6/03/2005
Dinner Comes With a Side of Games
By Rachel Metz
02:00 AM Jun. 03, 2005 PT
Pong creator and Atari founder Nolan Bushnell thinks adults just want to have fun. In fact, he's banking on it.
Bushnell and his company, uWink, are preparing to open a video-game-themed restaurant aimed at adults in Los Angeles this fall.
Called the uWink Media Bistro, the eatery will allow customers to play video games, catch up on internet-based entertainment and order food via flat-panel displays angled over each table. At the restaurant's bar, screens will be projected onto tabletops. Visitors will be able to play networked games with everyone in the entire restaurant, according to Bushnell.
"This is going to be about meeting new people and having fun competing or cooperating," he said. "All of a sudden, you'll find people you've never known on your team. And you can talk to them or not -- that's OK -- but there's some kind of social component to it," he said.
The idea came to Bushnell about 10 years ago, but at the time the technology wasn't quite right and the business looked like it would be too expensive, he said.
So, for the past several years, uWink has been developing video-game consoles that can fulfill his goal. These machines can be monitored remotely from company headquarters, so any problems that arise or updates that need to be made can be accomplished with the push of a button, Bushnell said. Everything is connected via the internet and a virtual private network, and will be heavily encrypted to deter hackers. The technology is geared toward churning out a chain of the establishments.
This won't be Bushnell's first foray into the food business: He founded the Chuck E. Cheese's family restaurant chain in the 1970s.
That chain was aimed at kids. But Bushnell will face some competition on the video-games-and-dining-for-adults scene. At least one chain -- Texas-based Dave & Buster's -- already has plenty of restaurants offering diners various types of entertainment, including video games.
Bushnell said his concept is "tremendously different."
"Dave & Buster's is a huge place, but it's extremely isolating," he said.
Jay Horwitz, a senior analyst with JupiterResearch who covers video games, disagrees.
"I think (the concept) pretty much already exists, and I'm not sure what's different except it's from a video-game originator and somebody who had massive success with the same concept in a different time and with a different age group," he said.
As for Bushnell's claim that the restaurant setting will make gaming a more social activity, Horwitz counters it's already very social, saying the true mass-market game category is web-based games played with others using personal computers.
If consumers do flock to the uWink Media Bistro, one person is concerned about the impact it could have on her business. Laurel Touby, founder and CEO of mediabistro.com, a website that offers media news, employment listings, classes for media professionals and the media association AvantGuild, said she was aghast when she found out about the restaurant.
"I mean, here was something I'd spent years of my life building and it looked like someone else was trying to capitalize on it," she said.
Touby thinks people will be confused about the difference between the two businesses. She's even thought of opening her own restaurant-type business for media professionals, she said.
Touby said she has the phrase "Media Bistro" trademarked, and a search on the United States Patent and Trademark Office's website shows the phrase was registered to her in April 2002.
That the establishment is slated to have the word "uWink" before "Media Bistro" doesn't matter to Touby. She's not sure if she'll take legal action against uWink.
"I haven't evaluated all my options yet. I'm looking into everything, and frankly I'm just very frightened that this is going to dilute my brand," she said, adding, "I'm hoping (Bushnell will) have the decency and the gentlemanliness to reconsider the name he's chosen."
Bushnell said he chose the word "media" because he wanted to let people know the business had to do with games, movies and music videos, and "bistro" because it sounded more playful than "cafe" or "restaurant."
Alissa Bushnell, his daughter and uWink spokeswoman, said while they'd known about mediabistro.com, she doesn't expect any conflict "because it's very clearly identified as uWink."
Said Nolan Bushnell, "I just wanted people to be curious: What is a media bistro?"
02:00 AM Jun. 03, 2005 PT
Pong creator and Atari founder Nolan Bushnell thinks adults just want to have fun. In fact, he's banking on it.
Bushnell and his company, uWink, are preparing to open a video-game-themed restaurant aimed at adults in Los Angeles this fall.
Called the uWink Media Bistro, the eatery will allow customers to play video games, catch up on internet-based entertainment and order food via flat-panel displays angled over each table. At the restaurant's bar, screens will be projected onto tabletops. Visitors will be able to play networked games with everyone in the entire restaurant, according to Bushnell.
"This is going to be about meeting new people and having fun competing or cooperating," he said. "All of a sudden, you'll find people you've never known on your team. And you can talk to them or not -- that's OK -- but there's some kind of social component to it," he said.
The idea came to Bushnell about 10 years ago, but at the time the technology wasn't quite right and the business looked like it would be too expensive, he said.
So, for the past several years, uWink has been developing video-game consoles that can fulfill his goal. These machines can be monitored remotely from company headquarters, so any problems that arise or updates that need to be made can be accomplished with the push of a button, Bushnell said. Everything is connected via the internet and a virtual private network, and will be heavily encrypted to deter hackers. The technology is geared toward churning out a chain of the establishments.
This won't be Bushnell's first foray into the food business: He founded the Chuck E. Cheese's family restaurant chain in the 1970s.
That chain was aimed at kids. But Bushnell will face some competition on the video-games-and-dining-for-adults scene. At least one chain -- Texas-based Dave & Buster's -- already has plenty of restaurants offering diners various types of entertainment, including video games.
Bushnell said his concept is "tremendously different."
"Dave & Buster's is a huge place, but it's extremely isolating," he said.
Jay Horwitz, a senior analyst with JupiterResearch who covers video games, disagrees.
"I think (the concept) pretty much already exists, and I'm not sure what's different except it's from a video-game originator and somebody who had massive success with the same concept in a different time and with a different age group," he said.
As for Bushnell's claim that the restaurant setting will make gaming a more social activity, Horwitz counters it's already very social, saying the true mass-market game category is web-based games played with others using personal computers.
If consumers do flock to the uWink Media Bistro, one person is concerned about the impact it could have on her business. Laurel Touby, founder and CEO of mediabistro.com, a website that offers media news, employment listings, classes for media professionals and the media association AvantGuild, said she was aghast when she found out about the restaurant.
"I mean, here was something I'd spent years of my life building and it looked like someone else was trying to capitalize on it," she said.
Touby thinks people will be confused about the difference between the two businesses. She's even thought of opening her own restaurant-type business for media professionals, she said.
Touby said she has the phrase "Media Bistro" trademarked, and a search on the United States Patent and Trademark Office's website shows the phrase was registered to her in April 2002.
That the establishment is slated to have the word "uWink" before "Media Bistro" doesn't matter to Touby. She's not sure if she'll take legal action against uWink.
"I haven't evaluated all my options yet. I'm looking into everything, and frankly I'm just very frightened that this is going to dilute my brand," she said, adding, "I'm hoping (Bushnell will) have the decency and the gentlemanliness to reconsider the name he's chosen."
Bushnell said he chose the word "media" because he wanted to let people know the business had to do with games, movies and music videos, and "bistro" because it sounded more playful than "cafe" or "restaurant."
Alissa Bushnell, his daughter and uWink spokeswoman, said while they'd known about mediabistro.com, she doesn't expect any conflict "because it's very clearly identified as uWink."
Said Nolan Bushnell, "I just wanted people to be curious: What is a media bistro?"
