Console Games Online: One Year Later

Just how far has online gaming brought the XBox, PS2, and GameCube this year?

Tags: Categories: Features, Game Cube Features, PS2 Features, Xbox Features

Posted by Jake McNeill on Sep 2nd, 2003

Online gameplay has been a standard feature, even a staple, of PC games for a very long time. The PC has thrived as a game platform largely because of how versatile it is as an online platform, with various free game services like Battlenet and Gamespy, an abundant MOD community crafting new content for everything from Half-Life to The Sims, as well as the latest trend of persistent online worlds like Everquest with thousands of people playing within the same community at any given time.

Yet, despite how the internet has become such an integral part of PC gaming, it has long been a difficult problem for consoles. While the possibilities that online connectivity presents are enormous, the cost of bringing it to consoles can create more trouble than it’s worth.

In the last generation of consoles, Sega pioneered online connectivity for consoles on the Dreamcast, becoming the first company to truly commit to the vision that online gameplay would be the way of the future for consoles. Unfortunately, Sega ran into the same stumbling blocks that console companies face today: Cost and speed.

It would soon become clear that the cost of maintaining the servers required to keep these games online would be considerable, and that the limitations of 56K modems would highly restrict the activities of those unable to get access to a broadband connection. Still, the potential of online connectivity would prove to be far too much to ignore, and in the past year, all three current consoles have been brought online in some form or another, and each with its own approach to the problems that go hand-in-hand with online connectivity.

Sony announced that they would enter the online arena with the PS2 Network adaptor, a $40 device (With a mail-in certificate for a free game, Twisted Metal Black Online) that would allow for both 56K and Broadband connectivity, with some games requiring broadband for their full list of features, and their headliner title, SOCOM: US Navy Seals, requiring broadband to so much as play online at all. In catering to both 56K and broadband users, Sony hoped to capture the widest available audience, while still attempting to give each userbase the fullest experience possible.

Furthermore, Sony opted not to tack on additional charges, leaving any additional fees up to the game companies themselves, and for that matter, the hosting as well. Each publisher would be responsible maintaining their own servers, and any costs (and passed onto gamers as fees). Idealy, this would mean that only the most demanding of online games would have a fee, making almost every online-capable title’s connection to the internet a free bonus.

Microsoft, by contrast, took a more hands-on approach. Their XBox LIVE service would create a sole environment for all online titles: The same username across all games, with the same set of saved options. As a service provided by Microsoft, this would take a load off the developers, with Microsoft running the servers for them, seeing to it that everything is running smoothly at all times.

The XBox LIVE Starter Kit would launch at $50 for one year of service, a headset, and the full version of Acclaim’s racing game Re-Volt. And while the $50 per year subscription could seem to be costly compared to Sony’s $40 device with no renewal fees, consumers were assured that the quality of the service would more than make up for the price, especially given the extra features such as voice chat in every game and downloadable content for select titles.

Nintendo’s approach to online connectivity was… minimalist, to say the least. To be blunt, Nintendo took the stance that they simply did not see online connectivity as a viable business venture, viewing the costs too high to risk jumping into the deep end of online playability.

Despite this, though, they still took the opportunity to release a broadband adaptor, with only a single game announced to take advantage of it: SEGA’s Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 & 2. Essentially, Nintendo planned to watch the lone title from the shadows, using it as a gague to test the feasability of online gaming.

One year later…

Sony’s network adaptor launched much like the PS2 itself did: High demand, low supply. With the success and popularity of SOCOM, many gamers quickly took to the stores looking for the device, only to find it already sold out. A few months later, when the adaptors became more plentiful, they continued to sell at a steady rate, though not with quite the same frothing excitement as they had flown off shelves at launch. Still, the device was quite a success, with current sales numbers estimated to have reached over 780,000 units. Recently, Sony has made it easier to get the adaptor, producing bundle packages including the PS2, network adaptor and a copy of ATV Offroad Fury 2 for $200, only $20 more than the price of a PS2 on its own.

Today, the PS2 touts more than 50 online titles from 20 different developers. Titles like EA’s Madden 2003 and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 (and later their sequels, Madden 2004 and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4), originally announced to be online on both the PS2 and XBox, were later brought to the XBox without online support. Other online titles like ATV Offroad Fury, Frequency (and its sequel, Amplitude) saw critical success and moderate sales.

Sony even went as far as to release a PS2 version of its PC hit Everquest (Although the two games were very different). So far, this Everquest game (Everquest: Online Adventures) is the only one on the PS2 to have any kind of monthly fee, and other publishers have seen fit to include their titles’ online playability for free.

So far.

The XBox’s launch may not have seen quite the same level of hype that drove frothing PS2 fans to the store in droves searching for network adaptors, but their XBox LIVE kits have maintained strong and steady sales since their release last year. Despite being released without the planned pack-in copy of Re-Volt, the XBox LIVE Starter Kit was still recieved very well, launching with a few wonderful titles like MechAssault and Unreal Championship, with Microsoft’s sports lineup (such as (NFL Fever) filling the void left by the absense of online playability in the Xbox version of Madden.

Other titles, like the port of the PC hit Ghost Recon, Capcom VS SNK 2 EO (The first online fighting game), and the recently-released Midtown Madness 3 have all kept the XBox’s LIVE-enabled game lineup lively. And although adding a monthly fee on top of XBox Live’s yearly subscription may have seemed a bit steep, the XBox port of Phantasy Star Online 1 & 2 was still recieved fairly well.

And while it has not yet been seen how fans will react to resubscription fees (Confirmed to be $50 earlier this year, along with the announcement that the XBox LIVE Starter Kit would be packed-in with MechAssault and the kit’s price increased to $70), the perks of Microsoft’s service have been very well-recieved. Namely, Microsoft’s content downloads have been one of the high notes of the XBox Live service, providing new content for games like Mech Assault, Splinter Cell, and Brute Force, allowing players to enjoy brand new levels, weapons, etc.

Currently, it isn’t known exactly how many subscribers are partaking of the service. The last number from Microsoft in July had over 500,000 Xbox LIVE subscribers, with a couple months left before the 1 year anniversary mark.

In the meantime, the GameCube’s online state remains nearly non-existent. The release of Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 & 2 met with a reasonable amount of success, selling well enough to warrant the aforementioned XBox port a half year afterwards. Despite minimal support from Nintendo, as well as limited availability of the broadband adaptors themselves (An exclusivity agreement signed with Wal-Mart assured the devices could only be found in those stores), the sole online title on the GameCube still proved that the format held promise.

Today, Phantasy Star Online Episode 1 & 2 is still the only online title on the system, and at the moment only two more titles are currently announced which will make use the broadband adaptor. One, Mario Kart: Double Dash, will only use the device to network systems together within one room, and will not be used to bring the game online, as many had hoped. The second title, ironically enough, is Phantasy Star Online Episode 3: Card Battle.

In defense of this, Nintendo still maintains the position that online connectivity still isn’t a viable feature for console titles, with the profits generated by online titles simply unable to offset the costs. And while Nintendo is rumored to be in production of online titles, at present they remain extremely skeptical of the claim that online gameplay on consoles is anything more than an excuse for developers to “hide a lack of creativity”.

Sony and Microsoft would disagree, it would seem. Sony is readying to bring the next installments in major franchises like Gran Turismo and Syphon Filter online. Within the next year, the PS2 will see the release of numerous big-name titles with online connectivity, such as Final Fantasy XI, Resident Evil Outbreak, Everquest Online Adventures: Frontiers, and the sequel to SOCOM, as well as the latest set of online-enabled sports titles, headed by the already-released Madden 2004.

Microsoft, on the other hand, is preparing to dive into online gaming full-force. Soon, Microsoft will upgrade the XBox Live service with a slew of new features, such as out-of-game chat and option access. Furthermore, Microsoft is rolling out a full-featured ranking service for their sports games called XSN, that will allow people to check rankings and gague the success of user-created league teams, all from Microsoft’s XSN webpage.

Microsoft’s upcoming game lineup is filled with online titles, including Crimson Skies, Project Gotham 2, Conker: Live and Uncut, and of course, Halo 2, the long awaited sequel to Microsoft’s tremendously successful launch title. Microsoft also intends to create the XBox’s first truly massively-multiplayer title in True Fantasy Live Online, created by Level-5, developers of the Dark Cloud series.

Third parties, as well, are taking to XBox Live, and among the titles announced to be Live-enabled are Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix, Tecmo’s Dead or Alive Online and Ninja Gaiden, THQ’s Full-Spectrum Warrior, and a port of Vivendi Universal and Valve’s extremely successful Counter-Strike.

Overall, it looks like Microsoft is putting their full effort into ensuring that online play is a strong part of the XBox lineup, and Sony is following suit with a number of online-enabled PS2 titles. And the GameCube… well, at least for now, to the average GameCube owner, the word “connectivity” only applies to the system’s ability to link to the Game Boy Advance. This fact aside, in the past year online connectivity on consoles has grown by leaps and bounds, and things are shaping up nicely for this steady growth to continue next year.

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