The City of Platte City now has a place where residents can not only play classic arcade games, but where those games can be repaired.
City of Platte City officials welcomed new business Game Consoles Worldwide, LLC at a ceremony last week at the company’s storefront location at 1302 Platte Falls Road Suite G. GCW provides classic arcade games, computer repair and video game console repair in its Platte City location, which also serves as the global distribution center for its GCW-Zero product, an open-source, hand-held gaming device. GCW Founder and Chief Executive Officer Justin Barwick conducted a tour of the facility and provided City officials with an overview of the company’s in-house services, its signature hardware product and its entrepreneurial vision. “The Platte City arcade storefront is provided as an entertainment alternative and service to the community,” Barwick said. “The classic video game arcade provides a place for young people to enjoy themselves in a safe environment.” In addition to the arcade, the GCW also provides local computer and video game console and arcade game repair services. “There is an increasing number of classic or older video game consoles and arcade games that need only minor repair in order to function; however, it is difficult to find a business with the expertise to make those repairs,” senior engineer Kyong Pak said. “GCW provides an option for customers who may wish to repair computers or video games rather than throwing them out and buying a whole new system.” While the video arcade is the most visible part of the business, Barwick said the company’s world-wide focus is based on its GCW-Zero hand-held device. The GCW-Zero hand-held device is a mobile-gaming and home console which operates on open-source technology. “Using open-source software allows us to provide a product that is less expensive and more versatile than devices using proprietary software,” Barwick said. “Our device provides a mobile gaming platform that supports the thousands of existing open-source games available for download as well as the countless open-source games currently being developed by individual gamers worldwide.” Barwick said the GCW-Zero device will be available for sale at the Platte City store and online, although the largest sale outlets will be the major gaming retail companies like ThinkGeek.com, Ithic.com, and Dragonbox.de which have already placed orders for the product. Barwick also said GCW’s use of the KickStarter crowd sourcing Web site to generate startup capital for the product was integral to the store’s opening. “GCW was able to raise nearly $250,000 in crowd source revenue using the KickStarter Web site,” Barwick said. “This revenue exceeded our expectations and allowed us to fund the product’s final research and development which all occurred in Kansas City as well as initial production runs in China. The use of crowd source funding and a having a fully developed product allowed us to reach nearly $500,000 in revenue before we opened our front door this week.”