Slashdot Mirror
Theater Morphing Into Multi-Player Gaming Arena
J3zmund writes "This article highlights the attempt by ESports Arena to bring gaming to the masses. They're building what looks like a command center with gaming equipment, comfy chairs, and big screens to follow the action. For the price of a movie, patrons can frag to their hearts' content for 2 hours (extra time available, of course). This could sprawn some interesting events (once gaming goes beyond 'kill'). With The Sims ready to go online this month, it could open this up to a much larger audience than the "young males" they currently identify. How 'bout some Sim Rocky Horror Online Saturday nights..."
Did they attempt this in the 90's. I remember in chicago go to Pier One and playing the BattleTech Mech games. Expensive but fun as hell.
I also remember they went out of business as soon as the pc had a good cable connection and mechwarrior2 came out. What do they think is different now?
thanks
Sigs are dangerous coy things
Thousands of nerds...one big room... Glad I won't be there to smell it.
I'm doing this simply to piss you off, and to parade around the fact that I could write out this whole saga faster than you could write a pathetic little "first post"!
But not, apparently, faster than someone could write "Woo" and "1st Post"...
It may look like I'm doing nothing, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away.
--Scott Adams
I would hate to see popular games like say counter strike or BF 1942 changed (ie terrorists and nazis removed) just for the sake of mainstreaming.
/me shudders
as for the sims
just imagine. going to the local 'game theater'. paying your 10 bucks or so. then getting in a flight simulator type game along with 30 other gamers and fighting against each other, deathmatch style or cap the flag style or completing missions.
esp when VR becomes a bit more of a reality. i am kinda surprised this hasn't happened sooner.
"The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing and hoping for different results"
truly an interesting concept but besides probably having bigger screen and more comfortable chair, how is this different from your local internet/gameing cafe? looks to me like that would be the same thing.
with Fred Savage and they played Nintendo at the World Video Game Championships. What I remember was where Fred's character's brother was playing Super Mario 3 with a power glove, and I was like, hey, that's not possible. Anyone remember (I should probably go to imdb and look it up but I'm too lazy :)?
LAN party/cafe with the added extras of lots of money, a need to make revenue and appeal to more than just the /. crowd ?
"The whole LAN party scene has been kind of like a geeky cult thing," he said. "These guys are making it more mainstream."
They make the article sound like only total geeks and kids go to lan parties..wtf I originally lived in wa state and found lan parties all over..not everyone was geeks or zit faced teenagers... There are alot of mid 30's-40's adults that attend the lans Ive gone to. I recently moved to arizona this summer and got a job at office max. Turns out they hold a monthly lan with all of the employees and its a blast. Some of these guys barely know how to operate their computer but they enjoy lanning. Welcome to the new age of entertainment...its been around for a while.
.[[erax0r]].
Now, with a video game, why would I pay $10 (or whatever) to play with the same kind of setup I have at home? I would imagine that the people who would be interested in this already have a very good setup at home and this would be a waste of time for a lot of people.
This isn't an arcade where one game is a quarter - the price they are asking is prohibitively expensive for what is received. I would rather even rent a game and play it at home or at a lan party.
I often go to the local snooker/pool hall to play with my mates and get drunk :) this could be evan better if they allow us to drink and play games, they woudl have to have a good selection of games to play though.
That they offer play to the multiplayer version of Barbie Fashion designer.
My little sad piece of the internet: www.mtndewd
With the advent of 'professional' gaming clans, I think it was only a matter of time before people started to glam-up the humble gaming cafe.
u -well electric shock contraptions to each chair?
Now, to business. Who's to bet that for a further couple of bucks per session people would pay for a workout? Anyone out there interested in funding me to install one of those stick-the-pads-to-your-gut-it-really-exercises-yo
...someone will make a TV show out of it, something along the lines of "Dog Eat Dog" or "Fear Factor". I expect someone is already rushing out some episodes. If people watch those shows, then why not watch other people play games? There would also be some ability for true viewer interaction.
While I don't consider this a worth-while troll,
it brought a tear to my eye.
sniff::sniff
t'was beautiful man
now have a way to spend friday night "out"
how sad, only teenage boys will fill these places, girls, don't go out to play games, well not ones that involve computers...
That was the motto of the now defunct Majestic game (from EA I believe): "You don't play it, it plays you."
Apparently not fast enough...
Hey - you're right. Nice catch. Was that thing any good?
-- The guy that posted the Soviet Russia comment.
It seems to be a constant "cold war", where the equipment and software is just a little bit ahead of what you can do in your home. Forcing a replacement of most stuff every year or so.
The only way this amounts to something is where it makes sense to play as a group where you need to look or talk to each other (where this adds something other than the chat function of most multiplayer games). If you're gathering to imerse in individual VR units, it will only last as long as they stay ahead of the technology you can have at home, which seems difficult these days.
Sleep is for the Weak
...some people will pay admission, drop a vat of popcorn over the keyboard, idly look at the screen, speak loudly to their neighbor during the whole game, and then leave saying the movie sucked on their cellphones... ^^
The ENIAC Demo Competition
...that you didn't went to see LoTR opening night.
The ENIAC Demo Competition
I'm just curious why this is modded offtopic?
I mean, that pretty much says "wait until we're talking about stretching our assholes wide open, then post it again!"
That or Macintoshes. Either way.
I wonder if they'll haze virgins at these LAN parties.
Think of it this way... You're sitting in a comfy leather chair in an air conditioned arena. The replay of you bringing in the winning flag-capture is flashing on one of the giant screens at the front of the arena. A waiter/watress brings you the vat of scotch you ordered, and you slowly nurse it whilst clamoring with your local clanmates as you ready for the next match...
It'd be like going to the clubs, only slightly better in that no obnoxious idiots would look at you funny for just sitting at the bar soaking in the scenes and sounds.
This will only be really successful if they can make the gaming experience people get at home better. They have to offer things like cigars, drinks (free refils on sodas), snacks, and whatnot. Furthermore, if they REALLY want the bucks from the men of that age bracket, have cute women be the waitresses. Think about it. What horny male gamer 21+ wouldn't like to game in a big comfy chair while an attractive woman brings them drinks and their success is trumpeted to all there? I'd be there in a heartbeat.
Without the ammeneties though, say it's just a movie theater converted to an arena for gaming, and all they do for you is give you a terminal and some time. That will fail. There has to be a draw.
----- I want my LART.
That's a word?
--
"Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." - Homer Simpson [1F10]
Something similar has been tried here in finland, that corp went to bankruptcy back in 1996. Or thats
what i've heard, never visited any of their gaming 'heavens'.
Basicly same idea except they had just normal gaming pcs networked together, no spectator seats etc...
Of course, gaming is a lot more 'appreciated' today, more players, better multiplayer games etc...
Might work today in big cities with enough customers.
Pulsed Media Seedboxes
I guess Nvidia was on to something with the term "Cinematic Gaming."
My friend once asked something that made me laugh and then think. He asked, while I was watching Jerry Springer and he was playing Return to Castle Wolfenstein, "When did television get so bad, and video games get so good?"
I mean look at this!
I don't know about you, but I don't want to just WATCH Tom Hanks in saving private ryan, I want to BE Tom Hanks in saving private ryan - only without the dying part.
Thats the funniest thing I've read all day!
Usually the terms sport and athlete conjour up images of a finely tuned body, scuplted to be able to compete with the best of the best.
So what is a finely tuned cyberathlete?
* Power - two days, no shower, questionable underwear state
* Endurance - body by Jolt
* Agility - nimble fingers can swap weapons, load rockets all while dogding enemy fire
* Natural Talent - doing the above in rear view mode
"She's a West Texas girl, just like me" - G.W Bush Iraqis
HAHA.. you probably had the already written in notepad.. waiting for your time to pounce
:)
--- WAL
Might be fun to try out, but for the price of a movie ticket you can rent two games and hang on to them for days instead of two hours. Besides, with XBox Live and PS2's online system, it doesn't strike me as necessary to pay a fee for player matchmaking. Sure, with this the players are actually physically there, but aren't the only people you want to be talking to your gaming buddies anyhow? And if that's the case why not just have all of them cover over to one geek's house and all play from there?
have cute women be the waitresses. Think about it. What horny male gamer 21+ wouldn't like to game in a big comfy chair while an attractive woman brings them drinks and their success is trumpeted to all there? I'd be there in a heartbeat.
Yeah, they could call it BOOTERS.
I think you might be a tad over-optimistic with your idea. It sounds like a good idea, but really.. how many 'wonderful' things really exist out there?
I'm sure lots of people would like cinemas where you got a blowjob from a beautiful woman throughout the film while being given free Jack Daniels refills, but they don't exist.
mogorific carpentry experiments
"How 'bout some Sim Rocky Horror Online Saturday nights..."
Hmmmmmm, how about not.
"Entropy is the bad-guy, and he is everywhere"
Gaming environments such as these will rely on having better and more hardware than home users have. How will this affect their business model when they have to upgrade their hardware every 6 months to be able to play the newest games? Also, will they be buying 20 to 30 licenses of every game that comes out that is heavily played? I am interested in the cost of sustaining such a complex focused at gaming.
I do security
Two things:
1) $10 for 2 hours of gaming in a nice comfy theatre? What a steal! That would get a LOT of people interested.
2) "The Sims"' primary demographic is "young males"???? Funny, though there are certainly many young males who enjoy The Sims, I find it is popular with everyone who DOESNT fit the young male stereotype (ie those who dont like FPS games, etc)
siri
I'm another guy, but I tried the demo and it was okay. I didn't enable the call-you-at-3am-or-at-work-with-threats feature, though. It was a neat idea. Of course, it's now defunct, so you can tell how successful it was. Oh yeah, at one point you had to dial a long distance number for a message, thankfully you could use some internet phone app to do that.
The article claims that this is not really a video arcade but I don't buy it. Other than the fact that they are using game consoles and have "executive leather chairs" how does this differ than an arcade? Sounds like a video arcade of the 21st century, but still an arcade.
sports games -- esp football (more people to pay for the priviledge).
Multi-Player Gaming Arena Morphs Into Theater!
Hey Taco! Looks like you're using the "infinite monkeys and typewriters" scheme to generate Ask Slashdots again...
Hmm, I just thought of something. In order for that whole Soviet Russia comment to work with majestic, you would have to reverse it, so it would be like:
In Soviet Russia, You Play It!
Which would probably be the first case of that soviet russia comment ever making sense. Nice!
Cull the super nerdy attendees and improve the job market for the rest of us...cough...true professionals.
-- reason
Great!! How long before more headlines like this?
He painted a unicorn in outer space. I'm askin' ya, what's it breathin'?
My handle gives away my favorite character.
I just hope this doesn't end up being like a lot of other things that identify themselves with videogaming but don't actually include anything without a HUD and a BFG or an arcade with someone doing a jump kick followed by a medium punch canceled into a dragon punch.
The hardware-whingers and lag-bitches will need antother reason why their 133t skillz aren't working today.
I see you shiver with antici.....* AAAH LAG!! * pation!
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
When the gaming center opens in January, there also will be video screens of varying sizes hanging from the walls so gamers and spectators can view several different contests at once.
Sweet, now I don't even have to play! I can pay to watch other people play!
----------
"Duffman says a lot of things, OH YEAH!" - Duffman
I second that, what's up with these queers lately? Go back in your closet FREAK.
I found that saddest T-shirt ever on ebay once, it was a t-shirt somebody had made for the Commodore 64 Rocky Horror Picture Show game. I figure a shirt like that must appeal to about 6 people in the whole world.
This sounds like it will be another case of Simulator Sickness on a grand scale for me. Anyone else who suffers from this knows that since the dawn of Doom, video gaming has been a nightmare for us. I used to play hours upon hours of video games when it was just nice side-scrolling or over-the-head aspects. Now after about 40 seconds of Unreal I'm ready to pass out. The majority of games that come out now that are worth anything are 3D, and I can only manage to play very few of them.
Sound waves should be free!
Now something I think would be cool would to hook up some EASports NBA Live or NBA2k3 on multitap. If you can sit in a big theatre and play a pickup basketball game on a huge screen with 9 other people, I think it can be pretty decent. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm fscking out of shape and white. Plus, it would be cool to drink (if you could) during it.
----------
"Duffman says a lot of things, OH YEAH!" - Duffman
I'd observe that there's a little problem with this theory: a lot of people won't pay 1/5 the cost of a game just to play it for two hours with people they know. Perhaps for 2h. with people they don't- but then, that's what netplay is for.
A version which would be far more likely to be succesful would be where the games are exclusive to the "gamevie halls-" not released to the public yet, and it won't be until it goes out of the game theatres. (Sort of like movies that go to home video, as opposed to those released to video the day they go to the movie theatre. Which gets a better turnout?)
Warning: Poster of this comment is a nerd. Just like everybody else here.
Ok, so it was two words. If they start offering tournaments and prizes, they'll draw a few folks. Hell, I remember going to my one and only Sci-Fi convention and playing in a Commodore 64 Pac-Man-type tournament (clearly I have dated myself) and kicking everyone's butt by about a zillion points. I got...a hat. But damn that felt good. Strutted around like the cock of the walk for the rest of the con.
Check out this place:
http://www.iplay.ca
The point is, my gaming fellows, is that *not* everyone regularly attends LAN parties, nor does everyone want to go through the hassle of:
Unplugging, packing, transporting, unpacking, plugging, setting up, PLAYING (finally!), packing, transporting home, unpacking, plugging, and setting up back at home.
THAT is one of the reasons why I have never been particularly attracted to LAN parties. However, getting to go to a place where all the work has already been done is a much more enticing proposition.
-- Askari: Give JavaScript the bird.
The movie DID feature SMB3 and the Power Glove, but in two totally separate parts of the movie. The rival of Fred Savage's character, Lucas, showed off the Power Glove by playing Rad Racer. Then later at the end of the movie, they play SMB3, but this is on regular controllers. Rock over London Rock on Chicago Wheaties: Breakfast of Champions
---
Rock over London
Rock on Chicago
Wheaties: Breakfast of Champions
If that's really what it looks like, what are they going to be playing on the screen ?
Recordings of previous games ? For chrisstake, that would beat out Arnold Rimmer's Risk Story for boredom.
Current Games ? Gee, well I guess I'd have to choose a seat where I can see the main screen while playing. Give a little bit of an edge. Who needs cheats when your opponents screen is being projected at 20 x 14 foot resolution above their head.
But day? More like *week*.
Places like this theatre are just going to fill up with the same sort of arseholes that ruin Internet Cafes.
There was a part in the movie where they call the Nintendo Hotline, but that is to prepare for the championships and only dealt with games they knew about. At the end when they whip out SMB3, they feature it as a new game that noone has ever played before. And then Fred and the girl are like "New Game? What? Nobody said anything about a new game!"
Anyway, the autistic kid just found the whistle "somehow".
Rock over London
Rock on Chicago
Insured One: It's the insurance superstore
---
Rock over London
Rock on Chicago
Wheaties: Breakfast of Champions
I think you meant North Pier
MASTERKILLA - "Fragged again?! WTF! It's my keyboard and mouse! They're all F*CKED an backwards!!"
0WNZU - "5ur3 th3y 4r3, LAM3RZ! w0ot!!!! 1 rU!3 t1M3 4nD 5P@C3!!!! U SUxxx00rs B4D!!!!!!!!!!!"
....theatre morphs YOU into arena! What a coun-try!
It amazes me that there is so much difference between USA and some other countries...
Back in Russia and Korea (slashdot reported this wired article a while ago, look for baang word) they are so popular.
In fact, I used to work in one in Moscow. They are called gaming clubs back there. Huge market.
The funny thing is the economy... I mean one hour costs from 0.5 to 1.5 US$ back there and there are always people there (some regulars too), even if they have computer at home. Most of the market is covered by small clubs though, 20 or so computers with average hardware (for a gaming machine) and internet access.
Back here in USA all you have is internet cafes, and you really can't find one... people do LAN parties, but that's it.
I am not sure if that is the reason for World Computer Games results (if you even know what that is)
The equipment there is not replaced every 6 months. Much of it is inferior to my modest Athlon 600 with a 1 year old video card.
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
If this is going to succeed anywhere, San Diego's Gaslamp district is probably one of the better places to start. I live in San Diego, and I can tell you that the Pacific Theater is dead center of one of the biggest party zones outside of Los Angeles. Add that to the very high local population of 18 to 24-year olds from all the local colleges, universities and the Navy and Marine bases, and you've got what looks like a good chance of making a buck or two.
Personally, I wish them success. I wouldn't mind giving it a try myself. It will be interesting to see just what they've got set up come January.
i think you still get the same number of virgins per square foot
take the geeks and zits and just add beer guts and facial hair.
god damn. i'd laugh, if it weren't real.
*sigh*
"Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?"
On a bit of a side while same note, haven't people been suggesting recently, that with the way home theaters are going these days, that the Cinema [10 years or so]is soon to be an endangeres species? Who wants to pay $10 to sit in a crowded theater with people drooling on you, and talking all around you, while you get jacked on Popcorn/Drink prices, when you can sit at home, and watch a better quality version of the Movie on your home theater, in full surround. It should be the same theory with Games. Who's going to want to put up with that, when your own system and a broadband connection offers the same thing?
0110100100100000011000010110110100100000011000100
Something tells me this isn't exactly going to be as good as they hope. I can understand the charm of being able to sit in chairs so expensive that I never would have been able to sit in except at the stores, but do you -really- care what kind of chair you sit in while you frag your best friend? I used to sit in a wooden stool for over two hours straight while my friend and I played Doom co-op mode and "accidently" killed each other.
This is a brilliant concept. There was a 3d game called Chasm-The Rift, which enabled the server to actually split the display into 4 quadrants , so that one could see the players fragging each other - i guess it was ahead of its time. I wonder how they are gonna make the costing work ; will they charge the same as a movie ticket for 2 hrs of gameplay? And why only consoles ? Why not PCs ? I guess we'll have publishers like EA sponsering events, with banners (and maybe pompom girls) all over the place. I'd be spending the better part of my weekend at such a venue !!!!
|/________
|\A|ALYS|
You're thinking of Virtual World. They tried this with a couple of games: MechWarrior and Red Planet. Very cool, kinda expensive.
Virtual World gave up on running the sites and went into the hardware business. They've sold their hardware to some Dave & Busters and other gaming places. You can check their site out to see where the games have moved to.
You pay 2KD per hour (about $6) and you can frag as much as you want. These shops (refered to locally as "dungeons") are quite popular and most of them run 24hours. Though, I've only seen them running counter strike and few strategy games thus far.
What the hell is that?
It moved to Fox Valley Mall in Aurora. It may have gone out of business AFTER that, I don't know. I do still have my mechwarrior ID card around somewhere.
So no, this isn't new, HOWEVER...
I'm actually going to (this makes me feel young) a Mechwarrior IV party in a couple weeks. Still need to buy the game so I can. We're all going to be carting our computers over there and networking them together.
I think people would pay $8 to NOT have to cart over their computers, get the immersive cockpit experience that the Battletech center offerred, and be able to have parties with their friends.
Lord only knows how many tokens I've dropped in that infernal Star Wars machine at the arcade.
paintball
How 'bout some Sim Rocky Horror Online Saturday nights...
"Hey, SimJanet... I really love the... SimSkillful way... you beat the other SimGirls (with a SimHammer)... to the SimBride's SimBoquet!" *cue SimMusic*
Eat your heart out, Richard O'Brien! And remember, kids... Don't SimDream it, SimBe it!
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
um, I live in Brisbane Australia and in the CDB alone there are at least three places with 50-100 machines with comfy seats, broadband, food and the latest games.
Whats the big deal? Oh I see they have a big spectator screen. Who is going to be watching? Are you going to charge people to watch other people play? It is not the same as conventional sport. Watching gamers is only interesting for other gamers. How much football do you think there would be on TV if only pro players enjoyed watching it?
I've experiments to run, there is research to be done on the people who are still alive.
doesn't sound quite as nice as going to my local korea town and slowly having my brain waste away at $2.00 an hour. then again at least I won't get shot
Back in the late 80's and early 90's I had this idea, but was lacking in startup funds. Had plans to have a few scattered sites at first and linked them together so you could have Clan vs Clan type events... but alas like all my ideas, someone else beat me to it.. I still have one little feather in my cap... its a combination chickenwing/brothel type place.... had cooks lined up (like that was hard), just had to get the female talent... this one would and still is a gold mine.. unlike the failed "Baglady relocation program" that was started a few years back.
Get an old Cyrix chip and a regular PCI video card.
Once you get UT down to about 2 - 3 frames per second I'm sure you won't have any 'simulator sickness' problems.
Personally, Decent was the only one that really got me confused. (I'd keep trying to "flip the world" in my head to figure out which why my ship was flying.)
--- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
This looks like a larger version of the Cyber cafe. When I was in Australia, I noticed alot of these places. $2 Australian per hour ($1.00 American) counter-strike, Half-life, etc., etc.
Hey, I live in Buenos Aires, the capital of a backwards country from the backwaters of the Southamerican Hemisphere.
:)
We have *TONS* of places like this. OK, not with a 'movie theater' setup, but there are lots of LAN gaming places, where you can play Counter Strike, Jedi Knight or whatever it's hot nowadays (I suck at FPSs). Actually, they have some RTSs too, like Starcraft or Age of Empires.
The things is, we had a big big devaluation of our currency last January, so the prices of new PCs became prohibitive. So a lot of people are rushing to these places to game. *AND* check the Internet, since all of them have net access.
They charge like USD 0.30 an hour, and you see children, teenagers and some grownups all the time.
So, is this thing you're talking about any different from these places?
Txurlo
i'm surprised nobody has mentioned this already, but this is big in asia. in fact in hong kong they have big tournaments for games like lineage that are played in big stadium theatres and broadcast on national television. gaming in asia is taken a lot more seriously than it is in the united states...
Large print giveth, and the small print taketh away
pation.
A new supply of round tuits has arrived and are available from Mary.
Anyone who has been putting off work until they got a round tuit now
has no excuse for further procrastination.
- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...