Games hit the Web at E3

Electronic News, May 20, 1996

Los Angeles--At last week's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), content providers brought everything from tarot card readings to 101 Dalmations to Beavis and Butt-head into the virtual, interactive sphere. Hardware companies kept their focus on the Internet, with key OEMs launching products designed to integrate electronic gaming with the Web experience, including low-cost access devices aimed at the mass market.

Philips Electronics demoed the U.S. version of its European set-top Internet browser CD-Online, which will be available this summer. CD-Online will enable Internet activities such as Web surfing, E-mail and posting to news groups, while it also plays more than 300 standard CD-i games and titles, in addition to audio, video and photo CDs. "The browser is intended to appeal to consumers wanting access to Internet capabilities and information without the expense and complications of a personal computer and inconsistent software," said John Gray, president of Philips Media Systems. "CD-Online will let users shift from the Internet to multimedia entertainment via the television set." The Internet browser will include a CD-i player with a 14.4 modem, a custom browser and a three-month local Internet access subscription for under $700. An upgrade package, which will be compatible to every existing CD-i machine equipped with a digital video cartridge, will sell for less than $200.

Sega reduced the cost of Web access even further with its Saturn Net Link, priced at $199.99. The Net Link includes a 28.8 modem and browser which is compatible with its Saturn videogame console. The Net Link plugs into the Saturn cartridge slot and is bundled with an HTML 2.0-compatible web browser, which is controlled by an onscreen keyboard. Mountain View, Calif.-based Excite, Inc. has agreed to jointly develop search and directory services for the Net Link. A complete system, including the Saturn console as well as Net Link, will retail for $499.98. Tom Kalinske, CEO of Sega of America, stated that the Net Link would "bring the much-anticipated network gaming and Internet experiences to the mass market."

Diamond Multimedia, a supplier of computer graphics accelerators, introduced a full line of 3-D graphics accelerators for the home PC. The EDGE 3D line is designed for power PC gamers and offers a one-board configuration for 3-D animation, 2-D acceleration, digital video decompression, wavetable audio and specialized game ports for exact joystick control. Diamond's new Stealth 3D 2000 multimedia accelerator features 2-D graphics and 3-D animation with MPEG-1 digital playback acceleration. Diamond also demonstrated its Supra NetCommander ISDN hardware, which utilizes fast Internet access technology.

Finally, the Total Entertainment Network (TEN) provided game players with a taste of what they might be able to access with the new hardware options. TEN is entering the final stage of beta testing for its interactive entertainment network. The public may now play games, including Duke Nukem 3D, over the internet through TEN's Website (http://www.ten.net). TEN has also formed an alliance with access provider Concentric Network Corp., which intends to program its network to provide high priority to TEN's game traffic, thereby lowering and fixing latency.