July is going to be a big month for a number of new “gaming bars” opening globally. There seems to have been a sudden interest in a more socially acceptable gaming-themed venue, following the relative failure (at least locally to this writer) of LAN-based gaming venues and hardcore gaming meeting spaces. Australia recently launched a very successful venue, and now the torch has been passed to Japan and Canada.

The first of these venues is the “Biohazard Cafe & Grill – S.T.A.R.S”, based on the Resident Evil game series (called Biohazard in the East), and is due to open on Friday July 13th 2012 in Shibuya, Tokyo. They will serve a selection of Resident Evil themed dishes, ranging from cocktails that look like the G-Virus vaccine, to green herb salads (which act as health packs within the games). There is no real news about the nature of entertainment or whether there will be gaming inside, we will have to wait for the site to open for more details. The official site can be found here, and for more pictures of the dishes they will offer, please see the forum here.

The second venue worth noting is the “EXP Restaurant & Bar”, which will open in Vancouver in early July and has a lot more detail around it. It will be a fully featured bar and restaurant, and will be able to host gaming events and tournaments, but also cater to a regular clientele who want a decent place to meet friends with similar interests. It also has a decent pedigree, being the brainchild of Brian Vidovic, one of the people who worked for Radical Entertainment during the creation of [PROTOTYPE]. He wanted to create a gamer friendly space, and has used crowd funding (viewable here) to make this a reality, offering perks such as naming dishes on the menu, and having your name carved onto the “Credits” wall. For full details, take a look at the EXP website here.

I’m hoping this sort of venue takes off and becomes a global phenomenon. I for one would be extremely interested in crowdfunding a venue of my own!