Area 51 on North Main St closed.

grenache

I'll miss the place. Always handy to pop in for some late nite world of warcraft or just to check the emails after a few late nite scoops in the Well. The guys in there were pretty sound. Couldn't believe how dead it had gone after i came back to Cork in the autumn.

104494431

The let it slip. It was relatively cutting edge when it first opened but they just never really cleaned the place and never changed anything until it because a smelly, dark cave full of computers that looked as though some serial killer had ejaculated all over the hardware.

I think that it deserved to be out of business based on the decreased quality since it opened.

Seloth

Its closed :eek:

Aw man I planned to gother esoon,yeha I havent been there in eyars but it gave me some good memories.

Shame about Ray Gun last year as well

But yeah Area really did go down the toilet,its chairs and equipment were always broken and it smelled so bad!

Webwork house has a decent gaiming section however as far as I know.

suppafly

Friend in College was telling me about this today. Said they are flogging off all of the equipment. Said it was €300 for desktop computers

Red Hand

It was handy to have 24 hour internet access there. Didn't know it had closed. Shame.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

CptMackey

They had some quality gear for a while but then it went down the toilet.
Pity really Alien wear machines were class for gaming

Papa_Lazarou

I have the list of computers with prices and specs that they are selling if anyones interested. Pop me a pm and ill send it to you.

Sephiroth_dude

In the 5 yrs that they were open,did they ever update there hardware?graphics cards etc?

Outkast_IRE

A ram upgrade is the only one im aware of off hand.

Sephiroth_dude

Wow,I remember when they first opened,it was packed everyday and very hard to get a seat in there.

Seloth

two-three hour waiting list if not longer...and I did wait!

my so waisted yet found memories of my early teens

Papa_Lazarou

Yeah i use to wait for the hour or two sometimes aswell but to be fair at the time it was worth it but then the place progressed downhill. I was there the day it opened and on the last day it was open. I must say i did enjoy the days i had in there with some epic lan games with lads from school.

Outkast_IRE

To be honest many things contributed to their downfall ......
Better broadband speeds available to people at home.
They seemed to stop pushing for tournaments in various games.
They had game launches in there the first few years which was good.
In the last year or two You could really see the machines age showing
on some of the newer games .
At first they had great headphones which they replaced with cheap ones.

Seloth

A friend of mine told me last night that its still open but its hours have been cut even more,That its not closed yet but will be soon.

Papa_Lazarou

Seloth wrote: »

A friend of mine told me last night that its still open but its hours have been cut even more,That its not closed yet but will be soon.

Nah its denfinately closed. It syas it on the sign on their window and the fact that they have started selling everything in there.Also heres the list of stuff they have in there.

Hive 1 case and parts €50.00
Hive 2 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 3 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 4 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 5 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 6 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 7 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 8 €370.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 2.0GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 9 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 10 €50.00 case and parts
Hive 11 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 12 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 13 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 14 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 15 €50.00 case and parts
Hive 16 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 17 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 250GB Drive + 80GB drive
Hive 18 €50.00 case and parts
Hive 19 €50.00 case and parts
Hive 20 €50.00 case and parts
Hive 21 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 120GB
Hive 22 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 120GB
Hive 23 €300.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 120GB
Hive 24 €300.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 120GB
Hive 25 €350.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 1.5GB RAM 200GB X850
Hive 26 €50.00 case and parts
Hive 27 €380.00 AMD 64 3500+ 2.20GHz 2.0GB RAM 200GB hardDrive X850
Graphics
Hive 28 €425.00 AMD dual core 2.2Ghz 2BG RAM 9800GT Graphics card 250GB
hard drive

The price for the computers will also include a 19inch samsung monitor +
at least 5 games. We have left the computers as the were in the shop, we
have just removed the cafe
software from them. All the games that were on that computer will still
be there.
All the monitors are still under warranty and this is direct with
Samsung, most have at least another year or 2 left.
Regarding the Alienwares they are as is, all of them have had more
RAM,hard drives and fans put in over the years but as you all know
yourselves the computers are not under warranty
and may need work done to them over time. I'm sure most of you know the
computers very well at this stage any how.

MONITORS
Samsung 19inch monitors Number of them 14 930BF/940BF/931BF/model numbers
Samsung 206BW (22inch Widescreen) Number of them 2
Samsung 930BW (19widescreen) Number of them 2

Thee monitors are above are what come with the Alienware computers. Hive
28 includes one of the 22" in the price
All the other fulling working computers include the 19inch ones
The other 22" can be added to any other machine for another €49.00

DELL COMPUTERS
All the Internet Dell computers we are selling for €100.00 this is for
the computer and monitor. We have cleaned these machines back to a fresh
install all with the latest updates.

CHAIRS
The chairs range in price from €50 euro for the one still in the box not
used, the rest are from €20 to €5 depending on their condition.

OTHER STUFF
Flight joy stick (new) €10.00 No.1
Speed pads (new) €15.00 No. 3
bf2042 Brandnew copies €10.00 No.5
Digital Photo frame (new) €50.00

magicianz

I would recommend web workhouse as a replacement. While there used to be a good community in area it diminished over the years and you should find a good few familiar faces in web workhouse! 2.50 an hour or 4 hours for a fiver! All great machines for gaming and internet and great connection, friendly staff and nice guys if you get talking to them, always willing to help, drinks, chocolate and hot food available and printing etc! Ill just add im not affiliate with them just very very happy with the place :-D

Outkast_IRE

bit much price wise for hardware thats well used and out of date on most fronts .
Personally even the cases are ugly for home use .

Papa_Lazarou

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

bit much price wise for hardware thats well used and out of date on most fronts .
Personally even the cases are ugly for home use .

Yeah i agree with you on that. You could probably put something way better together for another €100-€200.

The computers they had for just internet would be handy for students alright though @ only €100 for the comp and screen.

Personaly i love the alienware cases but what was in them was just not worth the money they were asking for.

Emmet_F

Hi,
I was thinking of opening up something similar to this. Wanted to focus on consoles (X-boxes) as well as PC's. Also, wanted to ensure there was a seperate "party" room for private parties seperate from general members area. This way the hardcore guys won't be affected by the comings and goings of party crowds.There is a lot of these places that come an go and don't last too long.
Any advice about how to ensure this type of place would be successful (Long-term)?
I want to ensure good, quality service that ensures people keep coming back. I have factored in equipment replacement so no advice needed on keeping equipment updated. I am looking for advice on things that you see have gone wrong in places you have frequented in the past so I can avoid those things
Thanks.

Outkast_IRE

Emmet_F wrote: »

Hi,
I was thinking of opening up something similar to this. Wanted to focus on consoles (X-boxes) as well as PC's. Also, wanted to ensure there was a seperate "party" room for private parties seperate from general members area. This way the hardcore guys won't be affected by the comings and goings of party crowds.There is a lot of these places that come an go and don't last too long.
Any advice about how to ensure this type of place would be successful (Long-term)?
I want to ensure good, quality service that ensures people keep coming back. I have factored in equipment replacement so no advice needed on keeping equipment updated. I am looking for advice on things that you see have gone wrong in places you have frequented in the past so I can avoid those things
Thanks.

Well there is a market for it , its just you need to give people a reason why to come to your location rather than play online or whatever.
A private bookable room is a good idea . Competions can get people in the door and create a buzz about your place. Id say getting a good location at the right rental rate will be your biggest challenge . if you build it (and its good enough) they will come.
I know with licencsing laws the way they are in ireland its probably a no-no but there a few of the bigger gamer locations in england that serve alcohol.

Papa_Lazarou

Emmet_F wrote: »

Hi,
I was thinking of opening up something similar to this. Wanted to focus on consoles (X-boxes) as well as PC's. Also, wanted to ensure there was a seperate "party" room for private parties seperate from general members area. This way the hardcore guys won't be affected by the comings and goings of party crowds.There is a lot of these places that come an go and don't last too long.
Any advice about how to ensure this type of place would be successful (Long-term)?
I want to ensure good, quality service that ensures people keep coming back. I have factored in equipment replacement so no advice needed on keeping equipment updated. I am looking for advice on things that you see have gone wrong in places you have frequented in the past so I can avoid those things
Thanks.

What you need is somewhere that is comfortable to play,is worth the money you are paying and has friendly staff and reliable equipment. Theres no worse a turn off that having unhelpful staff and computers where the games dont work or the internet is slow.

Also you shoudl consider some sort of value member scheme where you pay a once off fee and get cheaper hours or discounts on certain days etc etc.One of the things that seperated Area when it opened first what the game launches and competitons that it had. It was something different and as many posters mentioned they had people actualy queing up in there for an hour or two for computers some days.Finaly keep the little things in good woking order(the mice,keyboards and headphones).

Good luck with it.