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VastPark is continuing its steady journey to open beta, with the company claiming a successful stress test of its servers. Additionally, they’ve also announced VastServer: “Similar to a web server, VastServer serves up IMML, an XML based Virtual Web equivalent to HTML. It acts as the message rely between all the users on the site so they can interact with each other and see what others are doing online in real time.”
It requires a Windows machine with .NET Framework 3.0 to run with no mention of future Mac or Linux compatibility. VastServer is being touted as non-demanding in terms of computer specs, allowing end users to create virtual worlds “much like Skype conversations”. The real test of those claims will coomence with VastPark’s April 10th open beta launch. The usability of the client application will give a taste of how VastServer may perform as well.
We have an interview pending with VastPark CEO, expect to see the results of that in the coming week or so.
I received a media release from Amazing Worlds (formerly Mirror Worlds), to announce some pictures and video of their offering, which is still under development.
The photos are located here or check out the video on You Tube :
The new information shows that Amazing Worlds is well underway and it certainly has a Second Life feel about it. Because it’s touted as a 3D tourist world, the standout issue for me is people. Like Second Life, it appears that there’s lots of non-populated space, which gives an extremely different impression than real life. In Second Life that dissonance isn’t a major issue but for a world wanting to give people an immersive example of its real life alternative I believe that’ll be a big challenge. What do you think?
VastPark has been developing under the radar the past few months but today announced an upcoming stress test of the VastPark servers and browser software. April is touted as when the open beta will be launched and for the first time there’s been confirmation of future support for the Mac platform.
The full announcement:
“VastPark is finally going multi-user!
Getting very close to Open Beta
We are calling on you, our closed beta community, to help us. Did you know we’re planning on releasing our whole platform as an open beta in April?
Before we can release a number of our tools, we need to run a stress test to put our server and browser software through its paces; this is where you come in.
Come online
We need as many of you as possible to join us for the test. At the test we’re going to make some really cool announcements about VastPark which we think you’re going to love.
How do you get involved?
You will need to download the alpha version of the VastPark Browser (available the day prior to the test), and then join us during the test time.
The test runs at 5.30-6.00pm PST, Wednesday 19th March.
Have a look at the chart below for your local time:
San Francisco Wed 19th March 5.00-5.30pm
Austin Wed 19th March 7.00-7.30pm
New York Wed 19th March 8.00-8.30pm
Cologne Thurs 20th March 1.00-1.30am
London Wed 19th March 12.00-12.30am
Mumbai Thurs 20th March 5.30-6.00am
Singapore Thurs 20th March 8.00-8.30am
Melbourne Thurs 20th March 11.00-11.30am
Please add the local time for the test in your diary and if you can join us for the test. We will send out a reminder newsletter the day before testing. For any questions or comments, please visit our website forums.
Thanks for being with us during this next big step!
We look forward to seeing you online.
The VastPark team
We’ll say it one more time to avoid confusion: The software for the test is not going to be available online until the day before the test. We will send out a newsletter before the test to help remind you of the event. Right now, all the software is Windows only but we’re working on bringing VastPark to the Mac. Yep, we heard you Mac lovers and we hope to make announcements about this in July!”
EA-Land has been in development for awhile and is now available for people to sign up and previous Sims Online accounts can reactivate for the new world.
There’s been a large expansion of land, as the site itself breathlessly explains:
The Sims Online (TSO) was made of 12 different cities (AlphaVille, Blazing Falls, etc..) and we are moving all of those cities inside EA-Land (this is called ‘the merge’ by the users!). We have a huge new map: it is 100 times bigger than the previous size of any city. We had to add a whole new zoom level to let users see it. The internet is faster now than when TSO was launched, so we have been able to let each house have more simultaneous visitors. A lot of new users are constantly joining us and we expect more.
It’s fair to say that The Sims Online has been in a steady decline for a long time now – whether this change is enough to turn that around is uncertain. I’d love to hear from former TSO users out there: does EA-Land appeal to you?
Thanks to GigaOM and TechCrunch for the heads-up.
Hello Kitty Online is likely to be one of the larger virtual world launches in 2008. If you know any child under twelve you’ll likely have been exposed to this franchise and it also has a teen / young adult following in some countries. It’s development is currently in the closed beta phase with a launch expected second half of this year.
The description of the environment:
“This game is not just about fighting monsters – there are many activities for players to choose from. Aside from the monster-filled adventure areas, players can dig for ore in a mine, or range the forests to pick fruit from trees. Farming allows you to plant, grow and harvest your own crops; be sure to take good care of your crops so you will have a good harvest, and if you have a healthy farm you can even show it off to your online friends! You can use many other skills like cooking, tailoring, making furniture, and building houses. Commerce with other players will allow you to make a living and – perhaps – even get rich!”
It’s classic game-based virtual world fare that when combined with a large fan base, is likely to generate a lot of interest. There’ll be no subscription fees – revenue is will be generated from in-world commerce.
The full media release text:
“Sanrio Digital’s “Hello Kitty Online” accepting players for closed beta
Hong Kong – February 13, 2008: Sanrio Digital (www.sanriodigital.com) today announced the closed beta launch of “Hello Kitty Online”, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) based on the famous Sanrio characters. Hello Kitty Online allows players to explore and adventure in Sanrio’s fantasy world, a magical land that has recently fallen under the influence of a mysterious and malevolent power.
Players for the closed beta version are invited to apply at the official game site (www.hellokittyonline.com) or community site (www.sanriotown.com) and experience Hello Kitty Online in advance of the game release expected in the second half of 2008. Targeting female players from their pre-teens to twenties, Hello Kitty Online is the first installable MMORPG to set its sights on this demographic profile.
Hello Kitty Online is fully integrated with official Sanrio portal Sanriotown.com, which utilizes blogs, email, video sharing, Sanrio merchandise sales and more to create a digital and social experience accessible at any time. Players of Hello Kitty Online can extend their game experience on Sanriotown.com by interacting with other players, purchasing upgrades for their in-game characters, etc.
In addition to the standard MMORPG features such as customizable avatars, guilds, skill systems, and player economy, some of the outstanding Hello Kitty Online features include:
Unique game world: a persistent, beautifully designed environment where thousands of players and NPCs live, explore and quest in a magical world with real and imaginary zones such as the Flower Kingdom, Tokyo, Paris, Moscow, and more. Real world locations offer players the ability to learn about those places.
Unique NPCs: players will encounter and interact with popular Sanrio characters such as Hello Kitty, Badtz-Maru, My Melody, Keroppi, and many others, all animated with a variety of contextual facial-expressions.
Free to play: Hello Kitty Online is downloaded and played free of charge. There are no subscription fees.
Character upgrades: the Item Mall allows players to use real money to purchase special items and upgrades for characters.
Player housing: players can build and customize their own houses after acquiring the necessary licenses and materials. Houses depreciate over time and need to be maintained properly or will fall in disuse. A homeowner can invite someone to visit by making an in-game telephone call, and the player called will automatically be transported to the house if she agrees.
Crafting system: Hello Kitty Online has an extensive crafting system with output such as tools & weapons, farming implements & furniture, a wide variety of cooked dishes, and clothing for decorative and stat-modifying items. Raw materials include wood, minerals and metals, and crops.
Farming: players can run their own farms, which offer extra storage room and have the potential to produce important raw materials. The farming system incorporates a number of variables such as fertility, pest infestations, and crop characteristics.
A different focus: although it has a sophisticated combat system, unlike other MMORPGs combat need not be a primary objective for players of Hello Kitty Online. There are many puzzles to be solved, mini-games to compete in, story lines to follow, and adventures to experience.”
Last week, text-to-speech company Cepstral announced they’d formed a partnership with virtual world IMVU to supply text-to-speech capability.
Text-to-speech has huge potential in the virtual world context and is a feature Second Life users have been wishing for. We caught up with Cepstral’s CEO, Craig Campbell, to get a little more detail:
Lowell: What was the impetus for the Cassiopeian / Cepstral partnership?
Craig: Cepstral has a great deal of experience in the traditional Text-to-Speech marketplace, such as Interactive Voice Response (IVR) units. You know, the systems that allow you to call in to your bank and check the balance in your checking account, that sort of thing. However, one of Cepstral’s strengths has been our ability to create lots of interesting voices, not just the same old “your account balance is….” type of voice. We realized that fast-growing consumer web applications might benefit from Text-to-Speech (TTS) if it were simple to use and the voices had personality, such as the ones we’ve created.
IMVU interested us as a very popular Virtual World. Furthermore, they have an established digital goods marketplace. We wanted to enable an application within IMVU, and Cassiopeian is one of the most popular developers in IMVU. Her products are very professional and have a great reputation among IMVU users. When we approached Cassiopeian, they were very interested in adding voice capabilities to IMVU avatars, and have been a pleasure to work with.
Lowell: Is there any plans for providing the same technology in other virtual worlds like Second Life?
Craig: We’re definitely evaluating where to deploy the technology next. We’re looking at other virtual worlds, as well as other online environments. For example, we’re testing a Facebook application – VoicePoke – that allows users to send interesting messages to each other. Through a mash-up with Google’s translation service, the widget can even speak the message in different languages. We think this creative approach to using speech in web applications has a lot of room to grow; be it real-time surrogate voices for virtual worlds, messaging on social networks, or media shifting activities such as converting blogs and web text to a mobile, eyes-free audio format.
Our tagline is – “VoiceForge, We Make the Internet Talk™” – I share this to point out that we are not application developers, but rather the heart of speech on the Internet. We offer a free API that any virtual world or developer can incorporate. Our Software as a Service (SaaS) model means that developers needn’t ramp any hardware or bandwidth or linguistic knowledge in order to quickly embed a large-scale TTS feature inside their applications.
Lowell: Linden Lab have stated they’re working on the ability for people to morph their voices on the fly – will Cepstral always be focused on text-to-speech or do you see opportunities in live voice morphing?
Craig: Voice morphing technology will be an option that some users will use, as an alternative to using their real world voice in chat. But if you look at why people don’t like using their real world voice, there are four reasons: it suspends the fantasy notion of the character, for anonymity, for gender bending, and for non-native English speakers who may be able to type better than they can speak. We think that Cepstral’s Text-to-Speech solves those issues better than voice morphing. A user with voice morphing still hears their own voice, reducing the fantasy of their avatar; the user can often still be identified; a male voice with a higher pitch is not a female voice; and voice morphing does nothing for non-native speakers.
Of course, traditional Text-to-Speech doesn’t solve those problems, since most vendors offer one or two male and female voices. Cepstral’s differentiator is that we offer over 30 voices today, and we’re adding more. And those voices each have a distinct sound and personality. There’s a male Texan voice, a female British voice, and female African voice, a male Brooklyn voice, even a voice called “Damien” that sounds demonic. The user can select the voice that they want for their avatar, much like they select the clothes for their avatar – to match their avatar’s personality.
Lowell: What further developments in text-to-speech do you see occurring in coming years?
Craig: Cepstral is focusing on adding new voices, to give users more options. We have many new voices in the pipeline and foresee hundreds if not thousands of unique voices in the future. We have an alpha version of a tool that allows users to create their own custom voices called the VoiceBank™. And we’ll continue to improve the quality of the voices so that they sound even more natural.
What are your thoughts? Text-to-speech really appeals to me – is it something you’d use over voice morphing or standard voice chat?
As we reported earlier this week, Openlife is a promising new alternative grid to Second Life. Its founder, Sakai Openlife (RL: Steve Sima) is based in Brisbane and we caught up with him via Openlife’s Live Chat for a discussion on everything Openlife.
Lowell: Sakai – Openlife came out of the blue for me but it’s obviously been a labour of love for you – can you give a potted history of how Openlife came to be?
Sakai: Sure, we kicked things off approximately four months ago and clearly had to do a lot of work to understand a workable solid method to approach it. Number one has always been and will be the Users. So with this in mind it has been quite a colourful ride trying to foster the community together and maintain the best user experience we can with the code available.
Lowell: what made you start this huge undertaking?
Sakai: Well, I’ve had a passion for 3D interactive platforms for ages and my background is IT infrastructure. So to provide a solid platform being feature rich and extensive for different uses is most certainly up my alley. After following the OpenSimulator project for a while I took the decision to make the plunge and start treading the water with the OpenSim Application Platform – Second Life had some big drawbacks for me.
Lowell: I’m assuming you’ve used Second Life extensively prior to this project? What was it about Second Life in particular that you wanted to improve on?
Sakai: Some towards content creation and development of content and some towards the user experience. Second Life itself I see has been hugely popular with its social interaction and it’s a great environment to see this in action. They have been pioneers in this area for years but to have an open source platform where as a company you could develop very feature rich immersive environments and provide them to users is something that Second Life falls short on in my opinion, but the potential for this to happen with the Openlife Grid & OpenSimulator Codebase is very much a possibility.
Lowell: What areas do you specifically see Openlife having advantages in?
Sakai: One thing we are keen to see in the near future is the ability to content create and develop a region on your local environment ie. home PC or workplace network then export that entirely to a published region existing in the Openlife Grid.
Lowell: So, fully offline region-wide content creation?
Sakai: Correct, exciting isn’t it. This can bring in the quality of in-world environments to a whole new level.
Lowell: I can see that would get a lot of people excited – is that option close?
Sakai: Yes it is close, currently we can take the terrain and prims created. Clearly there are other things to bring over such as textures, scripts etc.
Lowell: So for the sake of the potential new user – is Openlife in beta at present or a fully functioning option?
Sakai: No it is not a fully functioning option at the moment. We work closely with, and implement the Opensimulator source code which in itself is only recently version 0.5. However, community interaction and involvement in the Openlife Grid is important as the code moves forward.
Lowell: So is there a roadmap and/or timeline for OpenSimulator and subsequently a fully functional Openlife?
Sakai: With the source code being a community project ‘exact’ timelines can be difficult to adhere to. However, the OpenlifeGrid is at the tip of releasing the Foundation Resident Event, enabling Openlife users to have their own region in-world. The other side of this is that it will help full-time developers to work on the code on a professional level. Naturally, this work is in conjunction with the OpenSimulator effort and is released back to the community.
Lowell: So in regard to Openlife specifically – how many are involved in its development?
Sakai: We currently have two people including myself, but receive invaluable contributions from the Openlife community, making the Openlife Grid very much a community effort.
Lowell: And can you tell me a little about yourself? You’re based in Brisbane?
Sakai: Yes, sunny (but raining a lot lately) Brisvegas. I have a strong history of IT, and a passion for pioneering new technologies.
LLowell: Do you run your own business or are you from the academic side of the IT fence?
Sakai: I do run my own company. But it should be mentioned in regard to the Openlife Grid that there is some university involvement and it’s very much welcomed.
Lowell: Are you able to discuss which universities are involved?
Sakai: Hmm, good Question. I think it may be best that we give them the opportunity to express any involvement through the site, and their own sites.
Lowell: On interoperability – Linden Lab’s release of the SL code has helped get things where they are today but do you have any ongoing communication with Linden Lab in regard to your work?
Sakai: Personally I have only recently had some conversations with Linden Labs at a Finland event in relation to the Openlife Grid. But we are not ‘Anti-Linden’
Lowell: And were they receptive to the work you’re doing?
Sakai: Yes, I believe Linden labs has been fairly receptive of the Openlife Grid and also the OpenSimulator Project. There are even Lindens in the Openlife Grid as
users.
Lowell: So what are your plans over the coming weeks? I’m assuming more sleep isn’t part of it.
Sakai: Wow, sleep I almost forgot that thing. Since we started we have steadily grown to around 6000 users as at a week ago. I’ve been working on this new website which is still being implemented (but online) with the aim to foster and grow the community. But in the weekend past we saw the number of users jump to (as of a few hours ago) 10,000 users.
Lowell: So as of now, what can a new user do in Openlife?
Sakai: Hmm… really it’s a very free environment limited only by the features of the current code level. But there are the natural ones similar to Second Life -meeting new people, making friends, getting involved with Openlife Communities. Building your own creations, and as of tommorrow owning your own regions.
Lowell: So people can log in now and intereact as they would in SL?
Sakai: Correct. You can login with the existing Second Life viewer and interact very much the same as Second Life, with the only limitations being the features that exist in the current code level.
Lowell: Ahhh ok, that was my next question. So there’s no need to download a different viewer?
Sakai: A different viewer is not necessary just a change to the shortcut or you can use a little program on our website to redirect your viewer to the Openlife grid. However, on an exciting note, an alternative viewer will be available very soon. That is in development by the RealXtend team.
Lowell: So if you had to sum up in a sentence or two why people should sign up to the Openlife community, what would you say?
Sakai: Wow, it’s really hard to sum up so short with such a wide community involved. Joining the Openlife Grid community is a chance to be involved in a pioneering new platform where your suggestions and ideas are very welcome, your feedback is important, and your participation is valued. Currently we are playing catch up to the number of new users, however since you can decide your own name, if you are a current SL user it’s a good idea to at least register to follow the news and secure your Second Life name in the Openlife Grid.
Lowell: Most people will want some key aspect to convince them to make the effort to experiment with a new platform – do you see superior community support as that key aspect?
Sakai: Absolutely – a lot of work has been going into the new site, to bring communities together including blogs for community regions, live online chat rooms for when you can’t be in world (like at work – ooops!). Foundation Residents have regions in-world and they also recieve a blog for their region to help bring the users together. Whilst blogs are not everything, there are also ‘Community Regions’ in-world. These are free to participate in and are provided free to the community.
Lowell: Is Openlife looking for venture capital in the future?
Sakai: The Openlife Grid is new territory and clearly funding would accelerate the efforts, however it must be noted we would not take on funding at the expense of the user or the future goals of the Openlifegrid. So in short it’s welcome if the funding can match the desires of the community.
Lowell: Do you have a proposed pricing structure for users when Openlife is fully functional?
Sakai: At this time we do not. It is important to note there are key differentiators between the way the Openlife works and Second Life. Linden Lab provides all the land (servers) and so has a monopoly on land (resources) to an effect.
Lowell: Whereas people can supply their own servers in Openlife?
Sakai: Openlife is moving towards a ‘provider’ path where ISPs and Web Hosts would also be able to provide resources. So as a user or company, having your own presence or land in-world could be purchased from many providers, reducing the cost and keeping it affordable for all.
Lowell: I’m assuming users could purchase land from you if they don’t want to provide their own server?
Sakai: Currently we don’t support external user connections, as we have stability and security to be concerned with in order to bring the best user experience.
The Foundation Resident is the first opportunity for Openlife residents to own a region in-world.
Lowell: So to clarify – people will eventually be able to host their own region or buy a region from Openlife
Sakai: Eventually that is one of the aims. But it will be gradual process as the code develops. The Foundation Resident is only a limited release of regions. They have no ‘purchase’ price, only a monthly fee. When we reach the limit of the Foundation Resident regions we will evaluate the next steps.
Lowell: Well I think that pretty well sums it up Sakai – thanks for taking the time.
For instructions on connecting to Openlife using your Second Life viewer, go here.
Openlife is the first fourth alternative Second Life grid to open up for widespread access.
It’s still a work in progress but one that’s well worth exploring, something I’ll be doing in coming days and weeks.
Openlife’s creator, Sakai Openlife, is based in Australia and we’ve made contact with him for an interview – stay tuned for further details.
Thanks to Tateru Nino at Massively and SL Universe for the heads-up.
Update: A further thanks to Tateru Nino for pointing out that Openlife is actually the fourth alternative grid – there’s also Central Grid, OS Grid and Deep Grid.
I received a press release today from Singapore-based company ‘Virtual Worlds’, touting their Mirror World which is under development and due for launch at the end of this year. The full text of the press release is below by essentially it’s a platform that will allow creation of replicas of real-world locations for the purpose of 3D walk-throughs. It’s aimed squarely at tourism operators and its appeal is obvious. Never been to Egypt? Then do the virtual tour of key locations and decide if it’s the holiday for you.
It looks promising but like any new development it will face the challenge of a growing number of competitors. Interoperability with other worlds is a holy grail for any option at this stage but any new development needs to take the growing movement in that respect into account.
We’ll be following this development closely and hope to do a more detailed preview in coming months.
The full text:
PRESS RELEASE
22 January 2008, Singapore — Virtual Worlds , developers of the world’s first “Mirror World” ,announces the availability of the world’s first platform for virtual tourism to industry operators today in Singapore.
From key tourism destinations, places of interest , historical sites to realistic full scale 3-Dimensional replicas of entire cities. This mirror world of our existing planet – “Mirror World” allows end users to journey through “virtual words” in the comfort of their homes – creating a brand new exciting marketing tool for tourism industry players like tourism destination operators, Hoteliers, Shopping Malls, Retail Outlets and more to showcase and sell their destinations and facilities to key markets around the world.
What sets Mirror World apart from other 3D environment developers in the market is its commitment to the recreation of reality. All images, environments, content and cityscapes are designed to be as life-like and accurate as possible to the real world. A Beta version of the software with the capability to show certain parts of the world is already available today. The technology today allows support for up to a million objects per view area as well as sound and music , complete with special effects showing realistic weather patterns and powerful animation effects. Providing the most realistic virtual reality tour of any destination available in the market today. The company is already in discussions on several projects with tourism authorities and facilities operators in the region to build 3D replicas of their existing sites. Virtual Worlds expects to completely map the globe in phases, providing a brand new exciting, interactive platform for vacation , travel planning and learning.
Another interesting factor about the platform lies in its ability to be able to import exsiting 3D drawings of existing infrastructure and buildings . That means we can do a
very rapid buildup of the location. Targeted for a world wide launch in end 2008, consumers will be able to explore parts of the world in 3D, meet and chat with friends from all over the world all from their desktop over a internet connection and most importantly win prizes to travel around the world.
“This is an important and necessary step in the development of Virtual Worlds,” said Terence Mak, Director of Virtual Worlds Asia. “Virtual Worlds has always been depicted with a fantasy, its about time we changed that thinking and use of the same technology to make the world a smaller place. Air Travel & Tourism is booming with the availability of budget airlines, consumers are beginning to be more world conscious, what is missing is a technology and a platform to showcase the World in 3D to a global audience. We hope to be the partner with many of the worlds interesting places and help them showcase what they are doing to make the world a more interesting place.”
A more global site will be announced later in the year. For more information, please visit the Virtual Worlds Site.
Update: an interview with Terence Mak can be found here.
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