by Tim Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
Red Hills Cinema in Mesquite is offering a new service to its customers. The theatre staff has hooked an Xbox 360 machine to two of its big screens. On any Wednesday or Thursday evening from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m., the games are available to play.
The experience is truly an entertainment adventure given that one is playing the game on a 25 x 30 foot movie screen. The game being played on the screen early Thursday evening was a garden variety racing car game. The only difference was that the cars on the screen were full size.
Projectionist Daniel Bibb explained how the system worked and seemed to know his way around the game. Theater Manager Shannon Moser did not seem as skilled in the game as Bibb. “I don’t play that often,” Moser said. “Dang wall!…I’m going to fast, aw man!”
Had this been a real racecourse Moser would have inflicted several thousand dollars worth of damage on her car.
Despite Moser’s lack of wherewithal to pilot a high performance vehicle through a closed racecourse, without inflicting great amounts of damage, the electronic experience was still highly recommend. It is, after all, an electronic game, the car actually fixes itself.
“The theater follows the game ratings,” Moser said. “If the game says kids under 17 are not supposed to play, we are not going to let them play in here.”
The cost to play is $5 per hour and customers must bring their own games. What the theater is offering is the experience of playing patron’s games on their big screen. For $5 an hour, however, it is cheaper than any arcade in America.
