While Nintendo is totally dominating the video game hardware market with the Wii and DS platforms, two systems that basically lack networking capabilities, online gameplay continues to march ahead.
Other countries like Korea have massive online video game markets, particularly with free games where you pay for extras.
The US has mainly seen online play in PC games of two varieties: first-person shooters and MMO's like World of Warcraft. Casual games on the PC are also a huge draw but a different audience.
This year EA is supposedly investing big in online gameplay, starting with Battlefield Heroes, their first free-to-play-pay-to-accessorize offering.
OnLive is trying to create something totally new with games and networking.
And older games like Quake are being moved to browser-based platforms, proving that the web can support arcade action.
It is a slow progression, often slowed down even more by resistance from the mainstream game companies, but it seems clear that the Internet is now right in the center of video game business.
