SOCOM II clocks up new online gaming records

Sony's online military action title, SOCOM II: Navy SEALs, has broken US console online gaming records, clocking up 22,000 simultaneous players within its first 48 hours on sale in the USA.

The company is understandably chuffed with this performance, which makes SOCOM II into the number online title in the USA - displacing its own predecessor, SOCOM, which has been clocking between 11,000 and 14,500 simultaneous players at peak times.

Sony's own figures for SOCOM, which has sold over two million copies worldwide to date, show the game supporting between 50,000 and 60,000 players a day - a long way behind the figures for major PC online titles like Counter-Strike or EverQuest, but still pretty impressive given that the console online gaming market is very much in its infancy.

SOCOM II builds significantly upon the multiplayer aspects of the original game, and offers extensive community features such as enhanced clan systems. The game also scores a significant first by being the only title to date to offer support for the PS2 Hard Drive, which is set to launch early next year. SOCOM II owners will be able to use the drive to download additional content for the game.