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Genocide
08-31-2002, 06:58 AM
Caitlin Fitzsimmons
AUGUST 30, 2002 SONY has delayed the local introduction of its online game service as it strives to find a workable business model.

The video game giant introduced its online service in North America earlier this week, but will not announce its plans for the PAL territories, including Australia, until October.

The service, which allows PlayStation 2 owners to play multi-player games over the internet, will compete with Microsoft's Xbox Live service for Xbox owners.

While Sony is offering the service for both dial-up and broadband customers in North America, it has committed to a broadband-only model in the PAL territories.

Sony Computer Entertainment Australia managing director Michael Ephraim said the introduction of the service was not delayed for technical problems, but to find a better solution for Sony, its business partners and its customers.

The PAL territories included dozens of different countries with different levels of broadband and PS2 penetration.

"Australia has a fairly high uptake of broadband," Mr Ephraim said. "It's not leading the pack, but it's not at the bottom of the pack. My opinion is that Australia will be one of the territories connected earlier in the piece."

Mr Ephraim said Australia had particular challenges with its large and sparsely populated land mass and the prevalence of volume-based pricing plans.

"The perception is that broadband costs are high and online gaming is data intensive," he said. "We're in discussions with different ISPs about a time-based charge and a different billing structure to make it more appealing to consumers."

Mr Ephraim said Sony would spurn the centralised approach taken by Microsoft with Xbox Live.

He ruled out an exclusive relationship with a single ISP or peer-to-peer gaming, but said there were many details yet to be determined.

For example, the company had not decided whether to run the infrastructure or allow ISPs to host the games on their own server farms - and whether there would be dedicated servers for Australia or not.

"We do not anticipate just one service choice for consumers under one name," Mr Ephraim said. "There will be many service choices and the business model of Sony will be very open."

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe planned to charge a "modest" subscription fee for the service, but Mr Ephraim was not certain whether that would be levied in Australia.

"Every country is looking at the cost factor based on local broadband costs and the local culture of what people are willing to pay," he said. "You have to give a service that's affordable and it's an issue we're still working through (in Australia)."

It would be "nice" to be first to market but it was important to make sure the offer "made sense" for consumers and partners.

He promised more details in October.
Source (http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5001271%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html)


Good stuff :D

Afro Aura
08-31-2002, 08:24 AM
Can you tell me how is the PS2 BB situation is over there, I here there is only one game that uses BB and that SOCOM (I think it's called that) and are people rushing into the shops to grap hold of these BB packs

Genocide
08-31-2002, 08:57 AM
Originally posted by Afro Aura
Can you tell me how is the PS2 BB situation is over there, I here there is only one game that uses BB and that SOCOM (I think it's called that) and are people rushing into the shops to grap hold of these BB packs

Well... right now... "SOCOM" is the only game worth getting for PS2 online. And there are very few of the games shipped, so everyones rushing to get them before they run out.

Highlite23
08-31-2002, 10:17 AM
From information from GI regarding both plans it seems that Sony, while offering both 56K & BB, can't deliver the same experience to both customers.

Example, with some games, if you have BB you can play large Multi Player modes. The same game with a 56K modem will only support 2 players.

Again, Sony's plan has alot of grey area that i think will upset quite a few PS2 owners once the dust settles.

As far as games, yes SOCOM is it at the moment.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the GI article:

"SOCOM:US navy Seals
Thanks to broadband connection(which is required), up to 16 players can compete............"

"Tribes Aerial Assault
Although 16 players won't be nearly as intoxicating or as insane as the 64 player limit for the PC version. .............................Of course, to maximize this experience fully, the Broadband modem is recomended. It does work with dial-up connection as well, but with no more than two players."

Snoopy7548
08-31-2002, 10:27 AM
what the hell, lol. the person who wrote the article, has the same exact name as my neighbor! thats so weird. lol. its the same exact spelling and everything:eek: :eek:

Toonz
08-31-2002, 12:08 PM
My local Mom and Pop store told me Sony only shipped 5000 online kits to Canada becuase they don't wanna overload the system becasue there has been no extensive testing. Don't know how true that is but its usually a really good store for that type of info

Snoopy7548
08-31-2002, 12:10 PM
ha, they dont wanna overload the system? lol, how many people does it support? like 15,000? lol

Toonz
08-31-2002, 12:16 PM
Dunno hehe I guess there not sure if they can handle thousands of people all triing to log on in 1 day. The same store sent all there customers a E-mail telling them while they a had a few of the units they recommend not buying them for a few weeks till Sony proves itself

dougi3000
08-31-2002, 01:40 PM
Originally posted by highlite23

"Tribes Aerial Assault
Although 16 players won't be nearly as intoxicating or as insane as the 64 player limit for the PC version. .............................Of course, to maximize this experience fully, the Broadband modem is recomended. It does work with dial-up connection as well, but with no more than two players."

how the hell can you play tribes with 2 players?!?!?
that is fricken idiotic.
:)

Ulchie
08-31-2002, 05:38 PM
playing tribes with 16 players is also idiotic
the maps are way way way way way like 10 times too big for 16 players
action packed ps2 experience online....haaahahahahahahah
id rather play it on my pc cause i got bored of regular tribes 2 and the mods are what i play now and without it the game isnt worth a purchase...maybe worth a hack from a friend who owns it but dont use it anymore for a month or so at best

egg
08-31-2002, 07:05 PM
Originally posted by Snoopy7548
what the hell, lol. the person who wrote the article, has the same exact name as my neighbor! thats so weird. lol. its the same exact spelling and everything:eek: :eek:

OMG... Another weird thing... That Article was written in your basement.... Get Out :D

KviK
08-31-2002, 07:42 PM
So everyone needs broadband to play ps2 in north america ? what ?

Toonz
08-31-2002, 08:01 PM
You need BB to play SOCOM and sony never stated that so there lotsa peeps with SOCOM but no online cause they have dial up and are very upset

KviK
09-01-2002, 01:20 AM
lmao.

Nonny
09-01-2002, 01:29 AM
The funny thing is they say "You can use dialup as well" but they dont say "Only with 2 people".

Thats one of the reasons i like Xbox Live. Everyone has a hard drive, everyone has broadband, etc etc.

beserker
09-01-2002, 06:17 AM
This is for europe,australia,...not the us or japan.