Are there any devices to monitor console hardwares.

mwarsame

mwarsame

mwarsame

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Hi guys

I couldn't think of a better relevant section to put this under however i am presuming this is the best place.

I am opening up a gaming cafe, in which all gaming stations will be contain a xbox 360 + PS3 and a 42" LCD TV. Everything is in place, however as i won't be in the premises 24/7 i won't be able to monitor how many people come in and out of the cafe.

If for instance 100 people came that day and paid for an hour session, the store manager could say 40 people came that day and could intentionally steal 60 peoples worth of money.

I'm looking for a device or a solution that can monitor how many games is played on the console and records it as a form of database which can not be messed with.

This concept differs from a typical store which sells stuff as you can easily monitor and control whats sold per that day this means a store manager can not deceive you.

Thanks.
 
Plainsong said:
Attach token based timers to the consoles or TVs. Buy a token, play until it runs out.
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You could make it some sort of passthrough system.

Wired Controller => Token Machine => Console

That way when the token runs out, the power to the controller drops off and they have to either buy another token or leave!

Would also probably stop people walking off with wireless controllers and not having to worry about 50 controllers potentially interfering with each other.
 
mwarsame said:
Ah this is great idea.

Are there any decent token systems that reports how many time it's been used?
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If your only way of accessing the console was through the purchasing of a token you would know how many tokens had been used - and therefore usage - purely from your receipts.

There is a 'PlayLimit TV & Video Game Timer' on Amazon (I just Googled it) which is kind of what I am talking about.

Anyway, worth investigating!
 
I bought a rent-to-buy TV years ago which had a device on it that was purely an electricity cut-off from the TV, through the device and into the mains. Stick a quid in and it gives you TV until it runs out. End of the month the guy comes round and empties it and that's how you pay for your TV. The device can be time configured so you could set it to say £3 per hour or whatever. I don't know how you would handle the receipts but again, worth looking into.

Whatever you set the timer to just add up the money and there's your recorded usage.
 
jimbob27 said:
Plug all the xboxes into some sort of power usage monitor, and then do some maths to work out how many consoles have been on and for how long.
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Wouldn't be reliable.

I'd be reluctant to have the consoles attached to any kind of device that will cut power to them, it won't be good for the hardware. The PS3 especially dislikes being turned off improperly.
 
only way the token thing will work is if thats automated too, but if youre going to do that you may aswell look at putting a box on each station that accepts money directly.
youd be best set to have some sort of video recorder in place that you can use to count people coming and going and for how long.
you cant tamper with a video and if the guy you cant trust yet knows hes being recorded it might turn him off doing anything shady
 
I don't know how big your shop is and I've no experience of using lots of consoles in one place but my PS3 controller seems to work from just about anywhere. My point being, it might be possible to have all the consoles under the counter and only the TVs on display. Then, if you went for the cutting the power/token option, you could just cut the power to the TV.

I think.
 
Slightly off topic, but is there really a market for this type of thing anymore?

Other than your massive LANs/Expo's I thought it had mostly died off and even those were struggling.
 
use coin or token meters on the TV's as has been said then you can read the usage count off the machine and compare to receipts and since it only cuts off the TV players can get another token and resume. Be highly surprised if this works as a business model these days but im sure youve done your plan, best of luck!
 
If everyone uses wired pads you can rig up the pads to turn off when the TV turns off (cut the 5v power to USB) and it will pause the game for them (tell them to reconnect the controller), letting them resume when they top up.
 
AHarvey said:
Slightly off topic, but is there really a market for this type of thing anymore?

Other than your massive LANs/Expo's I thought it had mostly died off and even those were struggling.
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I was thinking that.

Only place I recall seeing doing that today is the Gamerbase in London Trocadero. That however is part of HMV so they have quite a bit of money to throw at it, even if its not making much in the way of profit. Last time I walked past it in an evening, there was barely anybody in there.

A number of the other stores in London have converted their large shops into areas where you can try out games for free, again HMV seems to be leading the way with that one, more so than GAME's flagship store.

I would think there probably isn't the same market for playing games competitively in person as doing so at home is so easy these days. Kids who are likely the main market probably want to put their pocket money towards games and existing online services.

In all honesty though, to run it properly, it sounds like you need some kind of custom solution that an IT specialist who deals with such things can do. Likely that is probably costly for a business model that is quite niche and so thus probably outweighs the profits you would make.
 
Have you also checked into the legal implications of using a PS3 or 360 for commercial purposes? I know the ones that are used in places where they are kept in a enclosed cab (student union bars, game stores etc) are supplied and provided by reseller/marketer are specially provided under licence conditions. Not to put a downer on it but you may have to seek permission and pay fees to ms/Sony for them to be used in such a way. Being used to try before you buy games is a different scenario.
 
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Skyline said:
Have you also checked into the legal implications of using a PS3 or 360 for commercial purposes? I know the ones that are used in places where they are kept in a enclosed cab (student union bars, game stores etc) are supplied and provided by reseller/marketer are specially provided under licence conditions. Not to put a downer on it but you may have to seek permission and pay fees to ms/Sony for them to be used in such a way. Being used to try before you buy games is a different scenario.
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Exactly what I was going to bring up; it's definitely something that you'll need to look into so as to avoid any possible lawsuits. I think that legally, this would be similar to showing movies i.e you can't show them in a public forum without express permission.
 
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