LAN gaming centre opened in Hyderabad

A first-of-its-kind local area network (LAN) gaming centre in the city was opened yesterday. Promoted by Abhishek Rathi, this new gaming centre has been christened as Frag "� a slang for battles.

The LAN gaming concept is growing fast in the country with enthusiasts in the cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore taking to the games in a big way. At present, the LAN gaming business is estimated to be around Rs 40 crore a year and is expected to grow at a rate of over 100 per cent in the next few years.

Rathi said that unlike in the normal computer games where a pre-programmed software exists, in LAN games, various systems are connected through a highly advanced wires capable of transferring data and images at a very high speed. "Till now only Reliance and Sify provided this type of facility, where one can surf the net and use the system for other purposes also. But at Frag, it is only a gaming zone," he said.

At Frag, there are 21 systems which are inter-connected. Even if all the players are playing the same game, each one could compete against each other. "At present, we are launching six games and two more are in the pipeline. We would be upgrading the games as and when the new softwares are launched in the market," Rathi said.

"We have invested close to Rs 20 lakh and are also planning to introduce console gaming, 3-dimensional gaming in the centre soon," he said. Rathi said that plans were being worked out to connect the games through the Internet so that customers can compete with many others across the world.

"At the moment, we do not have internet attached to any of the systems but as soon as high speed connectivity is available we would be able to compete with others in the world," he said.

According to him, a T-1 line or data transfer rate of 15,000 kbps is necessary before the gaming concept can be played on a global platform. "We expect close to 100 visitors a day and this could go up on weekends. Customers would be charged Rs 40 per hour," he said.