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..."

Comments

back in the early 90's

[peripatetic_bum]

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

I Hope the EPA is ready...

[Pius IX]

Thousands of nerds...one big room... Glad I won't be there to smell it.

article kinda pissed me off

[erax0r]

"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.

doesn't seem worth it

[pbranes]

With going to a movie theater, I can understand paying that price because I can watch a good movie on a huge screen with great sound.

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.

Re:doesn't seem worth it

[stratjakt]

>> Now, with a video game, why would I pay $10 (or whatever) to play with the same kind of setup I have at home?

Because 10 of your friends can go with you, and you can all play. No waiting for the next lan party.

>> This isn't an arcade where one game is a quarter

No it isnt. Arcades are dead. Arcades are, for all intents and purposes, a singleplayer experience. The handful of head-to-head games don't count.

I can see a market for a place to kill a couple hours playing Halo with some friends, without all the hassle of setting it up yourself.

Throw in a few tourneys, a few prizes.. They could make a go of it.

>> With going to a movie theater, I can understand paying that price because I can watch a good movie on a huge screen with great sound.

You been to the movies lately? Huge screen, sure. Great sound? Unless you like the sound of some assholes cell phone and wanna-be smartass 13 year olds. Good movies indeed. -1 troll for you!

Let's Hope...

[Mtn_Dewd]

That they offer play to the multiplayer version of Barbie Fashion designer.

Re:i always thought this was a good idea

[Anonvmous Coward]

" I think the best way to get mass market appeal in a setting like this is to add head-to-head Tetris, chess, or checkers to the menu. Girls LOVE Tetris."

You do realize that games like Counterstrike and Quake already have mass market appeal, right? Heh.

Girls only make up half of the population, we don't need them.

who else thinks that...

[newsdee]

...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... ^^

Re:i always thought this was a good idea

[Apathy costs bills]

You do realize that games like Counterstrike and Quake already have mass market appeal, right? Heh.

Well, that's true, I guess you could consider Slashdot to be a mass market. But I bet you a "Deer Hunter Cyber Cafe" would do well in Tenessee, and a "Dance Dance Barbie" kiosk would work great next to The Gap.

Girls only make up half of the population, we don't need them.

You know, you should try intercourse and then check back with me on that.

I'm kinda with jkcity on this one...

[Salubri]

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.

Re:i always thought this was a good idea

[zaffir]

I've found that most women have some inate ability to completely rock at fighting games. It's gotta be genetic. I've been at parties where a guy with 100 hours of street fighter under his belt loses to someone's girlfriend who has never played.

Good to see you have your feet on the ground

[wackybrit]

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.

Rocky Horror....

[trotski]

"How 'bout some Sim Rocky Horror Online Saturday nights..."

Hmmmmmm, how about not.

The cost of upgrading

[Gyorg_Lavode]

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.

interesting

[sirinek]

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

Re:i always thought this was a good idea

[ottffssent]

Scary huh? Worse than "has never played", has never touched a PS2. Worse yet, she proceeds to kick the next guy's ass. And the next (who complains it's the controller's fault). And then, after switching controllers and opponents, loses the first match, wins the second, and ties (two swordthrusts both connect at the exact same instant) the third. I didn't think you *could* tie in that game. We don't let her play anymore.

Not a fancy arcade?

[LinuxInDallas]

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.

Re:LAN's meet Rocky Horror

[Zeebs]

It's a LAN party, they'll all be virgins.

Re:i always thought this was a good idea

[CrazyJoel]

"We don't let her play anymore."

That's not smart. let her play.

Let her win and you might get to play naked.

Ugh, another thing I can't do....

[joel8x]

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.

The Catch

[SmartGamer]

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?)

Re:The Catch

[ottffssent]

1. Spend $10.00 (plus tax) to go to a rennovated theatre and play a game that you already own at home for a limited time, but you're good at it and know you'll do great

2. Spend $10.00 (plus tax) to go to a rennovated theatre and play a game that is not availible through any other legal channel, knowing you've never played it before (unless you've gone before) and aren't sure what you're in for, so you might stink in public at something new

I think you're asking the wrong questions. Would you rather

1) spend $1000+ per year keeping your hardware top-notch or
2) spend $10 every now and then for a quick game?

The people asking this set of questions are the ones they're targeting.

Re:i always thought this was a good idea

[Mnemia]

I've actually noticed this phenomenon as well, and I don't think it has anything to do with guys "letting her win". Give the girl some credit! I think that first of all it's just that girls play the game in a different style from guys who've been playing forever, throwing off their rhythm. Also, the guy may be ..."distracted" by playing a girl as well, even if he's not letting her win. Besides, I imagine the beginner's button mashing approach is nearly as effective as a skilled player when said skilled player is drunk ;)

And I'd go to this why?

[Kris_J]

This coming Sunday myself and up to 7 friends will be playing Diablo II all day. I wouldn't comment, except that I appear to be the target audience. Not only do I get to play for as long as I like, while consuming food and drink I like, I get to play a classic game that's unlikely to ever find its way into one of these theatre dealies and one that's colaberative, not combative.

Places like this theatre are just going to fill up with the same sort of arseholes that ruin Internet Cafes.

This will absolutely fail

[teamhasnoi]

I will not and no one else will relearn how to play FPS games with their Bizzaro-World keyboard and mouse setup.

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!!!!!!!!!!!"

Couldn't have picked a better place myself

[rmckeethen]

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.

Re:Why?

[susano_otter]

For the price of a movie ticket, I can rent two games, keep them all week, and play them alone in my living room.

Since I generally hate people who are unlike me, this works out fine, and it's how I watch all my movies.

But every once in a while, it'd be nice to head down to the local LAN party, hang out with people who are enough like me that I don't hate them too much, pick up a few games of whatever in an atmosphere of [cameraderie|easy-going competion|blind fury], and then roll on back home.

Hell, I used to go to the cinema once or twice a week, back before everybody and their asshole started taking calls during the movie. Swap out "movie" for "LAN party", and I guarantee you that two hours there would be worth two games alone at home for a week.