Trion World Network, Inc., Broadband Games Publisher: Media

Startup to Develop New Online Video Games

By May Wong

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) - - A small startup with a shiny glass office overlooking the headquarters of video game publishing titan Electronics Arts Inc. is seeking to tap into the lucrative industry by developing new forms of online video games.

Playing video games directly online or downloading them from the Internet is growing in popularity with the help of increased high - speed Web connections, but many of those games today are designed and delivered as a finished product - similar to packaged game CDs - and cannot be altered after they're in consumers' hands.

Trion World Network Inc. wants to publish and develop online games that can be changed, even on a daily basis. Its goal is to establish a platform for an online network of different games, allowing people to ask, "What's on tonight?"

"If you have a completely dynamic game, you could introduce all sorts of changes that people want," said Trion Chief Executive Lars Buttler, a former EA executive who co - founded the company along with Jon Van Caneghem, a design guru in the video game industry.

"A game could always be live and fresh," Buttler added.

Trion will emerge from stealth mode Monday, announcing its ambition to revolutionize video game entertainment in the new broadband era.

The company would not discuss its first games, saying it would elaborate early next year.

The company is funded by the venture capital firms Doll Capital Management and Trinity Ventures.