Howie’s Game Shack

I want to like this place more. It’s a cool looking place filled with games with a super friendly staff that attempted to be helpful, with varying levels of success, the whole time we were there. The pizza was surprisingly decent.
But the execution of «A cool place filled with games» left some things to be desired.
1. Gaming updates. We wanted to have a bunch of people on Dota. The «VIP» room didn’t seem to have updated games on their computers — and they didn’t charge us for the time spent trying and failing to play a game, but it took about an hour for us to finally be able to start playing the game.
2. The UI. It wasn’t just that we weren’t able to get a subset of computers to work for an hour, but that we had to use their proprietary gaming interface. Other LAN cafes just let you use a computer and launch the available game. This one seems geared at protecting their computers and networks from potentially malicious actors and everything felt clunky. Oh, and when we did try to play an old school game (age of empires) computers started DCing from each other within a few minutes.
3. In the name of protecting themselves, they don’t let computers download games or run unapproved games. This makes sense, except that apparently custom games within approved computer games are caught up in this policy. They mentioned that people can’t play Starcraft 2 Arcade games — and we noticed while playing Dota 2 that the custom games were also unavailable. That’s unfortunate, because the best games for groups of casual players are custom games. No tower defense games here, sorry.
4. With computer games being difficult, we thought about trying to get an 8 v 8 or maybe just a 4 vs 4 game of Halo going in our group. After all, why go to a gaming center rather than someone’s house if you don’t try to set up some epic group games? But this didn’t happen either. The newest version of Halo doesn’t use split screen (and thus I don’t really consider it a worthwhile Halo game to play — if I wanted an FPS game with only single player interface I’d be on a PC) — and unfortunately Howie’s policy is to sell the previous game in the series to buy the new game. So they sold all of the Halo games with the possibility of playing large versus matches when they got the new Halo. Oh, and apparently the general policy is that you need an Xbox live account to play the game online (or in this case — even with other people on another system) at the game shack? Maybe legally they have to do that, but it is unfortunate.
I really wanted to like this place. With the friendly staff and the hardware they have there is no reason for there to be the issues I saw. I’ve seen other LAN cafes done simply and so much better.
Oh, and the bathrooms were oddly dirty.

Decided to give another try and much better, but we only played the xbox. Staff was friendly and helpful

My buddy got bit by a Scorpian while playing here. The manager was a little iffy. But it serves it’s purpose I guess. There is a good amount of computers, and I haven’t gone where it was super crowded.

Everyone was really nice here! The gentleman that was running the cash register was very informed on what they had on their PCs. They had Peace Tea which is a rare find where I come from. The drinks were cold and cheap. The restrooms were impeccable. It was nice and cool inside, and my toes even got a little chilly at the end. My game didn’t lag at all, and I was really impressed that they had not just headsets but programs to use them with (such as Skype and Ventrilo to name the ones I recognized). I was also pleased that I could use my
login to play my game. Now this is my first time to a place as this so maybe that’s standard. I’m really glad I found this place as being away from home with a paranoia of WiFi and limited data on my MiFi I pretty much said goodbye to online games. IMHO this place is definitely worth stopping by the prices were fantastic and the equipment is great!

Reviewing the «Magic» aspect of Howie’s.
They had a standard event on Wednesday.
Friend and I were heading over from the West Valley, we were going to be about 10 mins late. Friend called, as I was driving, and asked if they had room for 2 more as we were on the way. Told us no, we have too many people waiting. We got there 8 minutes after 6, which was the starting time. Long line of people still paying for the draft.
Mid-​games, I hear the organizer talking about prize support and they’ve been recently downgraded. I wonder why? The organizer played in the games as well.
Now the good stuff.
Place is big and clean. Huge tables and comfy chairs that were not broken. Good air-​circulation, so the place didn’t smell funky like the usual places.
The huge tables were also a downside, you play so far away from each other; had to reach over to ask to read some cards I wasn’t familiar with.

Howie’s Game Shack is great for hardcore gamers. They have state-​of-​the-​art PCs, fantastic headphones, Xbox 360s, and MLG controllers for the Xbox. They also have plenty of junk food and energy drinks for the true gamers who need to stay wired. They offer 1 hour, 3 hour, and 24 hour passes, which makes this place perfect for birthday parties or binge-​gaming. You can even play games in the bathroom by peeing on the hilarious slot machine they include inside of each urinal. This really is a gamer’s paradise.
The only issue I have with Howie’s is that it can be a little confusing or overwhelming for newbies (or n00bs) who have never been to a game shack or internet café before. The process of signing in your account, changing games, and using some of the apps can be difficult without assistance from someone.

I went there with my son and his friend and couldn’t have felt more welcome. Especially Becca. She went above and beyond to make our visit fun and enjoyable. I would be lucky to have someone like her on my team.

Wow, I have been to Gamers Inn, and with those expectations, I checked out Howie’s Game Shack. The layout, systems available, game choices, and almost everything is in very good condition. Registration and setup of the account took less than 5 minutes and I was off and rolling.
For a place open 24/​7, the layout is open and airy, with banks of flatscreens and gaming chairs for all your console type goodness, on the other end are rows of PC’s {with excellent processors, Video cards and headphones} with rolling type office chairs that are fairly comfortable, even after a marathon Death Match with opponents from across the globe. There are some refreshments available, no outside food is allowed. The staff there was very helpful and friendly.
OK, not to get too nerdy, but this place gave me a geekgasm. I mean c’mon, all that hardware, and software, grunt grunt, scratch, I felt like Tim Allen with a gas turbine weedwhacker frimly in hand. My only regret is that I had to hoof all the way home at 0 dark thirty, 8-​p.

I knew a place like this would turn up eventually or else I was going to open one myself. This is a modern day arcade. I have only been here once, so my review is of what I can remember. They have rows of, I think but not positive on the size, 32″ flat screen monitors. Each one has one of those game chairs that have speakers and vibration in them. One side of the place was PC computers, and the other side was divided up between PS3, X Box 360, and Wii. As for the list of games you can play on the PC’s I didn’t look at but assuming all the ones someone would want to play. I know they have Starcraft cause when i was walking out I saw a few people playing against one another. I just wanted to check this place out, not make it my second home where hours of my life will be wasted at, so I just played Call of Duty, the one where you star out as a marine in the pacific during WWII. So what you do here is go up to the counter and chose your game. Tell the guy at the counter what game and for how long you would like to play it. I just did an hour and it was 2 bucks. I did see some board that had something like so many hours for this much special on it but can’t give you the exact details, but it was many hours at a cheaper price then 2 dollars an hour. After you pay they make you give them some form of collateral for the controller, He asked for an ID or library card I gave him my shades and he took them and haded me a controller, told my a number and away I went. Found the monitor with the number he told me and the game was already at the push start screen. The chair you sit in has speakers so you can hear your game and they more or less drown out everybody elses game, and vibration that goes along with the action on screen. The reason why I am scoring this place a 3. It was kinda hot inside and they had little bugs flying around from leaving the front doors open. The smell of kid funk was present, cause there were many about. And I bought a Reeces peanut butter cup from the counter and it was melted.
I saw alot of promise about this place also. If I had a child this would be the perfect place during summer break, or even after school for a couple hours, for them to hang for very cheap. And they would love it. Also if you want to play one of the just released games and don’t have the game system, this is the place to go play it. You can play Madden 10 against a friend and not have to go buy it or rent it. Hard core video game players might hate or love this place. I don’t know. It has been close to decade now since hours of my life wasted away from playing video games, so I’m not one of them anymore.

In my opinion Howie’s is the best LAN center in Arizona. It is in a great location and has so many games to choose from. They are interactive with the gaming community by putting together daily events such as: MMA Monday, WoW Wednesday and Ladies Thursday. Howie’s also puts together first person shooter events and competitions where some of the best gamers around the west coast will come to compete. They are open 24 hours and just like any LAN center you will meet a handful of characters.