Sony's quest finds PlayStation 2
Adapters to allow users to access pic, video, music tools
"Sony has quite a few divisions focused on digital delivery," said Scott McDaniel, veepee of marketing for Sony Online Entertainment, which plans to launch EverQuest Online Adventure early next year. "We firmly believe that connected consoles will be a major opportunity in the next couple of years."
EverQuest's arrival should help sell the PlayStation high-speed network adapters Sony plans to make available in August. In turn, those adapters will make it possible for PlayStation users to access some of the movies, video- and music-creation tools and other products Sony already is beginning to sell online. It will be the first such game to come to the console in the U.S.
Sony vs. Microsoft
Sony is racing Microsoft to launch networked entertainment-delivery systems for their respective vidgame consoles. Microsoft's X Box has built-in networking capabilities and a large hard drive capable of storing downloaded movies and music, but has done little to let fans take advantage of that technological power.
The 3-year-old PC version of EverQuest is the most successful U.S. massively multiplayer online role-playing game, with more than 420,000 subscribers paying a monthly fee that rises to $12.95 in late April. Sony Online Entertainment also is completing a game based on the "Star Wars" universe due to launch late this year.
