Gaming Holiday: Hotels with Wicked Gaming Setups
Holidays seem like a thing in the past. But it will come back and when it does, prepare yourself with this list. Or, if you are mobile enough to travel across borders during the pandemic, you no longer have to worry about the quarantine period because it will be awesome!
By Nathalie
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THE BEGINNING
Image: Etsy
In the height of the Sega-Nintendo console wars in the early 90s, these video game companies spread over different industries to conquer the market. Nintendo installed a system in different airplanes and tied up with LodgeNet to give access to certain hotels. Sega on the other hand did a summer promotion stunt, tied with American Hotel and Motel chain Howard Johnson’s called Kids Go HoJo with Sega. They provided them with portable video game consoles, a library of video game titles, free VHS Sega cassettes, and some collectible items. It was a dream for every gamer back then. The venture ran from ‘93-’95 in the USA and Canada.
THE NOW
Video games became more competitive and more realistic. The gaming setups are more powerful and customizable. Esports is bigger with the audience and cash prize. And, hotels are more dedicated than ever. Let us take a look at these hotels with awesome gaming setups ideal for the perfect gaming holiday…or quarantine.
Arcade Hotel (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Image: The Arcade Hotel
This hotel is dubbed as the world’s first gaming hotel. They offer different kinds of rooms depending on the size and how many of you want to share the room. Every room is equipped with a modern console and a retro one. Yes, you get two consoles regardless of which room you book. Imagine playing the 1987 awardee Out Run how it was played back then. Then, you also get a state of the art headset with no extra charge; plus, as the hotel stated on their website, “a kick-ass internet connection.”
What most people find very attractive in this hotel, however, is their Game Room. It features 6 gaming PCs, different video game consoles, a VR section, and a Coin-op Arcade section. This particular room can also be rented separately for events even during the pandemic granted that everyone follows the health protocols. Or better yet, rent out this room to quarantine. Who needs beds if you have that gaming setup?
iHotel (Zhongli, Taiwan)
Image: The Culture Trip
Image: Average Joes
Remember the nostalgia when Sega did that summer promotion in ‘93 with all those inclusions? This is the resurrection of that feeling but bigger because the whole hotel is a gamer’s dream “getaway.” The lobby itself is an arena packed with 12 high-performance gaming PCs with high-end gaming chairs from DXRacer. Apparently, Australia’s Blank Esports team stayed for two months during an Overwatch Contenders event in this hotel and practically did not leave the lobby. And that’s just the lobby.
Their standard rooms are equipped with sound isolating doors, 55” 4K Ultra HD TV, international wall plug outlets, and 2 separate wicked gaming setups. It includes 2 32-inch Asus monitors, DXRacer gaming chairs, rigs with GeForce GTX 1080ti video cards, 16GB RAM, 10TB local storage and a boot drive so you do not have to worry when you checkout and forget to sign out. In the room you will also find a dedicated wifi access point, a bar fridge, and japanese-style toilet with heating and the whole shebang. The hotel also has door type rooms and a room ideal for your own team with 4 capsule-like beds and 6 gaming setups. Wicked!
e-Zone Cyber Space Hotel (Osaka, Japan)
Image: One Esports
Image: Esports.net
The newest hotel to join the gamers hotel club opened summer of last year in time for the initial opening of the XXXII Summer Olympics which is now rescheduled for this year. The esports hotel is a 9-story building of 94 rooms with 71 high-performance gaming setups around the hotel. The first 3 floors are dedicated as esports arenas with gaming setups built and designed for professional gaming.
The first floor can also serve as a hall for major esports events and tournaments. In terms of the rooms, fourth to sixth floors are reserved for male and the eighth floor is reserved for female gamers. These floors have capsule-type dorm room arrangement. The private rooms with professional grade gaming setups are situated on the seventh floor with two types of room setups available: professional esports athlete and casual gamer. Like the previous hotels, they are open but strict health protocols are observed and no one with fever and cough are allowed in the premises.
Alienware room of Hilton Panama
Image: Homecrux
If you are going on a family holiday, and a fancy one, the previous hotels would not cut it. Hilton Panama’s Room 2425 may just be the perfect hotel to book. You get to have an awesome room with Alienware wicked gaming setup and the rest of the family can enjoy the view and the other facilities at Hilton Panama…without you; Win-Win.
When the Alienware game room was launched in 2018, it already had: Alienware PC equipped with Intel Core i7-8700 processor, 32GB DDR4 RAM, Windows 10 Pro OS, and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080ti; a 65-inch 4K OLED TV paired with a 5.1 surround sound system, a pair of XBox One Elite controllers and Oculus Rift headset; an Alienware 34-inch monitor on a separate table; and, an Alienware 15” laptop with Intel Core i7-7700HQ Quad-Core, 32GB DDR4 RAM, Windows 10 Pro OS, and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 GPU. In the middle of all of this sits a gaming chair with tech developed by NASA to adapt to fluctuating temperature. AND THEN, on top of all of this is an Alienware Effects system that adjusts the rooms lighting depending on the game’s genre. Imagine playing Resident Evil Village in that room! …or any of the Top 15 Horror Games.
THE FUTURE
Atari Hotel (Las Vegas, USA)
Image: Travel + Leisure
Atari Hotels partnered with GSD Group to bring all gamers of all ages an experience that is both reminiscent and futuristic. The project is set to open first in Las Vegas in 2022 and in Arizona after that. The plan is to make 8 different Atari Hotels across the USA beaming with neon lights and an A-shape Atari logo facade.
According to Napoleon Smith III, a managing partner at GSD Group, the rooms will be equipped with access to different gaming consoles, a huge library of games, large-screen TVs, high speed internet connection, and 24/7 tech support. So if anything breaks down or you need a new controller, you will get it ASAP. Their idea is once you go in, you do not want to leave again. So basically a hotel like that one from Maze Runner where people had no idea they were there for decades…which really isn’t so bad.
These hotels have stepped up the game since Sega’s summer promotion. The only thing missing is what The Staybridge Suites in London got right from the beginning. Their Game Pad in 2013 also came fully stocked with pizzas, snacks, beers and different sorts of drinks. Now that’s a deal!
At the end of the day, we do not need a vacation to enjoy these gaming setups. You can have a forever vacation at home in the comforts of your game room with endless possibilities to customize your space.
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