World of Warcraft: 112 km squared
June 27, 2008
Did you know the whole of World of Warcraft comes out at 112 kilometres squared in real world measurement? For those interested in WoW and science, spend six minutes watching this:
Popularity: 10% [?]
Club Penguin intensifies its Australian presence
June 14, 2008
As reported in news.com.au late this week, the Australian Disney website will soon have a direct link to the incredibly popular Club Penguin virtual world for kids.
More Australian staff are expected to be employed, particularly given the future plans for virtual world products based on the Cars and Pixie Hollow franchises.
There’s certainly a momentum building in Australia with an increasing number of people being employed locally - so start polishing those CVs!
Popularity: 5% [?]
50 Twinity invitations for TMJ readers
June 12, 2008
Metaversum, creator of Twinity are kindly offering fifty Metaverse Journal readers an invitation to join its beta program.
The first fifty people to go to this link will be able to sign up. If you do register, post a comment on your experience with Twinity.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Interzone’s MMO: Interzone Futebol
June 11, 2008
Sporting virtual worlds are few and far between, so the announcement of a soccer MMO is likely to cause some interest. Interzone Futebol (futebol = soccer = football) will initially be released in Portuguese only but international versions are planned not long after.
The feature set touted is:
team-based multiplayer matches, with every character on the pitch (playing field) controlled by a different player, including goalkeepers who, until now, have always been AI-controlled. During the match, players will improve their skills and unlock new skills and moves. Players will also improve their personal rankings and their team’s rankings, earn money through salary or sponsorship, and customize their character at creation, during game play, and by buying virtual items from Interzone’s online store.
There will also be social spaces and a game invitation system. If soccer is your passion and you can speak Portuguese, then you’ll be excited by this. If this MMO delivers an immersive sporting experience, then once the international release occurs you’re likely to hear a lot more about Interzone Futebol. You’ll be able to lay your hands on a virtual black and white ball in the fourth quarter of this year.
So what’s the Australian angle on this? A team of 50 developers worked on Interzone Futebol from Perth WA where it has a design studio located. They say soccer is one of the truly international games and this virtual version is truly an example of that.
Popularity: 6% [?]
ViZiMO at Tokyo Metropolitan University
June 11, 2008
We’ve covered Hidenori Watanave’s work before and we were pointed to an interesting project recently completed at Tokyo Metropolitan University.
A three-week workshop was held with the theme ‘Translating real space into virtual space’, with eighteen students taking part. An application called ViZiMO was used to create the final works, and fascinating those works are:
You can read more here. I just love the physics of ViZiMO - much more theatrical than Second Life.
Popularity: 22% [?]
‘B Bucks’ - buy virtual Barbie Girls gear
June 10, 2008
Mattel have started to offer a subscription option for its Barbie Girls virtual world. There are literally millions of active users now so Mattel will be hoping a decent percentage of those will beg their parents to fork out US $5.99 per month to be able to customise their avatars more and spend the ‘B Bucks’ their free account has earned.
(Image from barbiegirls.com)
If you were ever in any doubt about the momentum of virtual worlds, you only need to spend a little time perusing the pre-adult offerings to know where the future lies for online social interaction.
Let’s hear your thoughts - would you pay out for your child to access Barbie Girls VIP? And if not, why not?
A heads-up to GigaOM for the original story.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Bitfilm’s virtual art city in Twinity
June 6, 2008
Metaversum’s virtual cum mirror world, Twinity, is hosting the German digital media festival Bitfilm in an underground city called Bitropolis. It houses a cinema to view Bitfilm entries as well as an art gallery and bar. Digital media artists can rent their own cube close to the cinema to use for their screenings or other exploits.
The Bitfilm promo gives a snapshot of the quality of digital media on offer:
The festival runs through to the 12th July. To access Bitropolis you’ll need to register online.
There’s no shortage of virtual world film festivals now but this seems to be one of the more integrated efforts involving a well established festival. If you’re a Twinity beta-tester, we’d love to hear from you on the festival.
Popularity: 14% [?]
