Tech Star Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 You may know him from his Zero Punctuation reviews. The sarcastic, witty, misanthropic gaming icon is working with 3 of his friends and colleagues to open Mana Bar which will be opening at the beginning of February. Mana Bar will be Australia’s first Next-Gen gaming bar and does it aim to please (no pun intended).The bar will allow visitors to drink while enjoying the latest video games. The bar features a gamer friendly atmosphere with multiple LCD monitors on the wall each equiped with the latest Next Gen consoles. You even have the option of playing games that haven’t been released to the general public yet. The best part is that Admission and gaming itself is all free. Just pay for your drinks! Direct from their site: Opening in February 2010 in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane – Australia, the Mana Bar is the first venue of it’s type. Featuring the latest in next generation video game systems available to play 7 days a week with the latest, greatest, and most social games available. You’ll even be able to play games before they’re released! It’s not just the games though, first and foremost the Mana Bar will be one of Brisbane’s most funky drinking venues, with a unique selection of drinks and custom cocktails on offer. Guy ‘Yug’ Blomberg, Ben ‘Yahtzee’ Croshaw, Pras Moorthy, and Shay Leighton will be opening the Mana Bar at Fortitude Valley in Brisbane next month. News Source: Explict Gamer Looks interesting. I would like to go to something like this, if there was any in California, USA. But a question, like a regular bar, why not have a drink at home and play at home? Experience? Socializing aspect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 But a question, like a regular bar, why not have a drink at home and play at home? Experience? Socializing aspect? You even have the option of playing games that haven’t been released to the general public yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Star Posted January 14, 2010 Author Share Posted January 14, 2010 I know that...but other than that and the "fancy" cocktails...what's the awesomeness about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt B Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 will check it out when it opens, hopefully it makes the valley suck less... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vandalsquad Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 Well visit.. new concept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watchthisspace Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 Cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hackdoom Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 (edited) In my opinion, it's a cool idea, but mostly because of the exclusivity of playing unreleased (to the general public) games! Edited January 14, 2010 by CrownedClown03 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raa Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 Man, i've so gotta goto that now! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookie Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 As I said on twitter will be shut down in 6 months imo due to it being an absolute **** fest. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LOC Veteran Posted January 14, 2010 Veteran Share Posted January 14, 2010 What's the matter, not gonna have any PC's set up Yahtzee? FAILBOAT :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 What's the matter, not gonna have any PC's set up Yahtzee? FAILBOAT :( we all know what happens when people use the computer while drunk... there's a reason why people asked Google to implement a maths question you had to solve before you could send email, using a computer drunk is something like driving under the influence... consoles however, theyre pick up and play... much safer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smigit Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 about 5 mins from where I live so I'll give it a go I guess sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t0mbi Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 HAHA this won't make the valley any cooler. It will be the lame bar where none of Brisbane's hot chicks will venture into considering it's around the corner from the met and mystique :p but will def check it out lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MightyJordan Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 I really hope The Mana Bar is successful, because if it is, it might prompt other people to open gaming bars around the world. It's a really good concept, and I'd like to see it grow outside of Australia. Don't forget your fellow Brits, Yahtzee! :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emberstrife Posted January 22, 2010 Share Posted January 22, 2010 consoles however, theyre pick up and play... much safer... Unless it's a Wii. Then you might end up with a giant crack in your TV after playing WiiSports. I presume usage of the Wii, if present, will be limited to sober and emotionally stable people only, in order to avoid the controller being used as a club or projectile weapon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smigit Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 I presume usage of the Wii, if present, will be limited to sober and emotionally stable people only, in order to avoid the controller being used as a club or projectile weapon. You can throw an Xbox or PS3 remote as well if drunk and wanting to use it as a club or a projectile weapon. Hell you can use a bottle you get at a bar to do that too. I'm sure they'll chain things down anyway to some extent just to stop theft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadrack Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 There is a gamer bar here (surprisingly in this small POS town) called CodeRed. I have only gone when my friends bands is playing. Interesting atmosphere. I like the idea but it seems like it would mostly be a ****-party. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smigit Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Thought some people may be interested at what it was like having just got back from the opening day. Anyway it opened at 12 I think in the afternoon and me and my friend had planned to meet at 1. Perhaps stupidly I assumed I could get away with casual clothes as you can with most places at that time of the day usually. Anyway I was too casual so said I'd need to change my pants so I had to skip home to do that (maybe 30 mins from where I live so no biggie). Returned and got back in line (before my friend had arrived too despite me having to go back home to change). Anyway the big problem with this venue, at least tonight, is its size. It's small...real small. Perhaps the size of my living room. I'm sure things will be ok in the future but you aren't fitting more than around 5 - 750 people in there and I may be being generous with that count too. The other issue is that because they provide entertainment in the form of games you have people staying after theyve finished drinking just to play the games and socialise. Again, I'm sure this will become irrelevant later but today what it resulted in was a line that wasn't moving as there was simply too many people and the rate they were leaving was quite slow. It took at least 90 mins to get into the venue from the point of time I got back again after changing and about two and a half hours since my original arrival. Normally I wouldnt do this but it was just for the social aspect of it. Anyway the staff was nice and they were handing out freebies. I got a free Borderlands cap after coming back when the bouncer recognised me and thanked me for returning and a few people I was with got notebooks and Bioshock shirts and the like. I think later they handed out COG tags and a local pizza place was giving away pizza. Anyway inside due to the size there wasnt that many gaming setups. Five to be exact, four with XBox 360's and another with a Wii. The consoles were behind the bar and it looked to have half a dozen 360's and Wii's that they could use but no sign of any PS3's (sorry Sony fans). Played a yet to be released game called Raskulls or something on the XBox which was fun (it was a dev machine and at one point it crashed with some nice looking memory dumps too which was novel to us all)...won two of the four rounds I played. Could be a fun party game when its eventually released. They had a guitar hero comp where you could challenge Yahtzee and a Fifa 2010 comp at some other time. Street Fighter 4 was going as was Wii Sports and Just Cause 2 was there at some point too but got taken down (probably to swap it with a multiplayer game). Drink wise it was standard fare although they did have about five cocktails with some gaming related names. Off my head things like "Mana Potion", "Ocarina Of Lime", "Princess Peach" and I forget the rest. Anyway nice venue and everyone was having a blast. Will go back sometime when its a bit more quiet. Ohh and there was some alright looking Cosplay going on by some people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smigit Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Ohh and two of the better costumes they had going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCordRm Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 Seriously... if you can't get laid there, you suck. :) Sounds like a blast to me, especially if they had a LAN setup going. Some people scoff at this, but for those of us old enough to remember the arcades of the 80's, this is simply the next evolutionary step. These things can, and will, take off. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing technology open up for this market: liquid-proof keyboards, for example. P.S. Isn't it amazing how I used to be an outcast for playing dress-up and role-playing, but now just about everyone wants a piece? hehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argi Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 @Smigit: Cool review -??I just wana know what those blue mana drinks taste like. :p ?I guess the place would be rather small since it's a niche venue and it's like their first big investment. ?No doubt it'll settle down a bit a bit after the launch event and I'll definitely have to check it out the next time I'm in Brisbane. :)? ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smigit Posted March 21, 2010 Share Posted March 21, 2010 I didn't try the blue one but by all accounts other people said they were quite nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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