End of an Era....Internet gaming cafes

Anyone remember E2 cafe in Miami?

Internet gaming cafes once popped up all over Miami, like old school video game arcades....

Many of us may have founded our proud internet gaming ID names from such places....I know I build sandCastles and Im asian mix heritage so I came up with the Title Sanddragon...it later permiated into my other accounts as a sort of title name.

Internet cafes often had Powerful PCs and populated public gaming LAN Partys with many computers wired directly together for the best performance.

It was and still is all the rage to score and post on the internet...gone in popularity of gaming alone against bots....now the game involves a person behind every character represented in a game!...the game got even more interesting!....I totally lost interest in my Nintendo and Ps1 with the exception of GTA on PS2.

Back in 2001, Pentium 2 computers were far more advanced than the DOOM days of 1996.....Battlefield 1942 and Counterstrike were all the rage and were often seen in action at these cafes.

As the available price and quality of computers became more affordable, many of these places quietly closed down...

In its peak hey day, players even resorted to bringing in customized tot box turbo fanned translucent water cooled CPUs and keyboards.
there were contest prizes held by the venues.
Player attendance was some times literally camped 24- 7 with very long ongoing everquest type adventure games!

I used to remember riding my bicycle almost every week to reward myself after the work out for a round of E2 cafe games... It was extra fun meeting live people in person who we teamed up or battled....Very fun hearing a shriek(- DAMN YOU SANDDRAGON!)...After a nasty battle where I was sniping and camping and racking up the kills!


Today LAN partys may occasionally assemble...There are a few surviving internet cafes, but they have to remain in busness doing CPU repairs and selling stuff to stay alive... most players now can play from the comfort and privacy of their homes....computers now are actually more powerful than I fully understand and are now only limited by the quality of internet service connection.

PS3 , Xbox and other gaming platforms have also regained some of these trends in an attempt to retake lost gaming territory... You can thank Internet gaming treads for making such advances to inspire the others.

This post opens the door on the Internet cafes.....I will be having that cup of coffe now thank you!...... and a couple of cookies too!

SANDDRAGON- E2 cafe