So what is this hype about games? One might ask. Why the introduction of a gaming category on this blog?
Well it’s aimed at gamers (both aspiring and established), where we look at the latest games, gaming consoles and PC Gaming regalia. The aim being to create a strong Zimbabwean gaming community, and hopefully one day host our own gaming expos.
I have to mention Yo!Africa already hosts a gaming site, which you can check out at cybergames.co.zw. I believe the community could be larger. I also have to mention here how disappointed we were that Yo!Africa decided not to attend this year’s ICT Africa Exhibition.
So we want to reach out to the readers so that we can demystify this genre of entertainment in our country, as globally it is a multi-million dollar industry. We believe if also properly marketed locally it could be a very lucrative industry, for investors.
So what does the scenario in Zimbabwe look like right now? What is currently available to the aspiring gamer?
With the establishment of internet cafes in Zimbabwe’s cities , towns and growth points, a lot of people now have access to the web and hence a plethora of information. And in a bid t lure more and more customers most such cafes now offer patrons a chance to play various games. As such there are a number of places in Harare where one can hook up a few games if you don’t own a console. One of those places being the “World Trade Centre” internet café along where there is an area for game playing on consoles. Most Internet cafes in town also allow patrons to play games on their PCs.
The availability of games in Harare has also significantly increased over the past couple of years; we have a number of retailers selling good titles. Prices vary with the game you want and whether it’s for the PC or console, PC Games being cheaper.
For a comprehensive list of who sells what and where, you can visit classifieds.co.zw gaming section.
In the next article we look at how to build your own gaming PC!
7 comments
We used to have an awesome gaming community ages ago and was very active, LAN tournaments, online gaming servers etc etc..
Would be awesome to get that going again especially that now days most games are played online and as you know, we dont have the internet to suit that. SO a local gaming community with servers is a must and would be a ton of fun
My one question is this: yes, there are people selling games, but are they legal? My first instinct would be, with our history of piracy in Zim, that it’s just the same as buying from the flea market. I could be wrong.
Bren, ressurecting the community is a matter of getting the interested parties talking again, whether on http://www.cybergames.co.zw or here.
Impressed that Techzim are taking the time out to look at gaming, maybe you should contact Garth at Webdev, who is doing his best to keep the fire burning.
i love the fact that Ash has decided to make this matter a talking point.Gaming is a very lucrative market&we need to harness all it’s Pro’s and try to deal with the Con’s as stated by Joe Black.I am a serious gamer in Kadoma& i know that there is a very large,extremely large market for this market in Zim,Kadoma on it’s own has a no# of serious gamers i know,imagine what a place like Harare’s potential wd b like….
In my humble opinion, gaming in Zimbabwe suffers from a couple of fundamental problems, one being that it costs to go to an internet cafe and then play an online game, and the other is that few people would actually pay to join a local server, given the economic situation (which hopefully will change) and given the relatively few gamers here. But i agree totally that if some enterprising individual would make it appealing to go down and join a LAN more people would actually go for it. Prizes, rewards, etc might just make the difference and get the momentum going.
Great section. I’m sure we could even have a “book club-like” scenario whereby, instead of having a book circulating, it would be a game that we’d then share gaming tips, cheats, tricks and even compete via a local server. I’m looking forward to the next post. I’m looking to build a massive gaming PC for the latest versions of N4S and need to now what to buy, where and for how much?
great topic – we need to boost the zim gaming community or at least find it again if it is still out there – are there any people who would be interested in playing or getting into a locally hosted world of warcraft server?
If so let me know as i could do all the hosting and server maintanance etc. Would be a start to an awesome community
We as Zimbabwe need more growth like European countries and USA wherby we offer a wide range of gaming oppotunities like schoolarships of gaming and getting a wide range of internet availability .Many teens want to jump into the scene .One major issue is poverty .Wherby 99.9 % of children dont have the right equipment to go inside the industry they often have to go the other peoples homes to play outdated games for $1 an hour