What happened to the gaming cafes?

[ASTRO Warblade]

So I'll be dating myself a little bit here, but what ever happened to those gaming cafes or LAN centers? They used to be more prominate in the PC gaming world, but now I hardly see any around. I'm thinking it has to do partially with gaming companies requiring a purchase for each machine (though these places used to be able to buy in bulk). That and i think the old big bonus off these cafes was that it pit everyone in the room on the same hardware and also gave everyone a high speed or LAN connection to each other. Wiu he rise of high speed Internet people could just game a home.

I guess I just miss these as they were a place you could go together with your friends to game. With he guys I play online with, we try to get together and throw a xbox LAN party every few months, but it always turns into the hassel of people bringing their monitors and provind enough power for everyone. I'm starting to wonder if soething like xbox or ps3 gaming centers would do well. Imagine if thy had astro mixampa built in to the systems seating too. It would probably use the own headset and just a PC mic over the A4s though for cost purposes.

[Izzy]

ya, where i live there is a local gaming store that has monitors and xbox360's and they always did game nights every friday night but they stopped doing gamenights because they didnt have enough room anymore, it would be kool if astro did somethin like that. a store to play at and use astros at and then buy them if you like them, kinda have like a mainstage setup and then sell other stuff like the mission bags and accessories and all that. but yeah... gaming centers were fun

[AllTimeMitch]

So I'll be dating myself a little bit here, but what ever happened to those gaming cafes or LAN centers? They used to be more prominate in the PC gaming world, but now I hardly see any around. I'm thinking it has to do partially with gaming companies requiring a purchase for each machine (though these places used to be able to buy in bulk). That and i think the old big bonus off these cafes was that it pit everyone in the room on the same hardware and also gave everyone a high speed or LAN connection to each other. Wiu he rise of high speed Internet people could just game a home.

I guess I just miss these as they were a place you could go together with your friends to game. With he guys I play online with, we try to get together and throw a xbox LAN party every few months, but it always turns into the hassel of people bringing their monitors and provind enough power for everyone. I'm starting to wonder if soething like xbox or ps3 gaming centers would do well. Imagine if thy had astro mixampa built in to the systems seating too. It would probably use the own headset and just a PC mic over the A4s though for cost purposes.

There used to be a couple in England although they all shut down as most people do not realise that Xbox Live isn't as good as a LAN Setup.

Still if they ever came back they could maybe contact Astro to get the MLG MixAMP Docks. Then it would be a good LAN Setup.

[yeti]

there is a lan center by my house, they have like 14 tvs with 360's and a few wii's plus a ton of pc's. They have tournaments and stuff like that there. Its pretty cool to have a place like that around.

[R 2the EXEL]

I dont know ive been to one but havent seen any in awhile.

[ninjikiran]

Broadband Internet.

When me and my buddies were on 56k (before high speed internet was affordable and wide spread) we used to go to LAN centers in queens. It was fun beating up koreans in their own games since most of the people were Korean. They were some fun times, instant noodles, headphones, and sugary sodas and a few hours of gaming before going back home to our 56k's which worked just well for star craft.

[InsaneDC]

God good times. I wish they had places like that up where I live still. The owner of the local LAN center moved down to Virgina or something, sold all of the store's equipment before he left. It was a sad day.

I still say LAN is better, not just because of the lag issue, but also because what's better then slapping your friend in real life when he kills you in a game? Like I said, good times.

[Alomax]

Oh, there are plenty of LAN centers around still. I run one in Phoenix :)

http://www.ilanca.org/lanmap/browse?record=1
http://www.lanspeedgames.com

[Gremlin]

I know what you mean, I only have one here where I live. I've never been there, but that's because I own my own XBox, and not too many people love playing games as much as I do.

[DBakerr]

Oh man.. you guys are reminding me of the good ol' days for myself. Our LAN center that had Original Xbox's / PC's shut down years back now.. I really miss playing Counterstrike with like 16 people inside and same with having 16 Player Halo CE games.. that was the best.. Blood Gulch / Chill Out.. miss those days so much :( They used to have these 24 hour "all nighters" if that's what you'd consider it, or else a marathon I guess you could say. Tournaments throughout... man.. if only it was back then again..

Oh my.. Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield was soo fun too...

[androidd]

bay area lans:
berekely
hayward
sunnyvale 2x

[MrGlasket]

I was just searching for LAN centers the other day in the Raleigh area. I think I found one, but it looked pretty derelict. They had some 360 and some TVs set up and judging by their rates, I can see why high-speed internet has pretty much replaced them. When I played CS 1.6, I was just a young 'un, but I can only imagine how much fun a LAN party would be.

[ASTRO Warblade]

bay area lans:
berekely
hayward
sunnyvale 2x
Are these gaming centers? Or LANs that people run? I'd love some more info if ya have it.

[Mewie]

bay area lans:
berekely
hayward
sunnyvale 2x

I would love to hear more information about this as well!

BUMP!

Hmm... sounds like a good business to start up with Warblade... we can establish our own gaming cafe where we're known for our wives' baked goods, refreshments, etc.... and then have a designated gaming area.

OR (another brainstorming idea)

What if Astro Gaming started up Apple-like retail stores WITH their Astro Gaming headsets on display? People would buy the headsets in these retail stores like people buy Macs at Apple. lol I can see that being a very COOL way to promote and sell Astro Gaming products. It would, without a doubt, bring the hardcore gamers together and build up a tight-knit community of loyal fans.

Dang, what am I doing working at in the professional service world when I should get into the gaming industry? lol