They met yesterday in Taipei for the Grand Final of the first Battlefield Asia Pacific Arena Contest, a tournament held to promote Battlefield 2142, the latest installment in one of the world's most popular multi-person first-person shooter computer games. Held at the Ha2 Internet Cafe (哈哈活力站) in Taipei's Shilin district, the tournament saw teams from nine countries duke it out on a computer combat zone of futuristic fighter jets, mechanized robot walkers and 22nd-century tanks.
In Battlefield 2142, players have at their disposal an arsenal of hi-tech assault rifles, cloaking devices and sentry guns. The game puts a premium on teamwork and allows players to operate vehicles. In matches played online, teams can comprise as many as three-dozen players, who communicate with squad leaders via headsets connected to their computers.
The teams in Battlefield Asia Pacific had only eight players. The goal was to capture and hold flags scattered across the battlefield. The more flags a team controlled, the more often its players could "respawn," or come back to life after being killed.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ELECTRONIC ARTS
Teams began play with 150 flags and a match ended when one team lost all its flags. At stake was recognition as the top "clan," or team, in the Asia-Pacific region and an array of prizes, including eight high-powered laptop computers.
Representing Taiwan were the New Eagles, winners of three local Battlefield tournaments. Led by a real life Army lieutenant colonel, the New Eagles were known for their military-style discipline and use of tactics from Taiwan's army fighting guide. The New Eagles have a total of more than 80 members, including six soldiers. Members who are students are not allowed to play in tournaments during exam time.
"Our strength is that we're all like brothers," said the New Eagles' captain, who gave his name as Lee because he wasn't sure what the military would think of his moonlighting. "Our strategy is to commandeer a jeep and drive it into the opponent's basement."
Taiwan was expected to do well, but the favorites going into the tournament were Japan's team, Burning Love — who prepared by studying the Taiwanese team's video — and the South Korean team — who prepared by studying the Japanese team's video. Also competing were teams from Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, South Africa and Thailand.
Sergio Salvador, regional senior product manager for Electronic Arts, said Taiwan was chosen to host the tournament because it was "leaps and bounds ahead of the other countries in terms of player loyalties … and to a certain extent the quality of game play." Electronic Arts has sold some 200,000 units of the Battlefield series of games in Taiwan, including 10,000 units of Battlefield 2142, which was released this October.
That compares with what a member of the South African team said were an estimated 1,000 Battlefield players in his country, which has a population twice the size of Taiwan's. Barry Louzadan, 26, said his team, who were facing international competition for the first time, had defeated 14 other South African teams in a two-week tournament to represent their country in Taipei.
South Korea boasts the world's strongest gaming community and it showed. Their team featured one of the world's best players and they out played the New Eagles in a three-hour practice session that lasted until 1:30am on the day of the tournament.
The South Koreans romped in the group phase, dispatching New Zealand and South Africa, while the New Eagles split their first two group matches with Japan and lost their next two to a strong Australian team.
In the first Taiwan-Australia match, both teams adopted conservative strategies and the game ended with Australia winning by only six flags. In the second match Taiwan pressed the attack and was mowed down by Australia's withering defense, losing by a margin of 31 flags. The Taiwanese team went on to finish fifth.
"We didn't practice enough," Lee said, explaining that several students on his team could not play because they were preparing for final exams.
The surprise of the tournament — and by far the rowdiest team — was Singapore, who could be heard shouting during matches from the far end of the Internet cafe. They advanced to the second round, where they defeated Australia twice before losing two matches to South Korea.
Needing only one victory against Australia to win first place, the South Koreans choked and lost both matches. They finished third, Australia took second, and Singapore won the eight laptop computers and bragging rights as the best team in the Asia-Pacific region.
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