Slashdot Mirror
Videogame Lounges Take LAN Centers Mainstream?
Thanks to the New York Times for its article (free reg. req.) discussing the rise of the videogame lounge as mass-market gaming centers. The article argues: "Offering a happy-hour substitute for 20- and even 30-somethings, video lounges might forever uncouple the terms 'hard core' and 'gamer.' They make video games accessible to adults who don't know the difference between 'Halo' and 'Mojo,' and are afraid to ask." Although similar (or interchangeable with?) the long-standing LAN gaming center, the piece argues: "Video games are sauntering further into the mainstream with Xbox and PlayStation lounges. They have sprung up in resorts like Telluride, Colo., and as adjuncts to dance clubs like Play in New York and Avalon in Hollywood, which last week installed a PlayStation 2 in its V.I.P. penthouse."
Weren't these gaming cafes etc supposed to be popular like 3 or 4 years ago? Still hasn't happened on a mainstream level...
Arcades were enormously popular once upon a time.
I'm actually surprised that most sports bars don't have an XBox and a PS2 set up by now for non-game nights.
The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
I haven't seen one of these gaming cafes anywhere. Not one. By mainstream, does the article mean there's 3 or 4 in New York and 1 elsewhere in the States?
Repeal the DMCA!
While it sounds like a great place for people to get together after school or work, both of these places that i've mentioned have since closed down. I think that a lot of the people that participate in these activities already have the means to do it themselves. They already have the computer or the Xbox for a game of Halo. I just don't think that there are enough people that like to play occasionally but don't have the games or the system and are willing to go out frequently enough to help support the business. It won't have the popularity that arcades had because back then, unless you were rich, you couldn't have a whole bunch of arcade machines at your house. Now you can LAN at home, you can network your Xboxes at home, etc. It's an option we didn't have back in the day.
"Damn TV, you've ruined my imagination, just like you've ruined my ability to -- to, um...uh...oh well."
Places won't have xbox's set up because they can't make money off of it. It is too much hassle to charge say 5 bucks for 10 minutes because then you have to keep track of if they played for 10 minutes, and thenyou'd have to kick them off and hear them argue about how they almost beat the level if you just gave em 30 more seconds blah blah. The only way this will happen is if you see an xbox basically set up as a multi-game arcade machine that takes quarters, but then you'd have to recode all the games so it asks for credits and such, and do you have any idea such an arcade system would cost? Crappy new arcade machines cost a couple thousand, you could easily guess an xbox multi-game one would be 10k, and it would simply not make enough money to even cover the cost.
Be sure to pay your Florida LAN tax, you cock-smoking tea baggers!
When i put in video game lounges + my zip code
into google [[I live in cleveland]; it spits out directions to the local strip club.....
Anyways, this idea seems like it's plausible for teenage geeks like me; provided it's not more expensive than the movies and that we do have our unadulterated entertainment. The article implies that Game World Nation has tweens as a good portion of the customer base.
*This, my slashdotters, is the key to alienate your teenage and adult customers.....
[by catering to the tween population]
Granted, you'd need to make sure you got the right types of people in there in the beginning to set the pace (sorry, but this means beautiful models and their boy toys, not 30yrold geeks with shirts that are too small and stained), it could become a real hotspot now that society is easing up its views on videogames.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
Is this the one you meant in Manhattan? Flat screen TVs, networked PS2s and Xboxen, Game Time Nation is on 12th between 3rd and 4th avenues. Walking distance to a couple of fine eateries sure to please the geek pallate, also very near to Forbidden PLanet, almost just across the avenue from some NYU dorms and several very nice movie theaters.
The place also comes with what are ostensibly regulars who hoot and holler each other on during marathon Halo sessions while a Hip-Hop soundtrack blares in the background and chow down on junkfood supplied by the establishment. An AWESEOME time passing establishment for any anorak!
Quod scripsi, scripsi.
The reason the LAN gaming cafes never got as mainsteam as they could is because of the huge burst in console gaming, and the fact that people thought PC games were hard to control and expensive to keep up with the latest gaming requirements. The one where i live has almost a constant supply of teens in there playing Counter Strike 24/7 with their parents desperatly trying to drag them out
Business Voyeur
At the University I attend there is a games lounge in the student center with 2 or 3 PS2 consoles and 2 or 3 X-Box consoles, along with a few pool and foosball tables. You show your student ID to check out a game and controllers. Nothing commercial, but the idea is the same.
I don't see this kind of thing catching on in the US. Most people have a decent enough income that they can buy their own console as well as any games they want. In lower income countries there is one of these every 2 or 3 blocks. These will really start to pop up here in the states when gaming technology advances to the point that the average citizen can't afford one in his house.