1. Forbes.com (USA) – Second Life’s Second Wind. “In what tech pundits at Gartner Research call the curve of hype and gloom, Linden Lab’s virtual world, Second Life, has officially entered the gloom stage. In October, Reuters pulled its full-time Second Life reporter Eric Krangel, who had written daily news stories about the virtual world’s economy for a year and a half, out of the virtual world.”
2. The Times (UK) – Days of tedium in front of a computer: corporate gaming is just like real life. “The recent news that a couple are divorcing after a woman caught her husband’s character hitting on a female avatar in the Second Life virtual world, and the subsequent revelation that a 15-year-old boy collapsed and went into convulsions after playing the World of Warcraft online game for 24 hours, have demonstrated how blurred the lines between reality and virtual reality are becoming. The business world has not been left unaffected by the trend. Companies such as BP and IBM have conducted real business meetings in Second Life and business simulation games are, suddenly, everywhere, with students across the world competing in online “invitationals”, in which they run fantasy companies in competition with one another. One games publisher has even produced a title, Informatist, for the Apple iPhone, so that the work-addicted can get a fix of the office while on the move.”
3. iReport.com (USA) – Miss Virtual World. “The Miss Virtual World 2009 pageant was held Saturday (December 6) from 11 AM to 5 PM by Frolic Mills of “The Best of SL (BOSL)” enterprises. Set in a glitz and grand glam four-sim auditorium, the event was received by a live audience of over two hundred avatars, as presented by several judges, a dance troupe, and a cast of 18 models representing Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA, and Venezeula. At the end of the landmark event, Miss Virtual World 2009 was announced as Mimmi Boa, representing Italy.”
4. Express Buzz (India) – virtual war on terror in cyberspace
.”Video games have often been the target of criticism for simulating violence, with journalists, particularly after high school shootings in Western countries, going to the extent of labelling them ‘murder simulators’. Fortunately, video games haven’t yet been blamed for the terrible incidents that occurred in Mumbai last week. I, for one, expected anti-video game lobbyists to immediately blame “Grand Theft Auto IV” and bring to our attention “obvious” parallels between simulated drive-by shootings in the game and the actual incidents.”
5. The Seoul Times (South Korea) – Internet Addiction A Reality in A Virtual World. “With one of the most advanced IT infrastructures in the world and almost universal access to surfing the net, Internet addiction is on the rise in South Korea. Often called “the worlds most wired country,” over 10 million people are subscribed to super fast broadband connectivity and have made using the internet part of their daily life. Now efforts are underway to control this growing problem as it is thought that more than a third of web users are at risk of dependency and what experts are calling a compulsive disorder.”
6. New York Times (USA) – Original Sim. “I’m sitting in front of a long glass desk in the office of the architect Scope Cleaver. It’s quite a place, with undulating concrete walls, sharply angled yellow-tinted windows and long, cantilevered balconies. And then there is Cleaver himself. He has dark shoulder-length hair, he’s about 3 years old, and he can fly. Welcome to the surreal world of architecture in Second Life.
Unchecked by the usual limitations, designers in Second Life are creating unbelievable structures and entire worlds — either for the money or simply because they can. From sci-fi cityscapes to towers made of French toast, there are endless chances to experiment here.”
7. Kotaku (USA) – U.S. Army Invades Second Life. “You know the United States Army is hard up for recruits when they start poking around in the unicorn-filled virtual world of Linden Labs’ Second Life. The Army will be setting up two islands in the virtual world. One is a recruiting center with information and means to contact the recruiting office in case you feel so inclined, and the other will be filled with activities like parachuting and rappelling with weapons, both of which are activities you can already perform in SL, only afterwards you can go and relax at a dance club dressed as Optimus Prime with a unicorn for a penis.”
8. Physorg.com (USA) – Scientists demonstrate their commitment to the environment by going ‘virtual’. “Scientists from around the world proved their green credentials by participating in a conference on climate change and carbon dioxide storage in the virtual world, this week (3 December). Organised by Imperial College London and Nature Publishing Group, the conference encouraged scientists to meet in the virtual environment of Second Life, instead of the real world, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions normally associated with travelling long distances to international events.”
9. Gamers Daily News (USA) – See Wii Sit, See Wii Play, Speak Wii Speak. “Today sees the launch of an exciting new communications tool, as Nintendo launches the innovative Wii Speak accessory and its associated communications portal, the ‘Wii Speak Channel’. The launch of both will help Nintendo to create new social gaming experiences for all. From today you can also experience the full benefits of Wii Speak with the launch of Animal Crossing: Let’s Go to the City for Wii which comes bundled with the game. The Wii Speak accessory enables Wii users to easily connect to and talk directly with each other* through their Wii console, using the free-to-use Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection**. Wii Speak is placed on or in front of the TV in the centre of your living room, which means conversations can be picked up from an entire room of people. This ensures that your friends and family can converse in comfort with you – whether they are just up the road or half way across the world, enabling true global communication on your Wii.”
10. VentureBeat (USA) – Youth media ad network GoFish reels in $22.5M. “GoFish, a media-based advertising network targeting six to 17-year-olds (and moms), announced that it has brought in $22.5 million in private placement funding, which it will use to pay off its $14.5 million in debt and expand its sales and marketing staff. Backers Panorama Capital, Rustic Canyon Partners and Rembrandt Venture Partners will choose whether or not to kick in an additional $2.5 million in the next few weeks, according to the structure of the deal. They will also be able to purchase new preferred stock at $0.20 per share.”
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