Interview : Omega Sektor - The future of UK LAN centres

[Steven W]

We hooked up with Dominic Mulroy of Omega Sektor to talk to him about the newly opened LAN centre in Harrow and how plans are progressing for the huge gaming centres in London and Birmingham.

Check out the Interview for more info.

He 'bigs up' SCAN!

[SmileyUK]

it was a kind of dodgy advert though.

Like when watching the UFC show the ultimate fighter where they plug xyience all the time, you kind of led him into praising scan

But on to the subject, im not sure a lan centre is ever going to make big bucks over in this country, as hard as people try to redesign the concept, most peoples home setups have a console or a home pc which does the job for them. I would be suprised if they are still going in 12 months to be honest, but i wish them the best of luck

[CAL3H]

Wow fair play to this - that place looks amazing. Nice spec pcs too Might have to take myself up to Brummy next year when the place opens there.

Great work.

With the right pricing, this will be a cool place to LAN game on the easy.

[Steven W]

it was a kind of dodgy advert though.

Like when watching the UFC show the ultimate fighter where they plug xyience all the time, you kind of led him into praising scan

lol, honestly I didn't. As soon as I saw SCAN I just wondered why...and then he reeled off the praise.

I thiink you could be right about LAN centres not making huge bucks. I think the aim of this one maybe to be a centre for the whole European scene. Perhaps it may even host the World cyber Games, CPL etc.. at some point. I'm not sure, I hope it works. I'll definately go to the Birmingham one.

[Sim0n]

Like the chairs, where can i get one

[SmileyUK]

aye its beautifully decked out, i wish them the very best too as i have always thought they were a good idea. It just seems hard to get the punters in.

[Oobie-]

wahhhoooooooooooooooooooo its only 5 mins away from me. And I remember what it used to be like! HUGEEEEEE makeover and its AWESOME - kudos to teh owner

[Zak33]

http://www.dnn.hu/en/personal/lcd_mo...ync_lcd_90_gx2

serious monitors too...serious!

[Nick]

Guys, Omega Sektor will still be running in 12 months time and way beyond, I have no doubt.

This isn't a new venture, this is a re-vamp of an existing internet centre, formerly IGUK Harrow.

The key point about having centres like this is that E-Sports events, such as WCG, CPL etc, can host regional qualifiers at these venues, plus clans can go and boot-camp at places like this for very little cost and practically zero hassle.

Don't forget that opening a centre in London makes covering the event minimal hassle for mainstream media such as TV and radio, and when you break into mainstream, you can then start pulling bigger and more varied sponsors...

And that means bigger and better prizes, more money invested into the sport and more money to go round... The more money gets pumped in, the more pro players will be able to make a living purely on gaming, the more sponsors and so on and so on.

Despite it's maturity online, e-sports in general are still widely regarded as a 'niche' sport by mainstream media but that is all on the brink of change.

Seriously, as us gamers get older, mainstream media will start to see a gap in the market for coverage of gaming events and if you've ever a competent commentary team like the TSN guys giving it they're all, an game of CS becomes an edge-of-your-seat experience.

This is all taking a step towards that day when e-sports becomes as commonly accepted as football or rugby... and a centre like this, with a design that clearly means business, is the way to make it happen.

[Dommulroy]

Thanks for all the positive comments.

Smiley, I didnt mean for it to be a scan advert, Ive built over 10 lan centres in 6 years, and consulted to help over 50 others nationwide, and Ive bought a shed load of equipment during that time, from a variety of suppliers (well over £1m). Then when you find a company like scan that redefines all expectations its hard to not want them to do well.

You would think that companies like Dell or even much bigger suppliers than scan out there would want to become involved in what we wanted to do, not just for sales, but for promotion and, well, having tens of thousands of gamers playing on systems built by you not anyone else. None of them even returned my calls.

We went for high end systems for the Harrow refurb and the new Birmingham mega centre, with Core 2 Duo and 7950GX2s. It was great to see Intel and NVIDIA not only provide price support but also technical support to ensure that the systems are at peak performance. Scan didnt have to arrange that, they just did it. Above and beyond.

And as for being around in 12 months... Nick's right, our Harrow centre has been running profitably for 5 years now, this is just a refurb and rebrand to bring Harrow in line with the branding and style of the Mega centres. We are spending close to £2m on the Harrow/Birmingham/West End London centres and NONE of it is debt (one of the biggest reasons for failure of a business expansion). Punters do come to these types of centres and you may wonder why with great systems available at home. Here's my analogy.

You dont see pubs going out of business because of off-licenses! You can buy a bottle of wine and drink it at home, but you prefer to go out to a Pub and its social environment to interact in person and enjoy a completely different experience than when at home. Same as these gaming centres. There is nothing better (in gaming terms!) than playing quake or BF2 and turn round and give your victim the finger with a smile broader than Huttons in a sex shop. You dont get that playing at home online.

Oooh Ive joined the hexus forums... Sujoy will be scared.

[Nick]

Dunno about Suj being scared, I am!

[YorkieBen]

Like when watching the UFC show the ultimate fighter where they plug xyience all the time, you kind of led him into praising scan

lmao - all those Xyience ads really annoy me after a while

[nvening]

OMG when is the london one coming!!!!!!!

The only some round here is called 24/7 flix, its good but not that big and does not have the customers all the time - I do however remember pwning a couple of lads on counter stike

[GeorgeTuk]

I shudder to think of the smell in those places...it will be a cross between Games Workshop's and Game. Sweat, hormones and a whiff of dirty carpet.

Only kiddig, I hope all takes off though I can't imagine going myself as I don't really games with friends.

[CAL3H]

You dont see pubs going out of business because of off-licenses! You can buy a bottle of wine and drink it at home, but you prefer to go out to a Pub and its social environment to interact in person and enjoy a completely different experience than when at home. Same as these gaming centres.

I like the analogy: The whole point of these places is the social side and the atmosphere resulting. Will definitely have to round up some mates and drive up there at some point.

Anyone else from Bristol here remember when they had LAN arena at Megabowl?

[xrob]

I played a the sgl competition a few weeks back at the london centre. it all looks very fancy and nice but the should have though a lot more about the gamers, you get absolutely no mouse space at all and a gap in the table where the tiny tables join together, was extremely annoying for a low sense gamer like my self who uses lots of fast mouse movements, hitting the next players keybaord all the time.

theres no dout this is going to be good for 'esport' especially this massive centre, i just hope they hold massive competitions weekly to get the uk on top of every game.

oh a **** gamefrontier, dire organisation.