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Supercomputer to be used in game grid

A supercomputer design favored by cancer and nuclear weapons researchers will now be directed toward a more frivolous pastime -- playing games online.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc will lease IBM Corp equipment and networks to build online gaming environments using a "grid" platform built by Butterfly.net, a Martinsburg, West Virginia-based game technology developer, the companies said yesterday.

Sony will use the distributed computing technology to make current and future PlayStation games more compatible with online play, a budding pastime in North America that has already caught on among teens in South Korea and Japan.

The companies are to demonstrate the technology next week at the annual Game Developer's Conference in San Jose, California.

The grid structure uses an array of powerful servers -- linked together to form a supercomputer -- that supply computing cycles to meet game players' demands. Sony will lease access to the IBM-Butterfly-owned technology for three years. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Running the games on a computer grid will ensure Sony's power-hungry gaming environments run smoothly during peak operating hours, said Scott Penberthy, a vice president with IBM Global Services.

The network will run on IBM computers loaded with IBM Internet and database software, along with Butterfly's game platform. The grid servers are scattered in IBM data centers around the US, and can support millions of simultaneous users, Penberthy said.

By adopting the Butterfly platform, Sony game developers can ignore knotty computer network issues and concentrate on game design, said Forrester Research's Charlene Li.

Developers could have Sony PlayStation grid-fueled games ready for use by the fall, Li said. Sony already offers some online games, for PCs and PlayStation.

The announcement pits Sony PlayStation more intently against Microsoft's Xbox in the online realm. Xbox already includes a built-in high-speed Internet connection, and its games can be played online using a network compatible with Microsoft technology.

"Sony is already far ahead of Xbox in the number of sets out there," Li said. ``This encourages a lot more developers to make games for the Sony platform. It's going to help Sony a lot.''

Li said she expects the adoption of broadband Internet access, home networking and the release of network-friendly game consoles to make online gaming more prevalent in North America.

The grid could also be used to support fantasy game environments that might attract millions of players who could join in and see simultaneous actions taken by their ``avatars'' or game persona, Penberthy said.

A number of such games are already in use on the Internet. Lineage, a South Korean fantasy environment game, counts some 5 million users, Li said. Another, EverQuest, has attracted about a half-million subscribers.

By designing for huge numbers of users, Penberthy said the grid can handle smaller numbers easily and will be able to divert computing power if the game surges in popularity.
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