We all know about South Korea, where broadband adoption has been driven by a gaming culture nonpareil. Hong Kong City Broadband, a company that sells 100 megabit connections for peanuts (I have written about them in the past) is now starting to push a gaming service called, Imagine. It is throwing in some kinda boots as well.
“…subscribers are exclusively entitled to special Fiber weapons for this game, the most powerful being “Fibre Boots”, which helps to increase the wearer’s pace by up to 10%…..”
No, I am not making this up…. seriously….No seriously, check them out yourself. Gives a whole new meaning to that song, These Boots Are Made For Walking Gaming. But on a more serious tip, broadband providers are realizing (something GamePC makers already knew) that gamers can be a good demographic to target. Verizon just launched its online gaming service. Cable providers have been making noises about this as well. Parks Associates recently forecasted that the online gaming (for US only) will hit $4.4 billion in 2010, up from $1.1 billion in 2005.