need help please!!

well guys what is the best forum in which you find smart and jackass people , it' s kikizo !!!
first thank you for your futur corporation

well i' m planing to make a small business that has to do anyhow/anyway with video games
the budget is $50 000

i already own a small local 80m²

and i' m asking of some ideas , you guys who live in europe and US, i' ll be pleased if you share with me some useful infortmation...

my target now is providing a local to customers where they can play online/network... there are only few stores that provide this service and " only" on LAN.

i think i have sufficient funds to buy 10 good computers, 5 xbox360 (premium + pads) , and 8 ps2' s (2 pads each)

but i' m worried of the competition, the few stores up there are already on the market and have their customers... my advantage would be to provide the online game (x box live/ pc online)

so is anyone of you able to assure me that xbox live will work in morocco (providing i own my account and a very fast connection) , there is noway i will know this unless i try by buying one

if you have any ideas that might help me to be different than the others please don' t restrain yourself, may be your local stores haves ideas that might help me

thank you very much , i know you loooooove to think i made experiences before anyway i' m using all ways , nothing to lose after all ??

oh one thing very important, i swear to god if your idea makes me successful or just contribute in a very positive way, you' ll have a small reward ($100).... consider that the cost of living is much cheaper than in the US, and consider that gaming Online/network is still something not common in morocco!!! oh yeah that' s true !!

Right...anyways, I could careless about a hundred bucks.

Here' s the deal. First, you have to look at your community and the area that you' re in. See how many (youth and some older kids) players actually goto the other competition. So, get a count up. Let' s say 10 kids goto each store that' s in your area and there are 4 stores. If you' re able to grab 2-3 kids from each store then that' s a pretty good startup. So, how do you do that? Well, look at all the games these kids play and get make sure that you' re current with your games that they will be able to play on the console and pc. The more update you are with your games including like patches, new levels, etc., the better off you' ll be. Also, if you' re money allows it, hold contests with prizes on certain games such as who can beat this level within the time limit..blah, blah, blah. What I' m overall saying is that, in order to draw those players to your store, come up with stuff that the competition doesn' t do so well or offer. As far as technology wise, you' re just going to have to test it out and see if your connection can handle it.

Games are your best friend as long as you don' t start talking to them.

I' m no marketing person, but if there' s competition, there' s only one way to succeed, and that' s to advertise. You need to get advertisement in a media that your customers will be exposed to. Take some of your 50 grand and spend a chunk on advertisement, it will pay for itself after a short time. Then if your product is high quality which it sounds like it will be, you should have success. I just have one question though, online games with computers shouldn' t be a problem, because everybody can just log into there user in the game (at least the games I play) but how are you going to get around the xbox 360 gamer tag issue? Or is your online service just for your store, and not so that the customers can use their own gamertags. I suppose if they had live at home though they won' t be coming to your place to pay online though. Good luck in this, I like seeing local places succeed over the big coorporations.

thank you kombatfighter and mxpx182 for your quick answers

people in morocco do not have x box live , there might be some exceptions 3 in the entire capital maximum (my estimation) why?? not because it is expensive there two reasons for this

1) for those interestd in x box live, they is no way to subscribe from morocco, our visa/mastercard doesn' t work internationaly only in teh country and people still do not trust these cards ...

2) 99% of x box' s in this country are modded and therefor will not allow to log in to x box live(as far as i know)

now you understand more or less the problem, what i might do is to ask friends from europe or usa to buy me x box live accounts that will alow me to log in see??
technicaly it should work 100% , i have a very nice connection (online pc works fine ) but i' m thinking may be microsoft does not support IP' s from africa , i' m just saying may be , i need a confirmation ...

you gave me a nice idea kombatfighter , giving reward to people who beat other' s record , people will come to try over and over again until they succeed ... i' m also thinking about making tournaments Pro evolution soccer 5 (winning eleven 9 for US/jap) , that game is so so so so so popular in morocco , people love it , but the few competion is already ahead of me in this... 32 people in tournamnet , each one will pay 5 dollar = 160$, 1st will have 500$, 2nd = $20 and 3rd it' s monet back 5$ annd the rest is 80$ for me nice ?? very nice if i' m making tournaments each day + the other consoles and pc' s that are used at same time...

guys i already made precise calculation and i might earn just for average (50%potentiel) $5000/month , thet' s for you in the us or eurpope is like getting $10000/month , very good indeed for a start

i want to creat a system not easily copied by competition at least not so fast, the online x box live is one of the key elements that will make me differente (some of those stores if not all of them do not know even if x box live exist because the owners are old and customers are ignorant in this area!!!)

a website as well, that will show people ranking in PES , counter strike, age of empire 3 tournaments, people should subscribe on the website , it might be nice

you got big plans, but take thing slowy. Dont rush things, things can be held back and delayed setting your whole plans on hold. Also unexpected problems can arise, before you make this huge jump with your 50,000 think of this in every way possible. Here is some tips, i believe i would like to see in a gamer store like this.

1). One of the first thing i would like to see, is a nice and relaxed atomosphere, make sure not to make it cramped, make it large, opewn, bright and quite comfortable. There is nothing worse than playing a game and constantly have to move becuase you are sitting on a cheap ass chair. Make the place welcoming and easy to navagte and find your game/chair.

2). Make sure you have all the lastest popular and espically online games, nobody likes to play this is foootball 2002 anymore.

3). allways have the maximum amont of controllers for each console. Possible handing out controllers at the desk, as theft would be a problem, espically with the 360 wireless ones.

4). have an attractive price. Nobody is going to go in and play a game for an hour while they can rent it at the local store for the same price. Take note on the average teens [your main customer] average money supply, its got to be cheap.

5). Touramnets a must, to keep busniess hold competeions and have a launch day.

6). Make the place feel safe, nobody likes a store when a group of hooded guys roam around your store allday. They might not do anything, put they put off potentail customers.

7). And maybe a place where people who dont want to play games can sit down, read and maybe have a coffee or something.

8). Locate in an easy to access area, like the main shopping centre of your town. or just around it. Dont go to far out or nobody will come.

I hope that helps!

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

thank' s silnetbomber for the advice, there is one thing i didn' t consider at all and i should thank you again for remining me , the comfort of the chair, i was going to buy a cheap one, in fact just this might make a big difference and the competition wouldn' t even know why... if i have two places with the same price and the same games, i will go certainly to the place where i have more comfort ..

your other ideas helped me to confirm that i' m thinking well and that they are crucial to the success thank you

http://www.infernoonline.com/startpage.aspx?page=main

The cafe i go to sometimes,basically look for other IC and check on the web how they look,and try copy them,instead of copy and in marocko.
New things are always curious and intresting.
They also had a little snackbar next to the pcs at Inferno online.

Even if you break 2 legs from a crab it still runs!
What you gotta do is find its weak spot and do massive damage at it.

Make sure you spread the word about your shop early, like, hype it up. Make sure you get a solid userbase of loyal customers, doesn' t have to be a huge number of people, but make sure they spread the word for you, it' s like free advertising, but better. Don' t just make your place another place that just focuses on low prices. Instead, make your place The hip place for gamers. I know lots of places with high prices that have become HUGE just by being the right place to be at. Have cool furnitures, great service and treat the customers like your friends instead of simple buyers. Just being the cheapest store will get you nowhere in lots of places. If you focus in low prices you' ll probably get lots of poor casual gamers looking for a cheap place but they seldom become a stable customer base nor do they have enough money to profit from.
If you focus on having the coolest place on earth, the rich will surely be your costumers and you' ll get lots of profit, you see, rich people spend money.
But you have to look at how the area you have your bussiness locaded in looks. If it' s in the ghetto, well, you sure ain' t gonna get any rich customers.

I don' t know whether Xbox Live works in Morocco, and I would think that the best way to know would be to get a 360 at your home and try it out. Do they sell prepaid cards for Xbox Live at the place where you' d get your 360?

ORIGINAL: mxpx182

...but how are you going to get around the xbox 360 gamer tag issue? Or is your online service just for your store, and not so that the customers can use their own gamertags.

I would DEFINITELY have a gamertag account setup with each 360. It would just have to be a part of the budget. Hell, it would only be $250 a year! I' d do that, but I would also allow people to use their own gamertag if they wanted.

If I were you, I wouldn' t necessarily use premium bundles either. No need for a hard drive in a setting such as that. Each setup would consist of: 360, memory card with Live account info on it, 2 wired controllers (no need to change batteries or charge units), 2 wireless controllers available, 4 headsets. All accessories would be handed out at the counter (including the memory unit). Of course, some of this would be different if you' re planning on just doing a local LAN thing. No need for Xbox Live at all!

Just something to think about.

How fast a connection would you need to have 10 PCs and 5 360s all playing online, and would your ISP allow such a setup?? That' s a lot of bandwidth usage. Aren' t special ISPs for businesses quite expensive to maintain? And maintenance expenses are what will decide the eventual price for consumers.

I know of a similar setup near where I live which only used PCs, well that was before 360s came out anyway. And it was veery expensive. They had a timed login system and it was about £4 for 30mins per person! Three of us stayed for an hour (£24!) and had one game of Command & Conquer Generals and one game of Counter Strike: Source. It was fun, but I wouldnt go again. Still I could see it was quite popular, and I think there was some sort of monthly membership where ppl could pay a flat rate for unlimited use.

It' d be much cheaper just to have a LAN setup, but then you' d be the same as the competition.

I could definitely see some good LAN things happening. Who wouldn' t want to play some PDZ, PGR3, or COD2 on a lan setup with two or three different TVs? Could you imagine (or maybe you' ve actually experienced) 4 on 4 COD2 over a LAN? We used to do that with Halo, and those were the best of times, man! If ever you get that set up, and I happen to be in Morocco, I' m the sniper!!

thanks everyone for your tips, chee saw i too think that playing project gotham 3 on lan against three of your friends in the same room will be extremly cool, i hope that customers will get the experience . if my project sees life, i' ll let you know and you are all welcome to the place if you happen to be in morocco

but i' ll make you sign in on kikizo to make sure of your identity [:' (] just kidding

Like someone said - one of the most important factors is the look of the place , the comfort of chair and stuff.

You should place one couch with 360 and doa4 and 2 controllers.Those chairs and stuff should not only be comfortable they need to look comfortable and stylish as well.

If you succed in making the place " cool" you can afford to have less equipement.

Live service since 360 is changed - you can buy special cards for a month , 3 months and so on at your shop and this way activate your live accounts.

It' s true though that you need to have a very good=expensive connection.

Wi-Fi wouldn' t hurt since you could let DS owners play their games for some cash.

It' s cool if place like that has one TV playing newest trailers and stuff - it' s not that much to download new ones from time to time and it feels nice.

Definietly place some tables - cafe style - people who get to wait can do it in an entertaining way.But these have to be classy and blend in with the rest.

Think what you' re going to put outdoors to make people wanna get in.Many places like that have poor appearance from the outside and it truly matters.

Up to date gaming press for people to read.

Don' t keep it too dark inside - it get' s depressing.

I' m just saying whaterver comes to my mind :)

Last thing from me - do right everything that your competition does wrong.
Go there check everything from toilets to outside looks.

yes thats a good idea, let people play their psp' s or ds' s free of charge through wfi-fi on your internet connection. It would spread good word about your store and atract more consumers.

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!

excellent idea gangsta thank you !!

however , very very few people own DS or psp right now, it still doesn' t interest lot of people , specialy DS because people judge by graphics and well it' s PSP man Playstation portable, ignorant customers swear only by Playstation Sad but true

but i' ll definitly take into account that idea on the longterm