PlayStation Network Platform detailed
Overnight at the 2006 PlayStation Business Briefing in Tokyo, SCE president Ken Kutaragi unveiled the new network service, tentatively titled the PlayStation Network Platform. The service is currently being co-developed with Sony Online Entertainment. SOE currently runs the Station.com online gaming site, which provides the infrastructure for a series of PC massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as EverQuest II, Star Wars Galaxies, and PlanetSide. It also provides the infrastructure for online play of the PS2 games Champions of Norrath and its sequel, as well as PSP games such as Untold Legends: The Warriors Code and the forthcoming Field Commander.
Basic services for the PSNP will initially be free, like Xbox Live Silver. However, unlike Microsoft's entry-level online service, which doesn't allow gameplay, the basic level of PSNP will provide gamers with the necessary services and functions required for online gaming, according to Kutaragi. Also unlike Xbox Live, the PlayStation Network Platform will allow licensees to connect their own game servers to the network. SCE will provide a common infrastructure for the service, but the PSNP will use the standard Internet. Unlike with Xbox Live, licensees will be able to connect their own game servers to the PSNP.
