Cable's cool to hot games: MSOs take it slow even though games like EverQuest attract players and generated revenue

Cable World, Feb 5, 2001 by Richard Cole

Streaming software, including games, should be cable's model, Grosso adds, and not just streaming through cable modem to a PC.

"There's nothing that says you can't do this through set-top boxes," he says. "The principles are basically the same."

While there are roadblocks -- TV resolution and the fact game designers are not developing for ITV -- Grosso says the key to success is instant engagement, or action as soon as the viewer clicks, which his company feels it can assure.

Into Network's chief rival, Media Station with its online SelectPlay service, is another potential partner in ITV gaming. SelectPlay -- which is carried by cable operators including Comcast and Time Warner Cable via Media Station's deal with Excite @Home -- offers downloadable gaming titles from top brands including Blizzard, Knowledge Adventure, Sierra, Atari, Humongous Entertainment, Microprose and Wizard Works. The company says more than 85% of its titles are provided by top-10 CD-ROM publishers.

The Yankee Group's Goodman agrees that even the adolescent slice-and-dice gamers could be won over to interactive television.

"Into Networks already has a first-person shooter game, I believe," he says. "If you can attach a joystick to the TV, and you have a high-speed connection with a set-top box, there's no reason you can't play Doom or Quake 3 or something along those lines. As long as you have the software stream down to you, you're good to go."

The mantra everyone in gaming must remember is that most players are technology-agnostic, Goodman says. While you may not see Sonic the Hedgehog or Super Mario Brothers going over to the set-top box any time soon, there is no reason cable should necessarily cede the high gaming ground to PCs and consoles.

"Gamers really could care less about the system itself," he says. "It really doesn't matter. What matters is that games that come out on the console -- that's what people buy. Content is king."