Metaplace raises more funding to be the MySpace of virtual worlds
Metaplace, a company that will allow anybody to build their own virtual world and access it through through an ordinary web browser, has taken $6.7 million in funding as it nears a public release.
There hasn’t been much hype around Metaplace yet, probably because of the failure of Second Life, There.com and other virtual world companies to take the real world by storm. However, Metaplace looks like one of the more promising companies in a new… Continue Reading
Metaplace, building a universe full of virtual worlds
When Raph Koster spoke to us in December about his startup Areae, he implied that independent games had a greater earning potential than traditional studio-produced games.
Now he’s putting his money where his mouth is, launching the website Metaplace and launching today at the TechCrunch40 conference.
Metaplace, launched by San Diego-based Areae, is a site on which amateur designers can create their own games. The concept may sound familar; similar ideas are in operation at Kongregate and… Continue Reading
Next generation game start-ups, Bigdog Games and Areae, raise millions
D2C Games (also known as Bigdog Games) and Areae are two of the latest game start-ups boasting “next generation” technology, and they’ve just raised millions of dollars in venture capital.
D2C, of San Mateo, has raised $1.5 million in a first round of funding (Dan Primack broke the news), but there’s no sign it is moving in the direction of the more recent start-ups, Red 5 (see our story here) and the just-announced Areae. Both… Continue Reading
File sharing company BitTorrent raises $20M
Plenty of rumors have circulated about BitTorrent, the popular San Francisco file-sharing company, speculating on its latest funding round and the fate of its brilliant chief executive.
Here’s word from the horse’s mouth: BitTorrent has raised $20 million in its second round of capital, led by Silicon Valley firm Accel Partners, the company told VentureBeat earlier Thursday. Existing investor DCM participated. And while we don’t know what will happen with Bram Cohen, we came away from… Continue Reading