Your General Thoughts on Lan Gaming Cafe/Shop

Wellington · 14-09-2007, 21:43

First off, I know I'm new to the forums so I'd just like to say I didn't join up to advertise this, it just happens that Dymetrie decided to get me to sign up the other day and so here I am.

Secondly I know many of you are into gaming and social events so in many ways this makes you my target audiance...

So down to business then.. I am currently looking at purchasing a small Internet Cafe / Lan Gaming centre / DVD Rental store, at current the business is just about ticking over/ breaking even so I am looking to improve the business by changeing the layout of the store, increase the cafe area and get new gaming PCs, general redecoration etc etc.

The current customer base is made of young kids aged between 12 and 16 playing games and some adults. Occasionaly a couple of people buy drinks.... DVD rentals is another thing I'll cover later maybe.

What I would like to know is what would it take to get you interested enougth to come in a spend a little cash playing games or surfing the internet....

all your thoughts are welcome....

divine · 14-09-2007, 21:46

Personally, it would need to offer a better PC than my own one, a better connection and a huge choice of games.

All of which are thoroughly un-conducive to you turning profit

Wellington · 14-09-2007, 21:50

Well we would be providing Steam, at current the connection is 2mbs this I may consider upgrading if there is high latency on servers.... As for the Machines, well the ten new gaming machines will have 8800GTX's and Core2 Q6600's with 4gig of RAM and vista.... sound high spec enougth? The intention is to pump enougth of the profit back into the machines to ensure they remain high spec....

Oh just thought I shall say thank you to you all for reading and responding in advance. Thank you!

After_8 · 15-09-2007, 16:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wellington

As for the Machines, well the ten new gaming machines will have 8800GTX's and Core2 Q6600's with 4gig of RAM and vista.... sound high spec enougth?

I wouldn't bother with 4G at the moment. A 32-bit operating system can only see a total of 4G of RAM including the graphics card RAM, which means it's only going to be able to use about 3G of your system RAM - stick to 2G system RAM for now. And although you could use 64-bit Vista, that's just asking for trouble

I live in Newcastle, so it'd take a lot of effort to get me to go to your LAN café, but in theory the problem is that it's cheaper for me to play games at home, even though the social aspect is nice. Admittedly, your target audience probably can't afford PCs as good as most people on here can, so that may work in your favour. I'd say that it's basically gonna be your pricing that'll make or break you.

Wellington · 15-09-2007, 16:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by After_8

I wouldn't bother with 4G at the moment. A 32-bit operating system can only see a total of 4G of RAM including the graphics card RAM, which means it's only going to be able to use about 3G of your system RAM - stick to 2G system RAM for now. And although you could use 64-bit Vista, that's just asking for trouble

So don't use windows vista 64 then? Got to admit I'm not too upto speed with Vista at the moment. Maybe I'll stick with 2g and XP for awhile and have some Vista discs sitting by for when it's up and running good.....

After_8 · 15-09-2007, 16:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wellington

So don't use windows vista 64 then? Got to admit I'm not too upto speed with Vista at the moment. Maybe I'll stick with 2g and XP for awhile and have some Vista discs sitting by for when it's up and running good.....

Main problems with Vista 64 are that:
a) A lot of hardware manufacturers are beinv lazy with getting 64-bit drivers out for it, forcing you to use 32-bit drivers.
b) There're very few games that natively support 64-bit mode, forcing 'em to run in 32-bit emulation mode.

Both of these added together basically result in lower performance than just using 32-bit Vista.

These issues will sort themselves out in time, but I think we've got quite a wait on our hands.

Zirax · 14-09-2007, 21:56

Surfing the internet is generally about 50p an hour. Maybe offer burning capbailities as well. Laser printer at 5p a page? When I went lan gaming it was when all my mates were nearby. Go for midrange hardware but you will have to come up with some kind of interface to prevent kids coming in and screwing it up for you.

Thats something, have each machine ghosted so incase the buggers do change something, its ghosted back to a working machine. I would say to think strongly before committing to this as with the advent of MMO there is less desire for the lan cafes.

Wellington · 14-09-2007, 21:59

I've got software which protects the machine, basically every time it reboots it's as if it's a fresh install with all the latest patches and games installed.
Also have software for controlling which PC's people can be looged into and what they can use.

Probably should mention the Shop is in London heading out to Essex.... quite close to where Dym lives actually......

divine · 14-09-2007, 22:09

Hmmm... they sound overspecced to be honest.

8800GTX, C2D of some kind, 2GB RAM should be fine really.

I'd guess the connection would need to be a lot quicker. I get massively annoyed with 1Mb. I can imagine 2Mb shared with everyone else in a cafe being annoying

Burble · 14-09-2007, 22:21

2Mbit internet connection between 10 machines? I guess we're talking 2Mbit ADSL here? If so you won't have enough upstream bandwidth to let 10 clients game.

14-09-2007, 21:43	#1
Wellington Long Island Iced Tea Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Cranham, Upminster, Essex Posts: 293	Your General Thoughts on Lan Gaming Cafe/Shop First off, I know I'm new to the forums so I'd just like to say I didn't join up to advertise this, it just happens that Dymetrie decided to get me to sign up the other day and so here I am. Secondly I know many of you are into gaming and social events so in many ways this makes you my target audiance... So down to business then.. I am currently looking at purchasing a small Internet Cafe / Lan Gaming centre / DVD Rental store, at current the business is just about ticking over/ breaking even so I am looking to improve the business by changeing the layout of the store, increase the cafe area and get new gaming PCs, general redecoration etc etc. The current customer base is made of young kids aged between 12 and 16 playing games and some adults. Occasionaly a couple of people buy drinks.... DVD rentals is another thing I'll cover later maybe. What I would like to know is what would it take to get you interested enougth to come in a spend a little cash playing games or surfing the internet.... all your thoughts are welcome.... __________________

14-09-2007, 21:46	#2
divine Moonshine Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Southampton Posts: 3,201	Personally, it would need to offer a better PC than my own one, a better connection and a huge choice of games. All of which are thoroughly un-conducive to you turning profit __________________

14-09-2007, 21:50	#3
Wellington Long Island Iced Tea Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Cranham, Upminster, Essex Posts: 293	Well we would be providing Steam, at current the connection is 2mbs this I may consider upgrading if there is high latency on servers.... As for the Machines, well the ten new gaming machines will have 8800GTX's and Core2 Q6600's with 4gig of RAM and vista.... sound high spec enougth? The intention is to pump enougth of the profit back into the machines to ensure they remain high spec.... Oh just thought I shall say thank you to you all for reading and responding in advance. Thank you! __________________

14-09-2007, 21:59	#8
Wellington Long Island Iced Tea Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Cranham, Upminster, Essex Posts: 293	I've got software which protects the machine, basically every time it reboots it's as if it's a fresh install with all the latest patches and games installed. Also have software for controlling which PC's people can be looged into and what they can use. Probably should mention the Shop is in London heading out to Essex.... quite close to where Dym lives actually...... __________________

14-09-2007, 22:09	#9
divine Moonshine Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Southampton Posts: 3,201	Hmmm... they sound overspecced to be honest. 8800GTX, C2D of some kind, 2GB RAM should be fine really. I'd guess the connection would need to be a lot quicker. I get massively annoyed with 1Mb. I can imagine 2Mb shared with everyone else in a cafe being annoying __________________

14-09-2007, 21:56	#7
Zirax Goes up to 11! Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 4,577	Surfing the internet is generally about 50p an hour. Maybe offer burning capbailities as well. Laser printer at 5p a page? When I went lan gaming it was when all my mates were nearby. Go for midrange hardware but you will have to come up with some kind of interface to prevent kids coming in and screwing it up for you. Thats something, have each machine ghosted so incase the buggers do change something, its ghosted back to a working machine. I would say to think strongly before committing to this as with the advent of MMO there is less desire for the lan cafes.

14-09-2007, 22:21	#10
Burble Rocket Fuel Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 7,826	2Mbit internet connection between 10 machines? I guess we're talking 2Mbit ADSL here? If so you won't have enough upstream bandwidth to let 10 clients game.