Cinema chain takes gaming to the next level

[uncle_anaesthesia]

A Scottish cinema has become one of the first in the UK to allow the public to play video games on the big screen. Ive never actually thought of it or that it would be possible (dunno why?) but it seems so, as a the cinema offers groups a chance to play various games at a group price of 150 pounds. Seems to be xbox and playstation only but sound great fun. I hope this does catch on worldwide, I wouldnt mind hittin capalaba cinemax for some gaming fun with beer. So what game would you choose if you have the opportunity? The article mentions fifa football and street fighter being popular. Me as ever would spend an hour playing space marine given the chance http://forums.relicnews.com/images/smilies/Nyah.gif

[Ramrod]

I remember playing Gears 2 on a cinema screen when my friend worked there, but it was not open to the public, it was just a couple of employees and their friends. Fun, yeah, but I wouldn't pay anywhere near £150 (per hour?) for the experience. A link to the article would help, by the way.

[OhJohnNo]

I hope it lets you play Halo splitscreen. That would be amazing.

[Shraa Elohim]

My mate got this as his birthday present, at our local cinema. The idea sounded awesome but I couldn't help wonder what the resolution would be like - in my experience, increasing screen size simply from a laptop to a mid-sized TV makes things disorientingly blurry.

[uncle_anaesthesia]

strange cant put in link?
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/ed...6908-23888814/

[LoCo]

Eh. Not interested. If it 'catches on' it will likely only be as popular as going to an amusement park. Except a lot more expensive and for a lot less time.

I foresee people going to this once, enjoying it, and never going again.

150 / 2 = 75 per person for two player games. For one hour.

150 / 4 = 37.50 per person for 4 player games. For one hour.

That's like paying for 2 and a half movies that all together only last one hour. Yay, hoohoo, fun!

Might as well get get all your friends together, buy a projector, paint a wall white and then be able to do that all day any day any time for as long as you want for the total cost of 3-4 one hour sessions.

Oddly enough... I've had that experience, and it was free.

[RexOmniaLupus]

Decent idea, but the pricing on this is really awkward. Obviously to let you take over one of their theaters for an hour the cinema has to charge an amount that will make them a similar amount of money to ticket sales for a movie they could have shown, so it's going to be pretty steep hourly rate for a small party of 1-4 persons to do. But if you have more people to make it a better per-person price, you're limited by the games generally only supporting 1-4 players on the console at once, so only a few play while the others watch at any given time. So for everyone to have fun you'd have to have a game that is entertaining to watch as well as play, or have some other entertainment set up in the theater to occupy people waiting to play on the big screen.

[Shoota Fodder]

From experience Fifa is almost as fun to watch as football itself if you're into that sort of thing. It's a regular thing for a group of four or five of us to play off against each other in pairs while the others watch. But the pricing is still far to steep for casual use. I could see it being used as a birthday gift for a friend or something, but that's about it.

[n0z3k1ll3r]

If it does catch on the price probably won't stay this high.

[LoCo]

What makes you think that the price will drop?

The cinema will still need to make enough money to cover their expenses.

How much money do you suppose they make off a two and a half hour movie (including credit run, forthcoming attractions and cleanup after)?

Would it even come close to two and a half sessions of people playing games?

How much could the price reasonably drop?

[RexOmniaLupus]

Yeah, I don't really see the price dropping much. You're really paying to rent out the theater space for the amount of time you want to game. I wouldn't be surprised if the cost to rent a theater for a private movie showing or other purposes is similar.

[Harmanoff]

Couldn't they use this to fill up the empty hours after regular closing time? Gamers are often nocturnal after all...

[edit] To clarify, what i mean is after the big audiences have gone home you could pontetially operate the cinema with a skeleton crew since you will only bring in a few people for the gaming anyway. I'm thinking one operator and one host/security. That might bring the price down AND add some extra revenue without eating into the regular shows.

[Coey]

Goldeneye 4 player split screen.

[n0z3k1ll3r]

How much money do you suppose they make off a two and a half hour movie (including credit run, forthcoming attractions and cleanup after)?

A lot less than they used to. Cinema's kind of dying; people would much rather watch a downloaded movie than spend the money to see it on the big screen. Cinemas in my city have been shutting down left right and centre; that kind of suggests the demands just not there. If they've got an alternate service to provide, why the hell not do so?

[Trinity]

Nose, I don't think the stats support your view: http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/?vie...asedate&p=.htm

[n0z3k1ll3r]

*shrug* maybe it's a regional thing. We had like 7 cinemas in the CBD for ages, now we've got one. My local, the Picadilly, is on its way out too.