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Games Entertainment

PlayOnline Network To Use Dreamcast Technology 99

Posted by timothy from the if-you-have-a-yen-for-gaming dept.
Iron Chef Japan writes: "Squaresoft announced that they have teamed up with ACCESS to develop middleware for their upcoming PlayOnline network, set to debut in Japan soon. The PlayOnline network is the service that Square has setup for such games as Final Fantasy XI, and will be used for future games. Well the software that ACCESS is sharing with Square, is all built on the same technology that the Sega Dreamcast used (called NetFront). Full details here."
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PlayOnline Network To Use Dreamcast Technology More

PlayOnline Network To Use Dreamcast Technology

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  • Interesting. (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This is a good move. Nintendo, PS2, and MS all have modem&broadband add-ons to allow access to the net for multiplayer, but they are all scratching their heads on how to implement it. Now that Square has taken the initiative, maybe Sony and Nintendo will jump on board the same service (They are both getting FFXI & Other Squaresoft games) .. I am unsure what Microsoft plans to do, but from their past track record, they will most likely try and start their own MSN type of deal instead of going with the flow. (Not bad mouthing, it's just reality.)

    Now, the question is, since all these adaptors exist in Japan, how long until we see this stuff in the USA? This is where I think Microsoft will get a step ahead, since their marketshare here is pretty decent.

    Well, i'll be glad to be playing Phantasy Star 2 and FFXI on my Gamecube thats for sure, the question is when. And Gran Turismo 4 on my PS2 will rock as well. Long as they find a decent service that my Cable modem can connect to..

  • Not again!! (Score:3, Funny)

    by drik00 ( 526104 ) on Tuesday April 09, 2002 @03:33AM (#3308573) Homepage
    The Japanese ALWAYS get stuff before use!

    Hell, the only thing we've gotten BEFORE them was the damned X-Box...what kind of deal is that!?!

    • What you say is true, and kinda funny. But Japan only "gets" a lot of cool stuff before the U.S. does because Japanese companies actually produce it and market it to Japanese consumers, who are accustomed to paying for cool new stuff on a regular basis. Because of this, I think Japanese technology exhibits more of a sense of whimsy than American technology does. American stuff tends to be cool in totally different (sometimes geekier) ways, so there's a general equilibrium IMO.

      However, I don't see how your point applies here. Online gaming is primarily an American innovation; in fact, this announcement of Square's is really only of interest because it lets us know a little more about how far along the whole FFXI project is coming along, not because the clever Japanese have "done it again."

      < tofuhead >

      • Stuff is cheaper in Japan too. I remember when you could get a N64 in Japan for less than the cost of 2 N64 games in the UK!
      • However, I don't see how your point applies here.

        ...its a joke, as in beer...laugh.

    • True, _but_ you need to realize that Japan uses it's home market as a way to find out where all the bugs are in the system. They sell a lot of junk and figure out where improvements can be made before the products ever make it overseas.
    • Yes, but at the same time, I was in Japan when the X-box was released. It wasn't flying off the shelves. You could actually go to the store the next day and casually take one off the shelf if you wanted to.

      Though they DID have a special translucent version for the Japanese release....

      No matter, I'm still more than satisfied with my Dreamcast!

  • Info on Access (Score:4, Informative)

    by jchawk ( 127686 ) on Tuesday April 09, 2002 @03:42AM (#3308593) Homepage Journal
    While the article is quite light on details. Access is a company that was founded in 1979 and is focused mainly on wireless networking technology and java.

    From there website -
    "By the mid-1980s we were confident that the time would soon come when the Internet would be accessible to everyone. We also predicted that the tools used to access the Internet would not be PCs, but dedicated Internet terminal devices, including small, easy-to-operate home appliances, that would be both compact and simple to use."


    Talk about having one hell of a vision and forsight in the mid-1980's!

    It seems (at least according to their website) that they make most of their money from wireless phones by providing different services and wireless applications.

    From their site:

    "In Japan, ACCESS is the leading supplier of Internet software for mobile telephones, PDAs, video game consoles, word processors and other non-PC devices. With a market share in excess of 80%, we enjoy an unrivalled reputation as a company setting the de facto standard in this field"


    This seems like a pretty interesting company. This is the first I've heard of them. I hope you guys find the background info useful, because the article that is linked is *very* light on information.

    :-)
    • Talk about having one hell of a vision and forsight in the mid-1980's!

      It's also quite possible the marketing department wrote a little revisionary history to make them look really good. :)
    • ACCESS is the company behind the micro browser on most of NTT Docomo's mobile phones. This is what gave them the huge break in the nineties. Else they were just yet another embedded software systems company.
  • NetFront is just a web browser for appliances. English info here [access.co.jp]
    Access also makes the cHTML browser behind NTT-Docomo's popular i-mode phones.
    • damn submit button so close to preview... >:)

      the post should read:
      Well... seeing as Sony is being sued [cnn.com] over an addict to EverQuest [sony.com] who was so consumed with his online identity that he lost site of reality and finally committed suicide. Or so is being claimed by the plaintiff!

      This may be bad news for the company right about now. :(
    • Got the link [slashdot.org].

  • This doesn't appear to be Dreamcast related at all (Score:3, Insightful)

    by lightspawn ( 155347 ) on Tuesday April 09, 2002 @04:09AM (#3308640) Homepage
    They're just porting some software they've used for the DC originally. Big deal - many companies port applications from one platform to another. It's probably just a communication library - and not a very large one, at that.
  • It will be interesting to see how the pricing scheme ends up considering that there will already be a substantial charge to obtain the HD/modem combo in the first place. Some are saying that they will take the X-Box approach and have a service charge which allows access to only a limited number of games and then expand the costs to more "elite" titles. Sega had the right idea by letting users use their network for free with the exception of Phantasy Star Online v2, where they were able to give their v1 addicts a free taste before charging $15 for 3 months of play on the new version. It will also be interesting to see if the games will internetwork across systems (i.e. PSO on the Gamecube). Should be an interesting time, but it's too bad that Sony waited so long. Not only is time against them, but so is the fact that a non-bundled video game accessory has never sold enough to make every game take advantage of it. If people choose not to buy the HD/modem combo, we may only see one generation of online games on PS2.

  • The Illuminati CCG rules! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Graymalkin ( 13732 ) on Tuesday April 09, 2002 @04:27AM (#3308672)
    The biggest hurdle I see from FFXI is going to be all the subscribers trying to play all at once when the game is first released. Battle.net got swamped by players when Diablo 2 was released because they went through a million copies in about two weeks. With the popularity of the FF titles (FFX sold about 4 million copies world wide, about a million of those in the US) I can see PlayOnline getting hammered unless there's some alternate direct network play available. That of course may not be possible with the style of the game but I suppose time will tell. Square's facing a playing population four times the size of Everquest's. That is an awesome amount of networking power to muster up.

    That sort of leads to something I've been kicking around lately, I've noticed few if any games having modem to modem multiplayer options anymore. I know the venerable modem is a little long in the tooth but I like playing over one. The lag is virtually non-existant and the bandwidth of the connection is enough to play most types of games. I'm hoping in vain that maybe when modem and broadband adapters are more prevelent in the current generation of consoles that maybe a couple games have the option of a direct modem to modem connection. If you take a sample of ten people with GCs, one or two might have cable modems another one or two might have DSL but the others are going to still have a regular modem dialup. These are the people that would play a two player (or more) modem to modem game. You could have two players per console and have two consoles connected over the phone for up to four people to bash one another in Killer Instinct 8:Killerest Instinct of All or Ultra Smash Brothers Melee. I used to have a lot of fun playing Warcraft 2 and Diablo against my friends on a modem game. The internet is fine when I'm busting the skull of some dude from the east cost in CS but against my friend who lives a few miles away the extra overhead is just problematic, from my point of view at least.
    • I've noticed few if any games having modem to modem multiplayer options anymore. I know the venerable modem is a little long in the tooth but I like playing over one. The lag is virtually non-existant and the bandwidth of the connection is enough to play most types of games

      You ought to tryout "Laser Squad Nemesis [lasersquadnemesis.com],a multiplayer only version of Laser Squad (the forerunner of the X-Com series)

      Its a strategy e-mail based game designed from the ground up for multiplayer games on slow dial up connections.

      Theres a charge of $15 per 6 months (to pay for the usual updates etc), but if you can find someone with a subscription to challenge you to a match, you can get to try it out for free.

    • And the European release is still to come.
    • The biggest hurdle I see from FFXI is going to be all the subscribers trying to play all at once when the game is first released. Battle.net got swamped by players when Diablo 2 was released because they went through a million copies in about two weeks. With the popularity of the FF titles (FFX sold about 4 million copies world wide, about a million of those in the US) I can see PlayOnline getting hammered unless there's some alternate direct network play available.

      The best thing about this argument is how you followed it up; by showing us that the hurdle has already been met and overcome. Not just by Blizzard, but also by Sony (Everquest) and countless other MMORPGs.

      Square's stepping up to the plate to join the field of online rpgs -- not to pioneer it. They've seen the mistakes that Sega made, the mistakes that Blizzard made, and have learned from them. Best of all they've got *Sony* to work with on this (as FFXI is for the PS2 platform)..

      And for Sony, this kind of endeavour should be old hat. :) I'm hopeful.

  • Tech (Score:1)

    by zapfie ( 560589 )
    The technology that both to work is a protocol that allows packets to be sent and be guaranteed to get to the other side, or be notified that they didn't/ This little known magical protocol is naped TCP/IP, and ahs worked wonders for any net based aplication
  • Basically its the same old story all over again...

    Great, amazing technology gets incorporated into low-marketshare platform, creating amazing product. Innovation goes virtually unnoticed. Small marketshare platform dies, squeezed out by its semi-monopolistic comptetitors who, though they use (perhaps) inferior tech, have the benefit of a well-known brandname, more apps, established user base, et etc.

    That was the death of the dreamcast. Now we enter Chapter Two:

    Tech used in low-marketshare-yet-advanced platform gets bought up (or copied) by its larger, and now former, competitors. "Innovations" are much heralded. Amazing "new" features are aplauded by all, and large, monopolistic companies get kudos and make more money.

    Basically, history repeats itself. Microsoft is notorious exactly for this sort of behaviour. Sony's rep isn't too good, either. But I am the first to admit that the PS2 kicks ass. Anyone have a nice, free one for me? :)
  • Its time to get started on ponlined!
  • so i thought i'd post my page for what its worth... and here it is. [neodux.com]

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