It helps to have someone fluent in Japanese in the office. 🙂 So first up, here’s word on Cyber MEGACITY, a newly announced virtual world.

Nikkei Exchange (Japan’s NYSE) announcement of a new virtual space research/holding company.

SBI Holdings is forming a new subsidiary (SBI Robo) in partnership with design firm Beyond C and marketing group ArchiveGate (AG Consulting) to create a new virtual space called Cyber MEGACITY, based on Tokyo’s 0^th administrative ward.

Read More “Cyber MEGACITY + more on Meet-Me”

Forterra Systems has announced OLIVE, an SDK for building virtual worlds.

For those who don’t know the history: once upon a time, there was one company called There, and it made a world called There.com. There had trouble gaining traction with its consumer service, and eventually, there were moves made to shut it down. This despite the fact that it featured, IMHO, some of the best interaction design in social virtual worlds — in some ways, just ahead of its time.

Read More “OLIVE”

Wired has an article titled ‘Next-Gen Multiplayer Worlds Are Built to Snare Nongamers’ that is adorned with screenshots from Tabula Rasa and Fury. I cannot think of any non-gamers I know who would jump at either of those. 🙂 They also have a pic of Whirled though it does seem to feature a zombie.

Hmm, where’s the online world that looks like a Michael’s craft store?

IGDA – Articles – Identity

The South Korean government has even dropped the requirement of military service for those willing to work in the game industry, considering digital games key to the international export of Korean culture.