Yahoo to Launch Video Game Rental Service

In its latest move to generate revenue outside online advertising, Internet portal Yahoo Inc. is launching a rental service that allows users to download and play video games on demand.

Unlike other Internet gaming sites, the Yahoo service offers well-known titles that run as if the CD-ROM were bought at a store and popped into the personal computer, said Daniel Hart, Yahoo’s senior director of games and entertainment.

Most of the data required to run each game are streamed to the PC over the Internet before the game is started for the first time. The program then runs off the hard drive, downloading additional files as needed. It expires at the end of the rental period.

“It’s a full-screen, rich audiovisual experience--exactly like a CD from a store,” Hart said.

The service is scheduled to launch early today.

Prices range from $4.95 for the rental of one game for three days to $14.95 for the rental of 10 games for 30 days, with other options in between. About 40 games--including Grand Theft Auto 2, Skate Park Tycoon, Tomb Raider Chronicles and Backyard Basketball--are available.

Once a game is selected, users must download a large file--up to 200 megabytes. The so-called pre-caching file remains on the computer, so subsequent starts of the same title are faster.

The new service works only on Windows-based PCs with high-speed Internet connections. The files can be played only through Yahoo’s launch program, developed by Exent Technologies.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo has been launching numerous fee-based services since the collapse of the ad market that supported most dot-coms in the boom years.

Other Internet gaming sites typically offer programs that were developed in the Java programming language or that run through the Flash multimedia player.

On Friday, Yahoo stock closed at $9.75, down 24 cents, on Nasdaq. The stock is down 5% this year.