Gamerbase

Gamerbase is a gaming centre located in the HMV store at the London Trocadero at Piccadilly Circus - they have taken the idea of renting out computers for people to use (much like internet cafés do), but in this case they provide top-of-the-line gaming hardware for people who want to have a great multiplayer gaming experience. I recently had to opportunity to visit Gamerbase while attending a media event for Dell XPS gaming systems and saw first-hand how impressive the hardware and facilities were.

When I visited, the Gamerbase was actually hosting the “Cyberathlete Professional League” - CPL World Finals. While I was there, the World in Conflict real-time strategy game finals taking place, where teams play against each other, with each team of players playing together to beat the others.

This is not the only time when there are organised events that are using the Dell gaming systems, there are also regular organised events on an evening and weekends where people can go along and play a variety of multiplayer games – these events also attract people other than what you would normally expect, certainly not just stereotypical gamers.

I think these will become more popular as high-end gaming systems do not come cheap, whereas centres such as Gamerbase allow people to experience top of the range gaming paid for on a per hour basis rather than having to outlay £1000-£2500 on a system themselves. This means that each player has the same set-up and everything is fair and success is based upon your skill, how about this for a set-up to use:

* 3 feet of desk space per person
* Lag free gaming
* The “to-die-for” leather chair
* 22 inch superfast Dell monitor
* Dell XPS 720 PC
* Access to our massive library of games
* Razer headset, keyboard and mice
* 32MB Internet Connectivity

What do you think to these kind of high-end gaming centres? Would you go along and spend a few hours playing against your friends in the knowledge you wouldn’t be having any technical problems while trying to play?