Metaplace lets you grow your own virtual world
There are 30,000 new virtual worlds on the web today, thanks to Metaplace.
The San Diego-based company has created a platform that lets users create their own characters and virtual worlds. They are all interconnected in one site, which can highlight various worlds through its centralized plaza.
“The vision is to make virtual worlds into a first-class citizen of the web,” said Raph Koster, chief executive of Metaplace. “It has been the province of uber geeks, but… Continue Reading
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
Four startups talk about making casual games work (caution: time sink)
Online gaming is of more interest to more people than ever. That’s because of casual games — small, low-budget, easy-to-learn entirely online creations that are increasingly becoming a part of online life.
The great thing about casual games is that they’re so casual. They don’t require big time commitments. Most players aren’t geeks. They fit nearly any context, from destination sites like Kongregate, to other places like Facebook, where they capture new audiences.
We spoke to the founders of… Continue Reading
Roundup: Kyte gets more, Microsoft’s ad deal, NetSuite’s golden IPO, more
Here’s the latest (updated) action:
1) Kyte.tv raises $15 million
2) Electric Sheep Company lays off 22
3) FCC receives 700MHz auction applications
4) Microsoft signs $500M ad deal
5) GPS devices fly off the shelves
6) Netsuite sets high price for planned IPO
7) Eric Eldon, celebrity at large?
Kyte.tv raises $15M second round — An online startup that offers a video player allowing near-live communications by video, photo and chat, Kyte has picked up some steam online, attracting a decent-sized audience… Continue Reading
Introducing VastPark, the owner of OpenSocial.com
OpenSocial, Google’s ambitious project to set standards for developers across Web sites, won accolades all round.
Except for its funky URL: http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial/. You’ll never remember it.
Guess who owns www.OpenSocial.com.
Answer: An Australian company called VastPark which, it turns out, has an open vision that is very similar to Google’s. The difference is, VastPark wants to let people port virtual products across virtual worlds. Just as Google wants to be break the vise-lock Facebook has on social networking,… Continue Reading
Mint wins Techcrunch. Latest start-ups: mEgo, Wixi, Xtr3D, Flowplay
This just in: The winner of the Techcrunch40 event is Mint, the personal finance company (see our coverage here).
Meanwhile, below is the last batch of Techcrunch companies, from Tuesday’s afternoon session. After hitting VentureBeat readers with 40 start-ups over the past two days, we’re going to try our best fast on Web 2.0 for at least a day. Frankly, this latest batch wasn’t that impressive. Here’s the ranking: WooMe, Zivity, mEgo, Wixi, Xtr3D, Metaplace, Flowplay,… 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