Medicine Hat Media

Upcoming Business, Empire Gaming

Richard Rose seen here with fiancé Shirma Dewis and daughter Mikyla - Photography by Ian Sorensen, Medicine Hat News

Richard Rose with fiancé Shirma Dewis and daughter Mikyla - Photography by Ian Sorensen, Medicine Hat News

Richard Rose is taking the steps that too many people thought would be a good idea but never dared to tread. He has big plans to open up a video gaming center in our own Medicine Hat, up till now there has been no such thing combining all the latest consoles and PC gaming, and even in bigger city centers like Calgary or Toronto, places that do both console and PC gaming are rare.

The name of this establishment will be Empire Gaming and its location will reside at 104-7 Strachan Bay SE, with an anticipated opening date of mid-August. There is currently a Facebook group, “Gamers of Medicine Hat”, which will have updates on progress and upcoming events. The fee is expected to be around $5 an hour, and a yearly membership can be purchased anywhere from $50-$70 which will give special offers and discounts – it does not offer free play. The hours of operation will be 9:00AM – 9:00PM every day of week for the first couple weeks, after such time, changes will occur. There will also be all night events and tournaments scheduled later on.

Carrying all top of the line consoles, there will be 2 Wiis, 2 PS3s, 13 Xbox 360s and 20 PCs. The reason for these ratios is due to the amount of games per console dedicated to multi-player gaming. It is definitely an all-out experience, the Wii’s will have 92″ projector screens with surround sound and sub woofers.

So far all the feedback has been positive and encouraging except for one remark to the effect of “Why pay for something you can do at home for free?”. Well, I’m certainly not rich enough to afford all the consoles or even the high-end gaming computers they have, but it isn’t even so much about that. I’m certain with the opening we will see that gamers really are social people and just haven’t been given the proper opportunities. As a gamer myself, I think it’s very difficult to find friends with similar interests simply because – all those people are in their basements gaming themselves to play on a common stereotype.

The Empire Gaming environment gives a lead in for social networking, although it is a place for everyone of all ages, it provides our youth with a place to “stay out of trouble”. There is a heavy emphasis for influencing a positive environment and actually bringing people closer together. For example, imagine it’s the kids from Crescent Heights High School vs. McCoy, people who may have had nothing to do with each other from one school would then find things in common and begin to work together and make new friends. Rose also comments how he is interested in the idea of playing schools against each other, but also mixing it up to encourage this friendship aspect.

Counter-Strike

Counter-Strike

Tournaments are a definite must, the most popular games will have regular tournaments and some games can be recommended. There is also thought being given to “Wii Workout Days” using the Wii Fit with a crowd looking for a gaming workout. Tons of games will be in stock as well as being able to get games in through multiple requests. There is consideration for all night LAN parties, the computers are all top of the line, best playing experience guaranteed. Also, days dedicated to “old school” gaming with games such as Counter Strike and Warcraft 1/2/3.

A system will be in place for monitoring who is playing what games on PC. A person will first need to make an account, which will have their age verified. When they go to log in the games, someone who is too young for a certain rating won’t even see the game choice listings for higher rated games. Another super neat feature is if someone is playing a game, they can minimize it and actually order food through the computer, this is to save the game time people are paying for – and it will be brought to you. Initially there will mostly be chips and pop, but for larger events pizza or subs might be ordered in. The location provides people with other options however, there are many places nearby such as Edo Japan, Mucho Burrito, Subway and Dairy Queen.

Jordan José Barrantes, from Mccoy High School puts out the challenge to all gamers with his comment, “I bet i could own all of you in every game ever made”. That’s right everyone, he’s talking to you, are you going to let him get away with him get away with that?

Information including logo, website, schedules, photography will all be appended to this article as they become available for the public.

Gamers of Medicine Hat Facebook Group

User Comments

4 Responses to “Upcoming Business, Empire Gaming”

  1. June 17th, 2009 at 12:48 PM


    Sean says:

    I’m kind of skeptical as to the validity of there actually being a Warcraft 1 thing going on there, because the game only supported multiplayer via modem (dialup), serial link, and IPX networks. Plus needing DOS emulators to run it. Warcraft 2, at least, had a Battle.net version released.

    I do think though that a “Wii Fit” night would be a pretty big thing with a lot of people. And in regards to “Why pay for something you can do at home?”, not only do most people not have every console, but who has 92″ screens at home? Great for birthday parties.

    I bet Jordan Jose Barrantes couldn’t beat people at the old school 2-dimensional games that us older gamers grew up with. Who beat Super Mario World for Gameboy every single day in English class in Grade 12? Me.

  2. June 17th, 2009 at 4:04 PM


    Vaughn says:

    Ya, Warcraft 2/3 would probably be more likely, but I will also wager that Starcraft would be an insanely more popular choice.

    Super Mario World? “Oh Daisy!”

  3. June 17th, 2009 at 10:26 PM


    Mark says:

    The number one complaint I’ve heard over and over the last 8 years of living here is there isn’t anything beyond Golfing and hitting the bars for “fun”. Well, this will give people something else to do.

    Plus, lan parties are great.

  4. August 12th, 2009 at 9:58 PM


    Sean O'Neill says:

    With Warcraft 2, you could probably just play the Playstation version, but I’m not sure if there’s multiplayer.

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