Roundup: Layoffs hit Revision3, Google Earth on the iPhone and more
Here’s the latest action:
Layoffs hit Revision3 — A number of shows are leaving the online video network or have been canceled.
Google Earth now available for the iPhone – The Google Earth Blog declares that the new iPhone app is “awesome.”
Microsoft opens Surface to third-party developers — The goal is to find the “killer app” for Microsoft’s tabletop computer.
AOL to use Brightcove video player — The move marks a shift in AOL’s strategy, because it has spent the last… Continue Reading
Austin game event: Lively by Google could be expanded to include games
The Austin Game Developers Conference featured one of the first official public dissections of the Lively by Google virtual world (or virtual room), and I got a chance to sit down with the project’s creative director, Kevin Hanna in advance of that talk.
One of the news tidbits: Lively could be expanded into the casual game space as Google plans to release guidelines for more interactive components, meaning games, inside Lively spaces.
“We’re about to open up… Continue Reading
Funtactix launches cross-platform Moondo gaming universe
Funtactix wants to set itself apart in online games by addressing one of the most annoying problems: the inability for users to take their game characters and achievements from one game to another. With the Moondo cross-gaming universe being unveiled today, you can do just that.
So far, the universe is small with two games involving shooting and racing. But Sam Glassenberg, chief executive of the Menlo Park, Calif. company, says the company’s 3-D engine allows… Continue Reading
Gaia Online raises $11 million to finance massively multiplayer online game
Gaia Online has raised $11 million in a third round of funding to complete its massively multiplayer online game as a supplement to its “hangout” site for teens and young adults.
Institutional Venture Partners led the round. In the past five years, the San Jose, Calif., company has built one of the largest worlds where teens can talk to each other via animated characters, or avatars, in a kind of virtual shopping mall. The company has… Continue Reading
Updated: Google unveils its long-awaited virtual world technology
Google is going into the virtual world business today as it unveiled “Lively by Google,” a product that lets users create highly personalized 3-D virtual rooms on the web. Users can create their own custom characters, or avatars, and interact with friends through text chats or animations.
The long-awaited move has been expected by rivals such as IMVU, Habbo, WeeWorld, and Gaia Online – all of whom offer virtual rooms and avatars targeted at young people…. Continue Reading
Gaia Online tees up its massively multiplayer online game
Gaia Online has built one of the biggest online hangouts for teens over the past five years. Think of it as an online shopping mall full of kids who express themselves through cartoon-like avatars. Today, it is taking the hangout one step further by revealing the details of a more elaborate, connected virtual world with its own storyline and missions.
The company’s Gaia Online site already generates 3 billion monthly page views and has more than… Continue Reading
3-D chat room company IMVU hits 20 million members
Chat room site IMVU has been quiet for four years. But the company is announcing today that it has more than 20 million members in its online community where people can use 3-D avatars, or virtual characters, to meet in rooms and trade virtual goods.
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company also says it has the world’s largest catalog of virtual goods for sale, with over 1.5 million 3-D items. Chief executive Cary Rosenzweig (pictured below) says… Continue Reading
WeeWorld’s WeeMee’s gather momentum
The Nintendo Wii may be getting a lot of attention. But the have you heard of WeeWorld and its WeeMee’s? They’re the kind of things that make you smile. Especially for teens and young adults.
A WeeMee is a virtual avatar that you can use as your identity in the WeeWorld virtual world (unrelated to Nintendo) or while you’re chatting with someone on an instant-messenger platform. More than 21 million WeeMees have been created in the… Continue Reading
Time Warner invests in teen virtual world Gaia Online
Update
Gaia Online, the virtual world for teens, siad media conglomerate Time Warner has invested an undisclosed amount in the company. Update: The amount was for a couple million, I’ve heard, and it was part of the previous round the company raised.
San Jose, Calif.’s Gaia says it has nearly three million monthly users. It also has a growing population of users on Bebo, who sign into the Gaia OMG application and play a miniature version of the virtual… Continue Reading
Gaia Online on Bebo, and other apps that span sites and work great
Social networks like Facebook and Bebo currently limit users and third-party developers from fully exporting most user data to other sites. However, there are a number of applications that are using these company’s social networking platforms to share data across sites, grow and even make money.
Virtual world Gaia Online, for example, recently introduced an application for Bebo that is now one of the social network’s most popular.
The trend of cross-site applications will pick up steam… Continue Reading