Opening A Ps3/Xbox 360 Networked Game Shop In Bkk

[frankfish]

hello

just after some thoughts from you guys on here who seem to know all thats worth knowing.

my wife has a shop in nonthaburi,its a very thai suburban area with only one internet shop there and thats always busy with kids playing online games etc, but ive had a thought of opening a video game shop with networked ps3 and xbox 360s all online with nice sized hd monitors and decent headsets so they can have mw3 or bf3 death matches and fifa 12 2 - 4 player games. ps3 would be better for online games as the psn is free but maybe the xbox can play local lan co op etc...im thinking 10 machines at 25 or 30 bhart per hour plus drinks etc ....could be a ok living in a relatively cheap area. a estimate of open 12 hours 10 consoles 10x30b/p/h =300x 12hr=3600x 31 days a month 111,600 ( obviously this is at max capacity so inflated figures but a good indication to work towards)

i have heard of the local boys in brown problems with the online games but im not sure about console gaming, Ive been around the local kids there only a few have ps2 and they all crowed round the one kids house playing the hell out of old games on crappy tvs..

im thinking its a good area but im sure there's pitfalls im not seeing, any input from you guys would be great.

[dave111223]

Sounds like a good idea.

A couple of notes:

- In order to play online you'd need unmodded consoles which means you'd have to use real discs...i can only imagine how quickly those dics would get scratched to hell with 20 random kids popping them in and out all day long. Unless of course you plan to have it setup to play only 1 game (kind of like the PS2 with PES at the mall), but is there really 1 P3S/Xbox game with enough following to have any entire cafe dedicated to that specific game?

Or you could have a person working at the shop who controls the disc swapping.

- A lot of the online games now have "Online pass" (for example BF3) where you only get 1 online user account; so everyone on the console would have to use the same users account. Not really a big problem but means no one would be able to keep any of their own online unlocked stuff, stats or progress etc...

- Consoles don't really have "LAN Play" and the closest servers for many games (again BF3 for example) seem to be in Japan. So in order for guy from console A to play against guy on console B they'd got to connect to Japan and back...compared to PC versions which often have LAN options for play (so can play in house with no lag)

[frankfish]

A in shop disc swapper would be the way to go and some kind of locked device to keep the machine away from sticky fingers.

Looking more into it on other forums it seems like Xbox 360 can be system linked together for LAN play and games like halo and cod work together in co op and zombies but I don't know about death match etc.. 360 banned consoles work on system link but not live ( which is a problem in Thailand anyway) and are very cheap in uk ( eBay gum tree etc) so maybe 4-8 linked machines playing selected co op games ( left 4 dead and dead island being 2 I belive would be great) and a few consoles with games of there choosing and then a few networked ps3s for world wide play. If players want to save progress they will have to create psn user names on my psn account account which they can keep just for them on certain consoles.

Ive still got a nagging feeling I'm missing something, cheers for the input keep it coming

[dave111223]

If players want to save progress they will have to create psn user names on my psn account account which they can keep just for them on certain consoles.

In games live BF3 (i think all new EA games) on PS3 you have to have both a PSN account, and an EA account, and you must have an "Online Pass" code that you must redeem in order to play online. Meaning in order to use your own account you'd have to purchase your own copy of the game.

In my opinion if you want to have a console cafe there's no point in making it an "online" console system, just do it a Thai way, get modded consoles and multiplayer sports games (ie FIFA, PES etc..) and pay off the coppers.

Let's say you open up a console cafe with LAN/Online first person shooter games, and then a standard PC cafe opens up next door with the same games.

I'd say that most people would choose to play on the PC; because playing FPS with a thumbstick is like playing basketball in a wheelchair (no matter how big the TV is).

Whereas if you had consoles with 4 controllers and FIFA/PES, people are definately going to choose to play at your shop if they want to play football games; as there is no comparable experience on the PC.

Edited January 2, 2012 by dave111223

[onlycw]

Better be Conservative and check out the competition! I know many internet cafes charging 10 Baht / hour. Do your marketing plan...

[onlycw]

Better be Conservative and check out the competition! I know many internet cafes charging 10 Baht / hour. Do your marketing plan...

[4evermaat]

i think your shop can double as both internet shop and gaming shop. if big enough. 32" lcs tvs would be 10-11,000 bteach. can you make one or two private rooms? what about couches/recliners/beach chairs. there is a good quality beach/deck recliner chair for appx 1300 bt. at private furniture shops. much sturdier than the beach chairs at tesco and recline decently. also look great indoors as well.

"2nd best time to plant a tree is today." Sent from TV android app.

Edited April 2, 2012 by 4evermaat

[ianwuk]

I had this idea years ago but have never had the capital to do it. I think it is a really good idea and I have in fact seen some game shops which are trying to do the very same thing and instead of PS2's have linked 360's and PS3's.

Back it up with a good coffee shop, book section and you will surely have a winner.