New standard promises to make online gaming problems a thing of the past

Valve, along with Cisco Systems and several other game design houses, are to create a new standard that should make playing games on the Internet faster and easier.

According to Valve Managing Director Gabe Newell, the new standard, called PowerPlay, will bring Internet Service Providers, Internet routers, and software designers together for the first time, in an effort to make sure online gaming moves as fast as it possibly can. Most of the groundwork has already been done, and at least one ISP will offer PowerPlay service to consumers some time in the first quarter of this year.

Internet routers like Cisco will be able to get feedback from the development community on how they can be more helpful when it comes to sending gaming packets around the world. Most of the different compression techniques currently used were designed for moving emails around, and are responsible for irritating gameplay problems like slowdown or packet loss. This could now be addressed by the router companies simply because they now know that they are a problem

Also, becoming a PowerPlay developer won't cost the companies anything and it's a great deal more than just a one-off agreement. Newell told us that after the successful launch of PowerPlay version 1.0, which will simply handle speed and usability issues, developers will gather to start talks about PowerPlay 2.0, which will tackle deeper issues like voice communication during play and other bandwidth problems - problems which, at the moment, companies try to solve individually.

In order to get PowerPlay online performance out of PowerPlay titles, users will have to use a PowerPlay certified ISP. If you're wondering whether to get involved, from the demonstrations we've seen so far this system looks great. Slowdown and tracking problems have been all but eliminated and complex objects don't seem to make the system have to work any harder than simple ones.

More info on PowerPlay in the days to come.


Courtesy of IGN.com