10 jayplay.
thursday, september 4, 2003
LET THE GAMES
AdrenaLAN offers a new kind of high-tech, high-energy
Gamers gear up for a Counter-Strike tournament at AdrenaLAN Gaming Center, 833 Ohio St. This is one of three tournament rooms, but it is the only one where gamers can bring in their own computer. Eric Braem/Kansan
By Andrew Ward and Kim Elsham award@kansan.com and kelsham@kansan.com Jayplay writers
AdrenaLAN Gaming Center, 833 Ohio St., Suite B, is Lawrence's newest computer and console gaming center. It opened for business June I and has established a good reputation among local high-schoolage computer gamers. AdrenaLAN is the brainchild of Tim Newman, Lawrence graduate student; Doug Herbers, Lawrence graduate student and Steve Pennington, Seneca graduate student. Herbers said the three gaming fans recognized the local interest in gaming and the potential for a successful gaming center in Lawrence.
The group scouted gaming centers in Olathe and Columbia, Mo., and noticed that most venues were comic book retailers first, gaming centers second. In Columbia, the gaming center is near the University of Missouri campus. Newman, Herbers and Pennington noticed its success and decided a similar center in Lawrence could prosper as well. The group drew up a 15-page business plan, secured financial backing from friends, family and a bank, and opened AdrenaLAN.
a bank, and opened.
AdrenaLAN is the only gaming center in Lawrence. The Battlezone, at Clinton Parkway and Wakarusa Street, sold comics and card games but had a small gaming area in the back of the store, but it went out of business.
Andy Lowder, Lawrence High School senior, says The Battlezone was disorganized and the customers were different than AdrenaLAN's. "We're high-tech, we take showers," Lowder says.
Upon entering, four 57-inch
high-definition televisions stare back at you. Imagine your rich friend's basement. The sets are high-dollar items and proof that the guys at AdrenaLAN aren't fooling around. A black leather couch graces each television. Four Xboxes, one for each television, accommodate four players each. The Xboxes are networked so that 16 players can compete in multiplayer games such as Halo. A lone PlayStation 2 is also available.
AdrenaLAN offers more than just gaming consoles, twelve networked computers give gamers the chance to play popular games, such as Half-Life, Battlefield 1942 and Unreal Tournament 2003. AdrenaLAN also installed Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat and Desert Combat, three of the most popular modifications available.Modifications, or mods, are additions to computer games that change the way the original game plays.The gaming community creates most mods, although the mod Team Fortress Classic for Half-Life, was released by the original game developer, Valve.
AdrenaLAN has ambiance astonishing for a place filled with computers and electronics. The main room is dimly lit with
torchieres, the upside-down lamps that sometimes grace hipster bars, and blue light emanates from the two computers sitting against the north wall. The south and east walls are dark blue with a horizontal gray stripe running the length of each wall. Trading Spaces afficionados would do well to check it out before tackling a home theater.
The patrons of AdrenaLAN aren't the stereotypical computer freaks. Lowder, a frequent AdrenaLAN patron, says people from a variety of social groups come to AdrenaLAN. "Tons of people play these games, not just
the hard-core gamers," Lowder says. "You can come in here and see-preps, skaters, punks — anybody." Lowder says his friends told him about AdrenaLAN and now they go about three times a week to play, or simply hang out.
AdrenaLAN hosts monthly LAN parties to attract new customers and provide a fun gaming atmosphere. Newman says as many as 45 people have set up in the BYOC, bring your own computer, room and the competition gets hot. "A lot of people will play for the entire weekend and just crash in the hallways. It's almost a little community." Newman says.