for PS2 and GC.
Link
By Ben Berkowitz
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - America Online on Wednesday said it would launch a service allowing video game players to enter tournaments to compete for bragging rights and prizes.
The new AOL Ladders service, a partnership with Case's Ladder, a division of eUniverse Inc. (Other OTC:EUNI - news), will be offered for games on Sony Corp (news - web sites).'s (6758.T) PlayStation 2 (news - web sites) console. Support for Nintendo (news - web sites) Co. Ltd.'s (7974.OS) GameCube is planned for next year.
The service, free to AOL subscribers, comes as game publishers and console makers, looking for new sources of revenue, take steps toward launching their own game leagues.
With the industry entering a slower growth phase, pay-for-play events and other subscription services have been seen as a way for publishers and service providers to stem declines in revenue and extend the financial life of games beyond the point of sale.
In gaming ladders, players sign up to compete in a particular game on a particular platform. After finding an opponent, players play and then report their statistics. As players improve they rise up the "rungs" of the ladder.
Jeremy "Case" Rusnak, founder of Case's Ladder, told Reuters that AOL players would be able to find opponents either in chat rooms or by instant messenger.
AOL members, Rusnak said, are essentially getting a $19.95 yearly Case's Ladder "Gold" membership for free, with the option to upgrade to the $9.95/month "Platinum" or $19.95/month "Diamond" memberships, with more services and features.
Among the games initially available on AOL Ladders are "Madden NFL 2004," "SOCOM II: U.S. Navy (news - web sites) Seals" and "Tony Hawk's Underground."
"For us the most important thing we can do to enhance our games offerings ... is to bring the community right to the center of those offerings," Matthew Bromberg, vice president and general manager of AOL Games, told Reuters.
AOL also said it would expand the service next year by allowing subscribers to form leagues and manage tournaments.
As online gaming becomes more commonplace, hardware makers and game publishers have rushed to set up their own gaming leagues, particularly for sports titles.
Publishers like Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq:ERTS - news) have suggested those leagues could eventually become pay-to-play, and Bromberg said the ability to offer paid competitions was a key goal for his unit.
AOL, a unit of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX - news), and Sony's video game unit, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, are working on a version of the AOL service designed to run on the PS2. Sony executives have said they expect that to launch this year, once they release a hard drive for the PS2.
Link
By Ben Berkowitz
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - America Online on Wednesday said it would launch a service allowing video game players to enter tournaments to compete for bragging rights and prizes.
The new AOL Ladders service, a partnership with Case's Ladder, a division of eUniverse Inc. (Other OTC:EUNI - news), will be offered for games on Sony Corp (news - web sites).'s (6758.T) PlayStation 2 (news - web sites) console. Support for Nintendo (news - web sites) Co. Ltd.'s (7974.OS) GameCube is planned for next year.
The service, free to AOL subscribers, comes as game publishers and console makers, looking for new sources of revenue, take steps toward launching their own game leagues.
With the industry entering a slower growth phase, pay-for-play events and other subscription services have been seen as a way for publishers and service providers to stem declines in revenue and extend the financial life of games beyond the point of sale.
In gaming ladders, players sign up to compete in a particular game on a particular platform. After finding an opponent, players play and then report their statistics. As players improve they rise up the "rungs" of the ladder.
Jeremy "Case" Rusnak, founder of Case's Ladder, told Reuters that AOL players would be able to find opponents either in chat rooms or by instant messenger.
AOL members, Rusnak said, are essentially getting a $19.95 yearly Case's Ladder "Gold" membership for free, with the option to upgrade to the $9.95/month "Platinum" or $19.95/month "Diamond" memberships, with more services and features.
Among the games initially available on AOL Ladders are "Madden NFL 2004," "SOCOM II: U.S. Navy (news - web sites) Seals" and "Tony Hawk's Underground."
"For us the most important thing we can do to enhance our games offerings ... is to bring the community right to the center of those offerings," Matthew Bromberg, vice president and general manager of AOL Games, told Reuters.
AOL also said it would expand the service next year by allowing subscribers to form leagues and manage tournaments.
As online gaming becomes more commonplace, hardware makers and game publishers have rushed to set up their own gaming leagues, particularly for sports titles.
Publishers like Electronic Arts Inc. (Nasdaq:ERTS - news) have suggested those leagues could eventually become pay-to-play, and Bromberg said the ability to offer paid competitions was a key goal for his unit.
AOL, a unit of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX - news), and Sony's video game unit, Sony Computer Entertainment of America, are working on a version of the AOL service designed to run on the PS2. Sony executives have said they expect that to launch this year, once they release a hard drive for the PS2.
