There's a thorn with every rose, and in the line of broadband Internet, ain't that a fact? We've heard about Time Warner Cable and World of Warcraft connectivity issues before, but this new ISP issue is packing smoke. Subscribers of Tiscali are disgruntled at the apparent blocking of peer-to-peer (P2P) connections by their ISP. Even multiplayer connectivity is also hampered, as complaints roll in from players on EVE Online, CoD4, and ET: Quake Wars.

Here's something for the Christmas list of World of Warcraft fans: in a joint project, Dell and Blizzard brings you the Dell XPS M1730, World of Warcraft Edition, the bigger badder brother of their WoW XPS M1710. The WoW Notebook PC is emblazoned with custom World of Warcraft artwork and comes with a ton of extras. Find out more in the full article.

 

We were recently able to talk to Nick Beliaeff, the Exec Director of Development for Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), who graciously made time to answer a few questions for us. He let us in on some of the company's plans varied plans - from PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable titles to the advent of MMO 2.0.

Without further ado, here's QJ.NET's interview with Nick Beliaeff.

QJ: How do you approach game development on the different platforms that you make games for? What are the big differences between, say, making a PSN title and making a PSP or PC title? Particularly from a budgetary, gameplay, and target audience perspective?

Beliaeff: For us, I think one of the key tenets we try and follow would be is the title platform appropriate and does it leverage our core competencies? For a PSP title, does it involve short play sessions, does it support WiFi and infrastructure modes, and will it load fast off of an UMD?

For PSN, is it something that is a palatable download with a broadband connection, does it help validate the PS3 purchase, and is it online multiplayer? For PC, we are pretty established and tend to focus on will it be a kick ass, large subscriber base game a few years from now? PSN and PSP title for us are relatively quick. MMOs take a long time to build properly :)

Click the Full Article link for the rest of the interview!

Time Warner Cable's (TWC) Road Runner Internet service in New York City may have taken a turn for the worse as complaints of one of its cable Internet service rose to a peak today. Blizzard received distressing feedback on Time Warner's Road Runner service, which reportedly ended in random pockets of lag in World of Warcraft.

 

All in all, the issues severely degraded the gameplay experience for a fraction of the U.S. realms' players. People were led to believe that the issues experienced could have something to do with TWC's shift to "packet shaping," although they were quickly denied by representatives of the company.

"We don't have a network management policy called packet shaping," spokespersion Alex Dudley told Shacknews. He remained firm in the belief that the company would not implement any changes that would affect gameplay in Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft.

In contrast, however, investigative Internet surfers identified a portion of a press release gathered from connection technology site Broadband Reports. The text definitely stated the term "packet shaping" and implicated the name of Time Warner and the announcement of the technology's release around the U.S.

According to posters in the forum where the partial press release was discovered, the text information was e-mailed to them by customer service representatives in light of the recent increase of service complaints. But in a final note, Dudley has assured that Time Warner Cable is looking into the issue and promises that the problems will be resolved as soon as possible.

While the Eastern hemisphere has an uncontested foothold in the online gaming sector, Electronic Arts' director of E-commerce, John Burns, believes that online gaming in the Western front will also rise to the occasion. He claimed that in three years time, the world's online gamers could be spending up to GB£ 2.18 billion (US$ 4.4 billion) every year.

 

At a two-day conference held by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe, Burns spoke on the potential growth spurt that the online games industry would experience in the coming years. "Not only is gaming a significant industry in size now but online gaming is an important step for us as an industry," said Burns, being careful to point out that even the rise of female online gamers cannot be barred by the concept of "hard-core" games.

"It is very broad and widespread. There are many people playing online games of all ages, male and female," he added. Burns figured that around 100 million online gamers are spread across the world and its highly likely that the number would increase steadily in the coming years.

If the European situation is any indication, Burns pointed out that broadband penetration in the region has grown from 35% since 2006. He predicts that in about five years' time, it could rise past 45%. "Household penetration of broadband is also exponential - and we are looking at that growing in Europe from 40 per cent now to over 60 per cent in 2012," he concluded.

Taiwan, China, and South Korea have enjoyed an early boost in the MMORPG market, with millions of gamers and game companies contributing to its growth. The player base in some games, like the 60 million user base in Wizet's MapleStory, inflated due to the availability of affordable broadband connections and the spread of Internet cafes.

Burns noted that the sense of community is driving gamers to the online front, where interaction with other human beings through a virtual world entices both the experience and the imagination. "Online games expand your world. And players can replicate in a larger [online] world what they have in the off-line world," he said.

 

The online game Second Life shares a lot of things with the real world such as terrorist attacks, protesters, and flash floods. Given that, one more thing they recently added is the NBA Headquarters. David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, gave his take on their HQ in Second Life stating "Bringing the NBA to the virtual world provides us with a new and innovative platform to reach our fans and the millions of residents in Second Life." He added that the "The NBA Headquarters creates an interactive worldwide community where fans can come together, engage with our game, and most importantly, share in their passion for the NBA."

The Electric Sheep Company, a leading creator of 3D virtual world content and solutions, developed the site and filled it with features that will make basketball fans very happy. Second Life residents will gain access to the T-Mobile Arena, broadband video of classic NBA games and highlights, and even a chance to get their picture taken with the NBA's championship trophy in the Toyota Larry O'Brien Trophy Room.

Sibley Verbeck, CEO of The Electric Sheep Company, spoke on their creation and the NBA saying that "NBA is a sports innovator, being the first professional sports league to unveil a comprehensive headquarters in a virtual world." He also noted that "NBA is engaging its fan community at a whole new level, and bringing fans together from around the world."

Features:

• T-Mobile Arena 
• NBA Store
• NBA Jam Session
• Toyota Larry O’Brien Trophy Room
• Cisco Wireless Press Center
• Path of the 50 Greatest NBA Players
• David Stern Avatar
• NBA Orientation Island

All in all, it looks like a solid effort from Stern and The Electric Sheep Company. Now, even Second Life avatars can enjoy the NBA in their world. We are still waiting for the NBA to start having a Second Life league, complete with the Laker Girls though.

Let us go far as to say that an article like this had to be written, and we're glad that someone actually did. While blogger and PC geek dp was as avid a gamer as any of those who remain of the multi-genre gaming enthusiasts, it's not hard to see where his sentiments are stemming from.

As part of the social subculture in the world, LAN parties used to be the pinnacle of community gatherings and social structuring that allowed gamers to connect on a real inter-personal level. But now, as broadband weaved its way to the mass market, the number of LAN party attendees soon dwindled to nothing.

It was pretty fine at first, of course, as most FPS or RTS gamers who couldn't win a match (even if their lives depended on it) were noticeably the first to go. But then even the mainstream LAN gamers suddenly opted out, seeking out human flesh player pwnage glory in the likes of MMORPG PvP games. The end of the LAN party was at hand.

While broadband's 2Mbps and even 4Mbps is nothing close to the mainstream LAN party's 100Mbps (or if you've got the bucks to blow - 1Gbps), gamers opted for the laggy, increasingly unimaginative but virtual worlds that MMO games had to offer. Players didn't mind not knowing the person that they were playing with, as long as they could be played with. And then players were able to hide behind masks of alter-egos, even if it confused some of the more practical players.

So now the once-mainstream, now-brainwashed gamers spend around eight hours a day crawling around dungeons with pixelized versions of themselves, hacking away at other pixelized versions of monsters with a sorry excuse for AI. Soon, those gamers couldn't pay for their own Internet connections that they soon returned to LAN parties, only to connect their PC to the high-speed network and fire up World of Warcraft. The nerve!

Thanks to some charitable PC enthusiasts who have the audacity to shell out their money for a great LAN gaming session, or even well known game developer companies such as id Software, LAN parties still have a fighting chance to be epic milestones in the gaming community. The upcoming QuakeCon is one of the world's most awaited and celebrated LAN parties, and it's probably the only last refuge of the LAN party culture. Competitive games such as the Electronic Sports World Cup and the World Cyber Games need this mechanic, and so it's not a big deal on their part.

So for game enthusiasts that are still out there, here's our calling to revive the gaming culture's biggest social achievement in world history. Let's return it to it's former glory and even seek out to bring the FPS-heads from consoles into our fold. After all, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 are all capable of wired and wireless networking. And if it's not hard to ask, can we get more cross-multiplayer titles? Please?

Showtime is expanding their horizons with this recent move. The CBS Corporation owned cable channel is going to work with game publisher Broadband Libraries LLC to form "On Broadband". What is it? Think of GameTap and you'll probably have an idea what On Broadband would be about.

Anyhow, the company will be offering a private label game service for cable TV companies and DSL broadband providers come  the second quarter of this year. They will be offering a collection of games that can be downloaded or played online, some will be free and some will be available for purchase.

A subscription option will also be available. Aside from that, game-related content such as reviews and cheats and tricks will also be offered. In parting, Peter Von Schlossberg of Broadband Libraries has this to say:

Cable operators have tried to populate their home pages with any sort of entertainment they can...We believe (the service) should be in their name and be delivered to them and passed along to consumers as they like.

The New York Times has steadily been gaining a gamer's rep with us, as it's not that common to see MMORPGs (and video games in general) getting press from a newspaper outfit. If there's one thing we like about the current incarnation of their news and features on games, it's how it takes a balanced view of the situation and how it does its best to not become one-sided on the matter. Even if it's a multimedia presentation, this is one of their more interesting features on gaming.

It's a presentation of the gaming world on the other side of the world, Korea, pointing out some differences in gaming culture over there that aren't as apparent in America and other countries. For instance, they have one of the highest number of broadband subscriptions per 100 residents, perhaps due to South Korea's smaller landmass leaving indoor activities more desirable for people there.

Despite the amount of internet access, gaming has a very social aspect. Clans of gamers converge at PC gaming hubs to play their MMOs and strategy games. You can imagine how well-coordinated a raid on Blackwing Lair would be with a core team of raiders sitting right next to each other. There are even love seats for gaming couples!

Even more interesting is how gaming has achieved a status of recognition in Korea that is far beyond any other country's, with televised matches between players and clans on strategy games, and the best gamers acquiring a rather enviable celebrity status among Korean teens. The picture above, coincidentally, is that of Lim Yo-Hwan (aka SlayerS_'BoxeR'), one of Korea's best known and most famous gamers.

As you can see, regardless of culture, gaming has moved forward from its obscure roots as two balls and a paddle. Its acceptance by that culture, however, is dependent on how well that culture meshes with the notion of videogames as a worthwhile pasttime.

Worldwide MMORPGs just hit the decade-old mark. In 1996 Nexon Inc. developed the game Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds. It was a game based on Korean myth and graphic novels. The graphics is 2D, the player movement intense, storyline solid, and the art has anime influence all over it. New Korean MMORPGs mushroomed all over the country and has been successful ever since, largely due to dipping internet broadband prices and new advances in IT.

Ten years later, the CEO of the company - David Lee - gives his thoughts on how to make online gaming more appealing for the next decade:

Diversification of Genres - online gaming used to just mean MMORPG, but now there are online FPS, sports, and racing games. These games provide gamers with a wide variety of choices. It also allows people to socialize and create online relationships.

Mass Marketing - it would be beneficial to game developers and companies to help each other out. Attaching another well-known product's name to the game will help boost not only the popularity of the game but also sales.

Exploration of International Markets - although Korea may be considered as the country with the most online players in the world, the rest of the other Asian countries are coming up as well. He predicts that western countries like Europe and the US will be following suit. Exploring these markets with innovative games would be profitable to both the parties.

Platform Independence and Ubiquity - in the future, most gamers will play the same online games regardless where they are and what console or PC they're playing with. Game companies should develop games that can be played on most, if not all, the new gen consoles and PCs.