Called Muxlim Pal, it allows Muslims to look after a cartoon avatar that inhabits the virtual world. Based loosely on other virtual worlds such as The Sims, Muxlim Pal lets members customise the look of their avatar and its private room. Aimed at Muslims in Western nations, Muxlim Pal's creators hope it will also foster understanding among non-Muslims. The way the player “lives” impacts factors like happiness, fitness, knowledge and spirituality. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7768601.stm
Sony will launch its much-anticipated virtual world, Home, for the PlayStation 3 on Dec. 11. The service will still be in beta testing but it will now be freely available to all 16 million-plus PS 3 users. The Home experience, which resembles Linden Lab’s Second Life, is meant to draw all sorts of new users together into the world of the PS 3 and to unite users in a social network where they can talk about, buy and play games together. http://venturebeat.com/2008/12/10/sony-to-launch-home-virtual-world-for-playstation-3-on-dec-11/
Hearst and MTV Networks have partnered to produce a digital issue of Seventeen magazine which will be available within newly launched Web-based virtual world Virtual MTV. MTV has begun inviting Seventeen readers to a private beta version of the new MTV virtual world both in the December/January issue of the print magazine and on Seventeen.com. In the new world these readers can then access a virtual issue of Seventeen featuring exclusive content, which includes a several branded virtual goods such as a Ralph Lauren bag and a Seventeen poster. There are behind the scenes photos and video clips from various Seventeen events available as well. In addition, these visitors can experiment with Virtual MTV, which previously was available only as a downloadable applications distributed through channels like Facebook. In Virtual MTV, users can create an avatar and decorate a virtual home. As part of the promotion, MTV and Hearst and hosting a virtual launch party on Dec. 8th which will be attended by including an appearance by Whitney Port (The Hills) as well as several Seventeen editorial staffers. http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/digital-downloads/broadband/e3i686368ba4cd6a88c7a0c872d822ee79d
Red Bull is developing an island inside Home, Sony’s long-awaited virtual world for the PS3. Gamers will be able to race planes on the island in competitions modeled after the real world Red Bull Air Race World Series. Red Bull is the first company to set up shop in Home. Brand Republic says Sony (NYSE: SNE) execs kept mum on additional brand partners, but said they’d announce them in the coming months. Home‘s public beta is slated for the end of this year. Not content with using in-game ads to recruit gamers, the U.S. Army is going virtual, setting up operations in Second Life. The Army is building two islands in the world: one will serve as a welcome center with an info kiosk and the means to contact a recruiter, and the other will let residents test out various Army experiences, including jumping out of a plane and using a weapon. Residents that do well in the simulations can earn Lindens (virtual currency) that can be used to buy branded Army merchandise. It’s a notable effort, though Wired says Army brass has realistic expectations for just how effective a recruitment tool Second Life will be. Still, no word on how they’ll deal with the inevitable protesters ... or the escorts. http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-gaming-roundup-n-revolution-red-bull-sony-home-giant-realm-army-second/
The founder and CEO of Ridemakerz, a rapidly growing chain of stores where boys can custom-build their own toy cars, is building a virtual world for his 6-to-12-year-old customers and their cars. This virtual world is in closed beta right now, and will launch early next year. There is a gap on the Web between Webkinz and Club Penguin and the more adult social networks of MySpace, Facebook and beyond, particularly for boys. Other than Pirates of the Carribean Online, there is not much out there yet. Andreini wants to parlay the loyalty of his customers into a virtual world where they can design and play with the exact same cars they can buy in his stores. Making that connection between the virtual and the real, even if it’s just a toy, is where he thinks he’ll have a leg up on the competition. The virtual world he is building is also pretty advanced and goes way beyond being a slick brochure for his products, although it is that as well. Kids don’t have to buy a car to play in the virtual world, but the experience is better if they do. The virtual world is a combination of a social network, video games, and a complex inventory system. Boys can design their own virtual cars online just like they can in the store. http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/04/ridemakerz-builds-a-virtual-world-for-boys-filled-with-its-toy-cars/
A British couple who married in a lavish Second Life wedding ceremony are to divorce after one of them had an alleged "affair" in the online world. Amy Taylor, 28, said she had caught husband David Pollard, 40, having sex with an animated woman. The couple, who met in an Internet chatroom in 2003, are now separated. "I went mad -- I was so hurt. I just couldn't believe what he'd done," Taylor told the Western Morning News. "It may have started online, but it existed entirely in the real world and it hurts just as much now it is over." Second Life allows users to create alter egos known as "avatars" and interact with other players, forming relationships, holding down jobs and trading products and services for a virtual currency convertible into real life dollars. Taylor said she had caught Pollard's avatar having sex with a virtual prostitute: "I looked at the computer screen and could see his character having sex with a female character. It's cheating as far as I'm concerned." http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/14/second.life.divorce/index.html
Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) are taking their game console war to the next level—launching dueling virtual environments in the next few weeks. Microsoft is rolling out the Xbox Live Experience November 19, while Sony’s much lauded (but also much delayed) Home is slated for a launch sometime later this year, according to AP. Both worlds let gamers create avatars, customize their “living spaces” and socialize, and each will feature third-party digital content. NewsFactor reports that Microsoft will bank on deals already inked with NetFlix, NBC Universal and the Sci-Fi Channel, among others, to supplement the Xbox Live Experience, and Sony’s Home will feature content designed by more than 24 gaming companies, according to an SCEA producer familiar with the project. Analysts peg the worlds as both part of the natural evolution of the console from a “gaming” system to a multimedia entertainment device, as well as attempts by the gaming giants to compete with wildly successful virtual worlds like Linden Lab’s Second Life. Still, there are differing opinions about which platform will attract more users. http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-microsoft-sony-feud-continues-with-console-based-worlds/
Can’t afford a ticket to China to go visit the Forbidden City? Well, now all you need is your computer. IBM, which is a big believer in virtual worlds, and China’s Palace Museum have created an exact replica of the 178-acre Forbidden City. After working meticulously for three years to recreate every building and thousands of major artifacts, the virtual Forbidden City is now available for download (for Windows, Mac, or Linux). It’s free, although, I warn you the Mac version, at least, is a massive 275MB file. Once inside, you can choose an avatar, dress him or her up in Qing Dynasty-era robes, take virtual tours, play Go with computer-controlled characters, call up maps, explore buildings and objects that allow you to click for deeper information. The virtual world was built on a gaming platform from Garage Games called Torque. ( I guess OpenSim wasn’t good enough. No word on whether it will be interoperable with Second Life). So if you are looking for somewhere to weather out the current financial storm, but don’t have any money to actually go anywhere, you can spend hours roaming IBM’s virtual Forbidden City. http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/10/real-world-got-you-down-ibm-invites-you-to-a-virtual-forbidden-city/
The fast growing virtual world Stardoll has partnered with Elle to launch Stardoll Magazine, a fashion focused Web publication geared for tween/teenager girls. Stardoll, which claims over 20 million registered users from across the globe, enables young girls to create avatars which they can adorn with high end virtual couture (such as apparel from DKNY). Users can also play virtual dress up with celebrity avatars such as Paris Hilton or Katie Holmes. The site was named to last month’s Adweek Media Digital Hotlist. The new Stardoll Magazine, which features an animated representation of a traditional magazine cover, produces some of its own content to populate sections of fashion, beauty, shopping and others. But it also pulls feeds from four of Elle’s fashion-related blogs: Street Chic, Fashion Spotlight, Red Carpet Coverage and Trends. Elle will also provide video content to the magazine featuring interviews with prominent fashion designers. In addition, Elle editor Malina Joseph has begun contributing to the new magazine, as she’ll regularly offer personal styles and host live chats with the Stardoll community using her own avatar. Plus, as part of the partnership between the two companies, Joseph will eventually judge a series of design contest for aspiring fashion professionals within the world. http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/digital-downloads/gaming/e3i69c4daba6cf2b7e5a25feefb529ca8ba
Six Degrees Games Inc., a Marina del Rey company, is planning this fall to launch a sports-based virtual world for kids called ActionAllStars.com. Members will be able to create avatars, chat with buddies as well as collect virtual trophies for competing in games based on baseball, basketball and extreme sports. In less than two years, the tiny company has scored hard-to-get licensing deals from Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Assn. and ESPN in order to use some of their brands in ActionAllStars. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/business/la-fi-games12-2008sep12,0,6733127.story
Most of today’s virtual worlds are set in mythical places, with landmarks that no newcomer would be familiar with. While this may suit most people just fine, it can be unsettling for those who have never been exposed to a virtual world. Today sees the launch of Journeys, a mashup that hopes to appeal to these users by leveraging Flickr and Yahoo Maps APIs to create what it calls a “virtual world based on real Earth”.Right now, there doesn’t seem to be much of a point to Journeys (though the same could be said of nearly every virtual world). Users can fly around the world to a handful of destinations, including the Louvre, New York’s Central Park, and the Golden Gate Bridge. After landing, they can chat with their friends in front of their favorite landmarks. And, in a somewhat bizarre twist, their avatars will continue to travel the world and meet people while they’re logged off, sending an email digest of its daily activities (I couldn’t see this in action because nobody was logged in when I tested the site, but I can’t imagine it working well). Besides its social aspect, Journeys also aspires to be a basic travel guide. When users fly to the dozens of cities littering the world, where they can get a brief synopsis of each locale. http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/03/journeys-a-virtual-world-mashup-with-real-world-destinations/
IAC boss Barry Diller plans to go head-to-head with Disney's Club Penguin in the kids virtual world business. In one of its first moves since IAC's split into five different companies earlier this month, flagship IAC on Sept. 16 will launch its own virtual world aimed at tweens called ZwinkyCuties.com. IAC is no stranger to the virtual-world business. The portal is a spinoff of Zwinky.com, a two-year-old site aimed at teenagers that claims more than 16 million registered users globally and six million unique visitors per month. http://www.nypost.com/seven/08272008/business/diller_aims_young_126318.htm
Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is getting into another me-too service, and about a year or so after the Second Life bubble burst: it has launched Lively, its virtual world/avatar service, with the twist being users can embed these avatar and worlds into their own blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook. So far, the service only works on Windows Vista or XP and Google is working on a MySpace version. The hope is that portability of the service will help distinguish it; another interesting addition is that in these virtual room users can can view videos and other content that are running on sites such as Google-owned YouTube. Like Second Life and other virtual worlds, users will have to install a small piece of software on their computer. http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-google-tries-to-go-lively-with-its-own-virtual-world-effort/
Starting now, Mattel (MAT) is offering a premium subscription option to its phenomenally popular Barbie Girls web-based virtual world. Since beta launch April 2007, it’s amassed a record-breaking 13 million registered users, with over 2.3 million of those monthly active users. At $5.99 a month, the new “Barbie Girls V.I.P” account gives girls a wealth of additional perks for their avatars, like a virtual pet, exclusive access to a “Extreme DreamPark,” and, of course, “a special virtual tiara.” Which that means starting this week, millions of parents will face a uniquely 21st century dilemma: Should they pay $72 a year so their little girls can enjoy playing with Barbies that don’t, in the strictest sense, exist? Mattel’s subscription plan is an aggressively priced alternative, and many will be watching to see if this name-brand toy company can attract a decent number of upgrades. That’s far from certain, for while millions of teens and adults happily pay $15 a month to play World of Warcraft, $5.99/month seems like a high price point for pre-teens. Then again, a Barbie 3-Story Dream House Playset will set parents back $275, so maybe they won’t mind paying a lot less for the virtual version. http://gigaom.com/2008/06/08/will-parents-pay-72-a-year-for-virtual-barbies/
TotSpot, the site that we described as a “social network for babies”, has launched in public beta. The site gives parents a way to securely share pictures, videos, and important milestones of their children with selected friends and family. The term “social network” isn’t really appropriate for TotSpot - this isn’t a place for parents to connect with other people. Instead, it’s meant to help parents share updates regarding their children with the people they know. The site’s founders recognize how protective most parents are of their children, and have implemented privacy settings to ensure that their baby’s profiles are secure. Only invited friends and family members are allowed to view profiles, and parents can actually see who has visited their profile in the past week - a feature that would be creepy on any other site, but is perfectly reasonable here. Beyond the sharing features, the site gives parents a way to document the growth and accomplishments of their child. Parents can list their child’s favorite things, dates and descriptions for milestones, and keep track of a child’s size using a growth chart. Everything is time stamped, which allows TotSpot to generate an Ad-Libesque story of a child’s life. Best of all, TotSpot will let parents order physical baby books containing their photos, their mile stones, journal entries, and growth charts. These won’t be available until later this summer, but TotSpot’s founders say that they should be significantly more personalized than the traditional baby books found in retail stores. http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/05/totspot-finally-an-activity-stream-for-your-baby/
Run, don't walk, and check out Disney in 3D in Google Earth! Walt Disney World has released 3D models of their parks in Orlando, and, with Google's help, they are now part of the "3D Buildings" layer built in to Google Earth. There is also a layer found under "Gallery->Travel and Tourism->Walt Disney World" which provides placemarks with more information (video, audio, and fun facts) about the parks and the hotels. Included are complete 3D models and information of the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and Disney's Resorts. And, as you would expect from Disney, the 3D models are very beautiful - including not only the rides and buildings - but, also trees, statues, benches, posts, banners and more! http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2008/06/disney_world_in_3d_in_google_earth.html
Webpage to 3D space provider ExitReality has soft launched today via a cross promotion with CKE Restaurants (Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s) that will see the product promoted to millions via the Carl’s Jr website and through a MySpace advertising campaign. The product dynamically creates 3D spaces for social networking pages (no need to install anything on the site or for site owners to be signed up, the visitor only needs a plugin). Other detais: -ExitReality can turn ANY webpage dynamically into a 3D space, meaning the product is not limited to social networks -any rich media content, such as video or music, can be dragged into a space, and all items can be copied -Their platform is built on open standards including Collada, VRML and others -The open platform means that existing 3D objects built on the same standards can be easily included in any 3D space, including most objects from Google 3D/ SketchUp -They have also incorporated a “virtual space search engine” that means anyone with their plugin can enter any 3D space on the web built on open standards. They already have over 3,000 spaces indexed, including some really incredible builds, instantly providing landmark content http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/28/exitreality-launches-with-carls-jr-deal/
On path to break into five pieces, IAC (NSDQ: IACI) has announced the acquisition of StarNet Interactive, the parent company of the GirlSense.com community site. Basically the site offers a virtual way to play dressup, and it targets the same demographics as the IAC-owned Zwinky virtual world. GirlSense will join the IAC Consumer Applications & Portals, which houses Zwinky, as well as SmileyCentral and Webfetti. It’s all about that sought after teen/tween demographic you hear so much about. Israel-based StarNet has raised at least $2.7 million in VC funding. http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-iac-acquires-girlsensecom-parent-starnet/
For Walt Disney Co., the task of opening a virtual version of Disneyland on the Web was relatively easy. Closing it, though, is proving to be quite a bit more difficult, thanks to the wrath of obsessive fans of Disney's theme parks. In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Disneyland in 2005, Walt Disney launched a free online game called Virtual Magic Kingdom whose look and layout mimics Disneyland's. Users created avatars and explored the online park's various regions, such as Tomorrowland and Main Street; chatted with other users; and participated in online promotions that crossed over into real-life activities at the company's resorts in California and Florida. Disney's notoriously obsessive fans got deeply into this. On Wednesday night, however, Disney plans to throw everyone out of VMK and lock the gates -- erasing their online profiles, lives and collections of virtual trinkets and real estate. Disney says it never intended the 50th-anniversary promotion to run this long, but money is also a factor: Virtual Magic Kingdom is free, and full access to Disney's other online game sites -- like Club Penguin and Toontown -- costs as much as $9.95 a month in the case of Toontown. On Wednesday night, however, Disney plans to throw everyone out of VMK and lock the gates -- erasing their online profiles, lives and collections of virtual trinkets and real estate. Disney says it never intended the 50th-anniversary promotion to run this long, but money is also a factor: Virtual Magic Kingdom is free, and full access to Disney's other online game sites -- like Club Penguin and Toontown -- costs as much as $9.95 a month in the case of Toontown. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121124116733805445.html
Sony is delaying the start of its "Home" virtual world for its PlayStation 3 video game machine until the latter half of this year -- the second time the Japanese electronics and entertainment company has postponed the online interactive service. "Home" is a real-time interactive online world much like Linden Lab's "Second Life" and other so-called "metaverse," or a virtual world in computer graphics on a personal computer that allows people to walk around and interact with each other.The product had been initially promised for last year. But in September, Sony delayed its debut until early this year to spend more time to create a better product. On Tuesday, in yet another major embarrassment for the delay-plagued PlayStation 3, Tokyo-based Sony delayed "Home" again delayed until this autumn. No specific date was given. A limited test service is set to start this summer, it said in a statement. http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/22/sony.home.ap/index.html
Called Muxlim Pal, it allows Muslims to look after a cartoon avatar that inhabits the virtual world. Based loosely on other virtual worlds such as The Sims, Muxlim Pal lets members customise the look of their avatar and its private room. Aimed at Muslims in Western nations, Muxlim Pal's creators hope it will also foster understanding among non-Muslims. The way the player “lives” impacts factors like happiness, fitness, knowledge and spirituality.
