License for games at gaming parlor?

[harish_21_10]

Hey guys...my friend is planning to start a gaming parlor in Bangalore...just PC's for now...but he says that he would be needing some license to run the games coz the license that the games come with, do not allow a game to be used for commercial purpose...could someone help me understand the same and also a solution to it?

[vamsi_krishna]

You have to contact the distributor to acquire a commercial license. And I am sure that they will charge a bomb for that license.

[harish_21_10]

By distributors u mean any one who sells genuine game discs..like Croma, Reliance Digital or any other gaming store...right?

[shac]

Hmmm. I think your friend should start by contacting steam for their cafe program. They have some of the games he will want for his cafe (CS, HL2, TF2, etc) plus they are the most convenient service with more and more games available on it.
Just go to their website and check their cafe program.

After that he can go to other publishers if he needs to but steam's collection is pretty comprehensive IMO

[harish_21_10]

^^I did check out the cafe program from Steam...but he was also particular about games like Warcraft, Call of Duty, Halo, Fifa, etc...so if someone could help me with some contact no or some link for other publishers too...

[shac]

Contacting the indian distributors wont help. talk to the companies directly like EA. Contacting them is fairly easy. Just head over to their indian website and get the contact details from there.

As for warcraft, there is only one way to go about it or infact, any other game from blizzard.
Go to their website and make an account. They have started a steam-like system where you purchase the game online and after that you can just download it wherever you login via their client. So just email them with your cafe query after you create your account on battle.net (thats the service name)

I think COD:MW2 is available on steam. Please do check out ALL the titles steam offers, specially the action and RTS genres. As for the previous version, just contact the indian distributor since ubisoft/infinity ward does not have an indian office as such.

HALO was never formally released in India for the PC. Get it for the XBOX. no 2 ways about that. Halo 3 and subsequent series never came out for the PC anyway.

if someone could help me with some contact no or some link for other publishers too...

tell your friend that if hes serious about the idea, then he should take some initative.

Give me a proper list of game titles that your friend wants and i will be able to help you out better since the institute im studying at right now(doing game programming) opened up their own cafe to promote gaming in the area (I live in gurgaon. Literally no one knows about gaming here).
So i have a fair idea on how to go about the lisencing process( I can ask them on your behalf if you want, that is)

[harish_21_10]

Originally Posted by shac

Contacting the indian distributors wont help. talk to the companies directly like EA. Contacting them is fairly easy. Just head over to their indian website and get the contact details from there.

Dint find much at EA's site...did manage to send a question, but not sure if I sent it where I was suppose to...

Originally Posted by shac

As for warcraft, there is only one way to go about it or infact, any other game from blizzard.
Go to their website and make an account. They have started a steam-like system where you purchase the game online and after that you can just download it wherever you login via their client. So just email them with your cafe query after you create your account on battle.net (thats the service name)

Have already sent a mail to them earlier this afternoon...lets see when they reply..

Originally Posted by shac

I think COD:MW2 is available on steam. Please do check out ALL the titles steam offers, specially the action and RTS genres. As for the previous version, just contact the indian distributor since ubisoft/infinity ward does not have an indian office as such.

COD is not included in the games list provided by Steam...will have to look for some distributor I guess..

Originally Posted by shac

HALO was never formally released in India for the PC. Get it for the XBOX. no 2 ways about that. Halo 3 and subsequent series never came out for the PC anyway.

If thats the case then how come Reliance had that game for LAN gaming at their center? They even had the Halo gaming contest, was way back in 2004 though...but I am sure that this game is still available at some gaming cafes..

Originally Posted by shac

tell your friend that if hes serious about the idea, then he should take some initative.

He is very much serious about it...he has given me the responsibility for getting the games...so here I am

Originally Posted by shac

Give me a proper list of game titles that your friend wants and i will be able to help you out better since the institute im studying at right now(doing game programming) opened up their own cafe to promote gaming in the area (I live in gurgaon. Literally no one knows about gaming here).
So i have a fair idea on how to go about the lisencing process( I can ask them on your behalf if you want, that is)

Will ask him for a proper list of games that he wants to put up...and once again, thanks a ton for ur help dude...really appreciate it..

[NoasArcAngel]

www.steampowered.com go here if you want a commercial gaming license ...

[harish_21_10]

^^ As mentioned in the earlier post, I have already checked that site for Valve games but also need the same for other publishers...

[harish_21_10]

Originally Posted by shac

Give me a proper list of game titles that your friend wants and i will be able to help you out better

Heres a list of games that my friend wants to have:

Doom 3
Command and Conquer Tiberum
Red Alert 3
Battle of The Middle Earth 1, 2 and Rise of the witch king
Unreal 2004
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Wolfenstein
Age of Empire 2
Age of Empire 2 Conquerors
Age of Empire 3
Age of Mythology
Empire: Total War
Rome : Total War
Quake 3: arena
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Fallout 3
Aliens vs Predator 2
Borderlands
Unreal Tournament 3 Black
Spore
Sims, Sims 2, Sims 3
World in Conflict
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box
DiRT 2

Dint mention the Valve games as they available in the Steam Cafe Program...

[shac]

Ill have to get back to you on that tomorrow (today's holi holiday). A few surprises in the list:
1.Crysis (or rather, the lack of it)
2.CnC: Generals should be there and not the other two since CnC4 is on the way and its on the same base as these 2. Generals was unique in the entire series.
3. UT2004 and UT3? ah well.
4. Why not quake 4 instead of 3 arena?
5. Sims in the cafe? even reliance had stopped installing it in the newer cafes( the nearest ones to me dont have it since they opened 2-3 yrs ago).
6.Total war but no warhammer or starcraft? SC2 will be out soon and theres a leaked vs AI version out if you want to try it XD.
7. Borderlands IS available on steam though i think your friend should buy these games from the distributors directly because the indian subcontinent has pretty much the cheapest software rates
Im serious about that. We buy the games for like 600-800 each while the other countries have to pay upwards of 2k for the same games. Si even if you contacted the the publisher i dont think it would offer you anything cheaper than what we already have.

Borderlands is 700 I know that much. Warhammer and total war series are about 700 apiece. And since EA never releases games above 1k, COD might be the only exception with each game costing about 1300 bucks I think. What say you?

[harish_21_10]

Originally Posted by shac

1.Crysis (or rather, the lack of it)

Will remind him about Crysis......

Originally Posted by shac

2.CnC: Generals should be there and not the other two since CnC4 is on the way and its on the same base as these 2. Generals was unique in the entire series.
3. UT2004 and UT3? ah well.
4. Why not quake 4 instead of 3 arena?

I am not sure about that...will pass on ur msg to him though..lets see what he decides on...

Originally Posted by shac

5. Sims in the cafe? even reliance had stopped installing it in the newer cafes( the nearest ones to me dont have it since they opened 2-3 yrs ago).

Even I wasnt sure about y would he want Sims there

Originally Posted by shac

6.Total war but no warhammer or starcraft? SC2 will be out soon and theres a leaked vs AI version out if you want to try it XD.

I havent played any of these games, so cant say much about it...

Originally Posted by shac

7. Borderlands IS available on steam though i think your friend should buy these games from the distributors directly because the indian subcontinent has pretty much the cheapest software rates

Borderlands is not mentioned in the games list offered by Steam..and buying the games is not the issue, problem is getting a proper license/certificate/approval to run the same in a cafe...

[NoasArcAngel]

dude seriously for running a cafe in India ... i dont know any other way then buying a steam commercial pack ... it would be better if you offer that it has a huge list of games and steam keeps on adding them new titles are added to steam every month

[harish_21_10]

Originally Posted by NoasArcAngel

dude seriously for running a cafe in India ... i dont know any other way then buying a steam commercial pack ... it would be better if you offer that it has a huge list of games and steam keeps on adding them new titles are added to steam every month

It does have a huge list but then not all the games are worth playing...It doesnt have any of the new or mostly played Strategy, Role Playing games...No COD, Warcraft, Fifa, Halo, Age of Empire, etc..etc...

[NoasArcAngel]

no cod on steam??? lol.... rofl check once again

[harish_21_10]

Have u even checked the list?Dont post just about anything coz u can...first know wha u talking about...

[shac]

agreed with harish. The steam non-commercial games on sale are different from the games provided on the steam commercial pack. Thats why I didnt bother arguing with him in the 1st place. Seriously, check before you post.
Harish ill get back to you in the evening today. I talked to my institute's cafe manager and he said he will give me the relevant info.

[NoasArcAngel]

oh... lol sorryy for cybercafe's i forgot ... damn .... anyways that's sad because last time i went to a gaming cafe like zapak or reliance web world they had like 100+ games as far as i can remember...

[harish_21_10]

Originally Posted by NoasArcAngel

oh... lol sorryy for cybercafe's i forgot ... damn .... anyways that's sad because last time i went to a gaming cafe like zapak or reliance web world they had like 100+ games as far as i can remember...

Steam cafe does have list of over 100games, 140 if I ma not wrong, but as I said earlier..not all are worth playing...and gaming cafe dont opt for just the Steam cafe program but also get license from other publishers, which I am looking for...

[NoasArcAngel]

yea it is actually 141 games also ... you should send a query to major game developers like EA for a commercial license??? btw.... what pc configs are you gonna run ?

[harish_21_10]

Originally Posted by NoasArcAngel

yea it is actually 141 games also ... you should send a query to major game developers like EA for a commercial license??? btw.... what pc configs are you gonna run ?

Have already sent mail to EA Games, but haven't received a good enough reply yet...waiting for another reply from them...
I am not aware of the PC config, as my friend is handling all that..dint bother asking him...would be more interested in handling that part though...
Also sent a couple of mails to Blizzard, but they haven't replied to any of those...

[NoasArcAngel]

hmm good.... why dont you try asking some cafe owners...? how they got their license?

[harish_21_10]

^^Spoke to one guy from Chennai...got his no. from a member from another forum...he was pretty helpful and even he said the same thing...to try and get in touch with the game publishers...n thats what I have been trying to do..
Problem is that its not easy as u not talking to them in person so results in delay or some confusion...that is why I wanted some here from here..

[harish_21_10]

Hey Shac...where r u buddy..any updates for me?