Hi5 to Integrate Virtual Worlds this Year

Social network hi5 will be integrating virtual world technology from PixVerse this year, according to hi5 CEO Ramu Yalamanchi. When hi5 acquired PixVerse last month, it wasn't clear what the goal would be. PixVerse develops on a Flash-based virtual world platform, and hi5 simply said that it would enable the social network "to deliver a much richer, more visual medium of interaction." At the time, the company wasn't saying more, and that's still the basic line, but hi5 confirmed that virtual worlds would play a part.

"We believe that a more immersive experience should be seamless to the user,"  Yalamanchi explained via email. "PixVerse had built a no-download virtual world platform that we'll leverage on hi5. We'll be integrating and launching the PixVerse technology later this year."