GameSpot has started a new subscription-based service for online gamers. Dubbed a 'premium gaming service', for $9.99 a month gamers will be able to play at the highest speed connections in the most popular online games, with discussion groups, voice-chat services and even gaming tournaments.Of course, most of what they offer is already freely available on the Internet, but GameCenter product manager Sam Parker points out that this new approach takes a lot of the hassle out of online gaming.
GameCenter will allow players to host their own online games. That means it will allow them to configure a Battlefield 2 game and customize it to their tastes so that as many as 64 players can fight it out without annoying hiccups in broadband service that slow down a game and make it all but impossible to play. About 11 games are available through GameCenter now.
GameCenter will be able to offer server hosting because it is leasing computing power from Super Computer International, an Atlanta Internet hosting company. GameCenter will be able to tap data centers on both the East Coast and West Coast to provide plenty of high-speed service, or bandwidth, to gamers.
New pay service creates online gaming arena
