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Videogame Lounges Take LAN Centers Mainstream?

Posted by simoniker on from the oh-so-stylish? dept.

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."

4 of 26 comments (clear)

  1. We had something like this in my town.... by Q-Mont · · Score: 4, Insightful
    There were a couple of places in my town like this. There was one that had a lot of high-end PCs for playing games with your friends or with whoever happens to be there. The other place was a video game store that also had twelve or so 32" televisions that had just as many PS2s and Xboxes networked together. So you could rent out the place for a few hours, get your friends together and play some games.

    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."
  2. its about money by DeadboltX · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:its about money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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?

      No recoding of the games would be necessary. You could have the timer be a separate piece of hardware with it's own display and a quarter slot. When the time runs out, it could disconnect the power. Or even better, have it reset the system and disconnect the controller(s) until money is added (this way the game would show its demo screen when nobody was playing it).

      There are probably some people that already did something like this while building MAME machines.

    2. Re:its about money by cyb97 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem with a fixed-rate subscription is that some people will never leave the machine, through that also occupy the machine and making the owner have to turn away potential customers that aren't interested in gaming 24/7 but just there for the thrill of a game now and then.

      That's why pay as you go is great, it allows the customers to see that the clock is ticking and actually feal money leaving their pocket as they play. Fixed-rate might be good for the places where there are no "drop-in" clients, but if you want people coming through your place you need to have available consoles not crowded by drowling sweaty gaymers... ;-)