« July 2008 | Main | September 2008 »
Adult website Rude.com has partnered with Utherverse to launch RudeVirtual.com. More info.
Jordan Pruitt is acting as spokesperson for the upcoming Zwinky Cuties and launching a clothing line in Zwinky. More info.
My Animal Family launched MAFKidsClub.com alongside its book and DVD series. More info.
Looking for a break from all the kids virtual worlds? [Note: Every link after that one may be considered NSFW] Utherverse, the company behind the Red Light Center virtual world announced its first third-party virtual world, RudeVirtual.com in conjunction with adult site Rude.com. Rude Virtual, a beach-themed world will let existing Utherverse users connect through the network, using their accounts already created on Red Light Center or Virtual Vancouver. VIP memberships offer private messaging, advanced customization, "enhanced, intimate social experiences," and, in the future, private apartments.
"With the ability to anonymously engage in their wildest social and sexual fantasies, all while in a completely safe and protected virtual environment, we think RudeVirtual is exactly what Rude members have been looking for," Rude.com co-founder Brett Lamar, said in a statement It's simply mind-blowing technology and we are thrilled to bring it to our community."
In order to help bring VWNews readers together to facilitate business we have established the VirtualWorlds LinkedIn Group. LinkedIn, a business social networking tool, has recently upgraded its group features and functionality and so we thought it was time to take advantage of that. If you are interested in connecting with other professionals involved in virtual worlds take a moment now to join the group. This is a great way to keep in touch with people between our conferences.
If you haven't read it yet, I'd highly recommend checking out McAfee's latest white paper on "Securing Virtual Worlds Against Real Attacks--The Challenges of Online Game Development." [PDF]I'm not a security guy by any means, but it's also a good overview of the virtual world landscape and predictions for the future, albeit mostly from a defense perspective. The overview of the news isn't particularly new: A year ago McAfee was already seeing almost as much malware aimed at stealing passwords for MMOGs than banks--and possibly even more considering generic Trojans could be used for the same application. The trend seems only to have continued. One interesting change, though, is that more virtual worlds are allowing powerful user-generated content tools (an entire section is devoted to LSL in Second Life) and open-source scripting tools for their own developers.
"The shift to open-source scripting engines is clearly happening because it reduces the development costs and paves the way for easier integration of different games in the future," explains Dr. Igor Muttik, Senior Architect for McAfee Avert Labs. "The drawback, on the other hand, is that a common programming language mights, at some point in the future, assist in creating cross-game threats."
Continue reading "McAffee: Virtual Worlds and MMOG Malware on the Rise" »
Registration for next week's Virtual Worlds Expo ends Today: Friday, August 29 at 11:59pm. Onsite registration will be available but if you can register online today you can avoid the lines and a $200 price increase onsite.
115 featured speakers from media, entertainment, IT and virtual worlds
- Hear from major media companies: Disney, BBC, Mattel, Klasky-Csupo, William Morris, etc...
- Hear from major corporations: Scion, Samsung Electronics, Alcatel-Lucent, Intel, Cigna, etc...
41 virtual world platform and technology companies participating
Gain the deepest, broadest understanding of the virtual worlds space.
The conference offers five primary tracks:
Virtual Worlds Hollywood
Virtual Worlds for the Enterprise
Virtual Worlds Kids
Future of Virtual Worlds
Technology and Results
Keynoters include: Jon Landau, Academy Award ® winning Producer (and James Cameron business partner); Disney Online Senior Vice President Steve Parkis (who will unveil a new kids world and give a peak at Disney's world-building technologies) and IBM Research Vice President, Digital Convergence, Colin J. Parris, Ph.D. Plus special guest, Heroes Executive Producer and Creator Tim Kring. Additionally we will be hosting the first ever Virtual Worlds Innovation Awards.
Flying Lab Software, the developer behind Pirates of the Burning Sea, is looking to build out its team to develop a kids MMO, reports Massively. A job posting says the company is looking for developers to expand its current MMO as well as develop several new projects, including one that calls for Flash casual games in a virtual world aimed at kids aged 8-12:
"Flying Lab Software is seeking an experienced Flash Game Developer to create casual Flash games for a children's MMO product (ages 8-12 yrs.). This position could be structured as either a contract position or a full-time staff position, depending on candidate's preference and skill set. The ideal candidate is an experienced Flash programmer with a proven track-record of delivering professional quality casual games, possesses strong communication and collaborative skills and a solid grasp of software development and Flash in particular. A love of games is a definite plus! ... Based in downtown Seattle, WA, Flying Lab Software is currently expanding and supporting our recently released MMO, Pirates of the Burning Sea, as well as working on several new MMO projectds. Flying Lab offers a great compensation and benefits package, flexible hours, top of the line machines, employee profit sharing, opportunity to work with a great team on a cutting-edge PC MMO game, and much more!"
Yesterday he Victorian Government of Australia closed down its pilot project in Second Life. The Melbourne Laneways site on the ABC sim was initially , launched in October 2007 to test the "potential impact [of virtual worlds] on the economic and social lives of Victorians." There have been several government entrances into virtual worlds, but a year ago Gartner predicted that 50% would pull out of Web 2.0 spaces and virtual worlds by 2010. So far, at least looking at current U.S. campaign activity, Web 2.0 at least looks safe, while public virtual worlds haven't been widely embraced by governments, which instead are increasingly looking at private worlds for internal use.
“The Melbourne Laneways pilot project finished on Second Life yesterday following a successful project and an evaluation that determined no ongoing need for the presence at this time,” a Multimedia Victoria spokesperson told iTnews. “The Victorian Government will continue to explore collaborative technologies through the Collaborative Internet Innovation Fund (cIIF), recently announced as part of the Victorian Innovation Statement. Consumer generated media will also continue to be monitored by the Victorian Government, as the government is keen to keep up-to-date with emerging technologies that may impact on the economic and social lives of Victorians."
Kohl's recently promoted a new line on Stardoll timed around the back-to-school teen shopping spree. Heather Hopkins, Senior Online Analyst, Hitwise US, tracked traffic from Stardoll and to Kohl's and found that the teen avatar site sent 6.45% of its downstream traffic to shopping and classified sites with Kohl's leading the way. In turn, during the peak back-to-school week ending on August 16, traffic directly from Stardoll made up .26% of the traffic to Kohls.com. And, of course, Stardoll might have been more traffic along an indirect route.
"Retailers considering this type of promotion need to do their homework," commented Hopkins. "The Kohls-Stardoll partnership was a good fit as the clothing line being promoted on Stardoll was a new line designed by Avril Lavigne. Much of the activity on Stardoll is celebrity worship making this tie in particularly relevant to Stardoll members. Firms looking to establish such partnerships can analyze clickstream data to understand relationships and to find appropriate promotions, thereby reducing the risk of a flop." [via DMW]
Webcarzz announced today that it had received $4 million in a Series A round of financing led by Meakem Becker Venture Capital. There's little information on Webcarzz goals except that it will be releasing information about its online game in the coming months and that it has partnered with MCS Games to "to push the envelope in Flash-based MMOs." It sounds like a mix of casual games and MMOs, though, specifically a "casual multiplayer online game that offers a social space in which users can engage in play amongst others, but which does not require fixed play patterns, or skill levels, for success." There's definitely an interest in virtual worlds, at least as far as the general market goes. UPDATE: A Webcarzz representative confirmed that the company is "playing in the virtual worlds space." We'll have more details in the coming weeks.
“With over 300 million online gamers today, the time is ripe for virtual worlds and multiplayer online games,” said Chris Bergstresser, CEO of Webcarzz. “Competitive play, multiplayer activity, and exploration make up the foundation for Webcarzz. Together with MCS Games, we are creating a very unique and highly engaging online destination aimed at a very specific and underserved market segment. With MBVC and MCS Games as our partners, we will be able to execute on our vision and deliver a truly innovative consumer experience.”
Collaborative product design and lifecycle management is one of the use cases I've been seeing creep into virtual worlds for the enterprise. It hasn't taken off--training and collaboration seem to be bigger--but there's definitely increasing interest. German household appliance designer Miele is working in a slightly different direction: product design and testing in a virtual reality CAVE. It's not great for distance collaboration, but, according to this article from gizmag, Miele is seeing results in the form of cost and time savings.
“The number of expensive, physical models and prototypes can be radically reduced by CAVE, and this ultimately saves a lot of time and money," Andreas Enslin, Miele’s senior designer, told gizmag. “Furthermore, the development process is significantly accelerated. After all, as designers, we are working in 3-D anyway. The new technology enables us to immediately discuss the different proposals and ideas with our colleagues from Engineering or Marketing and try things out.”
Continue reading "Miele Using Virtual Reality CAVE for Product Design" »
Publisher
Chris Sherman
chris @ showinitiative (dot. com
512-633-4132
Recent Comments