april/may 1996 GAME DEVELOPER MAGAZINE GAME PLAN GGAMEAEM Editorial Director Larry O’Brien
[email protected] Senior Editor Nicole Freeman Network Games
[email protected] Managing Editor Diane Anderson
[email protected] Editorial Assistant Jana Outlaw
[email protected] etwork gaming will recreate the growth I predict for 3D video boards, but Contributing Editors Alex Dunne
[email protected] computer entertainment indus- they’ll become popular with niche, moti- Barbara Hanscome try and revitalize the cartridge vated buyers. Initially, this motivation will
[email protected] market. Within a few years, come from network-based telephony and Chris Hecker online gaming will be the domi- multiplayer gaming of existing games.
[email protected] nant form of computer recre- More importantly, ISDN should fill out Mike Michaels ation. Normally, I preach the the niche without jeopardizing bandwidth.
[email protected] “horizon of predictability”— ISDN, however, remains a technology David Sieks
[email protected] Nbeyond which nothing can be said with with a considerable barrier to entry. Most Editor-at-Large Alexander Antoniades certainty—is an astonishingly short 14 to people will wait for the big news. Which
[email protected] 16 months away. Anyone who predicts will be high-bandwidth connections, cable beyond that is like a six-year-old on a modems or ATM-to-the-curb. Cover Photography Charles Ingram Photography whale-watching expedition, shouting, This is the fourth, and furthest out Publisher Veronica Costanza “There’s a whale,” and pointing randomly. element prepping us for an online gaming Group Director Regina Starr Ridley And network gaming isn’t going to be a explosion.