Verizon launches gaming services

Verizon Communications is throwing its hat into the gaming ring with a handful of services announced today.

First up is Verizon Games-on-Demand, the latest in a growing trend of telecommunications companies establishing subscription-based gaming services. Like the services from Comcast and Yahoo (but unlike the forthcoming GameTap from Turner Broadcasting), Verizon Games-on-Demand uses Exent Technologies' infrastructure to offer a variety of games no longer readily available on store shelves for streaming download.

Verizon Games-on-Demand: Unlimited offers access to more than 200 titles for $14.95 per month, while Verizon Games-on-Demand: Family Place features more than 100 kid-friendly titles for $7.95 per month. Verizon is hoping that the Family Place offering will set it apart in an increasingly crowded market.

"What we're paying a lot of marketing attention to will be the family place version, which is fairly unique," said Verizon Communications games product manager Jason Henderson. "What we tried to do is something like an old-fashioned family primetime thing."

While Comcast's rival service has a kids-oriented subscription package of its own, Henderson said Verizon's approach will offer games that older audiences can enjoy as well, such as Civilization 3: Conquests and Zoo Tycoon 2.

The Family Place package is the first of a number of packages that Henderson says Verizon is working on, with each one containing a section of the Unlimited program's games that are likely to appeal to one type of user and offering it at a lower price point.

The company is also launching Verizon Game Network, a rebranded edition of GameSpot's own GameCenter service. Verizon Game Network features the same customized game servers, tournaments, and benefits as GameCenter (including a GameSpot Complete membership), but offers it at a monthly rate of $7.95. The regular GameCenter subscription fee is $9.95 a month, but with GameCenter it is also possible to subscribe for a year of service for $79.95. At the moment, Verizon doesn't offer a yearly subscription plan.

According to Henderson, today's announcements represent Verizon's growing interest in both the casual and the core gaming market. Going after the casual market is hardly a surprise, but Henderson hinted that the courting of the core market could be a prelude to bigger things going into the next generation of online-intensive consoles.