Play your Xbox on a cinema screen

Yeah, so you’ve got a big screen at home. It’s nice. Is it 40″? 50″? Maybe you have a projector set up. I’m afraid to report that whatever you’ve got is now officially rubbish. How would you feel about playing your Xbox 360 on a screen that’s 50 feet wide?

That’s what Cineplex Entertainment are offering gamers in the USA Canada. As of Friday, gamers will be able to take their Xbox to 29 Cineplex theatres across the States Canada and book two-hour sessions for them and their friends.

Up to 12 people are allowed into one session, and users can either bring their own games or play on a catalogue provided by the cinema. The theatre’s surround sound speakers will be added to the mix too, for that bowel-shaking bass that’s so crucial when you’re playing Halo 3.

Cinemas often have quite a lot of down-time in their theatres, mostly in the mornings when there’s not enough demand for a feature film. Pat Marshall, Cineplex’s vice-president of communications says:

“It takes it to a whole new level when you see the game on a screen that’s more than 50 feet wide. If they wanted to book a four-hour window, we could certainly go later in the evening. If the theatre manager has the staffing, they could go till two in the morning.”

Cineplex also rent the downtime in their theatres to local businesses who are wanting to show video or powerpoint presentations to large groups of people.

If you want to book a two hour session then it’ll set you back CA$179 plus tax. Converting that to UK currency and adding VAT comes out at about £105, so it’s not cheap. Split that between you and nine friends, however, and it comes out at a much-more-friendly tenner a person. Hopefully we’ll see UK cinemas roll this out in the near future!

Update: Thanks to Arnie in the comments for pointing out that Cineplex are a Canadian company, not an American one.

(via CBCNews)

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