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Virtual World Wrap-Up For The Week Of March 19

Welcome to the Virtual Worlds News Wrap-Up for the week of March 19, 2010. The Wrap-Up is where VWN spotlights stories that we didn't get to cover individually, but still make for interesting reading about the virtual worlds industry.

TeamPalz Launching Sports-Themed World

This Saturday TeamPalz.com will be heading for a public launch. The new kids virtual world aims at bringing together online socializing with kids' love for real world sports. There are plenty of sports-themed worlds out there (e.g., ActionAllstars, the NFL's own world, ToppsTown, UpperDeckU, etc.) that have partnerships or licensing agreements with leagues or teams. While TeamPalz is currently avoiding costly licenses and partnerships, it's hoping to capitalize on an untapped audience.

"TeamPalz is very gender neutral," explained Co-Founder Kevin Bernadt.  "During our research of other sports-themed virtual worlds, almost all of them seemed very male-centric.  Girls’ sports are a huge under-marketed force out there, and we’re including sports such as softball, dance, cheer, and make sure our basketball and soccer experiences are friendly for both girls and boys.  Volleyball will be one of the first sports we add down the line."

Live Gamer Adds Kount For Fraud Control

Live Gamer, a commerce and payment solution provider for many virtual worlds and MMOs, has announced a partnership with Kount, which specializes in card-not-present fraud control. Kount's technology will now be integrated into Live Gamer's element platform. The goal, according to the companies, is to leverage Kount's patented tools for device fingerprinting and proxy piercing as well as other data analysis.

“We chose Kount based on its powerful fraud control offerings and its position as the most advanced fraud-fighting technology available today,” said Nima Pourshasb, Vice President Corporate Development at Live Gamer. “Through this partnership, Live Gamer continues to seamlessly deliver to its clients the best new technologies and services in the microtransaction industry.”

Lemur Bay Launching As Kids World With Text-To-Speech

UWC Entertainment has launched its first virtual world for kids, Lemur Bay. The hook of the world is that Lemur Bay moves away from simple text chatting and includes custom-built text-to-speech (TTS) features that allow users to talk through their avatars in 22 languages. The world will be completely free until April 15. After that, only paying members will be able to access the TTS components. Other users will be relegated to pre-selected phrases or open text chat.  Lemur Bay says it uses both live monitors and filtering systems to keep both text and speech clean.

"We will continue to offer and add new features and upgrades to the site," said Ken Hartfield, President & CEO, UWC Entertainment Ltd.  "New and exciting themed areas, games, and educational content are already in the works with plans to release new content each month in order to keep our site stimulating, fresh, and exciting."

World Golf Tour Raises $10M Series C Round

Yesterday the online social game World Golf Tour announced that it had raised a $10 million Series C round lead by Japanese firm JAFCO Ventures with participation by existing investors, according to Venture Beat. The company also announced the formation of a long-term partnership with the United States Golf Association, which governs professional golf in the US. 

Yesterday the online social game World Golf Tour announced that it had raised a $10 million Series C round lead by Japanese firm JAFCO Ventures with participation by existing investors, according to Venture Beat. The company also announced the formation of a long-term partnership with the United States Golf Association, which governs professional golf in the US. 

Coke Considering New Virtual Presence

Coca Cola is potentially in the market for a new virtual world. In late 2007, Coke shifted away from its proprietary virtual world, Coke Studios, to create a 3D space in There.com called CCMetro. The goal was to find a richer environment with a potentially larger user base while still maintaining the Coke brand through its own entry point. (See our 2007 interview with Coca Cola Director of Worldwide Interactive Marketing Michael Donnelly on the switch for more information.) 

At the time, Coke said it expected to cross-pollinate with other virtual worlds, but CCMetro remained its dominant virtual presence. With the news earlier this month that There.com was shutting down, Coke was left out in the cold. According to a CCMetro posting, Coke is now considering its options and weighing user feedback to decide whether to go it alone again, hitch its wagon to another existing virtual world, or simply abandon the virtual world strategy all together.  With plenty of development work sunk into There.com, it will be interesting to see how Coke responds to the reality of hosting its assets and community in another company's (now defunct) world.

GAME Launching PlayStation Home Moonbase

UK video game retailer GAME will be launching a space inside of Sony's Home for the PlayStation 3 tomorrow. Coincidentally, this space is in space: the GAME Moonbase will make GAME the first European games retailer in Home and let users socialize on a digital version of the moon. Moonbase includes a story location with poster sites, video screen, four Internet browser terminals, and an event area with dance floor and meeting places. Users can also play the mini-game "Lunar Leap" from launch with more free-to-play games to come.

Playdom Invests $5M In MetroGames

Today the social game developer Playdom invested a $5 million Series A round of funding in the Argentinian social games start-up MetroGames. As part of the round, Playdom COO John Pleasants will be joining the MetroGames board. The company will use the funding to help develop both new games and its technology platform. MetroGames has developed about 30 games to date, which are available both on Facebook and its own Website. 

Today the social game developer Playdom invested a $5 million Series A round of funding in the Argentinian social games start-up MetroGames. As part of the round, Playdom COO John Pleasants will be joining the MetroGames board. The company will use the funding to help develop both new games and its technology platform. MetroGames has developed about 30 games to date, which are available both on Facebook and its own Website. 

Webosaurs Goes Mobile With Dino Surf iPhone App

Webosaurs announced today that it had moved beyond its Web-based virtual world to launch its own iPhone app, Dino Surf. Priced at $.99, the app doesn't let users access the full virtual world, but it does provide a mobile touchpoint for users looking to stay involved with familiar dinosaur characters on the go.  Users play with pre-rendered 3D characters and race using the iPhone's motion controls.

The Webosaurs app will also let users send information back to their virtual world. Like Disney has done with its Club Penguin games for the Nintendo DS, Webosaurs is lettings users unlock online content by completing offline games. Disney has reported strong connections between the Nintendo DS games and virtual world; hopefully the same will be true for Webosaurs.

Metaverse Mod Squad, Inversoft Parter Up

Metaverse Mod Squad and Inversoft have announced a strategic partnership to package and market each other's services aimed at simplifying Web and virtual world moderation. Inversoft recently launched Clean Speak, which automatically filters and analyzes real-time chat. The Mod Squad, in turn, has long provided expert assistance in moderation and community management.

Wazzamba Selects GlobalCollect For Payment

Wazzamba announced today that it had selected GlobalCollect to handle all of its payment processing issues. Wazzamba, which moved to open beta earlier this year, puts a traveling twist on virtual worlds. Users go on adventures online to earn spots in contests for trips in the real world. The agreement with GlobalCollect covers international and local credit and debit cards as well as screening services for all card transactions to detect suspicious patterns and minimize fraud.

"We chose GlobalCollect because they provide a best-of-breed solution that covers all of our international payment needs,"  Rocco Pellegrinelli, CEO of Wazzamba, said. "As a company that awards valuable prizes to its members, it is critical that we have a partner that Wazzamba, and our customers, can trust."

CloudSlam Selects 3DXplorer For Virtual Conference

Cloudcor Inc has selected Altadyn's 3DXplorer as the exclusive platform provider for its CloudSlam'10 virtual conference. Altadyn will provide an exclusive lounge for VIP delegates as well as a virtual expo environment for networking and showing off cloud computing solutions.

“We are  delighted to have signed an exclusive agreement to work with Altadyn on future Cloud Computing virtual  events," CloudSlam’10 Chairman Khazret Sapenov said. "We felt that this year, CloudSlam would extend this new technology capability, providing users a  much more engaging and memorable experience."

Non-Profit Open Wonderland Launches

With the news last month that Oracle would be shutting down development resources for Project Wonderland, the open-source virtual world platform originally supported by Sun Microsystems, associated developers began looking for alternatives. Last week saw the launch of the Open Wonderland Foundation, a non-profit devoted to providing a free and open-source platform for virtual worlds based on Project Wonderland.

Ken Miller, CEO of Virtual Learning Labs, will serve as Open Wonderland's  first President and Chairman of the board.  Nicole Yankelovich, who initiated and helped run the Wonderland project while at Sun, will oversee the transition of the project as Executive Director.

Quick Stat: 85% Of Home Users Return

Last week  PlayStation Home director Jack Buser talked up some stats for Sony's virtual world, Home. According to Buser, the world is now 12 million-users strong, and 85% of users who try Home will return at least once, reports Kotaku. The average session time is 60 minutes. When we spoke with Sony a year ago, Home had 5 million users, and the company would only note that most users returned.

Sony has also pushed out a new Home interface making it easier to navigate and find content users want. That may help Sony in its plans to make Home a platform to distribute games and MMOs from small and midsized developers. The company sees games as an important part of Home's strategy and believes a 9-person company can use the virtual world to launch its own MMO in under a year, reports Gamepro.

Idea Fabrik Licenses HeroEngine For Virtual World, Working With Austin-Based Nasus Consulting?

Simutronics announced today that Idea Fabrik had licensed its HeroEngine to create a new virtual world, Echoverse. Idea Fabrik says Echoverse will combine real and digital life as well as commerce and entertainment. Idea Fabrik is working out of Kiev, but it seems like it's either working with or bringing in an Austin-based studio as well.