Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) has sold nearly 600,000 Network Adapters for its PlayStation 2 console. In Japan the company has shipped close to 200,000 units, while in the United States about 400,000 customers purchased a kit to play online. The package consists of a modem adapter, a hard disk drive and software required for online multiplaying.
The seemingly low demand for the kit in Sony"s native country is the result of only one online game, Final Fantasy XI, being available to Japanese customers. U.S. PlayStation 2-owners can choose from over a dozen sports and shooting games. Japanese gamers, on the other hand, have access to Websites offering downloadable mini-games and new game characters or weapons to be used in existing games. SCE will publish a PlayStation 2 version of its popular massively multiplayer online role-playing PC game EverQuest early next year.