Something you need to be aware of when having an Xbox 360 consoles in your game center is that the money investment on the Xbox 360s are going to be higher than the PCs. Over the last three years of running a game center it has been noted that the failure rate on my Xbox 360s are over 900% of that of the PCs. One of the positive aspects of having an Xbox 360 console section in your game center is the fact that you can charge up to for paying customers per unit unfortunately this will be the exception not the norm. (you can also do this with PS3s thou)
At one time I was running 10 Xbox 360 consoles in the game center and I’ve personally after the first three months of operation have never had more than eight up at one time I’ve always had at least two units that have suffered from the red ring of death. I’ve taken every caution from making sure ventilation was good to keeping the units dusted out. This still could not help the failure rate of the Xbox 360 and also within the last year has became more difficult to get Microsoft on a three-year warranty they put out on the Xbox 360 systems primarily because the Xbox 360s are being used in a commercial environment.
The only games that are used on my Xbox 360s are Halo and the gears of war games. When the PS3 price dropped to $299 PS3 clearly became the price versus performance winner in my game center. The PS3 also has several lucrative titles on it also those being resistance, kill zone 2, and the Drake uncharted fortune. When the PS3 dropped in price I began replacing my Xbox 360s with the cheaper PlayStation three. I used to have 10 PlayStation threes and 10 Xbox 360s I now have 16 PlayStation threes and only four Xbox 360s.
If your looking to use consoles inside your center I highly advise using PS3s. Because the high downtime of the Xbox 360s make it a bad investment for a game center environment.
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PS3′s aren’t allowed to be used in a commercial environment according to the license agreement
That might be the case. But there’s never been a case of Sony pursuing legal action. In fact when your a member of iGames you work with publishers to do showcases for PS3 games quite often. And I don’t know if its the case now but there used to be a license you can get from SCEA through igames.
I was curious, how did you monitor time on console systems like the XBOX 360?
Sony online still does their licenses on igames.
Just filled out that info not to long ago.
We use digital timers and write the names of the players down on the timer with a dry erase marker. Edit the time in Smart launch myself.
Since smart launch can’t do it alone I saw no reason to spend that extra money for smart launch licenses for 22 consoles (10 PS3, 10 Xbox 360, 2 Wii)
I used smartlaunch to keep up with my time. But at one time I did use the same method robert does. I had actually tried to get some of the automation of the systems to work.. Having smartlaunch turn the tv off etc. It was just a bigger pain then it was worth. I ended just using smartlaunch to keep time and that was it.
First off, thanks for this website! A lot of useful information and good to hear it from someone who has been successful. Finishing my entrepreneurship major and then off to put all I have on the line.
On the xbox note, the new console they just launched “supposedly” has resolved majority of the issues faced with the old box. Plus the price is not that bad either.
On a side and final note, how did you manage the xbox systems? For example, a customer makes his own profile, has his own saves, or even download content. Do players bring in their own profiles, maybe memory cards? What about selling memory cards?
Sold them compatible usb sticks if they wanted to save profile, game saves, etc.
-deeds
I just thought up another question I was hoping you could help answer. What sort of TV’s do you have for your console stations. Do you go with the nice and big flat screens, or maybe keep it moderate? I was thinking that 32″ would be a fair size.
32 is the sweet spot. Check out the forums
cool kitchen tv story for your home…
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