Students now have access to multiple gaming consoles and video games at a new gaming center in the Park Student Union.

Max Lieberman, a graduate student in charge of the CODE gaming center, which opened its doors Monday, said this was an effort to do away with the perception that the Park Student Union is only a place get food.

“”There’s obviously a need for people to come out and hang out at the PSU,”” Lieberman said. “”It’s been a place where people come for a specific purpose, but don’t really stay to be social.””

Located on the first floor of the PSU, the gaming center features a variety of gaming consoles and games students can play for $4 an hour or $12 a day. The center has X-box 360s, Playstations and Nintendo Wiis. There are five TVs used as gaming stations.

“”I think they want to make money for the PSU,”” said biochemistry and molecular biophysics senior Ken Peng, who was dressed as Mario on Monday to support the new gaming center. “”I guess no one really comes down here except for just the food court.””

Peng said he remembers when the Student Union Memorial Center pool tables only had about six or seven regular players, but now there are about 20. Peng feels the same could happen at the PSU gaming center.

“”I think it has potential. I think the biggest draw will be the Playstation 3 because I don’t have one,”” he said.

The center received $7,000 for renovations from the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership, which came from its general programming budget. The cost of the gaming consoles couldn’t be determined by press time, although Lieberman stressed the center would be self-sustaining.  

“”It is my understating that the money came from (the) union budget, which is again revenue generating itself,”” he said. 

Brian Akpan, an engineering freshman, was walking by the gaming center Monday and got sucked in. Akpan ended up playing “”Call of Duty”” for some time.

“”It’s more of a community feel than playing games in your room,”” Akpan said. “”Everybody is doing something together even if they aren’t doing it together.””

Because the center is near the Arizona-Sonora, Kaibab-Huachuca and Coronado Residence Halls, it has the potential to become a popular destination for on-campus residents.

“”I think of all the things that they could’ve gotten in here, this is probably one of the best,”” said Alex Baker, a junior majoring in English, while playing a round of “”Guitar Hero.”” “”I’ve been down here almost all day and every time someone walks by they talk about how cool it is, but they don’t have time to stop because the PSU is mostly for eating. Once people are done eating and they see this, I can only imagine it will get more popular.””