Anyone subscribe to this?
Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2005 12:16 pm
From the San Jose Mercury News:
GameSpot, one of the most popular web sites for video game enthusiasts, has started a new subscription online games service where hardcore gamers can battle each other in the most popular online computer games.
Dubbed a "premium gaming service,'' GameSpot Game Center will offer $9.99 a month subscriptions to gamers who can play at the highest speed connections in online games such as Electronic Arts' ""Battlefield 2.'' It will offer discussion groups, voice chat services, and tournaments as well. GameSpot is owned by online portal CNET Networks.
The service is for PC games, but it resembles Microsoft's Xbox Live online gaming service for Xbox online games, where the object is to create a cool gaming experience with fast game play and connections with like-minded gamers. Services like this have failed in the past, but largely because they involved spending a lot of money on computer servers. GameSpot has found a way to reduce that expense by leasing them from a third party.
It remains to be seen if gamers will pay to play online games that they can play for free via the Internet. But GameCenter product manager Sam Parker says that GameCenter removes a lot of the hassles from online gaming.
GameCenter will allow players to host their own online games. That means it will allow them to configure a Battlefield 2 game and customize it to their tastes so that as many as 64 players can fight it out without annoying hiccups in broadband service that slow down a game and make it all but impossible to play. About 11 games are available now.
GameCenter will be able to offer the server hosting because it is leasing computing power from Supercomputer International, an Atlanta Internet hosting company. GameCenter will be able to tap data centers on both the East Coast and West Coast so that it can provide plenty of high-speed service, or bandwidth, to gamers.
GameSpot already offers game downloading services and extended news coverage of games for $6.95 a month via service called GameSpot Complete. Those subscribers can upgrade to the GameCenter subscriptions. GameSpot has no plans to publish its own online games now. Rather, it plans to partner with game publishers who may not want to operate their own paid online gaming services.
"We can become the distribution partner for the game publishers,'' said Henk Van Neikerk, vice president of paid services at GameSpot.
GameSpot competes with other game portals such as Ign.com, and it draws about 20 million gamers a month to its web site.
GameSpot, one of the most popular web sites for video game enthusiasts, has started a new subscription online games service where hardcore gamers can battle each other in the most popular online computer games.
Dubbed a "premium gaming service,'' GameSpot Game Center will offer $9.99 a month subscriptions to gamers who can play at the highest speed connections in online games such as Electronic Arts' ""Battlefield 2.'' It will offer discussion groups, voice chat services, and tournaments as well. GameSpot is owned by online portal CNET Networks.
The service is for PC games, but it resembles Microsoft's Xbox Live online gaming service for Xbox online games, where the object is to create a cool gaming experience with fast game play and connections with like-minded gamers. Services like this have failed in the past, but largely because they involved spending a lot of money on computer servers. GameSpot has found a way to reduce that expense by leasing them from a third party.
It remains to be seen if gamers will pay to play online games that they can play for free via the Internet. But GameCenter product manager Sam Parker says that GameCenter removes a lot of the hassles from online gaming.
GameCenter will allow players to host their own online games. That means it will allow them to configure a Battlefield 2 game and customize it to their tastes so that as many as 64 players can fight it out without annoying hiccups in broadband service that slow down a game and make it all but impossible to play. About 11 games are available now.
GameCenter will be able to offer the server hosting because it is leasing computing power from Supercomputer International, an Atlanta Internet hosting company. GameCenter will be able to tap data centers on both the East Coast and West Coast so that it can provide plenty of high-speed service, or bandwidth, to gamers.
GameSpot already offers game downloading services and extended news coverage of games for $6.95 a month via service called GameSpot Complete. Those subscribers can upgrade to the GameCenter subscriptions. GameSpot has no plans to publish its own online games now. Rather, it plans to partner with game publishers who may not want to operate their own paid online gaming services.
"We can become the distribution partner for the game publishers,'' said Henk Van Neikerk, vice president of paid services at GameSpot.
GameSpot competes with other game portals such as Ign.com, and it draws about 20 million gamers a month to its web site.