: 'I see it about to happen.' With the region's high Internet usage rates and the popularity of gaming arcades in Hong Kong, there were strong indications that 'Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan will become exploiters of digital entertainment', he said. Mr Miller is setting up En-Tranz Entertainment in Hong Kong. While little is known about it, Mr Yu said the company would bring overseas-experienced developers to Hong Kong. Fellow Austin-trained game developer American McGee is taking a different tack in his move to Hong Kong, partnering with Enlight, a Hong Kong studio run by Trevor Chan. Mr McGee, who made his name on id Software's popular Quake and Doom series and whose celebrity status helped boost his Alice in the 2000 Christmas season, has settled on a global development strategy that involves developers from Europe, the United States and Asia. In Enlight and Mr Chan, Mr McGee has found developers of strategy games that have been a small hit on the worldwide market, Capitalism and Capitalism 2. For Mr McGee and his Los Angeles-based firm, Carbon 6, the partnership is just part of a plan to globalise game development. Developers in Hong Kong, Australia, Britain, France and the US would come up with the basic creative plan, based on Frank Baum's Oz books. A design bible would be created and passed on to Mr Chan's team in Hong Kong and Beijing to execute the technical details, Mr McGee said. Alice was created this way, with the main production team based in Austin and Mr McGee based in San Francisco. Mr McGee said: 'It's something that we've proven will be successful and now we're just adding the twist of coming to Hong Kong with it. So there was still separation there, but now we're talking about taking it around the world as opposed to just somewhere inside the US.' Lower development costs are one reason for the move, though Mr McGee hopes the collaboration will also benefit Enlight. 'The idea is to help them be successful in creating this product and grow the capabilities of their studio. We get our product, they get in a sense some training from our experience in the industry,' he said. The title for the gaming capital of Asia is still up for grabs. Although Japan accounts for 5 per cent of gaming software sales and Korea has turned its arcade obsession into a broadband subscription phenomenon, no country has yet to dominate the production of games. That left much room for the SAR to make its mark, said Mr Yu. Who's who in Hong Kong games DIGITAL MEDIA COMPANIES: Menfond Electronic Art & Computer Design: www.menfond.com.hk Centro Digital Pictures: www.centro.com.hk Film Magic: www.filmmagic.com.hk Anymation: www.anymation.com Digital Content Development: www.dcdcorp.com Impact Digital Art: www.ida.com.hk Cinefex Workshop: www.filmworkshop.net Imagi Production: www.imagi.com.hk Tomato Moving Pictures: www.tomatomp.com.hk GAME COMPANIES (DISTRIBUTORS AND DEVELOPERS): Firedog Computer Entertainment: www.firedogstudio.com GameOne Systems: www.gameone.com Enlight Software: www.enlight.com Net Fun: www.netfun.com Billybala: www.billybala.com Alta Multimedia: www.altamm.com.hk