Category: Virtual Reality
VWFE: The thing I don't get about Vodafone's 'Inside Out' Second Life tech
I could be being really dumb here, or it could be an Emperor’s New Clothes moment. You decide. Vodafone’s David Erixon has been on-stage at Virtual Worlds Forum Europe talking about the operator’s Second Life activities, including its new ‘Inside Out’ tech.
Basically, it’s a heads up display within Second Life that lets you make voice calls and send texts to friends real-world mobile phones, and vice versa. Around 10,000 have been distributed, says Erixon, which is pretty successful by Second Life standards.
VWFE: Live-blogging 'Conversation: convergence and mobile in the digital age'
The next panel in today’s Virtual Worlds Forum conference is alos moderated by Wagner James Au from New World Notes, who once again opens proceedings by describing how easy keeping up to date with online actions is now mobile phone use is so predominant.
“Integrating mobile phones with virtual worlds is so important”, he claims, and asks Rob Seaver, CEO of Vivox, a VoIP technology that works wirth virtual worlds, to take the podium.
They’ve worked with Second Life and Electric Sheep to allow users to chat to each other – perfect for discovering whether that blue furry elf really is the hot minx she makes herself out to be.
It’s not just the convergence with mobile phones which virtual worlds have seen, as an episode of CSI tonight shows a link-up with…
Virtual Worlds Week: More World of Warcraft gamers in the US than actual farmers
According to tech blog Switched.com, which understandably has a vested interest in reporting such figures. As do we. Power to the WoW players, I say! I can’t wait until the day when we’re all wandering around IRL, donning battle hats and swords.
Just two million Americans live and work on ranches and farms, however World of Warcraft gamers in the US? Four million. Uh-huh. Power to the people, everyone. So next time someone tries to convince you rural…
VWFE: Live-blogging 'consumers or community – what's the direction for brands?'
The next panel opens at the Virtual World Forums Europe conference, with the moderator Wagner James Au, from New World Notes starting proceedings.
He beings by talking about Second Life, and how Armani opened an online shop within the online game, so users could deck their avatars out in actual Armani clothing. He mentions how the clothing didn’t look right on the pixellated characters, and a simple clothing boutique two users within the game created, is much more popular amongst users than the luxury fashion brand.
Betsy Book from There.com takes to the stage, who talks a bit about her community, and how they work closely with several advertisers to ensure users aren’t bombarded too much with the adverts, but they’re tailored specifically for each gamer. She shows us a video of There.com, which allows for users to access goods from interactive kiosks….
Lord Puttnam: "Broadcasters not engaging enough with virtual worlds"
Film industry veteran Lord Puttnam delivered the keynote address at this morning's Virtual Worlds Forum Europe conference, and had some stern words for broadcasters, who he says aren't engaging enough with virtual reality. "Broadcast media is beginning to look rather…
VWFE: How popular are virtual worlds anyway?
More from the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe, where we're having a session giving the full statistical skinny on the area. Jess Mulligan from Cyber Sports is giving the definition side of things, before Paul Jackson from Forrester Research gets busy with the stats.
First Jess. There's as little as 10% crossover between online games and social spaces (e.g. World of Warcraft vs Second Life), so they're really separate areas – despite the fact that many people who don't use either confuse the two.
VWFE: Lord Triesman gives the UK government's views on virtual worlds
I’m sitting here with Kat at the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe conference in London, which has just kicked off with a keynote address by Lord Puttnam, and now we’ve our second Lord keynote of the day, in the form of Lord Triesman, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills.
He’s the man in charge of government regulation for virtual worlds, in other words. He hasn’t said his Second Life name yet. But he did start by saying virtual worlds are “one of the most exciting technological developments of recent years, and one to which we have to be especially attentive”.
Virtual Worlds Week: Top 10 alternatives to Second Life
You’d be forgiven for thinking Second Life is the only virtual world in town, from the acres of press hype in the last year. And there’s no doubt that Linden Lab’s world has deserved many of the plaudits (and fat marketing expenditure) coming its way, having been arguably the first non-gaming virtual world to excite mainstream attention.
But it’s not alone. Industry body Virtual Worlds Management recently estimated that 35 virtual worlds companies had trousered over a billion dollars of investment in the last year (although that research has since been questioned, with some of those companies not actually being involved in virtual worlds, and $700 million of the figure coming from one acquisition).
Virtual Worlds Week: CSI:NY going live in Second Life
The latest example of the crossover between virtual worlds and television comes in a new project around forensic investigation show CSI:NY, thanks to a partnership between CBS and Second Life.
This Wednesday, an episode of the show will air in which the CSI team end up chasing a killer's avatar in Second Life. Once the show's finished, fans will be able to explore a dedicated CSI:NY zone within Second Life, playing mini-games and doing some detection of their own.
Virtual Worlds Week: Five companies who SHOULD launch virtual worlds
The metaverse is an increasingly crowded place, given the number of startups keen to take a slice of Second Life’s hype and revenues. We’ll be profiling some of the main rivals later this week, as well as taking a look at the hot young guns showing their worlds off at the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe conference.
But what about companies who should be launching their own virtual worlds, but haven’t yet? I’ve had a think, and come up with five firms for whom it’d make sense to go virtual. Starting with…
