Sony, the entertainment and electronics giant announced a new division that is intended to turn familiar television and film properties, such as "The Dating Game," into online cash cows.

The new division, Sony Online Entertainment Inc., will unify the online entertainment and distribution efforts of Sony Corp. of America and Sony Pictures Entertainment, which owns Columbia TriStar Interactive. The new division will not be responsible for marketing or promotion of Sony products or films online.

"What we see is the mainstream market expanding on the Internet," said Lisa Simpson, president of Sony Online Entertainment. "We hope to attract that audience and fill that strong and increasing demand."

Sony's no newbie to the business of online gaming. Their Web-based game site, The Station, has been around since March of last year, and claims to have attracted 25 million visits since its premiere.

"Everyone talks that gaming is the Killer App, but no one has yet found the right formula," said Gary Arlen, president of Arlen Communications, a Bethesda, Maryland, research company. Arlen said his company stopped covering all but a few of the major online entertainment ventures because the market was so crowded and largely unproven.

"Games are driven by brand, so if you have existing properties that people know, you're going to draw traffic," agreed Hardie. "Sony is building on the names that people know from television, and that's a sound strategy."

"Definitely the major player to watch is the Internet Gaming Zone," said Mark Mooradian, an analyst at Jupiter Communications. "But I think people are still vying for the category killer. Sony is up there as well."

"The more successful Sony is, the more successful the rest of us will be," said Deyo. "The biggest challenge is to attract people away from their television and back to their computer."

(c) Wired News