PlayOnline Network To Use Dreamcast Technology

Iron Chef Japan writes: "Squaresoft announced that they have teamed up with ACCESS to develop middleware for their upcoming PlayOnline network, set to debut in Japan soon. The PlayOnline network is the service that Square has setup for such games as Final Fantasy XI, and will be used for future games. Well the software that ACCESS is sharing with Square, is all built on the same technology that the Sega Dreamcast used (called NetFront). Full details here."

Comments

Info on Access

[jchawk]

While the article is quite light on details. Access is a company that was founded in 1979 and is focused mainly on wireless networking technology and java.

From there website -

"By the mid-1980s we were confident that the time would soon come when the Internet would be accessible to everyone. We also predicted that the tools used to access the Internet would not be PCs, but dedicated Internet terminal devices, including small, easy-to-operate home appliances, that would be both compact and simple to use."

Talk about having one hell of a vision and forsight in the mid-1980's!

It seems (at least according to their website) that they make most of their money from wireless phones by providing different services and wireless applications.

From their site:

"In Japan, ACCESS is the leading supplier of Internet software for mobile telephones, PDAs, video game consoles, word processors and other non-PC devices. With a market share in excess of 80%, we enjoy an unrivalled reputation as a company setting the de facto standard in this field"

This seems like a pretty interesting company. This is the first I've heard of them. I hope you guys find the background info useful, because the article that is linked is *very* light on information.

:-)