Videogames at the cinema

Soon Mom and Dad may go see a film while Jr. goes to a sort of public LAN party at the same multiplex. Cinegames are already happening in Spain, where movie theater company Yelmo Cineplex spent "more than $390,000 to modify one of its small individual theaters in a high-tech video gaming hall seating about 50 people," the New York Times reports. Predictably, the busy time is weekends, with individual gamers paying a currently discounted 3 euros (about $4) to play multiplayer games (friends pay 1 euro just to watch). Yelmo is also organizing tournaments and – to fill in on weekdays - developing "an educational division that would rent out the hall to schools that could use the system for learning and testing." Yelmo's plans also include reaching out to senior citizen groups "in an attempt to attract a broader audience."