FEATURE-Online Game Strategy Splits Video Game Industry

Date: Tue, 20 May 2003 19:38:24 -0400
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
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By Reed Stevenson and Ben Berkowitz
LOS ANGELES, May 20 (Reuters) - It's a karaoke machine and a video
conferencing center, a wireless jukebox and a DVD player. The latest
and greatest gadget in home entertainment?
No, just the well-worn video game console your kids already have in
the living room.
In the turf war being fought to control space in the living room of
the future, rivals Sony Corp. (TOKYO:6758) and Microsoft
Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) have made it clear that the current generation of
game consoles were meant to be Trojan horses -- the real pay-off would
come when the machines were connected to a network.
Now, as both companies unveil the Internet-based services expected to
be the next big thing for the $30 billion games business, sharp
differences over their strategies have emerged along with a debate
about how much consumers will be willing to pay for such online
offerings. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=34269901