Flagship Chooses Online Host For Hellgate: London

Representatives from developer Flagship Studios have announced that Ping0, a recently formed joint venture with South Korean publisher and developer HanbitSoft, has selected San Jose-based Online Game Services Inc. (OGSi) to provide dedicated hosting services for Flagship Studio's forthcoming PC title Hellgate: London, as well as other as yet unannounced titles. Hellgate: London's infrastructure will be centered in OGSi's 2,000-square-foot dedicated game hosting environment in San Francisco, with multiple satellite data centers around the world. The game is currently scheduled to ship in 2007. Although future projects for Ping0 have not been detailed, it is expected to offer services to other developers and publishers, both for online distribution, management and online game services - potentially becoming a rival to Valve’s Steam digital distribution service, but more specifically themed around 'online games'. "We evaluated a number of options for Hellgate: London's infrastructure," said Peter Hu, CTO of Ping0, "but in the end, we were convinced that OGSi demonstrates a singular commitment to quality and a deep understanding of online game hosting. The flexibility that the OGSi business model offers us is also extremely attractive."