While most game developers are planning on using high-speed optical-fiber networks for future multiplayer game environments, French game developer Kalisto is looking to the skies. The company has already developed a special version of its popular Ultim@te Race Pro arcade racer for use with Skybridge, a network of about 80 low-orbit satellites, which it displayed to the public during the Geneva Telecom '99 show.

　　Kalisto's reasoning behind this somewhat radical approach to multiplayer networks is that, while optical- fiber backbones are fast enough to deliver lag-free gaming, the last segment of most internet connections - the part between the end user and the service provider's office - is a problematic bottleneck. By using satellite-based services like Skybridge, Kalisto will go around the slow-speed wire connections most gamers use for playing online.

　　Skybridge is currently capable of providing telecommunications companies with a means to deliver high-speed access to about 20 million users worldwide. Kalisto didn't state exactly when its satellite multiplayer network would be in place, however.