Chuck E. Cheese 2.0

theodp writes "Newsweek reports the inventor of Pong and founder of Chuck E. Cheese is getting back into the restaurant game. Adults welcome. At age 62, perpetual kid Nolan Bushnell wants to get gamers out of the house. This week, he will announce a new venture, the uWink Media Bistro restaurantchain. With screens at every table and bar stool, each piping videogames, media content and interactive menus, Bushnell's convinced a young-adult crowd will use the shared-gaming experience as a chance to compete, relax and mingle."

Comments

hmm reminds me of tabletop space invaders

[maharg]

.. now with a coating of melted cheese

Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's bring kids out from inside the house with their videogames, with videogames they have to pay for?

Doesn't seem like such an awesome idea.

You'll pay to know what you really think

behind

[Anonymous Coward]

I am living in Japan now and there's a family restaurant down the street that has terminals at every table where you can play games or read news and such. There's plenty of others like it too...

Re:behind

[Anonymous Coward]

Wasn't this in Back to the Future 2?

Re:behind

[slashdot.org]

I am living in Japan now and there's a family restaurant down the street that has terminals at every table where you can play games or read news and such. There's plenty of others like it too...

That sounds pretty cool, but all I'd like is a restaurant where the tables have a button for "My drink is empty, I'd like another one, thank you".

It surprises the hell out of me that in places like here ("Silicon Valley") that is not more prevalent. After the dot-com crash service is pretty good, but it still happens from time to time that you spend 10 minutes or more trying to get the attention of the waiter. This is not where you want to spend your time; most of the times it appears rather rude because you have to ignore the other people at the table.

All they'd have to get is something similar to a flight-attendent call button, but even that appears to be too high-tech.

Re:behind

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, they already have this... IN JAPAN

There are different systems. The simplest one is the flight-attendent button. The other end of the spectrum is the ordering-device which allows you to order what you want from a graphical menu and request refills without having to hail anyone down.

Re:behind

[earthbound kid]

Man, what the hell places are you guys going to that you can get refills? And what is the Japanese for refill anyway? The closest I've been able to come up with is "drink service."

Life in the inaka sucks. :(

Re:behind

[squirrelchaser14]

Where exactly do you live in Japan? I in Tokyo, but I really haven't seen these. I've seen the vending machines that are cell phone operated, though. Those are cool.

Re:behind

[Riktov]

I've seen them at Gusto (which is part of Skylark group, so others may have them too).

The way I see it, "entertainment" at a restaurant is a sign that slow service is expected. Though the terminals legitimately are aimed at impatient kids.

Re:behind

[Anonymous Coward]

Okawari

Re:behind

[Sporkinum]

"That sounds pretty cool, but all I'd like is a restaurant where the tables have a button for "My drink is empty, I'd like another one, thank you"."

Sounds like a bowling alley to me. They have had those for as long as I can remember, at least 30 years or so.

Re:behind

[Dysan2k]

Hell, it's no better on the other side of the country. You might get served, you might not. I've gotten to where I have the restaurant's number in my cell, so if I need a refill and it takes too long, I call the place.

Only takes me doing that once or twice before I can go a year without bad service.

Re:behind

[Anonymous Coward]

why were these comments modded down??? retarded moderators!

Re:behind

[Anonymous Coward]

>>That sounds pretty cool, but all I'd like is a restaurant where the tables have a button for "My drink is empty, I'd like another one, thank you".

Get off your fat, lazy ass.

Maybe you'd like your drinks delivered intraveneously so you could just rot in your bed - and your colon piped directly into the sewer.

Re:behind

[Anonymous Coward]

I use something like this. It's called a TIP, and it stands for "To Insure Promptitude" (really! look it up!). If your waitstaff is incapable of promptitude, there's no need to leave one of these behind.

Re:behind

[Anonymous Coward]

I like a resteraunt where the food is good and the staff, professional.

I already *have* plenty of computing power, thank you very much.

What I don't have is a live in chef and wait staff.

Re:behind

[MightyMartian]

Considering the resteraunts I've been to lately, I want a button that sends a jolt of 40,000 volts through the cook's genitals.

Re:behind

[hey!]

I've seen a few of these sort of schemes over the years. Mostly, they've been pretty misguided. The bottom line is that it's hard work, but not rocket science running a good restaurant. It usually takes a new restaurant a few weeks to work out the kinks in their service, after which things will run fine or they'll never work out.

Good waitstaff anticipate a customer's needs. They have the water before you go dry; if they bring your kids a placemat and a cup full of crayons, they'll check to see that it isn't a cup full of just green crayons. A good waiter reads the individual customer and gives him the experience he's looking for, whether it is efficient but unobtrustive service or trading good natured comical insults. There used to be a neighborhood restaurant I knew that had many people who were lifetime regulars, even after they moved away. If you were a kid taking your girl to a nice restaurant for the first time, the sly old maitre d' made sure you were treated like a big shot at the Algonquin, after which you were sure to be permanently imprinted with that restaurant.

Waiting table is a personal servicem and it takes a knack to do well.

Hire the wrong people and try to make up for it with some gimmick, and you might get that drink to the customer a bit faster, but frankly I don't think it's all that certain. I bet half the time it wouldn't make much difference, and the other half you'd get the wrong drink.

The most you could hope for is mediocrity, which I admit would be progress for many places. However, as a customer, I suggest if you don't like the service, contribute to the survival of the fittest by not frequenting those places. On the flip side, recognize and reward good service when you see it. It's a lot harder than it looks.

Re:behind

[Anonymous Coward]

Staple some bibles to the inside of his eyelids and you've got an American!

Re:behind

[bandersnatch]

In the past, I have been asked to help develop one of these systems but was busy on other projects so I had to turn them down. Think interactive ordering system combined with upselling the menu, advertising, party style trivia games or puzzle games, music videos, sports, news etc. With the adverts and so on, it's another revenue stream that allows the restraunt to lower prices and draw in even more of the young target market .

Re:behind

[Matt_Joyce]

Persoanlly I don't want my service event driven, I'd prefer it be gold old fashioned interupt driven.

If you feel there should be a button to call for service, your getting shit service.

By installing a button, you may be masking the problem.

Sooner or later, you will press that button and the service will still not arrive, how will you feel then ?

If you have great service, you can fix bad food, if you have bad service, you can ruin great food.

Re:behind

[seanohagan]

Almost every restaurant in Japan has a little device with a button on it that calls for the waiter or waitress.

If the restaurant doesn't have one, then patrons shout "Sumi masen" ("Excuse me") and a waiter runs to your table.

When I travel back to Canada, I can't eat out anymore. The service is simply horrible.

Re:behind

[trevick]

That sounds pretty cool, but all I'd like is a restaurant where the tables have a button for "My drink is empty, I'd like another one, thank you".

Dave and Busters has those. When I lived in Chicago, I lived a block away from there. Technically.

Re:behind

[v_1matst]

There's a restaurant that I frequent which serves roughly 70 different beers... on tap! Anyway, they resolve this problem by putting a sign on the table which has two license plates attached. One is blue and reads "Got Beer" and the other is red and reads "Need Beer". The wait staff does pay attention to these signs and I've never been thirsty when I go there.

Low tech solution but it does work.

No thanks.

[Seumas]

So I can go to a place to pay to play videogames at a table in a restaurant where everyone else is sitting in their own group or by themselves *also* staring at the table? Dude, I'll stay home and login somewhere and play a game, thanks.

People are highly overrated. Especially random strangers in a place that serves food.

Besides, most of what Chuck E. Cheese offered was something other than videogames. Actual physical things you could interact with.

Re:No thanks.

[AuMatar]

It was? We always went to play video games and eat pizza.

Re:No thanks.

[Tezkah]

RTFA: all designed to create "a more convivial environment for meeting strangers, without all the social risks associated with a bar,"

This is not geared towards people who want to play games, this is geared to those people who want to meet people, but don't like the bar scene. This is not aimed at the cheeto-stained keyboard users of /., it's for Joe Sixpack. The games they are playing include things like: "They run open-source Linux software and serve up games such as the Tetris-like Bloxx and Zillionaire, a trivia contest.", it is definitely NOT a LAN Party. The games are secondary to the environment it is creating.

Re:No thanks.

[Adrilla]

So it'll be a bunch of pasty people playing MAME boxes?

Re:No thanks.

[lxt]

There's a bar/arthouse cinema complex near where I live (Watershed in Bristol, UK if anyone's interested), which a few years ago hacked apart a couple of iMacs and placed them effectively under a bar table, so that the screen was effectively mounted at a slight angle under the glass table top.

Last time I went (assuming they havn't fallen to bits by now) they were pretty popular, with people who don't have laptops and the like generally using them to check emails, etc. etc.

Of course, this is a totally different kind of environment to what is being proposed here, so I'm not sure how successful it might be...

Re:No thanks.

[Seumas]

Well, I only went there once or twice, but they didn't have much in the way of videogames as I recall. They had animatronic things. THey had ball cages. Slides. Climby-tubey-hidey sorts of things. Cargo nets. The "whack a mole" game thing. Skeet ball, basketball and other things.

Re:No thanks.

[Seumas]

Yeah, but why do I want to meet some chubby chick who has to hang out at the dork-center to find guys or make friends with some geek and the girlfriend he dragged along with him? You can meet fellow dorks anywhere. Unless this place is somehow magically going to attract people I'm going to want to bump uglies with, why waste my time? Christ, I can meet other dorks at the office. Or at the local computer store. Or Fry's. Or a LUG. Or any sort of convention of any type.

Re:No thanks.

[MoralHazard]

People are highly overrated. Especially random strangers in a place that serves food.


Get laid a lot, do ya?

I know I'm going to get creamed for saying this on slashdot, but you're on CRACK! Get out of your house/dorm room, exercise those in-person social skills (oh-so-much more complex than verbal or text-based social skills), and meet some girls. For gods' sake, meet some girls--it'll change your whole perspective on how much fun it is to go meet random people.

Okay, slam away.

Re:No thanks.

[byolinux]

Is this place actually the Watershed itself? I saw RMS speak, there.

Re:No thanks.

[Seumas]

You don't meet bangable girls at an arcade. Maybe your definition of bangable is different than mine. The only place worth your time if you're going out to hook up and get laid is a place that is dark, noisey and has an endless supply of alcohol to ply the other person with.

But if you think you're going to woo some four-eyed comic-convention-loving chick over a game of whack-a-mole, go for it.

Re:No thanks.

[caluml]

Hmm. I was there too. You were the gothic guy in the corset, right? :) Mr Stallman in full flow

Re:No thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but why do I want to meet some chubby chick who has to hang out at the dork-center to find guys

Because she might be a hard core butt slut!

Re:No thanks.

[Evil Grinn]

You don't meet bangable girls at an arcade. Maybe your definition of bangable is different than mine. The only place worth your time if you're going out to hook up and get laid is a place that is dark, noisey and has an endless supply of alcohol to ply the other person with.

You have confirmed that you must be under 30. In the 1980's this is exactly what arcades, including Chuck E. Cheese were like.

Re:No thanks.

[Saeger]

People are highly overrated.

Yeah, but only from an introvert's perspective. Unfortunately, the majority (90%) of people are extroverts by nature and expect everyone to be happy-happy-social just like them or you're not normal.

Re:No thanks.

[byolinux]

Hah, no. I do remember him though, trying to wind up RMS and not doing particularly well at it.

Re:No thanks.

[Datamonstar]

Actually, hip sluts come out to arcades in full force, if they are smart. In the community that I play in girls looking for guys are quite prevelant. The only problem is that it's so obvious that they're not really looking to play games. At least not the type we came to play. A few of them actually go on to make decent players, too. I'm talking about the VIDEO games, BTW.

Re:No thanks.

[caluml]

Funny lad(y?) that one. Met him at a Bristol LUG meeting once. Shevek was his name.
Do you remember the guy that stood up and asked RMS what he would say to convince a boss of a corporation if he only had 1 minute in a lift with him?

Re:No thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

good answer

Re:No thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Besides, most of what Chuck E. Cheese offered was something other than videogames. Actual physical things you could interact with.

You sick pedophile. Get some help, man.

Re:No thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I only went there once or twice, but they didn't have much in the way of videogames as I recall. They had animatronic things

In the later years, these kinds of places (Chuck E. Cheese, Showtime, etc.) decided to shift their focus to a more family-friendly environment. So they took out everything that attracted the older kids, including most of the videogames. This, more than anything, was their downfall. They ended up with a place which appealed only to little kids, who don't eat alot of pizza and could barely play many of the games they did provide.

BTW, the current captcas being used give me a headache, literally. I probably won't post here anymore until they change them.

Re:No thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

And what exactly do you want? Face it, someone like you doesn't have much room to talk about which girls are "bangable" and which aren't. You'd better take what you can get and be happy about it or forever date your own fist.

Re:No thanks.

[AmberBlackCat]

You know, some people like to actually interact with other people they can see, hear, and stuff like that. I've seen people use empty classrooms to do multiplayer games over the network. If this all included pizza too, even I might do it.

Re:No thanks.

[Lord_Dweomer]

"Besides, most of what Chuck E. Cheese offered was something other than videogames. Actual physical things you could interact with."

Exactly, and thats why there was that point when you were too old to go in, but snuck in anyways. Gamers LIKE fucking around in those tubes and ball cages and slides and everything else. We just need them to be adult size and without any kids to get in our way from our violent fun.

Re:No thanks.

[Jeremi]

The parent poster doth protest too much, methinks.

Re:No thanks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Besides, most of what Chuck E. Cheese offered was something other than videogames.

Not really, back in the day the arcade was the only place to play the really cool games. Home machines just weren't even close to the arcade. Both in terms of graphics and controller options. That's why arcades were cool. Sure, you had things like skeeball but the videogames is what most people came for.

Nowadays there isn't much that arcade machines can offer over the home systems besides nostalgia.

Nothing will truely bring back the arcade unless you cook up the same receipe. Something cheap that you can't do at home.

Re:No thanks.

[Seumas]

Um... When I went to Chuck E. Cheese (probably both times in the late 80s), there were nothing but little kids and families. And no alcohol that I recall. Strictly a place for the under twelve crowd.

As for Arcades, I wouldn't know. By the time I started going to arcades, there were just a handful of tiny ones at the malls filled with dorky guys (I don't think I'd ever seen an adult women in one unless she was with her children). Then there were the arcades where you paid $4 to get in and you could stay all day and the games were free (or the nickel arcades, also). I don't really recall seeing girls at either of those, either. And certainly no booze.

Maybe arcades were different elsewhere, but in the pacific northwest, through the 90s onward, that's the last place to go to meet chicks. You might as well be going to the family barbecue.

Re:No thanks.

[Seumas]

Oh, and you never rolled around in the ball-cage, licking the aged-urine the plastic balls were soaked in?

Re:No thanks.

[Ravadill]

Yeah because you're much more likely to get a good catch in a dark overcrowded place where everyones drunk off their face, compared to an arcade where at least you can see who the hell you're trying to pickup?

Re:No thanks.

[bluGill]

I judge girls by their personality and their interests, not looks. A girls that hangs out in an arcade is already more my type than a girl who hangs out in a bar. I'm sure she has a better personality - if only because drunk girls have no personality.

Sure I'd love to have a super model. However girls get old, and even super models loose it. (some get downright ugly) That is assuming they do nothing more - throw in a few kids, and the girl will have a few extra pounds anyway. All that is left is personality - most good looking girls seem to have a bad one. (though most ugly ones as just as bad or worse)

Good luck getting 20 year old super models when you are 70. Unless you are rich enough to pay for it of course.

Re:No thanks.

[Seumas]

You can tell a hot chick in either venue. The point is that you'll have more hot chicks at a bar or a club and you're going to score more often with less work if she's lushed-up than if she's snapping bubblegum in front of whack-a-mole. Why do you think bars are noisey, dark, boozing meat-markets?! Because that shit works.

Re:No thanks.

[Seumas]

Dude, you're talking about two totally different things. Are you going to get laid or to make a buddy? If you're looking to get laid, go to a club. If you're looking for some buddy to link your PSPs together with and play Zelda (yes, I know I'm mixing my handhelds), sure - go to the pizza parlor game thingy.

This is like... common sense 101... But the fact is that most guys aren't going out at night to waste time "making buddies" when they can use that time to make a hookup.

But that was my original point - there are dorky/geeky girls everywhere. If you're just trying to make geek friends, you don't need a pizza/game parlor to do that.

Re:No thanks.

[WhyCause]

Have you never been to Dave & Buster's or Jillian's?

There are attractive women there all the time, and they're not all hanging on some dude's arm.

For the uninitiated, both Dave & Buster's and Jillian's are 'adult' arcades; plenty of cool/unique video games plus a couple of bars, good restaurant areas, billiards, darts, and sometimes bowling (depending on the size of the place). They even have the old-school skee-ball and whack-a-mole that spit out tickets good for exchanging at the counter for all sorts of crummy little things. Think Chuck E. Cheese's with a bar and food other than pizza. All told, they can be a lot of fun (can you tell I love them). It is hard, though, to convice my wife to go sometimes.

Re:No thanks.

[Jellybob]

Agreed - there's a place like that near by (Playzone in Portsmouth, UK I think) which does exactly that.

It's mainly focused towards kids, but they'll happily let you hire the place with a bunch of friends for reasonable rates.

What's even more fun is that they also have laser gun packs, so you can chase each other around the place... if you ask nicely they'll even kill the lights to make things more interesting :P

Cool to go to... once.

[Dancin_Santa]

CEC has always seemed like a gimmick. The food is bad, the service is worse, and the crap they called "fun & games" was so old and covered with years of detritus that getting into the ball room was like inviting a bacterial infection.

I guess making sure everyone only plays games in their own booths will help keep the germs at bay and localized into each customers' booth. However, I still question the longevity of a chain that refuses to cater to people who have tastebuds and wear shirts.

Re:Cool to go to... once.

[richie2000]

refuses to cater to people who have tastebuds and wear shirts.

Hey! T-shirts are shirts too, you know!

Re:Cool to go to... once.

[AndroidCat]

getting into the ball room was like inviting a bacterial infection.

Resident Chuck Evil Cheese.

Re:Cool to go to... once.

[Hubertus_BigenD]

Tell me about it. I went there for my fifth birthday, and all I remember from it was a nasty case of food poisoning.

Thanks alot Chuck E.

Re:Cool to go to... once.

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree that Chuck E. Cheese, though the concept appealed to my young mind, was a place of nastiness. However, I think my experience was not fairly representative of the chain, or at least Nolan Bushnell's initial idea.

When I was going to Chuck E. Cheese (and probably you too), it was in the early '90s, just after they went through the bankruptcy problems. In that situation, things get a lot worse before they get better, and I haven't been back since then to see if things have changed. I'm guessing Chuck E. Cheese today is a lot more like the profitable, successful venture it was when it was first created.

Regardless, Bushnell will be creating this new restaurants from scratch, and if it's like what I envision, it stands to be very popular. How many college students you know wouldn't be up for grabbing some food as a group while competing in a Halo tournament against their own or other tables?

Re:Cool to go to... once.

[Dan Up Baby]

Of course it was a gimmick! The idea was and is, if you were old enough to know that the food was awful and the games were old, you're past the target market. Little kids don't care that the pizza is bad, they don't care that the games are old, they care that they're playing games with all the other kids at the birthday party.

I don't know how well this idea will work out, but I've always been a Nolan Bushnell fan so if they ever hit the midwest I'll try one.

Re:Cool to go to... once.

[assassinator42]

There is this awesome Tsunami moving bubble thing at Chuck E. Cheese now. http://www.arcadeflyers.net/?page=flyerdb&subpage= thumbs&id=4460 They have roller coaster simulators, but more importantly Mech Warrior and Crimson Skies. Best thing there. But besides that, the ski-ball is ok, and the thing that you have to turn to make the thing stay between the curvey bars. BTW, I hate these script check things that I can hardly make out. Fourth time trying to post this, now I finally get one I can actually read.

Actually..

[Bastilla's Lover]

..Oh, you have to admit.. it'd be fun to show off your Morrowind character to the chicks in the coffee shop.

Re:Actually..

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, they're always impressed by stuff like that.

Yes but this begs the question

[Allnighterking]

Is he going to dig up all of those old game cartridges from the Arizona desert to start the business?

Re:Yes but this begs the question

[Mike Buddha]

They were smashed. When people discovered where the landfill was and started hauling them off, they sent steamrollers in to crush them up. Then they poured concrete onto what was left.

Re:Yes but this begs the question

[Anonymous Coward]

Close. The carts were crushed and buried in cement first thing, to head off any scavengers that might appear. There was no opportunity for people to take any of the games.

Re:Yes but this begs the question

[Lord Ender]

Moderators, it is your duty to mod people who misuse "begs the question." If fewere stupid people read his comment, then fewere stupid people will reapeat it.

Re:Yes but this begs the question

[KillShill]

awesome, truly awesome.

thanks for the best laugh i've had in weeks. :)

Re:Yes but this begs the question

[Anonymous Coward]

If fewere stupid people read his comment, then fewere stupid people will reapeat it.

You beiing oner of theesers peeople?

Re:Yes but this begs the question

[Allnighterking]

True enough... I suppose it might have kept you away.

Sticky games

[aussie_a]

Food+games=sticky consoles.

Thanks but no thanks. I have enough trouble making my family wash their hands after eating before hopping on the conole/computer. I don't want to have to contend with something a hundred strangers used while eating.

Re:Sticky games

[typobox43]

Lonely geeks + Tomb Raider = sticky consoles.

Re:Sticky games

[mrselfdestrukt]

wash their hands after eating before hopping on the conole/computer

Aaah, that's one of my favourite family games.
We always hop on the conole after supper. If you hop like a bunny you fall off quicker.And we all know how slippery conoles are. I wish we could afford a games conSole.

:
Bloody hell! These characters are really getting harder and harder to read! It really sucks!

Re:Sticky games

[rpillala]

Not to mention "Keyboard are Havens for Supergerms"

Tokens? Tickets?

[chillmost]

Will I get to use all my leftover Chuck E. Cheese tokens? What about my tickets from Skeeball? Can I trade those in for prizes still? This packrat mentality may have paid off after all.

Re:Tokens? Tickets?

[Anonymous Coward]

That reminds me, I have a 'T' token just burning a hole in my pocket.

Re:Tokens? Tickets?

[phpWebber]

What about my tickets from Skeeball?

Your coveted Crayola comb and mirror set will available for a mere 4000 of them.

Just what we need..

[Blind_Io_42]

Another technological barrier to face-to-face communication. Now we can give you yet another reason not to talk to your date.

Toss it on the pile with the email, PDAs, text messengers, 2-way pagers, cell phones, and other gadgetry.

Probably not the most popular opinion to have on /., but I find the quality of communication, especially in-person communication, sadly lacking these days.

Re:Just what we need..

[Anonymous Coward]

...says the person posting a message to a bunch of anonymous strangers on a web forum.

Re:Just what we need..

[ctr2sprt]

Now we can give you yet another reason not to talk to your date.

Let's be honest here. If you're taking your date to a place like this, you're not getting any no matter what you do. So you may as well play some HL2 while awaiting the inevitable.

Re:Just what we need..

[Anonymous Coward]

IF you're taking your date to CEC, you've got bigger problems.

Re:Just what we need..

[captain_dope_pants]

Hurrah, someone with a viewpoint similar to mine !

The plethora of "communication" devices available today has effectively led to a decrease in good, old-fashioned, face to face, verbal communication - that's 'talking' btw ;)
The amount of times I've been chatting with friends in the pub and someone just stops talking instantly as soon as they get a text / call on their mobile; it's downright rude. If someone's sitting in a bar, maybe waiting for mates to turn up, do they have a chat with the people around them ? No, they often just piddle about with their PDA / mobile 'phone or whatever making ridiculous bleeping noises or testing their new ring tone.

I'm not anti all this modern electronic gadgetry but please try to use it with a modicum of restraint and actually chat to people - face to face - it matters !

Re:Just what we need..

[cecille]

Don't bet on it - I'd love it if a guy took me to a place like this. It's way more interesting than some movie and dinner thing.

Seriously though ......

[Allnighterking]

The more I think about it the more I realize that the US is the wrong market .... Korea Japan Taiwan and China would however eat this idea up. .....

Re:Seriously though ......

[markild]

You got a point there. Seeing that I'm from europe, it may be hard for me to gasp the way the US market works, but this idea would definitly be dead within a week over here.
It's really weird when you come to think about it. Ifyou look at what groups of people in the world that is the most conservative, you see that these groups also is the ones to start all the stuff that no one else in the world would dare to do.

On the other side though. If games actually impressed the females, think about how kickass you could be at this restaurant after a few minutes on google with the keywords "cheat +for pong"...

Re:Seriously though ......

[brouski]

I think the market over there is pretty saturated with similar places, Japan at least.

As always, they get the cool stuff first.

Re:Seriously though ......

[Allnighterking]

I love it, moderated funny *sigh* ..... I'm not being funny. Video Bang's (a with an ah sound) are all over the place. This is how the young 18-25 year old asians "socialize" and get to know each other without the risk of embaressment of undu pressure. Then once people meet or agree to meet they leave to go to a coffee shop or a resteraunt. .... hmmmm

The Band

[Adrilla]

Will they bring back the Chuck E. Cheese band? It just hasn't been the same is Jasper T. Jowls left over "creative differences".

Re:The Band

[Adrilla]

Dammit, I can't type. It Should've been "SINCE Jasper T. Jowls left over 'creative differences'".

I applaud Chuck E. Cheese. More!

[NRAdude]

I've found it to be one of the few remaining wholesome entertainment palaces for children. Remind you all, "Chuck E. Cheese" is an account held subscribing to the Linux mascott-themed game Tux Racer. Jokes aside, part of the fun in visiting "Chuck E. Cheese" is to see how bad the on-screen party entertainment and employees realy are. I mean, that job has really gotta suck and it is only bearable when paying customers point-out the obvious just as they step on the stage and sing annoying songs to hyperactive children spilling food and rubbing snot over every inch of the table. They clean it all up...without a tip other than "bye". Muah ha ha ha! Anyone have any similar fassion to share on their exploits, other than poking fun at the especially gifted children?

Good luck Nolan

[vevva]

We were doing an exhibition recently (ATEI in London) for our retro-gaming table http://www.digitaltables.co.uk/ when in the middle of the show Nolan Bushnell made a point of visiting us on our stand.

He spent 10 minutes chatting to us about Pong, the first arcade games and the early days of Atari. He was a thoroughly nice guy and we felt honoured that he'd stopped by.

Good luck to him.

Re:Good luck Nolan

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, your tables look schweet! Good work.

Re:Good luck Nolan

[AndroidCat]

Those pretty legs are going to hook feet, especially in a beer-enhanced zone. (Gives the table more stability, but ..)

WWLaserz!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, Tim and Eric really got working on their little project quickly didn't they?

(TGTTM)

Yeah, like the ticket machines and the eBola virus

[Anonymous Coward]

I enjoy standing in front of that one machine; inside behind a wall of thick glass is a monster truck, and outside is a single stinking button that every retard has contributed his boogies onto. Hmm...if only I can press that ONE FREAKING BUTTON. oh, the interactivity is killing me.

That's nasty.

[Anonymous Coward]

And you are willing to admit that, on slashdot? What does your secret home life have anything to do with great fun with the family at Cubby Cheese's?

So in other words

[mcc]

It's a place where people can come together, separated by age, background and station but bound in common by attention deficit disorder?

Oh my...

[Duncan3]

Gamers and food in one place... Can you image the smell?

Women will flee the county, houses downwind will lose value, skunks will congregate...

uh... dont we already have this?

[nealrs]

its called Dave and Busters?

seriously: good food. good beer. tons of games? a place where you can walk around with a red stripe in hand. and play like LA machineguns and all the other assorted Chuck E Cheese games like the mole thing etc?

how is this any different from DaB? Diff age group maybe... DaB is over 21 after like 9pm - and its kind of expensive. But still, this is the best implementation of a "gaming restaurant" even if its more arcade than chuck e cheese type of games.

Plus, the place is kinda classy, like id take buisiness clients there and girls on dates. (provided of course.. i had clients to entertain or girls to take on dates, or vice versa)

i just dont see how this could oneup dave and busters. which stole my heart the first time i went. -nrs

Re:uh... dont we already have this?

[vranash]

4 or 5pm actually, me and a buddy drove like 3 hours to San Jose to play the Battletech pods since the local place (non-DaB) had closed a few years before, only to find out they weren't allowing anyone under 21 in (we were both 18 at the time.)

Re:uh... dont we already have this?

[Seumas]

Dave and Buster's rocks. But it's more adult oriented. You know, with the booze and all. Then again, who wants kids hanging around a place like that when you're trying to have fun.

I got bored when I went to Dave and Busters, though. The only games they had tended to be really boring shooters with huge screens where you put your foot on a pedal to reload and you basically just fired aimlessly and kept reloading. There wasn't much to it. If you press the triggets enough times and stand there long enough, you'll beat the game. *yaaawn*

Re:uh... dont we already have this?

[NeuroManson]

And there's also Gameworks in Seattle (not sure if it exists elsewhere). Nothing like downing a beer and then doing the 3 story tall shooter.

Re:uh... dont we already have this?

[Anonymous Coward]

What will set this apart from D&B is that it will resemble your basement, y'know the hole you crawl out from when the sun goes down.

*looks around*
Slices of leftover pizza (check), clothes here n there (check), games (check), mom hollering at you to COME HERE THIS INSTANT (check), flashy colors from various CRTs (check), weed (che--wait how did THAT get in there?!?), and so on...

Re:uh... dont we already have this?

[geniusj]

They have it in Tempe, AZ as well (I don't live there, I've just been there a bunch of times). Good times :-)

Re:uh... dont we already have this?

[miro33]

Bushnell's thing looks entirely different. D&B is filled with a bunch of expensive first-person shooters, driving games and the like. No different than an arcade with liquor. The Media Bistro looks like social networking for the public space. Great idea!

Chuck E. Cheese ???

[BorgDrone]

As an non-USian, What the *bleep* is Chuck E. Cheese ??

Re:Chuck E. Cheese ???

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you not have Wikipedia in your country?

Here.

Re:Chuck E. Cheese ???

[phalse phace]

Chuck E. Cheese

Re:Chuck E. Cheese ???

[Anonymous Coward]

MY EYES!!!

Re:Chuck E. Cheese ???

[AndroidCat]

One free token for every kid? That doesn't sound like much of a bounty. Next you'll be insisting on no disintegrations! I think I'll see if Pizza the Hutt will make a better offer.

Re:Chuck E. Cheese ???

[Anonymous Coward]

Excuse me, but what the hell is a USian?

Re:Chuck E. Cheese ???

[Anonymous Coward]

an Amurkin.

One of the chosen, led by god, err I mean Bush.

Fuck this fucking confirm you're not a script shit, its getting more intense every day.

Why don't they just start administering lengthy IQ tests to determine if you should be allowed to post here.

Ralph Baer made Pong first

[Lahiru]

I remember reading an interview with Ralph Baer in an issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly several years ago. In it Baer asserted that he had created the game and patented it before Bushnell, and that Bushnell copied his concept.

The Wikipedia entry covers pretty much everything said in that interview:

"In 1966, Ralph Baer, then working for Sanders Associates, made a design for running simple computer games over a television set. His ideas were patented, and he created a game resembling Pong proper, except with slightly more complex controls. In 1970, Baer demonstrated his video game system to corporate heads at Magnavox, who became convinced that such a device would help sell more Magnavox television sets. Magnavox and Sanders Associates joined forces, with Baer and his patents at the epicenter, to develop a stand-alone unit called the Odyssey 1TL200 to be sold to consumers for use in the home."

"... Two weeks later, Magnavox learned of Pong, and notified Atari that they already had a patent on the concept. The two companies went to court. Magnavox was able to produce witnesses who had seen Nolan playing the Odyssey's ping-pong game, and they had a guestbook from the event which Nolan had signed. The judge found in favor of Magnavox, and Atari had to pay $700,000 for use of the patents."

As I recall, Baer also invented a boatload of other things, but didn't make much off of them because the patents were owned by the company he worked for at the time. (Memory is fuzzy on the details)

Re:Ralph Baer made Pong first

[Mike Buddha]

Just read The Ultimate History of Video Games. In it Nolan Bushnell credits Ralph Baer with creating the first home video game system, the Magnavox Odyssey. it wasn't "Pong" but it was a ping-pong game. In the book they explain the difference between the games (the ability to put "english" on the ball, the speeding up of the action, etc).

Magnavox had patented the concept of playing electronic games on a TV, and the concept of an electronic ping-pong game. Apparently, according to those involved, the $700K one time fee was a sweetheart deal for Atari. All the newcomers had to pay through the nose.

Also in the book, they explain that Al Alcorn was the engineer who created "Pong", at Nolan's request after he saw and played the Magnavox Odyssey at a trade show.

The book is excellent I highly recommend it for anyone with an interest in the history of video games from the very beginning all the way up to the release of the XBox.

The Ultimate History of Video Games, by Steven L. Kent

Could go over well

[Anonymous Coward]

One of the biggest draws to arcades for teens back in the day was the element of competition. Completely destroying someone at a game like Street Fighter 2 with a dozen people watching was definately the kind of thing many teenaged guys thrived on. After a decade or so, it looks like that kind of competition has come back through online multiplayer games, especially first person shooters. The teens that play counterstrike and UT2k4 would probably kill for the opportunity to show off their skills to not only fellow gamers on the Internet, but also other people in person.

So basically, if anything is going to make these places catch on, it won't be the 'relaxing' environment, but the massive egos of the teens who'll go to them.

Re:Could go over well

[LBt1st]

I totally agree. In the US, arcades died because most places were full of the same types of games you can play at home for free. Those and the ticket type games like skeetball. And most people don't enjoy those at all. The only reason people will leave home to pay for games is if it gets you something you can't get at home. Competition or a chance to show off your skills are two reasons that you just don't see much of anymore. That's why DDR type games remain popular. Want to make a good arcade? Put in lots of fighting games, DDR, and big moving machines. Networked driving games where each car moves would be another good idea. The point is to offer something you can't get at home and to bring people together. Next step is to maintain all those games!!! I long for the days of going to the local arcade and wupping some ass in street fighter. And if such a place still existed I'd be there in a minute.

What does Uche Ogbuji say?

[Anonymous Coward]

Uche Ogbuji says: "Wha'? Muh dick."

What innovation

[kahei]

OMG someone has finally invented the PC Bang.

At last, PC Bangs exist. Previously they were confined to the world of fantasy.

(why yes... I _do_ have nothing better to do than be sarcastic today...)

Re:What innovation

[Seumas]

I don't want to know your name - I just want to BANG BANG BANG!

Re:What innovation

[eobanb]

For everyone's info, a PC bang is just an internet café. They're called PC bangs in South Korea. They almost always have a focus on games.

uWink keeps changing bizplans

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember seeing these guys at vending trade shows when I was in the jukebox biz. They were hawking touchscreen games back in 2000 or so (running Linux, praise be), but never seemed to get indeustry traction. Their website was finally reduced to a one-pager promising something New! and Improved! Real Soon Now for, oh, two years?

Hmm, I think they're on to something ....

Step 1: Write new biz plan.
Step 2: Raise lots of investor cash.
Step 3: Spend it.
Step 4: Lay low until new VC comes along.
Step 5: goto step 1

No "????" step, but no "Profit!" step either.

They spent huge money on trade show booths, that's for sure. But then again, who didn't?

Meeting new people

[knoebelsPT]

Maybe it is just me but if I am going to go to a bar and try to meet new people I (shockingly) want to talk to them. I don't want to play video games with them, I don't want to check my e-mail, I want to actually have a conversation.

Re:Meeting new people

[chrisblore]

I agree. Going out is a social occasion and therefore you want to be able to talk to your companions, not be immersed in a game of Space Invaders or the like. If you want to play computer games with them, invite them to your house to play on your PS2 or have a LAN Party!

No Way...

[Anonymous Coward]

I used to work in that hellhole back in high school. Nothing worse than having that BOFH boss make me put on that funk-ridden Chucky suit on and wade through hordes of screaming children while being repeatedly punched in the groin. Yeah, good times...I'll pass.

Re:No Way...

[Anonymous Coward]

Doesn't the Chucky suit come equipped with a jock strap?

another idea of mine ... adopted

[dnab]

No it's not stolen, just one of "if I have the VC money I'd do something about it" thing. But I'm not coming from the gaming/surfing/friendstering angle, even though every table would have an interactive LCD touch screen that can conceively do those things on the side. My evil master plan is to tie the interactive menu and the kitchen with the server that can, in real time, change the prices of the food. Why? Because a kitchen makes more money when several like orders are cooked simultaneously (certain conditions apply, of course). Also being an order tracking system a party can more or less be served at the same time. And other dreams of improving service quality w/ IT which I won't elaborate here.

Even got a name thought up. The Beta Platters

Having eaten in enough restaurants since this idea came about (1997) I then realized that nothing is more important than taste & location in determining a restaurant's success, and staff experience in its profitability. Maybe this might work with Denny's...

Re:another idea of mine ... adopted

[duckpoopy]

I understand that this is easier for the cooks, but exactly how are you saving money? The raw food is already bought, and you aren't going to pay the cooks any less...

Re:another idea of mine ... adopted

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn, I'd hate to be with you when the time comes to split the bill...

It's an arcade for kids

[Anonymous Coward]

It's an arcade for kids, with generically bad pizza and a ball bin for toddlers to get lost in while Mommy relives playing PacMan.

Re:It's an arcade for kids

[dabigpaybackski]

In other words, you non-USians aren't missing anything.

Already done in the eighties

[zr-rifle]

Wasn't this already done in the early eighties with a fast-food chain where kids could eat pizzas and play videogames?

Re:Already done in the eighties

[rikkards]

Yeah it was called Chuck E Cheese. There was also another called Showtime (I think) that I remember going to when my family visited Orlando when I was 7 or 8 so that would be 24 or 25 years ago (oh my god!)

Re:Already done in the eighties

[Anonymous Coward]

Showbiz pizza is what you're referring to. Didn't have any chuck e. cheese's in st. louis at the time.

Re:Already done in the eighties

[rikkards]

That is it. Hard to remember the name as it has been a quarter of century since the last time I saw it. Didn't have anything like it up here in the Great White North when I was a kid.

Re:Already done in the eighties

[Scoth]

I remember a Showbiz Pizza that was quite similar to CEC. I was never entirely sure what relation they had if any. My younger sister had one of her single-digit birthday parties there, she's 22 now so it's been awhile. Scott

Re:Already done in the eighties

[Qwerty0]

After a mess of lawsuits, Showbiz bought the nearly-bankrupt Pizza Time Theater (home of Chuck E Cheese). (my entire childhood was spent terrified of Mr. Munch...)

Re:Already done in the eighties

[toddestan]

I fondly remember a place known as Circus Circus. Same basic formula: Pizza, arcade games, bumper cars, and cheesy music. Might of been a local Minnesota thing though. They went out of business, now a Chucky Cheese resides in their old building.

Missing ??? step

[EnsilZah]

You might not have realized it, but i think that you've found the ??? step.

1. Do stuff
2. Goto 1 (???)
3. Profit!

Re:Missing ??? step

[captain_dope_pants]

Unbelievable !!
That's two posts in a row using the dreaded goto.
Surely in these enlightened days of software engineering the goto should never be used in such simple algorithms as these !
I propose a re-write of the original post using modern techniques.

Yes, I am being facetious. I woke up feeling that way =P

Chuck E. Cheese - any relation

[Anonymous Coward]

any relation to Chuck E. Egg ?

Bland anti-geek sentiment

[Dancin_Santa]

It's disappointing to see anti-geek trolls proliferating here on Slashdot. Worse, to see suck sentiments getting modded up.

If you have to put on a facade to impress your date, then maybe you ought not take the girl to Chuck E. Cheese. If covering up who you are is more important than being who you are, it's probably a good idea to take her to a fancy restaurant where you two can pretend to enjoy yourselves.

As for me, if a girl can't handle that I live at my parent's home and enjoy eating pizza while playing the PS2, then that's her loss. I am not going to lower my standards to become embroiled in a fake relationship where we don't really know each other because we put on a fake smile and try to pretend to be more debonnaire than we really are.

I want a girl who is going to enjoy getting her fingers with Cheetos dust with me. My standards are high, and I'm not willing to compromise my sense of self just to impress someone else.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[Anonymous Coward]

I am not going to lower my standards
I don't think your standards can get much lower although it seems like you are more living a double standard that only succeeds in porn movies (guy is fat and ugly, girl is blonde with big bosum)

FYI women have standards as well and dating someone who lives with mommy and daddy is normally not considered very high as it would seem you need to rely on your parents to support you so how are you going to put in your equal contribution or are you going to just rely on her?

Move out and get your own place, there is nothing worse than having your parents interrupt you when you are trying to get it on. Unless they go for the whole sock/necktie/coat hanger on the doorknob thing to know not to come in.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[Anonymous Coward]

You are losing your touch troll boy. Go take a nap then come back fresh.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[KingSkippus]

Frickin' amen, already!

I am so sick and tired of people acting like to be a REAL man you have to have the so-called "high class" type of girl who wouldn't be caught dead in a Chuck E. Cheese, playing video games, or otherwise engaging in nerdy practices.

I don't go to bars to meet girls because frankly, I don't WANT the kind of girl that hangs out in bars to meet men. I don't live with my parents, but I respect people who do--it saves an awful lot of money and keeps families closer together. I don't drive a fancy car because I don't need one and don't want to attract the kind of girls who only go for guys in fancy cars. And as weird as it may sound to some people, there are more important things in my life than hooking up with some bar or club skank just because I'm that starved for sex.

Now if I someday run across a girl that respects my priorities and my lighthearted attitude, great. If she's good-looking, fantastic. If I don't meet anyone like that, too bad, I'll live. Some of us like to enjoy the things we think are fun instead of dwelling on the lack of just any ol' female to satisfy a pathethic insatiable sexual craving.

The irony is that the bar-hopping club crawlers are the people I feel sorry for. I may be a nerd, but at least I'm a pretty durn happy one most of the time.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[KingSkippus]

guy is fat and ugly, girl is blonde with big bosum

I didn't see anything in his post about the girl having to be a supermodel or porn star.

it would seem you need to rely on your parents to support you

How do you know this guy isn't supporting his parents? Or that his parent's aren't sick and in need of a caregiver? Or that his family isn't just a very close-knit family? Or that the guy hasn't been saving up to pay CASH for a new house (as in, no mortgage) and is just a few grand short?

there is nothing worse than having your parents interrupt you when you are trying to get it on

Sure there is. Living in an expensive place beyond your means, screwing up your financial security, declaring bankrupcy, sacrificing a comfortable retirement, living paycheck-to-paycheck, all so you can have a few minutes of guaranteed peace when you are "trying to get it on" with a superficial girl who only likes you because of your demonstrated willingness to go into debt up to your eyeballs? I think that's a LOT worse.

Call me crazy, but I wish a lot more people in this country had this guy's standards instead of yours.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't live with my parents, but I respect people who do--it saves an awful lot of money and keeps families closer

And prevents you from maturing and getting you own life!

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[fermion]

As can be told by other responses in this thread, many feel the need to justify thier life choices by denigrating other choices. Even the parent fell into this trap, by stating that geeks that go to fancy places only pretend to enjoy themselves.

There should be enough room in this world to handle many different forms of relationships. One should absolutely be true to who one is, and set up affectations just to get something the world says one needs.

OTOH, a relationship is not just about sex. It is also about growth and becoming a more expressed person. This might involve a geek going to fancy place. It might involve a jock learning to read. It might involve a socialite doing some house work. The point is that being who you are is not meant to be an excuse not to grow. And being who you are does not mean one has to be with someone exactly the same. Enjoying some of the same things, certainly, but another person will be different, and if one wants the relationship, one often has to learn to love the differences.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[ConsistentChaos]

Very good -- you do realize that, noble as your intentions are, you're not likely to reproduce. The bar-hopping sex-starved people you describe will not have that problem.

Do the math.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[paragon_au]

100% on the money.

I'm a nerd/geek, and outdoor recreationist.

I goto LAN's bi-monthly, have a Xbox, PS2, DC, MythTV all hooked up. I also have my instructors in Rockclimbing, Caving, Snowboarding and White Water Rafting.

When the girls hear about my 'extreme' sports, they get interested.
When they find out that on weekends I hit the snow, or go climbing, but on weekdays I come home from work and play video games.
They for the most part get turned off, and we end up breaking up.

My latest girlfriend (6months in 3 days), is fine we games. She ain't a gamer herself, sometimes she'll watch me play, sometimes she'll do something elsewhere, sometimes she'll do somethign next to me, sometimes she'll play aswell (she loved Fable). And things are a hell of a lot better than with a lot of my past girl friends.
She ain't as 'hot' as some of the other girl's I've been with (Although she still looks damn good :) but things are a hell of a lot better with her.

She also gives me time to work on my pet projects (thanks hackaday).

Find a girl who likes you for you. It's a lot better, for the both of you.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[Anonymous Coward]

Very good -- you do realize that, noble as your intentions are, you're not likely to reproduce. The bar-hopping sex-starved people you describe will not have that problem. Do the math.

Because it's not like the world already has 6.4 billion people...

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[Anonymous Coward]

>>When they find out that on weekends I hit the snow, or go climbing, but on weekdays I come home from work and play video games.
They for the most part get turned off, and we end up breaking up.

Do you actually do anything to earn a living or develop yourself (socially, mentally etc.) in some way, or does your life consist purely of mindless idiot play?

Perhaps the girls turn off because you are shallow, boring and have no point to your life.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[Blind_Io_42]

What was said is not anti-geek by any means. I consider myself a geek. I have the cell phone, the Pocket PC, the killer laptop and gaming rig, and console games. However, portable communications devices such as phones, pagers, pocket PCs and so forth limit face-to-face communication. I am not advocating that you should not be true to your nature.
My point is that "going out" is one of the few remaining times when we spend an extended amount of time with one other person in face-to-face discussion. In our attempts in increase productivitiy and communication we have established barriers to it. Communication is more that just what is being said, it's how you are saying it, along with the facial expressions and body language. The misinterpretation of the post is a perfect example. If the poster had been talking to every one here directly, on a personal level there would not have been this misunderstanding. He could have seen in your faces that his message was being misunderstood and altered the delivery to make it more clear.

Electronic communication is unidirectional and filters out more than 50% of the message, the expression, tone of voice, body language and other non-verbal messages. The poster is not saying that communication gadgets are bad, just that they are limited in their scope, something that many people have forgotten.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[Anonymous Coward]

I have my audience.

DS

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[KillShill]

what does reproduction have to do with basically what most human beings want in life : happiness.

hell most women nowadays don't want to reproduce either.

if you're happy, you have it all.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[bluGill]

Perhaps. But I won't die of AIDS either. Nor will I catch herpies, or one of the many diseases that girls tend to spread. I people who have taken home girls who they latter found out had something. Getting a call the next morning: "you should know that the girl you brought home has..." is not something you ever want. She won't tell you.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[MBraynard]

If you aren't able to support yourself, you aren't a man and aren't worthy of a woman.

Still, there are a lot of sluts out there who have standards low enough to include an adult male living with the 'rents'. Good luck finding them.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[TheSpoom]

You'll find someone. There are girls who think the same way you do. I know, I've met one, and I'm happier than I've ever been. Keep at it, you'll end up ahead.

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[loopback_127001]

I hate to break this to you, but both girls AND boys can spread cooties.

no, really, it's true. I read it in a book once.

Geeks only bitch about bar culture because it's a culture they frequently don't understand the rules for, and they can't stand to see an environment where they're unable to thrive. Thus, bar culture must be inferior to geek culture, because geeks do not thrive within it.

And everyone knows geeks are superior life forms!

Re:Bland anti-geek sentiment

[bluGill]

More than that, I have no interest in working within it. As a geek I like to keep full possession of my senses, and bars are not a place that encourages that. (I'm religious enough to have other objections to the bar scene, but they are irrelevant to my feelings as a geek)

The bar scene is not inferior for geek reasons - it just is. So long as it doesn't affect me (drunk driving, and alcoholism affect me, but they are not directly the fault of the bar) I don't care what you do. Don't expect me to enter it, even if that is the only way I could ever get a girl - I'd rather be alone than there. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

The Strobe Room 2.0

[DigiShaman]

In the first version, I barfed all over the floor when I was a kid. I hope he doesn't hold a grudge about it still.

Re:The Strobe Room 2.0

[dabigpaybackski]

Nah, that stuff is vomit under the bridge by now.

Hasn't this

[Anonymous Coward]

already been done before?

Nolan the cluess entrepreneur...

[demo9orgon]

As much as I respect Mr. Bushnell for having been in the zone back in the 70's he's nowhere near the mark right now and much like he's been "one off" in the past he's wrong this time too. It doesn't take much to see that the niche is very busy already. Even if he opens up a resturaunt with a 30' tall rotating mechanical "Tux" the penguin smiling and waving at people passing by on the freeway it's not going to interest people the way it would have even 20 years ago.

It would be much better to see Mr. Bushnell spend his energies working on something truly novel instead of this sad one-trick pony-ism he seems so invested in...resturants and computer games...bah.

Now if he was working on a virtual glory-hole, complete with crash-test dilos and glip (glory-hole over IP) protocols in conjuction with RealDoll? Well damnit that could see us to the next level in interaction, regardless of the venue. :-)
Or how about cell phones with a "clit-cup" sending device or tele-dick-tooth-pick sending device?

We need our technology more organic, orgasmic, and less watering-hole dynamic. We should have been flitting about as avatars on the net by now, enties created for interaction without the burdens of the meat while retaining all the joys. Compare that to having to brave busy California traffic and enough taxation and political-correctness that operating anything is almost prohibitive.

It may take money to make money, but P.T. Barnum still rules.

Re:Nolan the cluess entrepreneur...

[t0qer]

Now if he was working on a virtual glory-hole, complete with crash-test dilos and glip (glory-hole over IP) protocols in conjuction with RealDoll?

You need a girlfriend.

Re:Nolan the cluess entrepreneur...

[dabigpaybackski]

Your post is simultaneously disgusting and prophetic.

I predict that 50 percent of the people who read it will mod you up, and the rest will be overwhelmed by the urge to take a shower.

Re:Nolan the cluess entrepreneur...

[megrims]

Excluding of course, the ~98% of his readers who don't have mod points.

Re:Nolan the cluess entrepreneur...

[demo9orgon]

I have my eye on this absoultely wonderful young woman at work who would make an aweseome girlfriend. She would be an incredible balm for my mid-life crisis; all I need to do is somehow reconcile such an indulgence against my 23 year relationship with my wife and two children.

You know, I think married guys suffer more from lack of sex than single guys.
I say this being married much longer than I was ever a virgin and having first-hand (wink-wink) experience at sexual frustration in monogomy. If you do some research you'll find that it's the way things are supposed to be. Of course that doesn't fit into society well but the success of the species has always been in how subtle cheating creates advantages.

And I'm not talking about having bulky machinery; I'd like to have something that fits over the ear like a current bluetooth hands-free kit which uses neural induction to the places that matter. This isn't as far off as you think. It would be much harder to create a realistic mouth/sleeve than to just talk to the wiring.

Gotta go, my wifette calls.

He's been trying to do this for years

[FromWithin]

I saw a talk by Nolan Bushnell at a games event about 6 years ago. He was talking about exactly this idea. I think that back then, he wanted to setup an infrastructure and license the system to existing restaurants. At the time, it seemed far too ambitious because internet access at anything above dialup was so expensive (to business users as well as home users), and I remember thinking that it was too far-fetched. He's certainly got perseverance; I would have given up on it years ago. So its good to see that he's back and going it alone with a new restaurant chain. I say good luck to him!

Chucky Egg?

[caluml]

What is it? I've heard of Chucky Egg, but not Chuck E Cheese.

Re:Chucky Egg?

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you try, I don't know, searching google?

Re:Chucky Egg?

[Anonymous Coward]

everything on slashdot is SARCASM

this could ACTUALLY be cool!

[Cecil B ReDemented]

I have read pretty much everyones response and no one seems to like this.As far as I can tell,everyone either thinks this will be too much like "CEC" (witch I thought was fun as #@$% as a kid!),that it'll be inferior,or that it wont bring people together the way he plans. But I wonder how many actually read what he plans? From everything I heard in the article,he seems to want this to be for an older crowd (so dont worry about it being to much like "CEC"),he seems to be focusing on bringing people together (so no isolationism,and might i add...he did a good job bringing people [at least kids] together with "CEC" ),and I cant imagine it's going to be like bars around the world with JUST those boring touch screen game systems (so maybe...just MAYBEEE he'll actually have some modern systems!). As for the sanitary issue,THAT one I can understand,and can only hope he has either thought about that allready,or will before he opens this new restaurant. I would allso like to point out the fact that "CEC",the place most of you seem so ^#$%bent on hating,is a: still up and running,and B:has spawned other companies to creat there own "CEC"-like business'. So I for one,can not WAIT to see what happens,and I will be hoping and praying that this idea EXPLODES into the mainstream! One last note here. I apologise if this post sounds inflamitory. That was not my intention at the start.

Re:this could ACTUALLY be cool!

[vegaspctech]

I have read pretty much everyones response and no one seems to like this.As far as I can tell,everyone...

I wouldn't worry too much about what most people think. Most people are lousy prognosticators. When it opened, most people predicted Chuck E. Cheese's would take off but it faultered while and nearly died. Then when it went bankrupt and changed hands most people predicted that we'd seen the end of Chuck E. Cheese's but it took off and there are now somewhere around 500 locations. Most people once thought microcomputers would never go beyond niche market status. Then when it when it started to become clear that they were wrong about that, most people predicted that IBM would dominate the desktop. Then they thought the Internet just a fad. Then...

Re:this could ACTUALLY be cool!

[British]

THe last time I went to a CEC(a few years ago), it was 99% kiddie rides/games/etc. There was almost no arcade unit to be seen.

CEC back in its heyday was the Playboy Lounge for kids. Pizza, soft drinks, and a gazillion arcade games. That was the early 80s, and it was good.

Today, video games have come to the home and are more powerful (if not equal) to what can be stuck in a cabinet.

I don't see how this can take off, again. Times have changed, technology has changed.

This isn't new at all.

[MongooseCN]

Gaming centers have been around for years. Check out www.igames.org for a list of all the centers in the US. As a matter of fact I have owned one for a year. I don't have food with mine but there are many centers that have been around for 5 years or more that are a combination of a cafe and game center.

marketing to the jobless

[Anonymous Coward]

May work in Japan, but in North America, it sounds like he's targeting a group of people who have no money..

You're the birthday....

[Matt Clare]

You're the birthday, You're the birthday, You're the birthday man or women.

I used to think...

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

Nolan Bushnell was a hack, but this seriously looks like a really damn good idea.

Now only to hope that the games on it won't suck.

teens and money

[Anonymous Coward]

"Bushnell's convinced a young-adult crowd will use the shared-gaming experience as a chance to compete, relax and mingle."

But will they spend money? That has historically always been the weak point of any business plan that revolves around "teen hangouts". Way easy to attract crowds, but they have very little money to spend.

Chuck E. Cheese?

[illuminatedwax]

Chuck E. Cheese?

You mean SHOWBIZ PIZZA.

Chuck E Cheese is..

[Anonymous Coward]

a proud supporter of PBS Kids

Clifford says: Be the best Dead Blog on Your Rock. Visit your local library.....

Yeah, it's called a netcafe.

[paragon_au]

How about netcafe's?

They've been around for years.
We have on in our small town, where you sit at the computer playing games. And at the press of a button you can bring up a menu, order food, it's auto added to your bill, and the food is brung out to you.

Re:Yeah, it's called a netcafe.

[Anonymous Coward]

brought

Alternate Title

[th0mas.sixbit.org]

"Chuck E. Cheese founder creates concept for 'arcade', 20 years late"

And then...

[DoorFrame]

... then they threw the concrete in a sack and tossed the sack in a river and hurled the river into space.

I would go for it...

[Omnedon]

I'd want a conference room (because we'll be yelling at each other, replaces VoIP) with 8 terminals pre-loaded with City of Heroes (8 being the max team size). It would save having to get TeamSpeak/Yahoo chat running as well as the game.

I'd bring my own keyboard and trackball, I wouldn't want to learn the subtle differences in a game situation.

One Night at Pac-Man

[Anonymous Coward]

> Actually, hip sluts come out to arcades in full force, if they are smart. In the community that I play in girls looking for guys are quite prevelant. The only problem is that it's so obvious that they're not really looking to play games. At least not the type we came to play.

You pussy hounds aren't ranging,
The kind of meal I'm contemplating,
I'd let you watch, I would invite you,
But the things we eat would not excite you,
(So you'd better go back to your bars, your temples, your hip singles nightclubs...

One night at Pac-Man and the world's your oyster,
Bow down at countertops, the game ain't free,
You'll find a ghost around each glowing cloister,
They don't turn blue after you get ninth key.
Pinky and Blinky slidin' up to me.

- With apologies to Murray Head, One Night in Bangkok.

Re:Yes

[DigitalHammer]

Especially if your Morrowind character happens to look like a giant penis. You could use some fresh pickup lines like:

"Hey baby, check out my Lvl 65 Phallus Mage. He's always got his armor on." ;)

You'd risk looking like a geektastic manwhore, but hey...

Can you play Pong at the restaurant?

[SnappingTurtle]

I'm not going if I can't play Pong. While they're at it, I want:

• Ms. Pac Man
• Marble Madness
• Galaga
• Asteroids
• Centipede (I'd be a rich man today if I'd invested all those quarters instead of putting them into the Centipede game at the laundrymat)
• Dig Dug
• other 80's games with a simple paradigm and just one or two controls

Re:Can you play Pong at the restaurant?

[bckrispi]

Arcade-Bar-Restaurants like GameWorks and Jillian's have a fair collection of the Classics. I just hope you don't mind shelling out $0.50 per credit

uwink is really lame

[Animats]

SNAP!is a revolutionary pay-to-play,touch screen, countertop entertainment system that turns any surface into an exciting money maker.

Yeah, right. What we have here is a 51-pound coin-op terminal with a 56Kb network connection and a few cell-phone level games.

With an optional interface to a stuffed-animal crane machine.

Simple Solution to make money

[Sabalon]

What I remember about Showbiz and Chuck E. Cheeses was the video games. I remember playing Mach3 quite a bit there. Now they are all simple distractions to give out tickets.

Simple way for someone to make money (well...nothing is simple with licensing involved) would be to open up a place that had good food (ie. decent Pizza - somethinc C.E.C is missing) and put in some retro arcade games. The 30-40 market would gobble it up (both the food and the pac-man pellets). Just don't make it more than a quarter to play and you'd be raking money in hand-over-fist.

No need for mortal kombat or the latest soul caliber clone - just some good old fashioned 8 bit games.

Right now would be a perfect time to break out the sit-down star wars game.

eBola?

[djward]

OK, the internet age has affected your brain. Ebola is a virus. eBola is a virtual wad of grass in a virtual ruminant's mouth.

bitch stole my idea

[evilmousse]

my latest journal entry

hell, he can have it. so long as SOMEone resurrects (face2face) social gaming.

Re:bitch stole my idea

[Anonymous Coward]

As AC status, IR say UR fucking suk U bitch U skanky piece O fukin shit. U are the craptastic POS that everyone here looks out for. I will look out for anything U have & fuk U up. Prick!!!!!!

------

-with a little extra programming, potentially even a tie-in with an id card, accounting of who, what game, how long, whatever else could easily be aggregated. should the store ever be a chain, i imagine it wouldn't be hard to defray much of the cost to the customer by selling that information to game companies. picture a nation-wide customer-feedback network.

Re:bitch stole my idea

[evilmousse]

as i'm hungry for criticism on this idea, i'll forget that you couldn't take the time to forge a coherent sentence.

there are times to shun research on you, and there are times to welcome it. frankly, you sound like modern version of a backwater farmer resisting the US census. not ALL info gathering is inherently evil. in this gaming circumstance, the most comparable thing would be neilson TV ratings. which people VOLUNTEER for, and some people want it but can't even become one.

having a library of all the latest games on big ol' HDTVs would be something i'd personally love to volunteer a record of my gaming habits for. i'd like to be counted ANYway so that my tastes might impact the face of gaming, instead of the industry presuming i want another shitty movie-game.

i haven't fleshed out what would possibly be aggregated as information to give to the industry as a part of my adult arcade idea, but as an active ACLU & EFF member, my goals would slant towards the anonymous. ala "sixty percent of the gamers that played over 10 hours played these games." or "15-18 year olds play sports games 40% of the time", and NOT "joe smith likes these games".

Actually...

[freeze128]

I prefer Showbiz Pizza Place, you insensitive clod.

Wait.... This is the poll, right?

Chuck E. Cheese

[imbezol]

Chuck E. Cheese's.. where a geek can be a geek!

Re:Chuck E. Cheese

[eBayDoug]

Chuck E. Cheese: A great place to pick up a horny single Mom.

There was never even a chuck e cheese 1.0

[scourfish]

most stores are still at chuck e cheese beta 0.5 or something in that ball park.

The company is completely paranoid about spending any extra money to buy up to date games. As a result, most stores are still working with skee ball lanes from the 80's (instead of skee ball 2's or the new ones with cool unnessecary moving parts that was revealed in vegas at the company's last management convention.) Granted, traditional skee ball lanes still hold about $3000-$4000 each in asset value, they were never designed to run as long as they have. The only slightly modern game in the one around my house is a Club Kart game powered by the Sega NAOMI 2 hardware and a Daytona USA machine (powered by the SEGA Model 3 hardware.) Everything else still uses Z80 and MC68HC11 level technology. The animatronic puppets in most stores are quite old, still being tracked by a VHS cassette player, one channel of the audio containing motion data with a MOS6502 or 68HC11 controlling the puppets. The system has a whole 32K ram. A few stores have DVD based systems. Prior to the VHS systems, the stores used a reel-to-reel setup for puppet motion data. Still, a chuck e cheese 0.6 or something like that (the upgrade would have included food that didn't suck) would've been nice.

arcade ^ awkward

[Anonymous Coward]

That's only where it begins.

[1] The available games will be nothing at all like what the "gamers" want to play that he wants to attract. A glorified Pong remix or a tricked-out version of Tekken aren't really engaging enough to be worth playing in a bar atmosphere.

[2] There are only so many available platforms, and they're all locked down by the providers. He'd have to secure "site licenses" from Sony, MS, Nintendo, and sundry PC games developers to make it a full spread. That will $$expensive$$, so of course the place would just jack up the prices for pretty much fucking everything to pay for it.

[3] Usually, people go to bars to relax with friends. This entails free-form conversation, drinking, etc. Those are leisure activities that are generally not conducive to structured or competitive activities, like playing a round of Halflife CS.

[4] If it has a big dump of games, and if it's not horribly overpriced (relative to playing online at home or on a LAN), and if everything else is great, then as parent notes, how would it not be just a greasy-assed grime-coated arcade with a wet bar ?

[4.1] If the games and the atmosphere don't devolve to something like, then why the go to an overpriced bar to do the playtime nerd things that obviously aren't compatible with such an environment ?

I think most gamers, aware or not, view the game-playing experience as something that's maybe a little sanctified. This guy is trying to exploit that by offering the one thing just about antithetical to what gamers want: to be commercialized by someone whose trying to con them into thinking that "gaming convenience" is what they really want.

It won't work.

Interesting but...

[MagicDude]

Screw that, why doesn't he make a bona fide arcade for adults. These days it's damn near impossible to find an arcade that isn't dedicated to kids games that involve collecting tickets to redeem for various bits of crap. The most adult orientated video arcades I've found are at movie theatres, but they're horrendously expensive. Plus, have some other games other than fighting games, and light gun games. I like Tekken and Time Crisis as well as anyone else, but I miss games like Alien vs. Predator or X-Men or Golden Axe.

Back to their roots?

[EvilStein]

Chuck E Cheese used to have a location in Concord, CA. It had probably 200 video games in the place, and a 3 story "cheese hole" that kids could climb through. It was great.. they had all the latest games and they kept the old school games around.

Teenagers ruined it. Loser kids with no money and no intention of playing the games would just gather there and 'hang out' and disturb gamers/etc. It got to where there were enough of them that business declined a bit, and then the "family friendly" movement (blah) came around in the mid 90's and the place was remodelled to be more "family friendly" - that usually meant only a few video games, and more lighting and an interior design that wouldn't let your little children out of your sight. (This particular location had 2 stories and was dimly lit)

Modern video games usually *suck* though. I just went to Dave & Busters in Milpitas, CA and they really haven't added any new games. Some of the games have been there since the place opened. I get bored really fast with "House of the Living Dead" games and the car race games. Unfortunately, D&B has *lots* of those. I guess I could play the Ski-Doo game or "American Trucker" - oh, wait. That's just another driving/race game.

Gameworx in Seattle would at least rotate games a little more often, and seeing "Redneck Rampage" on a big screen was classic.

AMEN!

[miro33]

Cecil, you're spot on. I don't understand how so many can be so negative about this. It's a linux based restaurant! A flexible platform in the public space. They'll be able to try new games and see what happens. the good ones will float to the top and the bad ones go to the bit bucket. This is so far from the expensive build out of Dave and Buster's.

I think it's brilliant!

[miro33]

I love the flexibility of this thing. The fact that the system is running linux and centralizes all the operations of the restaurant says they'll be able to change up the content as easily as a new download. Dave and Buster's, Chuck E. Cheese, etc all have big expensive games that get old and go out of date. The platform Bushnell is rolling out looks like it will have the flexibility to experiment with new games and tools at a very low cost. psyched to see it!

D&B's

[Databass]

There's aleady an adult arcade, it's called Dave and Buster's. Tons of games, and each one has a switch that turns on a light that summons a Beer Wench (er PC- Alcohol Attendant?) to you. Games and readily available alcohol- a good combination. If Nolan can improve on it, so much the better!

You're new here, aren't you?

[Anonymous Coward]

This happens to be the nyaa nyaa crowd, that when some technological breakthrough comes up or even before a certain movie hits theaters, or heaven forbid, somebody comes up with an IDEA, we're already dissing it.

THe same crowd that will be there saying, TOld you so! when the idea or movie doesn't pan out, but happens to be invisible when the idea makes a hit.

Just give me a table where I can play Greedo, so *I* can shoot first.

More power to this guy. Maybe the technology *IS* here, and his idea is something whose time has come.

Nothing to see here really...

[superpixel2000]

Same old song and dance, only this time with a server (ooh, ahh) involved.

As an entrepreneur I have nothing but respect for Mr. Bushnell. As a parent, I thank him! And I still play Pong on my Gameboy Color.

Being a hack myself, I can't respond to that.

However, I see nothing really revolutionary here. Not enough details to say for sure, but I've scoured uWink's site.

Looks like the same old crap you find everywhere... Someone at Nintendo must be feeling a great disturbance in the force right now.

Look, Nolan, you REALLY want to start a revolution?

1. Rentable robot fighting machines in a live closed-circuit TV arena
2. Webcammed remote control cars (or boats, whatever) with IR-fighting capabilities, again, you can watch the show from the bar or your table
3. Scenario-based LaserQuest style gaming, complete with an edited DVD souvenir video sent to you...

This is just a taste of what I've been playing around with for about 5 years.

Why not?

Exactly.

[Anonymous Coward]

The grapes were sour anyway.

Get Out Much?

[MacWiz]

What is funnier than the basic article is the wide range of baseless pessimism.

Let's see, adults playing video games, everyone has their own monitor, with liquor and food served right on top of them, must have beautiful women who also want to play the games, maybe a band playing in the background, too.

Not in the U.S.? It'll never work? The public won't buy into it?

It's called Las Vegas.

They Failed in the 80's

[robbway]

There were two restaurant chains in my area. One catered to families, Rivertowne, and the other to Adults, Gadgets. Rivertowne served beer with the pizza for the adults, and the arcade and game tables were mostly non-juvenile and non-redemption. Gadgets served full bar, didn't allow anyone under 21 to stay without a parent in the main club, had a separate arcade (open late for those over 18), and absolutely no redemption games. Adults don't like redemption games much. The downfall of both, I believe, was the repetitive animatronic show. That's definitely a kiddie thing. Gadgets had Warner Brothers characters as their show.

What makes an adult establishment work these days is sports broadcasts, full bar, espresso, and a decent menu. Adding UWink is a good idea (most bars have something similar), but it doesn't encourage an entire group to play a game. They're so small, it restricts wide-open play to a group of eight or so. It might work if done correctly, so I'm not going to discount Mr. Bushnell's efforts. I just wish there was at least one UWink site in my area to at least compare.

Bullwinkles was so much better!

[Anonymous Coward]

There was a Bullwinkles in Silicon Valley that was infinitely better than CEC, except for the pizza, which seems to suck regardless of what arcade/restaurant type of place you goto. A lot of great arcade games, a dark atmosphere, light bands(necklaces), a water show, and a mechanical puppet stage show featuring Bullwinkle and friends. Their pizza was nothing more than cardboard with some kind of fake cheese on top. I swear it was worse than the cheapest frozen pizza you can buy at a grocery store. Sadly, they went out of business sometime in the early-mid 90's. They also had a balloon vending machine, and some of the best ticket prizes around(auto-returning yo-yo's!)

Dude this is sweet

[Anonymous Coward]

they have these at some places already, they have jillians in nofolk. its sweet tons of video games bars and bigscreen tv's with pretty good food, its just like chuck-e-cheese only with better food, and nobody gets mad when you get really drunk and try to pick up chicks

You *really* don't want to know....

[billstewart]

Reading about it on the net isn't the same as experiencing it. (Run screaming..... ) I've been there with friends who were doing birthday parties for their kids - if you've got 8-10-year-olds, it's probably not a bad place to go, or at least no worse than other things intended for that age market. (Run screaming..... ) It's sort of like Disneyland, only mercifully smaller. The pizza wasn't _bad_, though in New Jersey it's impossible for a chain pizza place to compete with the quality of a random small restaurant run by actual Italians instead of animatronic imitations - I don't remember it being worse than Pizza Hut.

Nolan's Good Restaurant - Lion and Compass

[billstewart]

For about 20 years, Nolan has run a *good* restaurant, the Lion & Compass in Sunnyvale California. He built it back during the computer boom of the early-mid 80s (remember when Silicon Valley was about computers?) because there wasn't a lot of good food. It's a nice building, and serves mostly California yuppie food, doing a nice job in the fusion of Asian, Nouvelle, fresh ingredients, seafood kind of track. I don't go there very often, since Silicon Valley has since filled up with a really wide variety of excellent restaurants and adequate+inexpensive restaurants, and it's no longer a unique place filling a void the way it once was.

Back then it had the reputation of being a place where VCs and computer people would go to lunch or dinner, somewhat the way Buck's in Woodside was during the 90s. It's partly about the food, partly about the crowd.