By Cian Ginty The outside is slightly deceptive, but the white paint and Halo’s Master Chief in the window gives an idea of what’s inside. As you step inside, a typical period exterior is replaced by a modern interior. The gaming centre starts with a retail unit followed by two floors of consoles, a mixture of Xboxes and 360s.
A glumly Thursday evening is replaced by an refuge of Xbox gaming, when we drop in unexpected, Community Manager, Jamie McCormick gave us the grand tour.
Continue reading "FEATURE: Xbox Live Gaming Centre, Dublin" »
The Xbox Live Gaming Centre previously reported by Games Toaster, is now up and running in Dublin. The rates are apparently 5 euro per hour off-peak, 6.50 euro after 6pm weekdays, and 7.50 euro on peak at weekends. According to the company, it's the first Xbox multiplayer games café in Europe.
“Just back from the opening of a pretty amazing new gaming venue in Dublin's South William Street. 40 Xboxes, most of them 360s, are arranged in the 'Xbox Live Gaming Centre' a few doors down from the Indian restaurant with that guy who always stands outside. The layout is plush with comfy armchairs, couches and other seats” notes yourtechstuff.com, the tech blog of Sunday Business Post journalist Adrian Weckler.
Meanwhile, the RTE Online gaming section quotes Tony Murray, MD of the centre, as saying, "We plan on offering this great service across Ireland with a number of centres opening throughout the country in the coming months".
UPDATE: Yesterday, Gamedevelopers.ie also published an article about the centre and its opening night. They note that the operator, Multiplay, was set up by Frank O’Grady (Screenclick.com) and Dylan Collins (DemonWare).
An Xbox-only retail unit and gaming café is to open in Dublin under the name Xbox Live Gaming Centre.
It follows the opening of Bartizan Game World, a gaming café in Midleton, Cork.
It is owned and to be run by ‘Multiplayer’, with partners Microsoft, Eircom, and Samsung. The gaming café is “strategically partnered and backed” by Irish financiers, according to irishdev.com.
The centre is running apparently semi-open testing on Friday, with the official opening on April 5. It was to open in March, we were told recently that there were a “Few delays”, and that they “are looking at 27 Mar now and have organized a press launch”, an email sent early this week has gone unanswered.
Their website at Xboxlivegamingcentre.com, is publicly viewable vie xboxlivegamingcentre.com/services.asp.
With a mixture of Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles, and a focus on multiplayer, according to the website, the “Centre is a revolutionary concept in multiplayer gaming. A super fast broadband enabled console environment with the best Audio Visual equipment”.
The outlet is set to also sell Xbox hardware, at least chart Xbox games, Samsung TVs, Eircom broadband, and all-in-one services - “There are various packages available along with our unique "Multiplayer Home" service where you can have one of our engineers call to your home and install the whole lot - Broadband, Xbox, LCD and Xbox Live a/c”. The retail section fronts the two-story gaming centre.
Located at 51 South William Street, between Grafton Street and Dublin Castle, the gaming café is expected to open to midnight on weekdays and after on weekends. It will be open for bookings, including corporate nights, and they “regularly cater for Microsoft and EA game launches”.
As part of Microsoft’s long strategy of promoting Xbox Live using celebrities, Nikki Hayes, an RTE radio and TV presenter, recently played at the café with winners of a competition on her radio show and others over Xbox Live. Previously the Dublin-based band the Thrills played over Live, these plans to expand the list of Irish celebrities using the Gaming Centre.
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