LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sony Corp., which dominates the video game hardware market with PlayStation 2 but has seen its share of the sports game market dwindle in the face of heavy competition, on Monday said it would launch a service for its sports game players to compete online.
The new 989SportsOnline.com is set to launch Aug. 26 to coincide with the release of the football game NFL GameDay 2004. The online service will feature message boards, tournaments, downloadable rosters and player rankings, and will let users conduct voice chats with a PS2 headset.
It will also offer a unified login, so players can access the site with one username and password no matter which 989 Sports game they are playing.
Sony's new service is set to launch one day after rival Microsoft Corp. releases an upgrade to its Xbox Live online gaming platform that will let subscribers conduct voice chats without being in an actual game.
The Xbox Live service is a closed one; Microsoft collects subscription fees for it and operates all the game servers, regardless of the game or publisher. Sony's platform has traditionally been decentralized, with publishers operating online services and charging at their discretion.
Electronic Arts Inc., the independent publisher that dominates sports gaming, is putting all of its sports titles online on the PS2 this year, and has set up what it calls "EA Sports Nation" to link its games through common online features.
EA has refused thus far to support Xbox Live for its sports games, citing concerns about the business model. Microsoft has its own sports lineup, which it calls XSN Sports, that is also online-enabled and offers users access to message boards and player rankings.
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Source:
Reuters
