On July 16th, Melbourne will see the grand opening of the Mana Bar, a video games themed venue in the city district of Fitzroy.

The Melbourne location will feature seven LCD TV setups showcasing a wide variety of games on Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, allowing gamers to mingle, play and sample a variety of game-inspired cocktails such as Ocarina of Lime, Purple Tentacle and Choco Island. Cosplay is also encouraged. The popular social hangout has been open in Brisbane since March last year, and was co-founded by such media personalities as Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation fame and Guy Blomberg of Australian Gamer.

Patrons can also demo, pre-order and buy anticipated upcoming titles for their consoles.
Open 7 nights a week, there will be events held every single night such as game tournaments, trivia nights and game-inspired music.

Furthermore, the Monday after the opening night will see two separate Mario Kart tournaments take place, with a copy of Super Mario All-Stars 25th Anniversary as the grand prize for each. Which Mario Kart title the tourney will feature is up to speculation, but if popular demand on the event's Facebook notice has any sway, racers will be competing on the retro Mario Kart 64.