Atari-Branded Hotels Coming to Eight U.S. Cities

In the beginning, there was online gaming. Then entertainment companies said: "Let there be more physical esports spaces."

Welcome to the Hotel Atari, such a lovely place. This week, Atari said eight branded hotels are coming to the U.S. Construction on the first "video game-themed destination" will begin this year in Phoenix, and additional locations are planned for Austin, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle.

• Atari Hotels will leave plenty of room for joystick mashing with areas dedicated to fully immersive gaming experiences in AR and VR.

Gaming is going IRL

Dedicated esports venues are popping up around the country. Just last week in LA, esports organization 100 Thieves unveiled its training "compound," the U.S.' biggest esports team facility.

Gaming is going online to offline in mixed reality, too.

• Retail: Sandbox VR, which raised $11 million in October, uses motion capture and VR hardware to provide custom gaming experiences at the company's VR centers in major cities.
• Riding along: German startup Holoride wants to bring VR to the backseat of your car.