I recently got a heads up from a friend about a little-known event called Ultracade hosted in Adelaide’s La Boheme Bar. It’s a frequent event presented by local chiptune enthusiast and all around gamer DJ TR!P who, I should add, has a brilliant taste in 8-bit music. Every Ultracade event is themed whether it be 2D Fighting Games night to Golden Era of Gaming night – this particular evening was the Sega Special Edition.
I’ve always known that house parties that involve sensible amounts of alcohol and a gaming console such as, let’s say the Wii, will always result in good times. However I wasn’t expecting anything quite like what I experienced at La Boheme tonight; the moment I walked in there was a Sega Master System, Sega MegaDrive, Sega Saturn and Dreamcast all set up in a for play, with a projector displaying Daytona USA and really up-beat chiptunes blaring in the background. I’d never felt so comfortable and happy to be in a venue full of fellow geeks and gamers – I mostly dislike contests and conventions due to the fact they attract testosterone-fueled (ha ha) obnoxious gamers all adamantly trying to out-do each other for no real reason. Some how this was completely different and made me absolutely love it!
Earlier this year Aussie game industry personalities Guy Blomberg, Shay Leighton, Pras Moorthy and Ben Croshaw collaborated to create Australia’s premier video game-centric pub The Mana Bar, allowing patrons to enjoy a couple of drinks and play the latest games on the latest consoles. Upon its opening night on March 20th 2010, it has seen enormous success receiving positive responses from the public and even some media outlets. The bar is open seven days a week and also hosts special events such as tournament nights, themes and pre-launch events. It’s also important to note that despite being a venue primarily dedicated to serving alcohol, it has not incurred a single act of violence from a customer yet.
It makes me wonder why there isn’t already at least one of these types of bars in every city that has a high number of gamers. Places like these would make huge amounts of bank catering to such a passionate and socially active audience. It’s also a great way to get gamers offline and meet other gamers face-to-face and embrace their passion in a social atmosphere. According to The Mana Bar’s Twitter feed, the proprietors are looking to franchise their business and open shop in Melbourne, Sydney and possibly over-seas. I saw screw that – bring one over to Adelaide, and let’s not forget our Western comrades in Perth!
No comments:
Post a Comment