As part of MSN's ongoing effort to monetize its user base, MSN Messenger has added a subscription gaming service in the United States.

MSN Messenger 6.2, the latest version of Microsoft's instant messaging client for consumers (not to be confused with the business-oriented Windows Messenger), features four new head-to-head games integrated into the client: billiards, chess, Upwords (a word game), and Wheel of Fortune (based on the television show). Each game costs US$4.99 per month or US$14.99 per year, except chess, which is US$3.99 per month or US$9.99 per year, and nonsubscribers can play if challenged by a subscriber. MSN added these games after seeing that the seven free games introduced with MSN Messenger 6.0 in mid-2003 were quite popular—for example, about 3.5 million MSN Messenger users play checkers through the service every month, according to the company. The main appeal of playing games with MSN Messenger is the ability to limit invitations and game play to known contacts in a user's buddy list, rather than having to find game partners among strangers in a chat-type environment, as the MSN Zone online gaming service offers.

The new subscription games will tap a large potential market of more than 110 million registered MSN Messenger users and will help MSN Messenger remain feature-competitive with AOL Instant Messenger, which offers free and subscription-based games provided by WildTangent. Other subscription offerings, such as customizable avatars (icons or images representing a user, already available in the Korean version of MSN Messenger) and the ability to play or share digital music from the forthcoming MSN Music Service, are likely to follow.

MSN Messenger 6.2 offers some other minor new features, such as a new "offline but mobile" presence setting for users who have registered a mobile device with MSN Mobile and are currently away from their PC, and an offer to download and install the MSN Toolbar as part of the MSN Messenger installation.

MSN Messenger is at www.msn.com/messenger.