May 30, 2005

Another Chuck E. Cheese?

The father of the game industry is at it again. Nolan Bushnell, the creator of Pong, Atari, and Chuck E. Cheese is set to start another video game restaurant experience. I think it's a pretty cool idea that might work. I mean in Korea, internet gaming cafes, have taken over the country. Why couldn't networked gaming be a socializing experience between a sip of soda and a burger?

Imagine a Chuck E. Cheese for grown-ups—with booze and Caesar salads instead of balloons and singing animatrons. Bushnell has built "party tables" where six customers can play each other in the same game, and tournaments where diners in any of the restaurants in the chain can compete against each other in a single contest such as Texas Hold 'Em. Bushnell says he will open the first restaurant this fall in Los Angeles.