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Games

Atari is Opening Video Game Hotels Across the US (inputmag.com) 34

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Just when you thought nostaliga-mining had already reached its peak: Atari is in talks to build a series of gaming hotels across the country. From a report: The hotels, which will be created in conjunction with innovation and strategy company GSD Group and real estate company True North Studio, promise to be a "one-of-a-kind video game-themed destination." The hotels are planned for Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and San Jose, and the first is set to break ground in mid-2020. At first glance, a video game-themed hotel might sound too gimmicky to be anything other than an old company's pipe dream. But there's reason to believe that, if executed well, the Atari Hotel could actually work. As the company reports in its press release, more than $152 billion was spent on games last year alone. And games love to get together and compete.
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Atari is Opening Video Game Hotels Across the US More

Atari is Opening Video Game Hotels Across the US

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  • Well, if Cartoon Network can do it... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Shag ( 3737 ) on Tuesday January 28, 2020 @02:46PM (#59665162) Journal

    I don't think I'd feel any worse staying in a room with Atari decor. As long as the hotel restaurant off the lobby isn't a Chuck E. Cheese -- which, for historical propriety, it should be.

  • And games love to get together and compete. (Score:4, Funny)

    by 110010001000 ( 697113 ) on Tuesday January 28, 2020 @02:46PM (#59665164) Homepage Journal

    Only the AI games.

  • Depends on a lot of things, IMO.... (Score:3)

    by King_TJ ( 85913 ) on Tuesday January 28, 2020 @02:51PM (#59665182) Journal

    I can definitely see ONE of these hotels doing great, as a novelty place to stay. Maybe as a "staple" for a tech-centric community (like parts of California) where you get a high percentage of "geek" types who fly in and book rooms for expos and conventions, tech training or seminars.

    I'm not sure it'll have long term success with multiple locations, though? I imagine the price will be a big factor. I mean, if it costs no more to stay at the "Atari" than at a boring old Comfort Inn or Quality Inn or something? Heck yeah, I'm in!

    I get the idea they'll want premium rates though, under the guise of you subsidizing all the gaming entertainment they've put in place.... That's going to make it kind of questionable if I'd pay for it after an initial visit.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rtb61 ( 674572 )

      I think LAN clubs would do better, not club rooms but night clubs, where adult gamers get together to game around a digital table top and have meals provided, like https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com], stepford mom mini meals delivered right to the gaming table top, people can game together at each booth and compete from booth to booth and from LAN Club room to LAN club room. Get geeks an nerds out of their homes (it is the failed douche jock straps who live in moms basement, the geeks and nerds go to universi

  • Remember... this is not the Atari you remember (Score:5, Informative)

    by seeker_1us ( 1203072 ) on Tuesday January 28, 2020 @02:54PM (#59665190)
    Atari is a company that bought the name and is trying all sorts of stuff to capitalize on it... including but not limited to the unreleased Atari Watches and the as of yet unreleased Atari Box/VCS.
  • Being in a dark room with repetitive music and munching on pills... Pacman IRL

  • Too Ambitious (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Koby77 ( 992785 ) on Tuesday January 28, 2020 @03:22PM (#59665270)
    Some of these hotel locations might make sense for tournament event sites. But I doubt that very many of them will be successful. Mabye only Vegas and perhaps 2 others.

  • Not a chance (Score:3)

    by crgrace ( 220738 ) on Tuesday January 28, 2020 @03:41PM (#59665346)

    Atari is failing. All they are at this point is few mostly non-technical people who own some IP. They did a quasi-fraudulent Indiegogo campaign for the new VCS vaporware box (which will probably exist for sale at some point, but Atari massively under-delivered).

    I suspect his Hotel thing is a ruse to get someone to invest more in them. I would bet $100 this never happens. The guys running Atari are BS artists just shy of scammers.

  • Does this rag "inputmag" have worse editors than Slashdot? "And games love to get together and compete."
    I have to admit, I've never seen a game itself compete... (Maybe if it were some kind of anthropomorphication? A fighting game box?)
  • the holding company that owns the shambling corpse that was Atari licensed out the brand. Slight difference.
  • "And games love to get together and compete." and all your bases are belong to us.

  • IF removed from room will be billed X2 retail cost

  • Are they really? (Score:3)

    by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Tuesday January 28, 2020 @04:17PM (#59665494)
    Or is it more likely that Atari just licenced their defunct brand to some poor asshole who wants to open a chain of hotels and wants a gimmick to sell the idea?
  • This just reminds me of some big advertisement or whatever from Howard Johnson (I think? I feel like the commercials were also calling it HoJo's for short?) in the 90s where they said they had Sega Genesis with Sonic the Hedgehog in their hotel rooms. I kept pestering my parents to take us on a vacation in one as a result..... never happened.... but what a good way to get kids to guilt their parents or whatever!
  • That's just some company no one has ever heard of that bought the name "atari."

  • I'm part of their demographic... My first video game system was an Atari 2600. Do you know what I don't do? Go on a vacation in another city to stay in the hotel playing video games. The people that would want to do that aren't able to afford to go on vacation and stay in your hotel.

    They should have done this at like Disney World or Six Flags... somewhere you're going on a family trip anyway and it could be a cool gimmick before breakfast and before bed.

    • I'm NOT old enough for Atari (tail of NES for me) but I spent literally over 200 days last year away from home for work and leisure and certainly could afford and wouldn't mind a gamer-themed place... Though usually, I just jack into whatever TV is around and run something off my laptop.

      Even bucketlist caliber places get tiresome eventually... Six Panama canal crossings in three months. I napped through the last one.

  • I don't see an issue as long as it's a decent hotel that happens to have a video game theme. I know if I drove down to Austin and had to pick between a generic hotel and an Atari themed one for about the same price, I'd be sleeping in a RoadBlasters themed bed.

    • What if it turned out to be the Night Driver suite? Or Battlezone? Red Baron? Sprint? Or that crappy black and white football game with the trackballs? A lot of Atari's most memorable games had TERRIBLE graphics, sounds, or story lines, and the younger generations wont stand for them. The only generations that they hold appeal for are the older ones who actually played the games.

      So, in order to make money, this *ATARI* hotel will need to license game designs from other companies (maybe not even arcade game

  • a better idea (Score:4, Funny)

    by soft_guy ( 534437 ) * on Tuesday January 28, 2020 @11:00PM (#59666592)
    If they wanted to do something truly great with the Atari brand, they would finish the Atari 1450XLD project and bring it to market. My parents promised to buy me one as soon as they were available. That was 36 years ago. I still am waiting to have a computer with speech synthesis, a 300 baud modem, and a floppy drive all built-in! No more cables running everywhere to connect all these separate things.

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