BSkyB has moved into the gaming arena with a new online games portal. The service offers the opportunity to either buy games outright and download them or to subscribe and play games online.

The service offers both casual games such as Bejeweled 2 and 'proper' games such as F.E.A.R.. The service is already supported by publishing heavyweights such as Eidos, Vivendi and Bethesda.

Bought games range from £4.99 to £29.99 while a subscription allowing unlimited access to Sky's casual games catalogue will set you back £6/month.

“The launch of Sky Games is an important move for Sky,” said Sky’s director of enhanced TV and games Adrian Pilkington. “Our research shows that a significant number of our customers are gamers and as the UK’s leading entertainment company, the move into gaming is a natural step. We have some exciting plans to develop Sky Games as a multi-platform brand so that customers have the ultimate in flexibility in how they access and play games.”

What Pilkington didn't mention is the fact that Sky's losing advertising revenue thanks to the removal of Virgin programming from its service and could probably use the extra cash...