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CNN Live Today
Sony Rolls Out Internet Adapter for PlayStation
Aired August 29, 2002 - 12:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: If you ever thought there ought to be a way to play your favorite video game across the Internet, hold on to your joysticks. This week, Sony launched an online capability for its PlayStation 2.
CNN Technology Correspondent Daniel Sieberg shows how it works now -- hey, Dan.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra. How are you doing? Yes, it is certainly good news for anybody who has difficulty trying to find someone to play a video game with. But this week, Sony is the first console maker of the current console makers to make this online adapter available. Sega tried it with its Dreamcast a couple of years ago, but of these current console makers, Sony is the first one to make this adapter available, either for dial up or for broadband service, and the cost is about $40. Again, it is just available this week.
PHILLIPS: All right. Do you already need to have an Internet service provider or a broadband service, or is that included in the $40?
SIEBERG: That is a very good point, Kyra. That is not included in the $40. The $40 is just for the adapter. You do need to have an existing Internet service provider, or ISP, or a broadband service coming into your home. The $40 does include some software that kind of helps you get started once you have got it on your system.
PHILLIPS: Is it easy to install? I have to tell you, for someone like me, I get very stressed out on things like this.
SIEBERG: Well, it can be intimidating for some people. We have a demo here, we can show people what needs to be done. We have the adapter right here, and a PlayStation. We are looking at the back of the PlayStation right now, and there is a part where it says expansion band. I am going to take the cover off of it right now. And in my hand here, I have got the actual adapter. You will see on this side of it, there are a couple of different ports. One for your dial-up and one for your broadband connection. Once you have got the adapter, you would just push into the back of your Sony PlayStation 2, and then there are a couple of screws that would actually hold it into place once you get it in there.
It is easy to install. As you can see, I have just pushed it in. Of course, you would have to run your cables, your Internet connection cables into your living room near your TV, if that is where your console is. So, that could be frustrating for some people. That is a hurdle that some people may have to get over as far as convenience goes.
PHILLIPS: All right. So what games can you play on-line?
SIEBERG: Well not every game that Sony makes for the PlayStation 2 will be available to play online. One of the games that they touted at E3, the recent Electronics Entertainment Expo was a game called "SOCOM," "SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALS," it is an adventure type of game. We're seeing some footage of it coming up now. That is one of the big games that they are touting. You do need broadband in order to play this game because of the intensity of the graphics.
There are a number of other games. Particularly, ones people might be interested in are football games, like "Madden 2003," some other sports games, basketball games. They are releasing, by the end of the year, Sony says they will have more than a dozen different games that you can play once, of course, you got this adapter, and anybody else you play would, of course, also need this adaptor so that you can have this networked connection. Some of the other games that we mentioned are the football games, "SOCOM," "NFL GameDay," another Sony football game, "Frequency 2," this off-road game, "Twisted Metal," which people may be familiar with.
As I say, more than a dozen games by the end of the year that will be available to play, once you have paid for this adaptor, which, as we said, is $40.
PHILLIPS: I am kind of digging the Navy SEALS one. That would be fun.
SIEBERG: Yes.
PHILLIPS: All right. What about Sony's competitors? What are their plans for online video gaming?
SIEBERG: Yes. Well, as we have mentioned before, Kyra, the video game industry is a multi-billion dollar one, and the competition is getting fierce, and heating up now as Sony is rolling out its online plans, the competitors are not far behind.
We are going to start -- with what see here for Sony PlayStation 2, it is this two in one adapter for broadband or dial-up. Available now in stores, just released this week, $40, and includes this connection software.
As for the competition, we are seeing Nintendo, with its GameCube. They have only announced official plans for Japan. That would be two separate adapters, one for broadband, one for dial-up. They are saying these dial-up adapters would be available as of about September 12 in Japan.
As for Microsoft, with its XBox, this is a slightly difference service. You don't need an adapter for your XBox if you have got one. It is included with it, but it is only for broadband users. You don't need this adapter. It will be available as of November 15, and for this $50 fee for the year, you would get a headset as well so you could actually talk to different players while you are playing the game, and either trash talk or talk about the game as you are playing.
But it is a service, as opposed to an adapter where -- Sony and Nintendo are leaving it up to the game manufacturers on whether or not their games will be part of it. Microsoft is rolling out this online service called XBox Live, which is a slightly different approach than the other two.
PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh. So technical. The next thing you know, it will be in our cars.
SIEBERG: Yes, right. This is going to be every parents' nightmare if it keeps their kids inside all the time.
PHILLIPS: That is what I was thinking. It is going to keep going and going. All right, Daniel Sieberg. Thank you so much.
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