Velocity Gaming set to open!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Velocity Gaming (previously named Twilight Gaming) is slated for a tentative 1st December opening.

Premises to be in;

Enchanted Worlds
Shop 5, Anthony Plaza
38 Smith St Mall
Darwin

Ten gaming systems are being procured and will be setup 5 to a room on a gigbit LAN with Internet access. The rooms are beside each other but seperated by a wall, ideal for 5 player tournaments.

Go and have a look for yourself if you are in town. Be nice to Allan! (And buy some 40K stuff too! It's 15% off in there!)

There is full after hours access via the secret entrance in the alley between Smith St and Cavenagh St, but don't tell anyone because it is a secret entrance known only to gamers...

Tentative system specs are;

Intel 3.0 GHz Dual Core CPU System
Intel Pentium D 830 3.0GHz Dual-Core (800MHz FSB 2x 1mb cache) Processor LGA775 w/Intel Cooler

Gigabyte GA-8I915PDG LGA775 i915G board, DDR/DDRII, 2x PCI-x16 (up to 4 displays), 3x PCI, SATA, audio, GigaLAN, Firewire

Corsair 512MB 240-pin DDR2 XMS2-5400 RAM with heat spreader (x2)

CF-7099 Black/Silver MicroATX case with 350w PSU, 2x CD-ROMS, side vent, front IO

Sparkle GeForce 6600 256MB Video card, PCI-x16, VGA & DVI, video out

Maxtor 200GB DiamondMax 10 ATA133 IDE Hard drive, 7200RPM, 8mb cache

AOpen 16xDVD/48x CD ROM IDE drive, w/DVD software, Beige & Black faceplates

Black full-size LED-lit USB & PS/2 Keyboard, black keys

Logitech MX 518 Gaming-Grade 1600dpi Optical Mouse, USB & PS/2 w/ wheel

Logitech USB Stereo Headset 350 w/boom mike, noise-cancellation, in-line audio controls, connects via USB

Philips 109B65 Black 19" Monitor (up to 1920x1400 @ 64Hz, recommended 1600x1200 @75Hz, 0.25dpi)

64bit Windows OS

These specs are not firm and discussion will be entered into as allowed by availability, price and compatibility, although quotes have already gone out.

(It is likely that the monitors will actually be 4ms 19" Benqs at this stage).

Tentative pricing will be $5.00 an hour and a selection of popular and new release games will be installed ready for use. Longer booked sessions will attract discounts. We are talking about membership cards which get you an hour free for any non sequential paid gaming of ten hours as well.

There will be tournaments and other competitions. Discussion will be entered into.

Discussion will be entered into as far as games available.

Likely first purchases will include; Quake IV, Halflife II and Battlefield II.

Games will be installed as dictated by demand and discussion so speak up and gather support for your favourite game!

Please feel free to comment and discuss. YOU are who we want to please!

(You should see the chairs we are getting... 4 adjustment office armchairs... yeah baby!)

VELOCITY's FIRST COMPETITION NOW OPEN!
Once the computers and network are established, we will require a small number of gamers to come and playtest the machines and network. This will of course be unpaid testing, but you will get to game first and for free for up to a day to ensure quality of systems and setup.

If you wish to be one of these playtesters, email me your personal details, a brief statement of your gaming experience, favourite games and your technical expertise, if any.

In addition, you must write a brief review of any game you have played of no more than two paragraphs.

Shortlisted applicants will be drawn at random. Time of playtest yet to be determined so your availability will be a factor.

Applications close 15th November so get writing!

email Applications to; [email]battlinard@hotmail.com[/email]

Battlinard
"The Sigless Gaming Lord"

[Image: http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/466/velocitylogo128kl.png]

good job

but go somewhere else to play games on a system which isnt set up for me, no beer, have to drive there!! nar good luck buddy

few more systems. ie 15-20 .. Ba gone it I think we have a Lan Cafe ..

AKA - NT WCG Qualifier 2006. And a CPL.au Venue as well.

Save your money as Darwin gamers have their own HOME systems as they like them.

We will not drive and play for this type of operation.

not all of them do.

Quote from Lataf:
Save your money as Darwin gamers have their own HOME systems as they like them.

We will not drive and play for this type of operation.

the majority right there.

Sorry Lataf, but dont judge everybody .. Say YOU will not drive there, as wont clackers, sure there is plenty of others that will.

I would.

For a lan that you dont need to carry anything to participate in?

c'mon guys. Its not like we have cable internet connections in the heart of Sydney.

I like your dedication and drive for the idea, I hope it will work out well for you. I know there are a few places around Hobart that have the same sort of setup, I think one is about double in size, but they seem to do well, although you do have to keep in mind we have like twice your population :p

I think you'll probably find a lot of your younger people will end up going if you can spread the word well enough. Given some people will pay to play as they dont have the net or enough time (ie: during school :p) to play..

I'd certainly go for a try if I were there, have a bit of faith guys, not everyone is on GU or knows about us or even wants to be for that matter..

Hell Id go there for the social side of things in between DGA. Except Im in Geelong :p

Those system specs seem a bit shonky for gaming rigs... You might find yourself having more money to spend on graphics (ie. 6800GT) if you cut back on the dual core processors (only q4 makes full use of multi-threading)... A64's are nicely priced and good bang for buck... And the screens don't have to be uber awesome either... Essentially its the fact that you have rigs that can game very decently and are lanned together with internet access that is the selling point for your target audience...

Id give it a go, if nothing else but to use the SECRET entrance ;)

I'll be there fo shizzle :D

Btw leonami is right. Just go single core and top of the range and then upgrade the cards. Also more ram when you can afford it :)

Also here is a great idea that made alot of money at an internet cafe I use to go to (Although this was on Diablo 1) :D Now i'm not sure if this is legal, so check up on it first, but maybe investing in an MMORPG like Guild Wars (one where there isn't a huge monthly fee) that way you get a regular customer base of those who want to keep coming back in to level their characters. It use to work on me anyways, i'd keep going back to play online with D1.

And for some cheap fun you should invest in some old school games such as Starcraft (only what "0 nowadays).

If you get WoW or Guild Wars expect to develop a regular customer base quickly... Most of the down south LAN cafes have WoW installed to my knowledge and it requires some sort of payment on the players behalf to have an account there anyways... If you do Guild Wars there's no charges so you might get more people...

And because I may have helped you build a customer base, i'll expect that check in the mail soon. $500 should do it :p

Until you get things going the way you want, stick with the ones that don't incur a monthly fee. Actually instead of you paying the monthly fee you could stock and sell game time cards... but then only one person can use that machine... :\ Just stick to the non subscribable ones till you work out a good system.

Have you thought about including other activities? Things such as Xbox lans, movie nights on a projector, all night lans?

Btw what are your business hours going to be?

ill be there to test em out if ya still need people
im free basicly for teh next 2-3 weeks anyhow :)

I'm available aswell. Any day, time or place :D

I'm getting really excited about this place lol. Now I don't have to wait months for lans to pop up, just grab a group of people and head down. Would be awesome fun playing WoW with a whole group of people in the same room or even just playing anygame online with 4 other people, imagine all the screen cheating on teh internet lol

Quote from Eater_Of_Souls:
Id give it a go, if nothing else but to use the SECRET entrance ;)

Please don't type so loud. We don't want everyone to know about it...

We know that it won't be an attractive proposition to everyone who wants to game. I know only too well the enjoyment and comfort of your own system set up perfectly the way you like it, in a room where you control the temperature, the lighting, the music and have beautiful slaves who bring you fresh peeled grapes while you play and then they...

...ahem.

For many more it will be convenient and social. Quite literally By Gamers for the Gamers!

To address some of your specific comments;

Setting up even 10 computers is not a cheap endevour. The kind of systems we are going to have would possibly retail up to $2500 for a single purchase. Obviously prices vary from shop to shop and component to component but that is a rough idea.

Shop space is not cheap in Darwin. I am fortunate to have come to an agreement with Allan of Enchanted Worlds. If you would like to go and have a look, you will see that the space available easily accomodates 5 computers to a room, once again, ideal for 5 on 5 Counter-Strike tournaments, something of a personal favourite.

We have plans to expand should this prove viable, and we are sure it will.

I would like nothing more than to establish a 20+ system gaming network! Who wouldn't!?

All things in due time. YOU can help make this happen, Gamers of Darwin.

As far as system specs

We have to consider the next 12-18 months and at least one upgrade to extend system life at that time.

Sure an Athlon 3200 might be a better CPU for current games/software and pricing but what about in a year? Game developers won't write specifically for Hyper Threading and Dual Core CPUs? I suggest that they will and so I have to plan for the future.

All opinions and suggestions welcome, hard technical evidence of course being the best argument.

Games.
Yes, being a bit of a fan of MMORPGs myself, that is most definitely on the cards. Especially since we can install and keep updated WoW or EQ2 etc and it is up to each player to maintain their own accounts. Good idea.

Hours of operation.

I don't think I will be seeing too much sun... If you are there, then so will I be. Let's just say it will be something like 10am to late... We will have our own self contained airconditioning and our own after hours access.

"If you install it, they will come..."

Battlinard

AFAIK, WoW doesn't incur a monthly fee for him... hes simply providing the internet, computer and game... From what I can gather, everything else is server side (characters etc...) so you just gotta log into your WoW account and start playing...

^ that's how it works.

Accounts are payed by the account holder - gamer - not the person/establishment that owns the computer you are gaming on.

Quote from Jm3:

Have you thought about including other activities? Things such as Xbox lans, movie nights on a projector, all night lans?

Yes, though initially space is going to restrict numbers for such events.

Battlinard

Are you going to be selling refreshments too? Setting up maybe a few small tables and selling drinks and maybe some snacks or something I think could increase the social atmosphere if setup right.

Quote from ruin:
Are you going to be selling refreshments too? Setting up maybe a few small tables and selling drinks and maybe some snacks or something I think could increase the social atmosphere if setup right.

Yep, it's all on the cards at this stage.

Battlinard

Here's another idea...

I've found that i've stopped going to DGA due to my Pc specs being crap. Maybe you could organise to hire out your systems for the weekend (when you are closed for business ofcourse). Or work out a deal with DGA so that your 10 pc's will have their own space at DGA and people can book them etc.

Just an idea.

Ok I did some playing around at http://www.pcmaniacs.com.au and I started speccing some stuff just to see something:
This is what I came up with for a retail price on your Pentium D rig:
http://www.users.on.net/~tchia.home/pentiumrig.JPG

Obviously everything is not there but everything I could find is there so I just played around with the other stuff except case and monitor (which I didn't spec in)...
Now for the Athlon Rig:
http://www.users.on.net/~tchia.home/athlonrig.JPG

Its cheaper by about $60 but incorporates a slightly better graphics card...
Now these are only retail prices and from what I hear, Athlon64's are going nice and cheap wholesale at the moment...
If you don't get such low response 19" LCD's you could probably budget in a 6800GT and that would increase the performance in games by a hell of a lot more...
6600's are essentially obsolete right now and when the X1800XT gets released (end of this year I believe) its going to further that... At least with 6800GT's you can expect maybe a year out of them before an upgrade is needed... The other trouble is hitting the GPU bottleneck before your CPU bottleneck even comes into play...

Actually I agree with going for dual core, just make sure you get 2gb of ram to go with it :) You can always upgrade the video card later to dual sli or what ever.

and don't bother with 19" LCD's, with that budget you should stick with a nice 17" LCD.

Also wherever you buy your gear from make sure they give you a big discount for buying so much!

From what I know of WoW, because it is all paid account based and not Client based you can can install the one copy of the client on as many computers as you wante because thats all it is - a client. There is nothing about any particular client that ties it in to a specific person.

Then why the need for unique CD keys?

There isn't any...

You have a code that activates an account, nothing more.

Quote from leonami:
Then why the need for unique CD keys?

They are just to set up your personal account to play on, that you pay for yourself.

CYA in all situations - cover your ass. If you don't know, ask the publisher.

Well done for taking the plunge. A few remarks:

1. Movie nights are a bad idea. You'll get sued to oblivion by the copyright holder. They tend to be unfussed about individuals or non profit groups, but ruthlessly go after businesses.

2. Have you given thought to publicity? Give the NT News a ring and you might be able to get some words in somewhere. Add a pretty girl or a crocodile and you'll be laughing. Remember: if it's worth a photograph, it's probably worth 300 words.

3. [edit] Even if the journos aren't interested, classifieds advertising is a cheap and easy way to notify people who don't read GU. Run a public notice ad every week. Something like: "LAN Gaming in the CBD. Velocity Games has the best rigs and the latest games. Internet and multiplay. Your address and phone number." Run it - I must stress this - run it every week. If it fits in 5 lines it'll only cost "9.75 and it's the sort of advertising the steadily builds your clientele over time, catching one or two people a week who decide to dip into the classies for something.

I should point out I work for the classifieds dept.

Quote from NewbiTLorD:
ill be there to test em out if ya still need people
im free basicly for teh next 2-3 weeks anyhow :)

i wouldnt mind going 2

Heaps of lan cafes in bris have wow, shouldn't be a prob to get it there. Good luck buddy, hope it goes well.

Quote from El Presidente:
Well done for taking the plunge. A few remarks:

1. Movie nights are a bad idea. You'll get sued to oblivion by the copyright holder. They tend to be unfussed about individuals or non profit groups, but ruthlessly go after businesses.

2. Have you given thought to publicity? Give the NT News a ring and you might be able to get some words in somewhere. Add a pretty girl or a crocodile and you'll be laughing. Remember: if it's worth a photograph, it's probably worth 300 words.

3. [edit] Even if the journos aren't interested, classifieds advertising is a cheap and easy way to notify people who don't read GU. Run a public notice ad every week. Something like: "LAN Gaming in the CBD. Velocity Games has the best rigs and the latest games. Internet and multiplay. Your address and phone number." Run it - I must stress this - run it every week. If it fits in 5 lines it'll only cost "9.75 and it's the sort of advertising the steadily builds your clientele over time, catching one or two people a week who decide to dip into the classies for something.

I should point out I work for the classifieds dept.

Thanks for interest and suggestions.

We will be contacting you about that classified ad. Seems pretty cost effective.

Movie nights definitely need legalities looked into but as I have said, we really don't have the space to properly accomodate such an event at this stage.

Battlinard

look the good thing about gaming cafe is they are great to have competitions, online wars and because the computers are the latest technology and the internet connection and a whole lot better then most ppl, you can get alot better at a game then you could with your home computer, you can game against ppl over the network. gaming cafe's give you alot better competition and a better gaming environment (as long as its dark :P) and as for movie nights, just do anime if your that worried

The real gamers are those that spend a straight 3 hours on any computer and make a statement in those 3 hours. There's a bunch of kiddies around Sydney that has all the toys you can think of on a computer. They play all sorts of FPS, RTS and MMPG games on cafes. They spend money on acheiving identity in the cafes but sadly, they're degenerating into some sort of gang.

All the best on your gaming joint. May there be gamers to experience the game outside their box (like me cause I'm so cheap in buying games, I just rent them and learn the AI behind it; it's fun to know how something ticks).

Gaming cafe's are all the craze everywhere in Australia except Darwin. There are dozens of successful games cafes in Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, even Hobart. I don't see why it can't take off in Darwin if done right.

That said, Velocity Gaming would be a supurb choice of location for WCG and CPL qualifiers. This is something I'll be approaching you about early in the next year, Battlinard.

Quote from shifty:
just do anime if your that worried

Unlicensed of course...

There is already an anime society so that may not be viable.

Quote from Seqo:
Unlicensed of course...

There is already an anime society so that may not be viable.

yes but more business for the internet cafe if you get ppl in the shop, set up a projector and have an all night anime night, ive seen it done in newcastle and it went off

im prolly going to make a gaming cafe prolly in 2007, im prolly going to take over this tourist internet cafe, and make enough money and move into a place that i can control my own hours and then get all use in for overnighters, comps (with prizes). all you have to do is know what your doing, and fortunatly enough i help set up a succesful gaming lan in newcastle, so i know what im doing

Quote from shifty:
yes but more business for the internet cafe if you get ppl in the shop, set up a projector and have an all night anime night, ive seen it done in newcastle and it went off

im prolly going to make a gaming cafe prolly in 2007, im prolly going to take over this tourist internet cafe, and make enough money and move into a place that i can control my own hours and then get all use in for overnighters, comps (with prizes). all you have to do is know what your doing, and fortunatly enough i help set up a succesful gaming lan in newcastle, so i know what im doing

You may know what your doing but if there is no demand your going to be screwed...

yer i guess so id have to go back down to newcastle or prolly in quessland, maybe in townsville or somfin, i dont know

Quote from shifty:
yes but more business for the internet cafe if you get ppl in the shop, set up a projector and have an all night anime night, ive seen it done in newcastle and it went off

im prolly going to make a gaming cafe prolly in 2007, im prolly going to take over this tourist internet cafe, and make enough money and move into a place that i can control my own hours and then get all use in for overnighters, comps (with prizes). all you have to do is know what your doing, and fortunatly enough i help set up a succesful gaming lan in newcastle, so i know what im doing

Take this as constructive criticism.

If you are seriously intent on what you say, then I strongly suggest you brush up on your spelling and grammar. It is impossible to take you seriously if you talk like a 15 year old with pipe dreams.

Just go back and read some of the posts made by Battlinard, and you will see why he is being taken seriously by this forum - he comes across as mature, dedicated; someone who has looked into a lot of issues, and doesn't blow his own trumpet ...

Quote from shifty:
all you have to do is know what your doing, and fortunatly enough i help set up a succesful gaming lan in newcastle, so i know what im doing

If you go ahead with this, then the best of luck - but mate, take on some advice. :-)

k :S actully im 20 years old and this isnt a pipe dream, its been a career choice i made years ago, when i started writing up the business plan to open a gaming cafe.

That's cool - as I said, I wasn't attacking you personally, just offering some advice about professionalism if you want to go into business.

k thx for the advice man, i apreciate it

god im bored someone come to my shop and have a chat lol!!

Whats your address?

Nevermind found it :)

my address?? how do you know were i work? i dont think ive told anyone yet lol

Quote from shifty:
at Saus IT internet cafe in the mall
you did :)

oh lol... oh well at least im getting the name out there more lol

System specs are changing.

Stay tuned for updates once all quotes are in!

(Dropping dual core, spending more on Video Cards, 6800 minimum).

Battlinard

Hey Batt,

It may be a good idea to get some terminals for general purpose thingys like just browsing and stuff. The price per time of use of those should be different from the game horse and should be suited for occational visitors like backpackers and others who are not into gaming.

Quote from OverG:
Hey Batt,

It may be a good idea to get some terminals for general purpose thingys like just browsing and stuff. The price per time of use of those should be different from the game horse and should be suited for occational visitors like backpackers and others who are not into gaming.

At this stage, the focus is firmly on gaming and price per hour will be the same regardless of usage.

We are not going head to head with established general purpose internet cafes, of which Darwin has many.

Battlinard

So no hot tourists then... man what a bummer! you let me down Batt :p

Just kidding i'm sure there are hot female backpackers that love cs... right? :)

Quote from Jm3:

Just kidding i'm sure there are hot female backpackers that love cs... right? :)

put hidden cameras everywhere, and use that for video night ;)

Quote from DVD:
put hidden cameras everywhere, and use that for video night ;)

Velocity Big Brother?

Would Gretel come?

Battlinard

The project continues apace.

Tentative opening now slated for 7th December!

Battlinard.

So at this stage of the process have you finalised the specs of the gaming computers?

Quote from leonami:
So at this stage of the process have you finalised the specs of the gaming computers?

A decision will be made in the next day or two.

It has been a complex process of decyphering technical data, costs and people's opinions.

What is better? Holden or Ford?

Even such logical devices as computers are vulnerable to these kinds of arguments and opinions.

We have three quotes in front of us and my partner is absorbing it all even as we speak.

Battlinard

Graphics card is the core of any gaming machine these days. In the last few years a lot of in game render processing jumped from cpu to gpu because the Graphics cards can handle the grunt.
I would go for 7800GTs 20 pipeline madness :) But 6800GTs should do the job.

Quote from Wortel:
Graphics card is the core of any gaming machine these days. In the last few years a lot of in game render processing jumped from cpu to gpu because the Graphics cards can handle the grunt.
I would go for 7800GTs 20 pipeline madness :) But 6800GTs should do the job.

Do not be surprised, my friend, if your very wish becomes my command.

Battlinard

hot tourists in a gaimng cafe?? yer right...you get that in an internet cafe that is designed for tourists, i get em like everyday (:D) i love it, come down to saus it internet cafe in the mall and ill let you come behind the desk and check em out :P (just mention that you are from GU)