Software titan Microsoft is pumping $2 billion into beefing up its Xbox gaming system, including a major push into online gaming.
Microsoft Marketing Director John O'Rourke said a large part of that investment will be to build the 'Xbox Live,' which he said was the 'world's first broadband Xbox dedicated gaming system.'
Microsoft's Xbox still lags behind Sony Corp's Playstation 2, which has nearly 30 million units in use worldwide, compared to Microsoft's 3.5 million units sold.
Microsoft is faced with the problem of a slow consumer adoption of high-speed Internet connections. Only about ten to 12% of US households have access to such connections, also known as broadband. High speed connections are crucial to computer and video gamers linking to others across the Internet.
O'Rourke said though that he believes the adoption of broadband will continue to grow, adding that Xbox Live will drive more people to adopt it.
Online gaming is a major theme at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, which is pulling some 62,000 digital gaming insiders from over 420 computer game companies to Los Angeles this week.
