Gaming cafes have become popular in India in a big way. I recently visited F.o.G. or Federation of Gamers at a popular shopping mall in Delhi, a new concept gaining chain which allows avid gamers play games on popular gaming consoles like Xbox, PlayStation for a fee in a cool cafe like ambience.
I was surprised to see that it was jampacked with children and college crowd who were busy playing games of all genres, from racing games like Need for Speed, to sports games like football FIFA 12, and multiplayer shooting games like Call of Duty.
In earlier years, I remember gaming fans used to gather together around cybercafes like the Reliance Web World, to access high-speed Internet connections to play multiplayer games online (I checked they still offer the Gamebox online game package for Rs 30 per hour). It was common to see game addicts bunking college and sitting throughout the day playing multiplayer online games like Call of Duty or Age of Empires, grabbing a snack or sipping a cup of coffee, and oblivious to the accumulating Internet gaming charges, which was an acceptable investment to improve their gaming skills
Now the gaming cybercafes are much more targeted to attract youngsters to play games in a relaxed ambience. The new concept seems to be catching on among youngsters in India who go looking for an amazing gaming experience on huge 50 inch HDTV screens, powered by amazingly powerful gaming consoles like Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation PS3 and even powerful PC computers, and a choice of huge range of games on which you can spend hours together. These gaming cafes have comfortable couch seating, easy availability of snacks and drinks by your side while you continue your uninterrupted play, relaxing music and an amazing ambience.
Gaming consoles are expensive and so are large screen HDTV’s, and even the console games are very expensive to buy just to play for a few times. For an average family in India affording an expensive gaming setup is very difficult. These gaming cafes provide an opportunity for gaming fans to play games of their choice on the best of gaming consoles whenever they want.
Although the gaming rates are by the hour, and those rates too are not cheap, but whenever you visit these gaming cafes you will find that they are always jampacked. Seeing the number of small children engaged in playing their favourite games, I gather many parents were comfortable leaving their kids to spend time playing games while they continue to shop at the shopping mall with ease for the next few hours.
If you decide to buy the best gaming keyboards, and the best gaming mouse, and combine that with your new Dell Alienware massive gaming computer, then you can have a great gaming experience at home too. Do you enjoy a playing games at these gaming cafes or on your own desktop or gaming console at home?