Cable network-based gaming coming to U.S.

Your favorite console games are coming soon to a server nowhere near you.

A vendor of video-on-demand systems for cable operators says it is about to start tests of a system that would let cable subscribers play console and PC games with no hardware other than a set-top box and a controller. The games will run on central servers on a cable company’s network, said Steve Sweetapple, director of ITV sales at SeaChange International, the company planning the system.

SeaChange demonstrated the system, called GameOn, at the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) National Show in San Francisco this week. Trials should begin in a couple of weeks and SeaChange expects the service to be commercially available from cable operators beginning in the U.S. summer, in June, July or August, Sweetapple said.

GameOn will be able to deliver the same gaming experience users get on a console, Sweetapple said. SeaChange is working out solutions to network delays and other problems that can slow down response time, and it will work with cable operators to make sure each installation delivers the expected performance, he said. New technology based on the DOCSIS 1.1 specification, which provides a guaranteed level of bandwidth to each customer, will help deliver that console experience but is not absolutely necessary, he said. Gaming typically requires only a 900K bps (bits per second) data stream, compared with a typical stream of 3.75M bps for standard-definition movies on demand, he said. The system isn’t tied to a particular set-top box, but it will require one with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port, Sweetapple said.

The network-based gaming system would save cable subscribers from having to buy a console or buy or rent games, Sweetapple said. They could have access to a wide variety of the latest games as soon as the cable operator can get them up on the system, he said.

The system is based on technology from Helsinki, Finland-based G-cluster Ltd., according to Erik Piehl, managing director and chief technology officer of the company, which is owned by Japan’s Softbank Broadmedia. G-cluster will license games and provide servers and software that will become part of a SeaChange hosting facility on each cable operator’s network.

In Japan, where very high-speed residential broadband is widely used, seven Internet service providers already offer network-hosted games using G-cluster technology, which was launched commercially in October 2004, Piehl said. They include providers on a network owned by Softbank as well as on one owned by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone  (NTT), he added. In Japan, G-cluster has licensed games offered on Sony Computer Entertainment’s PlayStation II and Microsoft’s XBox, as well as PC games, according to Piehl. The company is now talking with game developers about licensing titles for the U.S. market, he said.

GameOn has been well-received by cable companies that have seen it, and more than one will offer the service when it launches commercially, according to Sweetapple. He would not name any operators that will offer GameOn, but SeaChange has a big following. It has been working with Comcast, the largest U.S. cable company, since launching its first video-on-demand systems in the late 1990s, Sweetapple said. According to SeaChange’s Web site, other U.S. customers include Cablevision Systems, Time Warner Cable and RCN.

Cable companies could charge for the game service in a variety of ways, including a monthly subscription to play as many games as the customer wants, a one-time purchase to play for 24 hours, or a prepaid package for a certain number of hours of gaming over a month’s time, Sweetapple said. Prices and offerings will be up to the cable provider, he said.

Network-based gaming systems have been touted for several years, but have not gained much traction, Schelley Olhava, games analyst at IDC. A service like GameOn faces several hurdles, Olhava said. For one thing, it may be hard for G-cluster to license console games created by Sony or Microsoft because those companies want to use their own titles to promote sales of their consoles, Olhava said.

For consumers, the service might not be that attractive, Olhava said. The cost of a game console isn’t high enough to convince users to subscribe to a gaming service instead, and gamers generally aren’t interested in playing PC games on a TV, she said. TV-based games from cable companies have had some success on interactive TV systems in Europe, but those games have been casual games that users can jump into and learn quickly, such as ones based on board games, she said.