Multiverse announced today a whole raft of announcements which will be discussed in Academy Award Winner Jon Landau's keynote this morning at the Virtual Worlds Expo. The company has partnered with Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising to develop a Buffy the Vampire Slayer virtual world that can be accessed in 3D or in Multiverse's parallel 2D environment, begun development for an educational world based on James Cameron's research for Titanic, and launched Multiverse Places, a zoned version of Multiverse with a Facebook tie-in.
Places
Multiverse Places will play home to both the Buffy and Titanic worlds, offering developers different zones in Multiverse that can also tie certain aspects to a Facebook experience. Currently only the non-Facebook version is available, but the company says that Places will let developers create virtual world-based apps for the social network and Facebook users create avatars, send postcards, and play games with their friends. Outside of Facebook, Places is available through the Multiverse World Browser.
"We designed Multiverse Places to solve the problems that held back the growth of earlier, first-generation virtual worlds -- the issues that caused most players to say, 'I don't know anyone,' and, 'there's nothing to do here,'" Bill Turpin, CEO, Multiverse, said in a statement. "Places gives visitors an engaging online experience, and also offers creative opportunities for independent content developers, big consumer brands, and enterprises looking to establish a meaningful presence in this new medium."
The company plans to add in deeper gameplay, more themed zones, increased avatar interaction, and additional avatar and place customization.
Buffy
Initially Fox had planned to develop a Firefly virtual world inside of Multiverse. Those plans have been delayed--though still on the table--and for now the two have turned to another Joss Whedon property with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The world is set for beta later this year.
"As a brilliant storyteller and world-maker, Joss Whedon crafts stories that expand perfectly into the new medium of virtual worlds," said Corey Bridges, co-founder and Executive Producer, Multiverse. "Not to give away too much, but when the 'Buffy' team finished the television series, they created the perfect launching point for an MMOG where everyone will feel like they're an important character in the ongoing story."
Titanic
Places in Time: Titanic aims at providing an educational experience based on the voyage of the doomed ship, its construction, and modern research. It will incorporate original digital footage, computer models, and encyclopedic data created and assembled by Director James Cameron.
It sounds like more than just a 3D tour--users will be able to affect the world around them and move between different events in real or condensed time--across several different instances of the Titanic.
"I've always wanted to let people see what it was like to sail aboard Titanic, to really know the ship, the passengers, and their place in history," said Cameron, who is also a member of Multiverse's advisory board. "With Multiverse, the technology finally exists to offer this very personal experience. We're not simply creating a place for someone to go. We're creating a journey for them to go on that will both be exciting and educational."
Sunnydale has already come to second life - October 2006 we began the Sunnydale-SL project in the virtual world of Second Life! (http://www.sunnydale-sl.com)
It already includes Sunnydale hang-outs like the Bronze, Rupert's Magic Box, Slayer training, episodes of Buffy shown on a big screen with cosy gravestones to cuddle around in Spike's graveyard, club nights and live bands at The Bronze - streamed into Second Life, interactive RP episodes, vamp vs. slayer RPs, feeding /turning /rebirth RPs. You name it.
I feel a follow up story coming up for you guys. Please get in touch.
Posted by: Mysteryn11 | September 06, 2008 at 06:59 AM