Wednesday 5th April 2006 saw the official opening of the first ever Xbox Live Gaming Centre operated by Irish owned Multiplay Ltd in Europe launching on Dublin’s South William Street and powered by eircom broadband.

The licensed Xbox Live Gaming Centre will give Irish gaming fans the opportunity to experience the next generation of gaming and Xbox Live, the premier online gaming service using state of the art technology in a unique gaming environment with an ultra modern design. Gamers will be able to play across the local network in South William Street and against the world on Xbox Live using eircom broadband.

Xbox Live is the first and only global, unified online games service which continues to transform and unite gaming communities worldwide. With a presence in 24 countries worldwide and global community of more than 2 million members, Xbox Live offers world class games, intelligent matchmaking to help you find players at a similar level, online tournaments, unique programming and integration with Xbox.com. Players can also chat with other gamers online while gaming and leave messages for each other.

Orla Sheridan, Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Manager, Ireland: “We are thrilled with the new Xbox Live Gaming Centre – the centre gives gamers who don’t have broadband the opportunity to experience Xbox Live not to mention the Xbox 360, the most powerful games console and entertainment system in the world in a very cool environment”.

Commenting at the launch, Debbie Byrne, Director of Consumer Marketing, eircom, Official Broadband suppliers to the Xbox Live Gaming Centre, said: “eircom is delighted to be a part of this, the first Xbox Live Gaming Centre for Ireland. Broadband has many innovative and valuable applications for Irish users from entertainment to education. It is fantastic to see this innovation leveraging what broadband offers and we wish the Xbox Live Gaming Centre every success.”

The high-tech Xbox Live Gaming Centre boasts tailored made games stations for both Xbox 360s and Xbox Version 1 games consoles. Each games station has either a high definition Samsung LCD or plasma screen making the experience even more thrilling! With Xbox Live you can compete in huge virtual arenas against the hottest players in the world or just have fun with casual games against your family and friends.

Gamers who visit the Xbox Live Gaming Centre will also be able to play online in Xbox Live tournaments as part of the monthly “Xbox Live Calendar”. Every week Xbox Live provides gamers with a unique calendar of events and tournaments. Gamers who join the action on a Winning Weekend in April can win a virtual racing rig that's ideal for the ultimate Burnout Revenge racing experience. Xbox Live are giving away a GamePod leather racing seat, a Fanatec Speedster 3 Forceshock Racing Wheel and Pedals set as well as a 17" Samsung TV screen to mount on the seat. Simply play the game specified on Xbox Live during each weekend to be in with a chance of winning.
Shortly Xbox, in conjunction with the Xbox Live Gaming Centre will launch a search to find gamers to represent Ireland in Germany this summer at the finals of the Xbox Cup gaming competition alongside the FIFA World Cup™ Finals. The Xbox Cup will give gamers the opportunity to play football in High Definition on the Xbox 360 along side the FIFA World Cup™ Finals.

As well as allowing gamers the opportunity to try out all the newest releases at each visit, they can also book and purchase games whilst at the centre. Today, the centre has a number of the latest Xbox and Xbox 360 releases available for play including Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham Racing 3, Dead or Alive 4, Far Cry: Predator, Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, alongside firm favourites like Halo 1 and Halo 2.

Tony Murray, Managing Director, Xbox Live Gaming Centre said at the launch “We are delighted to be able to offer Irish gamers a unique and exciting new way to experience the world of gaming with more choice of titles and online services than ever offered before. Whilst also offering parents a safe environment for their children to have fun with a strict rating policy in place”.

“We plan on offering this great service across Ireland with a number of centres opening throughout the country in the coming months” continued Tony Murray.

Xbox Live Gaming Centre, operated by Multiplay was founded by Frank O’Grady and Dylan Collins. Frank O’Grady is also the founder of Ireland’s online DVD rental service Screenclick.com, which was acquired in January by lovefilm.com for €3 million. Screenclick will soon be launching video on demand and powers online movie rental services fro Eircom.net, Ticketmaster and Four Star Pizza with other due to launch soon. Dylan Collins is the founder of Demonware, the leading network software company in the computer games industry, which powers online gaming across Xbox and PC platforms.

Multiplay Ltd is funded by a consortium of private investors including former Smurfit Group Chief Financial Officer Tony Ritchie along with Frank O’Grady and Dylan Collins. Tony Ritchie is also Chairman of both Screenclick and Multiplay.

Tony Murray, Managing Director is a native of Dublin and his previous roles include Managing Director of Freshcup and Operations Director for Kodak/1hour Photo Labs.

Xbox Live Gaming Centre is situated on 51 South William Street, Dublin 2.

Opening Hours : Monday – Thursday – 10am – midnight
Friday & Saturday – 10am – 2am
Sunday - noon – midnight

Hourly Rates Off Peak Rate - 5.00 per hour
Regular Rate - 6.50 per hour
Peak Rate - 7.50 per hour
www.xboxlivegamingcentre.com