I don’t really blame Overklocked, I understand where they’re coming from. But the problems are pretty much their own creation, and summarized as follows:
The location is terrible. Yes, there is good parking. That is about it. However they are far away from neighborhoods that would be likely to have people that would frequent OK, and there are zero supporting businesses in that area. The only thing open late is that tattoo parlor, and I doubt that helps OK at all.
You can pick up an x-box for $129 these days and high speed internet is in almost every home. It’s pretty hard to believe that anyone could have reasonably forecasted enough business from console gamers that they could somehow justify like 20 setups and all that space.
At this point the owner is saying to himself “screw these console gamers…they’re too cheap to pay an extra 5 bucks for this amazing setup we have”, which is why they are ending WNF. But the reality is this is the owner’s fault - he is clearly out of touch with the demographic that he is trying to cater to.
In all fairness, I can’t really see a way for the business model to succeed either. I just wouldn’t have sunk any money into it in the first place.
Mirage put it well, console games are way cheaper and it was hard to justify paying money for it. A little bit sure, but $30 a month is hard to swallow (four months of that and you bought a new console). I still argue unused equipment that brings in no money is less profitable than the same gear on the cheap, and it’s hard to ask consoles to pay pc rates when they are cheaper and it’s two heads to a setup instead of one on pc.
I’m more annoyed by canceling it entirely. Paying full pc price guarantees nobody will be there, but if they kept even the ten buck rate I could have seen doing a monthly casual tourney or something. Scrapping WNF might not have meant to feel like a slap in the face for patronizing their business, but it feels like a case of “oh yeah? Well you and your money aren’t welcome here anymore!” to me. Ah well.
So how cheap are lagless monitors now? Something for me to consider for bringing a setup kit again. I can’t make gmac Monday’s, but I’d be game to hit bps again in all it’s cramped glory.
EDIT
Also been wondering about a gaming laptop for AE, it can run low settings as long as it’s 60fps of course.
I just meet up with PJ and Randy. There will be a post to follow before Monday with more details, but from what I can tell right now there may be a capacity limit (imposed by BPs). Stand by on that.
What kind of cheap monitor do you guys suggest for old consoles so they play without lag?
I can’t play DKC on my big screen cause of the controller lag.
according to the lag faqs you can pick one of these up for cheap cheap and it removes the lag and other issues that happen when you plug in consoles trying to output 480i to hd tvs.
I hear you. It takes away from the whole point of playing retro games. The other option is to buy that converter and use a 4:3 flat panel monitor if you have one. That converter uses vga so it’s all good. The only thing I don’t really understand is whether or not it uses 3.5 stero or if you need to seperate the rca sound cables off yourself.
Thanks for the link Steve, I’ll check em out. Anyone know what kind of graphics card I can pull 60fps on sf with minimum? Can’t be that expensive anymore?
And sure Boss, I’ll check for you later tonight and see if I can get some games in.
Bit the bullet and checked out xiii-2, and so far it’s leaps and bounds better. Only issue a couple hours in is the music is only a bit above forgettable and not often even standard fare. But towns, sidequests, random encounters that are skippable and actually having to change paradigms is great. Also you can save sets, so one for general purpose and another for bosses for example. Here’s hoping first impressions last.