Alternatives to XGC for the tournaments - Ideas?

D4RK ONION

I accept your battle request as long as I get to fight someone who isn't capable of exploiting all of Honda's weaknesses (read: someone I can beat )

Cunny-Funt wrote: »

As for what ayjay was saying regarding setting up tourneys in other...less civilized areas out side dublin (:p)

Listen it's not our fault that we're uncivilised. I mean, hell I only JUST got broadband last month, thanks to freaking eircom... So if anything, I should be blaming you for that!

animaX

D4RK ONION wrote: »

I mean, hell I only JUST got broadband last month

You mean you people have gone beyond morse code?!

Sagat06

Hey lads I was just chatting to Pat from gamesnash (sponsored prizes @ lanparty I believe), they are planning on setting up a internet cafe/lounge/retail outlet in Dunboyne, it might be a viable location if the interest is there, details below -

Gamesnash.ie (Pat) wrote: »

we're hoping to have the first one in Dunboyne open early next week - just in time to close it again for Christmas - it may stretch to just after Xmas as a worst case scenarion but ideally we want it open beforehand.

As things stand there will be 10 consoles - 2 Wii, 6 Xbox and 2 PS3s ( mircosoft are providing a bit of support so we're weighting towards themselves ) The relatively smallish number is mainly due to what we're doing in terms of the layout with sofas and bean bags. We'd fit 20-30 consoles if we bunched them up like the the usual net cafes. Again what we're aiming for is a social gaming scenario encouraging groups to come play together in one place rather than the meeting up virtually online. The Wii consoles aren't harcode gaming but they are fun for groups and parties etc.

5 of these are in a second private room with the other 5 in the main retail area. They will be movable if people wanted to hire the room out and specify which consoles to play on. There will be tea / coffee, minerals snacks etc as you'd expect and we're looking at hosting small tournaments. We'd welcome any of the lads to come and have a bash and we could certainly organise or host a boardsie meetup if there was interest on the forum.

Dreddybajs

Sounds class (pity it's in Meath :pac:).

Jim

D4RK ONION wrote: »

Listen it's not our fault that we're uncivilised. I mean, hell I only JUST got broadband last month, thanks to freaking eircom... So if anything, I should be blaming you for that!

LOL

Kirby

Dreddybajs wrote: »

Sounds class (pity it's in Meath :pac:).

It's right on the border. This would be class as it's about 10 minutes from my house Bout 15 minutes from blanchardstown if anybody needs an idea of travel time.

animaX

Kirby wrote: »

It's right on the border. This would be class as it's about 10 minutes from my house Bout 15 minutes from blanchardstown if anybody needs an idea of travel time.

The question is, is there an easy way to get there?! Train?

D4RK ONION

Wow, that's really not cutting much off my journey

Bloody Clare!

Sagat06

animaX wrote: »

The question is, is there an easy way to get there?! Train?

Fairly regular bus route here €8ish return.

Jim

I'd be totally up for something there.

Dreddybajs

8 quid return for somewhere 15 minutes from blanch? Ripoff!

Retr0gamer

I'd have to drive and find my way there. Which means no pints afterwards

Sagat06

Dreddybajs wrote: »

8 quid return for somewhere 15 minutes from blanch? Ripoff!

I suppose if your travelling from blanch it is! If we do set something up out there I'd be driving so I'd pick up a few heads if anyone wanted!

bush

Maybe they will be running their own tournaments like xgc originally did, you would only have to pay the tournament entry fee then.

DarkTalant

Maybe you should mention to them that we might hold a few events there and see if they can give us any special offers or anything?

Jim

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'd have to drive and find my way there. Which means no pints afterwards

Retro is the designated driver so!

Azza

I'm not too bothered by the heat in the XGC, to be honest, only the laggy TV's annoy me, but the mere possibility of getting another venue might be the leverage we need for them to swap a few TV's around.

Jim

Azza wrote: »

I'm not too bothered by the heat in the XGC, to be honest, only the laggy TV's annoy me, but the mere possibility of getting another venue might be the leverage we need for them to swap a few TV's around.

As said before Azza I'm pretty sure the lag is only on 1 or 2 of the TV's in there. Easily avoidable.

bush

I doubt they will change those tvs around, im thinking theres some kind of deal going on with sony.

ayjayirl

animaX wrote: »

The question is, is there an easy way to get there?! Train?

The train goes to Maynooth (fron connolly) and those of us (myself and doom anyway) in the area would be willing to help with transport from Maynooth to Dunboyne.

I also think that building up ties with the Games Societies in the universities would be a good way to go aswell. I know that they have the ability to book room, organise venues for conferences etc. It might be worth looking at

Kirby

Regarding transport to dunboyne, The number 70 bus goes there. You can get a 70 from town. the 270 also goes from the blanchardstown centre to dunboyne. both are very cheap. The place in question is like a 1 minute walk from the bus stop as far as I know.

Just thought i'd put that out there.

A-Trak

Kirby wrote: »

Regarding transport to dunboyne, The number 70 bus goes there. You can get a 70 from town.

70 Bus leaves town and gets to Dunboyne in just over an hour, thats not too bad at all. (Timetable here)

I'd be all for the idea - Gamesnash may expand there business based on how this one does, so I'd be happy to bus it out to the shticks for a tourney and a change from the XGC would be good.

Also Dunboyne has a pub called the Hatchet Inn. Now thats a pub worth sampling a pint in boyo.

Kirby

A-Trak wrote: »

70 Bus leaves town and gets to Dunboyne in just over an hour, thats not too bad at all. (Timetable here)

I'd be all for the idea - Gamesnash may expand there business based on how this one does, so I'd be happy to bus it out to the shticks for a tourney and a change from the XGC would be good.

Also Dunboyne has a pub called the Hatchet Inn. Now thats a pub worth sampling a pint in boyo.

It's usually alot quicker than that too. Only when there is heavy traffic, like at around six on weekdays. On there wouldnt be much on saturday morning compared to half the country driving home.

Retr0gamer

Doesn't seem that hard for me to get to, down the M1 then take a turn off on the M50. Still, I like my pints

Wonder if they will have Wiis for when Tatsunoku comes out.

Jim

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Doesn't seem that hard for me to get to, down the M1 then take a turn off on the M50. Still, I like my pints

Wonder if they will have Wiis for when Tatsunoku comes out.

Get the bus!

Sagat06

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Wonder if they will have Wiis for when Tatsunoku comes out.

Good point!

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

Hi lads - came across this thread when searching for all internet and boards.ie mentions of Gamesnash. Bit sad but what can I say

Anyway just to feedback on some of the comments mentioned in the thread already and give you an idea of where we're coming from.

Gamesnash Live is a new concept we are trialing in Dunboyne but we are already looking towards sites elsewhere in Dublin and beyond so assuming all goes well with this in the future you could have a choice of locations across the country.

That said what we are doing is trying something a fair bit different than the XGC and while we would be delighted to do something with you we may or may not suit each other. The XGC model is I suppose akin to a pile em high and sell em cheap supermarket. It's set up to house a lot of people at the same time in what I would class as reasonably cramped conditions. But these conditions means they can run very very cheaply - to be honest I'm not surprised that people are questioning if they are viable or not if they can afford to or are being forced to charge out consoles for at times €1.00 per hour. If you do the maths on it they would need to be selling an awful lot of other products to break even, if their revenue from console / pc hire would be a max of €50 per hour.

What we envisage the hire aspect of Gamesnash Live as is more of a social venue, a place to go and play games with your mates in comfortable surroundings. As I mentioned in the PM to Sagat earlier this means we have a lot smaller capacity but it would also mean to be up front and honest with you that we could never match those rates. People go to places like leisureplex and spend €2.00 on a 1 minute game ! and we're trying to land somewhere in the middle. In essence we're looking to create a place to go to as a general leisure activity, have your kids birthday party in as opposed to a venue like XGC which is set up for hardcore gamers at a very cheap price. We will have a couple of PC's available for internet access but they will not be gaming spec machines as a) it's not the market we are really aiming at and b) the infrastructure in terms of net access for a large scale online gaming centre is not available in Dunboyne at the moment.

We're going to be retailing a selection of games from the site as well as offering it as a collection point for online orders (there is not enough space to hold a full catalogue there), doing console repairs, and of course offering the obligatory drinks bars and snacks etc. Our opening hours will also be more in line with a normal retail outlet which may not suit you guys who I'm sure are happy to pull all nighters .

So I suppose they are the negatives as such for you - on the positive side, if we are generating enough revenue from game sales etc within the site to pay for itself we would be quite happy to match the price levels you may be used to with the XGC. In fact as we are going to be launching with no reputation we'd be very agreeable to have you guys over very cheaply or even for free to try things out and hopefully get the word spread about it Our venue(s) will be a far more comfortable experience with less sweat and more ventilation ! It would be an ideal venue for smaller tournaments especially with the private room available and above all you have us friendly folks to deal with too

As some of the guys have said already Dunboyne isn't that far out from Dublin - it's just up the road from Blanchardstown and has a good bus service from the city centre and directly from the Blanchardstown centre itself. There is also a railway line being built at the moment although that is a little while away from completion. We are more than likely at this stage going to hold off until just after Christmas to open but when we do we could perhaps arrange for a congregation from here to pay a visit and see how we go from there

Cunny-Funt

You guys wouldnt happen to ever think of setting up some arcade cabs would yea?



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>_>










I'll get my coat.


Seriously though thanks for posting. You say small tourney, what numbers you thinking of when you say small? Interestingly enough I bought my copy of SF4 from you guys got it a day early too

D4RK ONION

I like the part about setting up in places that aren't near the pale. That'd be pretty cool. Thanks for posting here, it sounds like a pretty sweet set up ye have there.

Tell me, will there be Rock Band instruments?
Will ye be holding your own tournies?

Retr0gamer

Jim wrote: »

Get the bus!

I have to get a train into town as well Balbriggan is a **** hole to live it!