Wired Gaming Reopening

RabidDog

Hi guys,

Wired Gaming will be reopening, in the same premises, on November 10th.

I lost the member's database and so don't have the email addresses to let everyone know. Thankfully the mods have given me permission to announce it here.

For more information check out http://www.wiredgaming.eu (wiredireland.com still works too ).


Just so there's no confusion, this is a new business and, besides myself, the same people are not involved.


We are, of course, very excited about being back.

Thanks guys,

Mark

JohnCleary

Best of luck with the new business.

Were you involved with the 'old' business?

RabidDog

JohnCleary wrote: »

Best of luck with the new business.

Were you involved with the 'old' business?

Yeah, I was. My partner in the previous business was an investor from the states. He is not involved in this new business.

ScumLord

Wired gaming, sounds cool. Do you supply the drugs or do we have to bring our own?

RabidDog

Oh we most certainly provide the drug.

Many of our previous members have been cold turkey for almost a year...

forumfiend

RabidDog wrote: »

Hi guys,

Wired Gaming will be reopening, in the same premises, on November 10th.

What is Wired Gaming and where is it located? Not much the wiser after looking at your website mate

biko

Wired was a hotspot for Galway gamers, located on Dominick Street.
Most gamers in Galway would know of it, GalwayLAN has been held there.

RabidDog

Sorry, just a correction there, as I don't want to annoy anyone.

A GalwayLAN was going to be held in Wired near the launch, but as the GalwayLAN admins were all busy at the time (in or moving to Dublin) it never actually happened.

Apologies on the location issue, we only signed the lease yesterday so I hadn't added it to the site yet. An About Us page will be going up today too.

We are located at 2 Dominic Street Upper. Wired is a game centre, where you top up your account with time (similar to a pay as you go mobile) and play away.

It's a bit more than that though, we are also a community of gamers. It was many of those people that helped (and are helping) to get the place reopened.

We don't have the fastest PCs, the spec is still pretty much the same as the previous Wired (Intel Core 2 Duo E6650, 3GB RAM, Geforce 8800 GTS etc) but we do pay a lot of attention to our software. For instance all profiles and saves are stored on your account (each member has a "MemberDrive"), so they follow you around.

The systems also wipe any and all changes when a member logs off, so that the next person will have the system in it's best condition (no changed settings or other people's profiles/saves etc.).

AmazingMan

what is it?

pasta-solo

Great news, best of luck with it!

W!zard

Super news and congrats Mark!
Great to see Wired back

Seaneh

You owe me about €9, also, please install 1.6, source sucks the schlong of many donkeys.

majiktripp

Never used your facilities as I have pumped an ass loaded of money into my new rig refurbishment but its nice to see your premises re-opening again! Seemed something was missing from the area when you closed!

RabidDog

Just back from an evening of painting, it's coming along well.

@AmazingMan, it's a PC gaming centre where all of the systems are hooked up to a local network, allowing multiplayer games to be played. It's really all about the social side of things though, it's good craic.

Thanks for all the support and comments.

Sarky

Woop woop woop! I demand a sexy party!

civis_liberalis

RabidDog wrote: »

... all profiles and saves are stored on your account (each member has a "MemberDrive"), so they follow you around.

A big problem that the "other place" suffers from. Have been in there a few times recently and there has always been someone sitting at a PC that I have a save for something on. I'll be moving back to Wired I think.

Best of luck with the new venture Mark.

RabidDog

Oh, just something I forgot to mention on the system side.

The software is not locked down in any way, you have all the access that you'd have on your home pc under an administrator account. Installing maps, mods, etc is encouraged, and these can be stored on our server for easy access. You are free to change any settings, even in the Control Panel. Installing drivers for a device you want to use for example, is fine.

The software we use checks the current filesystem against an image on our server and then reverts/removes any changes back to the image, even drivers.

The Internet is also fully available, though obviously you are expected to show restraint.

tampler

Sounds like an awsome place. Might drop in there sometime. Good luck with it

3fullback

anyone else getting a server error when they click on the web site link

GO_Bear

I COULD go there , but i think i would rather go to square eyes , and not have the place close down and me lose money

:pac::pac::pac::pac:

PopeBuckfastXVI

Hi Mark,

Will you provide any sort of mini lan party facility, say 10-16 people from an office coming in for a couple of hours on a thursday or friday evening, or is it members only?

Thanks,
Buckie

po0k

3fullback wrote: »

anyone else getting a server error when they click on the web site link

No. Your tubes are full of fail.

TheCosmicFrog

GO_Bear wrote: »

I COULD go there , but i think i would rather go to square eyes , and not have the place close down and me lose money

:pac::pac::pac::pac:

+ several 1s

But any local business in Galway at this time is good. No doubt I'll drop in there on the odd occasion. Good luck with the business Mark and the gang, ye were always sound whenever I went in, but the plastic headsets and Kebab House boxes on the desks, greasy keyboards, sticky mouses and slidey-floory chairs bothered the f*ck out of me.

Stop people from eating and playing (a la squareyes) and I'll be much more likely to go there

G-TAC

congrats mark hope all goes well for you from all at g-tac
regards evelyn and martin and all the crew

RabidDog

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

....but the plastic headsets and Kebab House boxes on the desks, greasy keyboards, sticky mouses and slidey-floory chairs bothered the f*ck out of me.

So you don't want headsets, you want speakers on each pc? Or is it that the headsets were made of plastic? If so, what are your preferred headsets made of?

I will say that the "old" Wired wasn't always as clean as it should have been, especially when I wasn't around. I was too much of a friend to the staff and not enough of a boss. Rest assured that this time around we'll have a strict cleaning roster.

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Stop people from eating and playing (a la squareyes) and I'll be much more likely to go there

That's a good idea, I always hated the mess people left after eating. Messy feckers. I'll suggest that on the site and see what people think.

RabidDog

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

Hi Mark,

Will you provide any sort of mini lan party facility, say 10-16 people from an office coming in for a couple of hours on a thursday or friday evening, or is it members only?

Thanks,
Buckie

Hey Buckie,

Yeah we do group bookings, and at a reduced rate (for eight or more people it is a flat rate €3 per hour).

Membership is just €3 though, and with that you get two hours, so it'd probably be a good idea for your first session.

We also do what we can to fulfil any requests, such as having certain games, maps etc.


The regular rates are:

33 mins - €2
1 h 6 m - €4
2 h 12 m - €7
3 h 18 m - €10
4 h 24 m - €13
5 h 30 m - €16
7 h 42 m - €21

Each hour gets you 1 bonus point and 10 points can be exchanged for a free hour.

TheCosmicFrog

Hi RabidDog,

Sorry for the confusion, what I meant was that those headsets always felt very finnicky and cheap. They cut into my ears. Speakers at each PC would be nice. It sets a bit of atmosphere when playing games like COD (guns blazing from 20+ PCs sounds impressive!).

Sounds good that you're considering a food-at-PC ban. I'm sure you know from personal experience how disgusting it is to use a mouse/keyboard/controller that is sticky or covered in grease.

Thanks for the reply

Seaneh

speakers at each pc is annoying as ****, i wanna be able to hear my own damned game.

but the headsets you used before were cheap as fook mark, buy a good set.

Your rates are stupid high, and i dont know your overheads so i guess i cant really call you on it but it would put me off going.

that said, wired > square eyes every time.

RabidDog

Please guys, don't turn this into a Squareyes vs Wired thread.

We both offer LAN gaming, but we do it in our own ways. There will always be people that prefer one or the other because of their personal preferences, and choice is always good.

Again you're right about the headphones, I made a mistake with one or two sets. No matter the quality there were always being broken, so I got fed up of pumping money into them. Saying that I do believe they are a necessity, speakers create a lot of noise solution.

We are ordering a new full set of headsets, and they will be comfortable. They also have mics, but the mic is on the cable (harder to break that way ).

Thanks again for all your support and comments guys. We take criticism too, we really do want things to be better this time.

RabidDog

Seaneh wrote: »

Your rates are stupid high, and i dont know your overheads so i guess i cant really call you on it but it would put me off going.

Stupid high? How so? Compared to what?

If you're saying in comparison to Squareyes, we will not get into a price war with them (that would be really bad for both businesses). Whatever they want to offer is their business (literally ). I will say though that their Ratesaver (5 hours for €15) is €3 per hour and our nearest is 5 hours 30 mins (for €16) which is €2.90 per hour.

You are basically paying €4 for one hour and €3 for every hour after that, at each top up. So it makes sense to top up by more than one hour at a time.

Remember though that all time stays on your account, down to the minute, for the next time you're in. You get 3 mins for every 30 in order to get into your game (the idea being that a game of CoD4 etc is usually 30 mins, so you have 3 mins in which to load it up, choose a server etc). Then you have 10% back on that again in the form of bonus points (1 free hour for every 10).

pasta-solo

I have to disagree with the statment that the prices are too high, I have always found it to be very fair, especially with the points system, it's easy to build up a few free hours very now and again!

combat5

well done mark cant wait prices are perfect have been there before great great place

evoke

great to hear. How do you become an investor in the company or do you have all the finances you need?

RabidDog

Once again thank you for all the support guys, it really has been great.

(Re)Opening was a tough decision for us. We loved Wired and it did well, but things (the economy) have gotten worse since we closed. Still we have done the figures and even with a significant drop in income we should be fine.

Having the support from our past members and the local community in general has been great, it has helped ease our minds.


@evoke, thank you very much for your interest, but we are steering clear of investors in general. There is one other person and I, and I've known him for years (I helped him run his gaming centre (Spraoi in Carraroe) and know that I can trust him. That's not to say that you wouldn't be trustworthy, but I trusted the previous investor and got badly burned.

So even though more money would be good, we're playing it safe.

RabidDog

Hey guys,

We're looking to hire some part time staff, see the post on the Jobs Asking/Offering thread for more info.

Thanks,

Mark

GuessWho2009

rabid dog, how can it make money?
by my calculations at minimum wage including tax prsi ur talkin u must have 3 computers been used all the time, then rent electricity games computers vat accountant heatin rates ur talkin u need to be doing a minimum of 10 computers every hour and i just dont see that as possible, sorry best of luck though and hope ya havent invested to much

W!zard

GuessWho2009 wrote: »

rabid dog, how can it make money?
by my calculations at minimum wage including tax prsi ur talkin u must have 3 computers been used all the time, then rent electricity games computers vat accountant heatin rates ur talkin u need to be doing a minimum of 10 computers every hour and i just dont see that as possible, sorry best of luck though and hope ya havent invested to much

This type reply is for the business forum, not here. Wired has a very strong community that will support them as before, why not focus on the experience you get inside than worring about their survival without checking them out.
:cool:

jased10s

Had a great time at a few lock-ins at the old wired. Best of luck with the re-opening mark. And mark even let us rent the shop for our annual tf2 community get together.

GuessWho2009

W!zard wrote: »

This type reply is for the business forum, not here. Wired has a very strong community that will support them as before, why not focus on the experience you get inside than worring about their survival without checking them out.
:cool:

was nothing personal just was curious on how it could make money

Doctor_Socks

Congrats on getting the business reopened Mark. You picked a good day to reopen it too! Flea, Dingo and Shasty will have to make an appearance that day!

RabidDog

jased10s wrote: »

Had a great time at a few lock-ins at the old wired. Best of luck with the re-opening mark. And mark even let us rent the shop for our annual tf2 community get together.

Hey Jason, how're you keeping? Still playing TF2?

Doctor_Socks wrote: »

Congrats on getting the business reopened Mark. You picked a good day to reopen it too! Flea, Dingo and Shasty will have to make an appearance that day!

Haha! Are you guys ever apart? ;P


@GuessWho2009, I could be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure you've created a new account to hide your identity. I hate when people do that.

jased10s

RabidDog wrote: »

Hey Jason, how're you keeping? Still playing TF2?

Hey mark , Yeah community still going strong with our upgraded dedicated server and we held the last get together in Amsterdam . Have a few more tf2 servers and l4d ( 16plyr + 8 plyr )

Drop by sometime.

civis_liberalis

Seaneh wrote: »

Your rates are stupid high, and i dont know your overheads so i guess i cant really call you on it but it would put me off going.

So what would you suggest? When you say "stupid high" it implies that you think they are charging a ridiculous amount of money. For me, the lowest bulk rate I can get, is what I would look at, as I would just buy that and use it as I go along, the same as a ratesaver card or any equivalent offering.

As he said, their best offering is €2.90 per hour. Personally, I think that's great value. But what price point would you consider reasonable? €2...? €1...? C'mon like, the guy has to make a living.

I have no idea what his overheads are either, but I can take a reasonable guess at certain things, like having 2 rooms rammed full of PC's going all the time is going to give you some serious numbers when the ESB bill comes in.

Black_Knight

Congrats. Twas a shame when wired closed before. Legend games of COD back in the day, but what the hell was the pirate game everyone got obsessed with at one stage? :pac:

Do ye still have the old user accounts data or is that long gone? Think id a few hours paid for on it when ye closed.

Sarky

That data went poof in the Great Server Fire of dickety-two. Shame, I can't really work up the enthusiasm to regain 50-odd levels in COD4...

However, Mark did mention something on the wired boards about goodies for anyone who still had their old membership cards. Might be worth an hour or two, perhaps?

Black_Knight

Gaaah! Never even thought of my COD4 profile! This will be the 3rd time my COD4 profile has been reset. Damn formatting, I blame Vista, I didnt want that OS in the 1st place!!

Sarky

From what I remember of Wired's software, it wouldn't be too hard to import a profile if you have one knocking about.

RabidDog

Black_Knight wrote: »

Congrats. Twas a shame when wired closed before. Legend games of COD back in the day, but what the hell was the pirate game everyone got obsessed with at one stage? :pac:

Do ye still have the old user accounts data or is that long gone? Think id a few hours paid for on it when ye closed.

Pirates, Vikings & Knights II. Legend of a game, and a mod to boot.

It'll be back, though we're waiting for the new release, which adds some really great content.

The accounts are gone I'm afraid, along with all the profiles and saves. Most of the equipment, including the server, was sold off when we closed.

jased10s

Damm i had over €20 still on my card
oh well..

Tar.Aldarion

Very happy it's back and wish I still lived in galway now
Glad there will be diff headsets, my ears!
biut I'll visit for a lockin some time hehe. have one over christmas :-p


Prices are not high, sure it's more expensive than some crap net cafe in dublin(that you can't do anything in) but it is a way better experience and not even expensive, 3e an hour is grand in bulk and the staff are great, well I don't know who is working there apart from rabid this time. Love the points system to redeem whole free days there

fuzzsc00ta

Great to hear ye're back! Time for some pew pew and Kebab House burgers.