Virtual Worlds News

Singapore's Co-Space Aimed at 2010 Youth Olympics?

Last month Singapore initiated a program to create a new mirror world called Co-Space, drawing from a general National Research Foundation fund of $500 million to cover over 50% of development costs for partners. There's no announced time line and the RFP doesn't end until the beginning of June. However, Media Development Authority deputy chief executive Michael Yap, who describes the project as "Google Maps meets Second Life," said that he looks at the 2010 Youth Olympics as a way for international visitors to experience Singapore without having to actually go there.

Turbine Gets $25M of $40M Series C Investment

Turbine, creator of online worlds Lord of the Rings Online, Asheron's Call: Throne of Destiny, and Dungeons and Dragons Online, has received $25 million of a secured $40 million Series C round of investment according to filings discovered by peHUB.  Granite Global Ventures led the round with additional backing from previous investors including Highland Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Tudor Ventures and Columbia Capital. Granite managing partner Hani Nada will take a seat on Turbine's board as part of the deal. This brings Turbine's total financing to over $90 million. [via peHUB]

Virtual Reality Real Enough to Spark Addiction Cravings

We've noted previous work at Duke on using virtual worlds to combat addiction. University of Houston Associate Professor Patrick Bordnick is working in the same direction. His most recent research brought 40 alcohol-dependent people who were not receiving treatment into a guided virtual environment for 18 minutes that featured each individual's drink of choice. Participants were asked to rate their cravings and attention to alcohol during the session and interviewed afterwards. "What we found was that the VR environments were real enough that their cravings were intensified. So, now we can develop coping skills, practice them in those very realistic environments until those skills are working tools for them to use in real life," Bordnick said in a statement.

Google Ocean on the Horizon

Google is already mapping the Earth and skies in 3D. To round things out, though, it's assembled an advisory group of oceanography experts for a potential 3D map of the oceans, for now called "Google Ocean." Google isn't officially commenting, but familiar sources have told CNET that meetings have taken place and plans have been discussed. A project like that would add to Google's expanding mirror world, providing more complete data for the 70% of the Earth's surface covered by water, and it's got some researchers excited. "We hope that one of the outcomes of Google Ocean will be an understanding of how much remains to be explored. We know far more about the surface of Mars from a few weeks of radar surveying in orbit than we know of the bottom of the ocean after two centuries," said Stephen P. Miller, head of the Geological Data Center at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. [via CNET]

Woogi World Adds Child Protection Through eGuardian

Woogi World developer the Children's Way Foundation announced today a partnership with eGuardian to add online age verification, parental tools, and more to its virtual world. One goal  of Woogli World is to teach elementary school students to use the Internet responsibly, so it makes sense to add more protection to the training grounds. "It's been well established that children can concentrate and learn far better in an environment where they feel safe. The assurance eGuardian gives Woogi World users, in terms of certifying that every Woogi spending time in Woogi World is indeed a child, creates a comfort and confidence level that parents respect, children benefit from, and adds to the value of an already amazing site,"  Dr. Kimberly Young, CW Academic Advisory Board member, said in a statement.

IAC Cites Zwinky as Success in Media Group

While IAC's net income slipped in Q1 2008, it's overall revenue rose 8% year-to-year. The Media & Advertising division of the company, spun off when IAC had a five-way split last fall, saw a 28% year-to-year growth in revenue. Also IAC's proprietary products over network products for the group, "primarily due to higher revenue per query at proprietary sites like Ask.com and Zwinky.com." With another teen and tween world on the way, we'll keep an eye out to see if IAC's full earnings call has more to say about its virtual worlds.

First Collaboration Between Multiverse and Metaversatility Launches

We reported at the beginning of April that Metaversatility was using the Multiverse platform to build quick prototypes of virtual worlds. While there was a definite push towards enterprise use, the service is available for all types of worlds---and Metaversatility said at the time that it was working on projects for market segments across the board. The first collaboration between the two companies, developed as a showcase, is the casual MMO Robosnow. Multiverse announced today the launch of Robosnow into its network of Worlds in Progress, available for any user to try out.

EA-Land "Experiment" to Close Down; Ends Cycle of The Sims Online

EA-Land, the revamped version of The Sims Online, is shutting down as of August 1, EA SVP Luc Barthelet announced today on the virtual world's blog. We first noted the switch from The Sims Online to EA-Land only two months ago, though TSO had been drifting off for sometime before that, but EA, it seems, is keen to move on. "It is with mixed emotions that today we are announcing the EA-Land experiment will soon draw to a close," explained the blog.  "The lifetime of the game has drawn to an end, and now we will be focusing on new ideas and other innovative concepts in the games arena."

Exhibiting or Sponsoring Virtual Worlds Expo and Virtual Worlds London

We are now offering exhibit space and sponsorship opportunities at both Virtual Worlds Expo (September 3-4, 2008 in Los Angeles) and Virtual Worlds London (20-21 October 2008 in London).  If you are interested in exhibiting or sponsorship do contact Tim Williams (details here) as space is starting to go.  Both events will focus on consumer and enterprise virtual worlds.

Warner Bros. To Release Two Virtual Worlds for KidsWB.com in Summer and Fall

Yesterday we reported that Warner Bros. had recast its T-Works project as KidsWB.com, but was holding off on launching a virtual world until later this year. A Warner Bros. representative told me that not much more information would be available for a few months about the virtual worlds, The Warner Zone, and DC HeroZone, set for summer and fall launch dates.  There are a few more details, though.