CHIBA, Japan - The Tokyo Game Show opened on Thursday with enthusiasts testing how ultra-high-speed 5G mobile data networks will impact the gaming experience ahead of the technology's commercial rollout in Japan in 2020.
Game makers, related network developers, and esports promoters cite their sector as one which will benefit from next-generation wireless networks that are expected to allow players of increasingly popular online games to utilize faster downloads and smoother connections.
"5G technology featuring large capacity, high speed, low latency and allowance for simultaneous connection by multiple users will innovate the world of gaming," Hiroyuki Yoshida, director of major mobile phone carrier NTT Docomo Inc.'s consumer business department, told a crowd gathered at its booth at the annual extravaganza in Chiba Prefecture east of Tokyo.
Docomo is allowing visitors to experience augmented reality game "Street Fighter V Arcade Edition," where users can watch battles between three-dimensional characters that are superimposed on their current physical location via their smartphone screens.
The carrier, which will start commercial 5G services in 2020 along with rivals KDDI Corp., SoftBank Corp. and Rakuten Inc., will also organize tournaments where up to 100 players can be simultaneously connected at the Makuhari Messe convention center.
The next-generation services can send and receive data around 100 times faster than current 4G technology. Smartphone users, for example, will be able to download a two-hour movie in just three seconds.
The technology is also expected to contribute to the expansion of cloud-based gaming on computers and smartphone connected to the internet that do not require users to purchase dedicated game consoles, such as Sony Corp. PlayStation or Nintendo Co.'s Switch devices.
Google LLC said in March it will launch its own cloud gaming service in 2019, while Apple Inc. is set to roll out new game subscription services, posing a major challenge to traditional game console makers.
Continuing the trend of recent years, the Tokyo Game Show also featured esports competitions on two big special stages each with 500-seat stadia for spectators. Organizers are hoping to entice more domestic players into the fast-growing competitive gaming market.
Esports is already popular in South Korea, the United States and Europe, but not so much in Japan where online competitive gaming is still at a relatively early stage.
The four-day game show is expected to draw over 250,000 visitors to see the 655 exhibitors, including 305 from some 40 countries, showcasing their latest products, according to organizers Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association and Nikkei Business Publications Inc.
The event is open to the media and industry officials for the first two days and to the public for the remainder.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MANILA—Video game developer Valve announced Friday the official dates of The International 2019, the world's biggest DOTA 2 tournament.
On the official DOTA 2 Twitter page, it announced that the tournament will be held from August 20 to 25, and that tickets are expected to go on sale in a couple of weeks as they are still "finalizing details."
Valve previously announced that the tournament will be held in Shanghai, marking the first time Asia will host the competition.
All-Filipino team TNC Pro bannered the Philippines in last year's tournament, losing to Mineski in the lower-bracket playoffs.
Qualified teams for this year are yet to be determined.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WUHU/SHANGHAI - In an industrial park on the edge of Shanghai, a dozen Chinese teenagers are taking a break from battling digital armies to focus on their yoga.
They are members of EDG, one of China's top electronic sports teams, who spend 6 days a week in a military-style training compound to become world beaters in video games.
EDG's players - when not doing yoga to stay limber - spend most of their time at the camp wielding virtual weaponry playing multi-player battle games like "League of Legends" or Tencent Holdings Ltd's popular "Honour of Kings".
The team's top players can rake in up to 30 million yuan ($4.54 million) a year each from tournament prize money, commercial endorsements and payments from avid fans who spend hours watching them play online.
China's craze for e-sports is being propelled by the country's booming video game market, the world's largest and one that is expected to register $27.5 billion in sales this year, according to the gaming consultancy Newzoo.
Game developers like Tencent and NetEase Inc, and others like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, are competing to market video games, fill stadiums with fans and sell broadcast rights to the matches.
"We have found the fastest-growing and biggest demand is in e-sports, and we are following that trend," said Wang Guan, general manager of e-sports at Alisports, an Alibaba subsidiary.
Cities around the country are looking to cash in on the market's fast growth with video game theme-parks and e-sports venues. Some universities are even rolling out gaming degrees.
Alisports, which organizes the World Electronic Sports Games, successfully lobbied the Olympic Council of Asia to include e-sports at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
The extent of the e-gaming boom was on display in Beijing in November at the world final of League of Legends, with a prize of over $4 million at stake.
A crowd of more than 40,000 people packed into the city's Olympic Bird's Nest stadium to watch the South Korean gaming stars Faker and CuVee go head to head.
The raucous crowd, a bigger turnout than most local soccer games, underlined how popular gaming as a hobby and spectator sport has become in China.
Jiang Ping, 17, a university student in Beijing, paid 4,000 yuan to watch the final with his aunt. They were lucky: tickets sold on the grey market reportedly rose to more than 20 times the original price due to high demand.
"When I started playing this game five years ago, there weren't that many people," Jiang said. "Now the numbers are huge, and even the game itself is now owned by a Chinese firm, Tencent."
Tencent owns the League of Legends developer Riot Games.
TENCENT OR DIE
The city of Wuhu, a backwater 3 hours away from Shanghai, is a symbol of China's gaming potential - as well as its risks.
Many local governments have been seeking to develop more specialised industries, and Wuhu has targeted e-sports. In May, the city signed a deal with Tencent to build an e-sports university and a stadium for events. Other cities, like Zhongxian in the municipality of Chongqing, are also building facilities to profit from the e-sports boom.
Some industry participants, however, are already worried about a bubble forming, and rising debt levels as local governments jump into e-sports investment.
"Maybe some of the developers don't have pure intentions, they are just using e-sports as an excuse to get land at a cheap price from local government," said Tao Junyin, marketing director of VSPN, a leading e-sports content company.
Han Li, manager of Wuhu's e-sports association, said the city had discussed ideas including an e-sports-themed hotpot restaurant, bar and cinema, in addition to the gaming school and arena.
Ultimately, though, China's gaming giants are the ones calling the shots, he said.
"Tencent has a controlling power in the whole industry, so we have to find a way to work with Tencent. You either die or you go Tencent," he said.
Tencent declined to comment.
SOCIALIST VALUES
Local gamers also face tougher regulation than peers in the United States, South Korea or Japan, with a recent government push to emphasize "core socialist values" in entertainment products including songs, online streaming and video games.
This year, Tencent limited the time children could play its popular Honour of Kings game after coming under fire over gaming addiction. In November it said it would bring the top-selling game "Playerunknown's Battleground" to China, but would tweak the game to fit with "socialist core values".
Tencent's main local rival, NetEase, has already embedded banners with patriotic slogans into one of its popular battlefield games to head off official criticism.
"In China, you have to follow the government's decree," said Tao of VSPN. "But you can always make moderations to the games so that it will pass the censor."
Nonetheless, China's youth seem enthralled, prompting some universities to start offfering e-sports degrees, from professional gaming to e-sports commentating and graphic design.
Liu Xuefeng, a freshman from Anhui province, applied for a gaming degree program in the western city of Chengdu - despite facing push-back from his concerned parents.
"I am very interested in this program, and they couldn't stop me, so they had to cave in the end," he said, adding that he wanted to be an e-sports commentator. "There is great potential in the development of the gaming business."
The allure of becoming the next big gaming star is already sparking fierce competition to get into the market, said David Ng, head of Super Generation Investment, which owns the EDG e-sports team.
"Sometimes we will have a thousand application letters in our mail box to join our team on a single day."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
