Montreal-based Akoha, developer for an as-yet unannounced social game, has received $1.9 million in financing from angel investors delivered in early 2007 and early 2008.

Akoha’s social game is reportedly inspired by elements of “social entrepreneurship, massively multiplayer and reality-based games.” Development began on the project after a conversation between Akoha founders Austin Hill and Alex Eberts at a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference in Monterey. The two discussed game design, social change, and internet trends before asking aloud, “What if playing a game could make the world a better place?”

Akoha CEO and co-founder Austin Hill was previously president of Zero-Knowledge Systems (Now Radialpoint), a privacy service provider where Hill helped raise $70 million in venture capital. Alex Eberts served as product manager and vice president of development at Zero Knowledge Systems before founding Redwing Technology, a software design and consulting company, and working as a video game producer at Ubisoft.

Said Austin Hill: “We’re delighted that our investors share our belief in this opportunity to bring fresh ideas to the gaming world. This investment and the support of our incredible angels has allowed us to do some innovative product development and will support the company while we launch and build our community of players into 2009.”

Specific details on Akoha’s project will not be disclosed until the game is available to the public in fall 2008. Akoha is accepting requests to join beta testing at its website.

Abandon Interactive Entertainment has opened its Freaky Creatures beta registration sign-ups to the public, promising to launch the beta for its virtual pet community this summer.

Freaky Creatures allows users to create and raise personalized monsters to battle each other on their mobile phones and PCs. Players can trade powers and compete in member contests, as well as interact with each other through other community offerings, such as blogs and chat rooms. Purchasable Freaky Creatures toys are also available with USB keys that will unlock creatures, parts, parts, powers, and decor items on their accounts.

Gamers who sign up for the beta will be automatically registered for a chance to win prizes from Abandon Interactive, including an Alienware Area-51 m15x Notebook, Motorola Razr VC3 cell phones, and $25 Best Buy gift cards. Contest winners will also receive priority on Freaky Creatures beta list this summer.

In a piece following Club Penguin’s road to success, The Times Online has provided some insight on how the Disney-owned community managed to capture Britain’s ‘tween audience, attracting up to 750,000 kids into its arctic online world.

While being one of the first virtual worlds to provide a social community experience to children aged under 15 years has helped, as has localized content and features, The Times takes care to note Club Penguin’s “innovative” subscription-based business model which has enabled the service to continue without bombarding users with advertisements.

Users can elect to play the game for free, but with a £3.95 monthly subscription ($5.95 in the US), users have access to subscription-only benefits, including outfits and igloo furniture. Subscribers still have to complete tasks and earn in-game coins to purchase these items.

“This distinguishes the site from other virtual worlds aimed at kids which operate on the so-called 'micro-payment model', where all manner of virtual goods such as clothing can be bought for [a] small fee each, usually less than $1,” says Club Penguin co-founder Lane Merrifield. “We didn't want to create a system where the rich kids get the cool things and the poor kids don't.”

Unveiling its digital initiatives as part of a multiplatform digital media business strategy, Warner Bros. Television Group has announced that it will be launching KidsWB.com, an ad-supported virtual world based on its animated properties and targeted at children aged 6-12.

The project was previously known as T-Works and promised interaction with characters from Warner Bros’ Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. Animation, and DC Comics properties.

WB’s original intentions for T-Works continue with KidsWB.com, allowing users to create a customizable cartoon avatar which they can play, chat, and furnish a cartoon home with using Warner Bros. Entertainment’s animation asset library.

KidsWB.com will also feature a video channel with classic, original, and contemporary animated programs, as well as over 100 animation-themed games.

Warner Bros. Television Group’s advertising partners so far include Mattel, McDonald's and Johnson & Johnson.

“These destinations are perfect examples of our digital strategy to create targeted, niche destinations that present a fresh and compelling point of view to audiences,"said Rosenblum. "In much the same way TMZ has, these initiatives enable us to create new brands and reimagine existing ones for a multiplatform playing field. They are complementary to our thriving traditional business and share the same vision of original episodic storytelling.”

MTV and Oddcast have announced that Virtual MTV users can now create speaking avatars that interact with each other inside and outside of vMTV's online environments based on popular shows The Hills, Pimp My Ride, and The Real World.

The various playgrounds allow users to interact in different ways, such as exchanging gossip about The Hills, sharing secrets in the Real World Confessional Booth, or even auditioning for a real episode of Pimp My Ride. Previously, MTV created a vMTV virtual world specifically to celebrate its 2007 Video Music Awards.

The avatars are created and supported with Oddcast’s Voki platform, which specializes in speaking, embeddable avatars. Users can furnish their avatars with their own voices and have them speak via email or online posts, They can also embed them into their Facebook pages, blogs, or other social media sites.

MTV is banking on users doing so because after embedding an avatar is embedded on a page, that avatar can then deliver spoken messages about an upcoming episode for an MTV show or direct users to a sponsor's web site.

“Virtual MTV is built on the premise that we offer the latest in technology to our fans in an organic way that deeply engages them on an individual level, and brings them together with other like-minded people,” said Jeff Yapp, EVP of program enterprises for MTV Networks Music & Logo Group. “Voki's technology is helping us take that experience one step further with an innovative approach that allows fans to take personalization to an entirely new level.”

Following Moshi Monsters' public beta launch last week, Mind Candy CEO Michael Smith talked with Worlds in Motion about a range of topics on the educational MMO, including what separates Moshi Monsters from other 'tween-targeted virtual worlds and what the game offers to attract teenagers and adults.

Could you tell us a little first about Moshi Monsters and what distinguishes it from other virtual worlds?

Smith: Moshi Monsters is a social MMO. Users adopt their own little animated pet monster and then nurture it by solving the puzzles that it sends them everyday. They can interact with it in many different ways, as well as showing it off to friends via a variety of safe social networking tools.

Moshi Monsters is not a virtual world that users can wander around interacting with other users - that is a very crowded category, so we've concentrated on making a different type of play experience. The focus is much more upon the emotional connection between the player and their pet which we achieve through rich animations and a complex behavioral engine.

The communication elements are more akin to a traditional social network, like Facebook or Myspace, where users can add friends and leave public comments with minimal friction. The final difference is that there is an important stealth education angle that encourages kids to solve puzzles and expand their vocabulary while playing. The theory is that kids see this as all part of the fun, while parents and educators give it the thumbs up too.

Officials from Electronic Arts have announced that massively multiplayer online community EA-Land is to close on August 1st, 2008. The game, which began life as The Sims Online before being rebranded and updated in February, was first launched in 2002.

A blog entry on the EA-Land website from Electronic Arts’ Luc Barthelet commented that “decisions such as these are never easy and the rationale for closing EA-Land is particularly complex”.

“We would like to thank the community for trusting us over the last 10 months and enabling this opportunity. A special thank you to the few thousand who have been with the game since the original beta!" said Barthelet.

“The virtual worlds are still in their infancy, I sincerely hope we will have the opportunity to be creative together again,” he concluded.

Subscription billing for users will be closed immediately, giving sixty days of free play on the service until its close. Paying subscribers as of April 29th, 2008 will be offered either $15 off any game on the EA online store or three months of free subscription time for Club Pogo.

[The preceding article by David Jenkins originally appeared on Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Non-profit developer Children’s Way Foundation has partnered with children’s online protection company eGuardian to provide a safer environment for young users in its Woogi World virtual world.

eGuardian provides an online verification service with a foolproof method for verifying the age of children. Aggressively keeping dangerous adults and malicious content out of Woogi World with parental controls, site blockers, and access restrictors, the company’s technology provides parents the peace of mind that their children are interacting online only with children of the appropriate age.

Targeted at children in kindergarten to sixth grade, Woogi World is a virtual world and community in which kids worldwide can safely play educational games and chat while learning how to become “responsible internet users and goodwill ambassadors (good influences in their homes, schools, and communities).”

“The need to certify every social networking audience, no matter the site, is becoming more and more crucial,” said Scott Dow, Children’s Way CEO. “In keeping with our priority to ensure Woogi World is the safest children’s virtual world available, it makes great sense to partner with eGuardian—the best online protection available.”

Publisher-sponsored in-game commerce network PlaySpan and developer Gala-Net have announced the beta launch of a PlaySpan marketplace for Upshift StrikeRacer, an online racing MMO for PCs.

Released in January, 2008 and published by gPotato, Upshift StrikeRacer is an MMO racing game in which players can customize cars with weapons and mods, battling each other in three different game modes.

PlaySpan’s system provides a secure and reliable method for people to buy and sell virtual goods in Upshift StrikeRacer. Using an official, publisher-sponsored PlaySpan widget, players can trade cars, mods, and other items without having to leave the game.

"We are extremely excited about launching with Upshift StrikeRacer,” says Karl Mehta, PlaySpan CEO. “This shows the power of virtual commerce in the different environments; our system and services benefit hardcore MMOGs as well as more casual titles like Upshift.”

RoomFullofPeople and theMIX agency have announced their plans to host InterPlay, a conference aimed at exploring the intersection of online games and social networking, on May 22nd at the Kabuki Hotel in San Francisco.

The one-day event will feature speakers from a variety of high-profile social networks and online game publishers, such as Bebo, Electronic Arts, and DoubleFusion. Venture capitalists from major firms, like Accel, Charles River Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, will also be on hand to lend their perspectives.

InterPlay’s planned panels include Micro-Transactions and Virtual Goods, Advertising and Marketing on Social Games, and Funding the Social Gaming Sphere.

"Social gaming represents a huge part of the future of online games, and the implications reach far and wide," said representatives for InterPlay. "With participation from C-level execs, VCs, and a few sharp moderators across a spectrum of issues, our panels and speakers will explore the elusive business side of games on the social web. It will be a day that anyone who cares about the implications of online gaming will be silly to miss."

Korean developer Nexon is inviting users to create original songs with MusicShake’s online program and contribute them to Audition, its MMO dancing game.

Based in South Korea, MusicShake offers user-generated music tools to the general public. Users can sign onto MusicShake and combine their choice of instrument modules from a list of thousands. They can also add their own vocals to their tracks. Audition’s community will vote on their favorite tracks, and the top songs will be featured in the game.

Nexon is giving away Nexon cash, its virtual currency for Nexon network titles (e.g. MapleStory), as prizes to promote the competition. Entries must be submitted by May 14, 2008.

Westwood-based MMO game developer Turbine has secured $40 million in Series C financing, according to a regulatory filing discovered and reported by Private Equity Hub. Turbine has raised over $90 million in VC funding to date.

Granite Global Ventures led the round, with managing partner Hani Nada taking a seat on Turbine’s board. Previous investors also joined in, including Highland Capital Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, Tudor Ventures, and Columbia Capital.

Turbine’s catalog of subscription-based PC MMO titles include Asheron’s Call, Lord of the Rings Online, and Dungeons & Dragons Online. The company appointed former m-Qube COO Jim Crowley as its new CEO in a round of new executive hires in late 2007.

Though representatives were unavailable to comment on the funding this morning, Turbine is expected to announce future plans for its direction in two weeks.

MMO platform The Multiverse Network has launched and added Robosnow, a 3D online game from developer Metaversatility, into its Worlds In Progress Initiative, a network of virtual worlds under development.

Multiverse and Metaversatility consider Robosnow to be a demonstration of the studio’s and the platform’s capability to rapidly prototype and launch a fully functioning game or virtual world within a short period of time.

Robosnow joins eight other virtual worlds in Multiverse’s World In Progress Initiative which grants users access to projects currently under development on the Multiverse Platform. Users can access the virtual worlds through Multiverse’s World Browser, a downloadable and free application.

"Metaversatility is a remarkable company," said Corey Bridges, co-founder and executive producer, Multiverse. "Where other companies have hemmed and hawed for years about whether or not to build a casual MMO, or whether such a thing was even possible, Metaversatility stepped up and did it – in a month. They're an inspiring example of how the Multiverse Platform can enable true innovation in the new medium of virtual worlds."

Charles Hudson, Gaia Interactive’s senior director for business development, and former Trident Capital senior associate David Sachs will be hosting the Social Gaming Summit on June 13, another conference on the intersection of gaming and social networking, but with an added focus on immersive worlds.

The one-day San Francisco event will take place at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center and bring together leaders in the social networking and gaming spaces, such as Mochi Media and the Zynga Game Network, to provide insight into the convergence of the two worlds.

Some of the programs scheduled for the Social Gaming Summit include Asynchronous Games on Social Networks, Casual MMOs and Immersive Worlds, and Monetization and Business Models for Social Games.

You can register and find more information on speakers and panels at Social Gaming Summit's site.

YPulse's Anastasia Goodstein has published a useful guide on The School Library Journal on how social media, including social networking sites and virtual worlds, are essential in understanding how to attract the attention of teens and ‘tweens.

Along with her suggestions, Goodstein provides examples of working models that’ve successfully captured a sizable teen and ‘tween audience. Her advice includes providing byte-sized entertainment, encouraging user participation so users feel they have a part in content and products, and supporting causes that kids are passionate about.

“Boys and girls, and teens and tweens use the Internet differently—and you’ll want to tweak your strategy to take advantage of those differences,” explains Goodstein, encouraging marketers to know their audience. “Teenage boys, for example, create and upload more videos onto sites like YouTube. But girls spend more time designing, decorating, blogging, commenting, and communicating on social networking sites.”

She continues: “Tweens tend to view the Internet as one big playground, and they love to play games like Runescape or casual memory games in virtual worlds like Club Penguin. While there’s a certain amount of social interaction on younger kids’ sites, like Webkinz, the exchanges are less frequent and much more controlled and monitored than on those for older kids.”

Partnering with Project Runway season 4 winner Christian Siriano, Gaia Online has announced that it will be hosting a four-day virtual prom event, titled Prom Crashers. Siriano has designed an exclusive line of fierce avatar prom garb for the event and will reward one attendee with a real-world, custom-designed garment.

Gaia Online users aged 13 and older can register for the free virtual prom at the event’s site. Users will be able to socialize, participate in dance contests, create user-generated play lists, take pictures, and sign a yearbook.

Leading up to Prom Crashers, users can secure prom dates or groups, discuss plans in Gaia Online’s forums, and purchasing prom fashions, including exclusive limited edition Christian Siriano avatar prom pieces. Siriano’s designs are available for purchase with Gaia Gold, Gaia Online’s virtual currency, or Gaia Cash, standard U.S. currency.

“At Gaia Online it’s important to us to listen to our users and provide them with a place to hang out that is a natural extension and enhancement of their real-world experiences,” said Scott Kinzie, vice president of creative and user experience, Gaia Online. “With Prom Crashers, we wanted to take a completely new spin on an old tradition, and who better to help us than an edgy young fashion designer like Christian Siriano who embodies the independent and innovative spirit of our Gaians.”

[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape.]

This week, our Online World Atlas looks at the recently released Moshi Monsters from Mind Candy. An educational, social MMO aimed at "little kids and big kids alike" that allows users to adopt and raise their own monster, we recently talked to Mind Candy CEO Michael Smith about what separates the title from its competitors, but that's no reason to not take a deeper look ourselves at the currently running public beta.

Name: Moshi Monsters

Company: Mind Candy

Established: April 2008

How it Works: Flash; it runs directly in the browser window with no installation required. All navigation and gameplay is performed through use of a mouse.

Overview: In Moshi Monsters, users "adopt" one monster from a range of six species to care for. Users are placed in charge of ensuring the monster remains happy and fed by purchasing goods from the local town (either food or furniture and items to decorate their monster's home) and raises money to purchase these items by taking part in daily Brain Age style puzzles. Players can also play some games in town for fun, plus interact with other users by visiting their monsters' homes and leaving messages on their pinboards -- specifically those that have been designated as "friends" by players who know each other's usernames.

Payment Method: Moshi Monsters is currently free-to-play, however the game is monetized in some small way with Mosh Monster Mopods -- phone charms which can be purchased and include secret codes for special items. There is no cash value attributed to any in-world items, however.

Key Features:
-A cute monster to look after
-Daily educational puzzles
-Safe interaction between users (only friends can post on friends' pinboards)
-Monsters can gain levels and popularity by having a nice room and doing well at puzzles

Useful Links:
Moshi Monsters Community Blog
Moshi Monsters Mopods

Despite the expanding popularity of social networks and virtual worlds in the U.S., Europe, and many other parts of the world, both local and foreign-made online community sites are losing grown momentum in Korea’s market, according to a report by The Korea Times.

The operator of South Korean community site Cyworld, SK Communications, said Friday that its revenue from the service decreased 6% in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period last year, down ₩500 million ($495,000).

As a result, the networking service reported ₩4.3 billion in operating losses and ₩5.6 billion in net losses. Cyworld sells music and other items for users to decorate their virtual spaces using “dotori,” a virtual currency that users buy with real cash.

Cyworld has lead the field of social networking sites in the country since 1999, and has over 22 million users in South Korea, almost half the entire population. The company's strong presence has kept better known companies, like Facebook and MySpace, at bay in Korea.

Last month's launch of MySpace's Korean subsidiary and Korean language site have shown how hard it is to break into the market there. In the first week, the number of visitors to MySpace’s Korean site was about 20 times less than that of Cyworld's.

Seeking to reverse the tide, SK Communications plans to upgrade Cyworld into a 3D virtual world in June. Limited success for previous virtual worlds and the Korean version of Second Life, however, have given many in Korea’s internet industry case to greet the upgrade with skepticism.

Preparing for next year’s launch of its Lego-based virtual world, Lego Universe, Denmark-based toymaker Lego Group plans to implement as a pay-as-you-go subscription service at a “competitive price” for the PC MMO, reports Reuters.

Co-developed by Denver-based studio NetDevil, Lego Universe will allow users to become “digital builders,” presumably with Lego bricks. Lego plans to sell the virtual bricks in exchange in exchange for coins which players earn in-game.

“The more a child plays, they collect more coins and more bricks,” said Lego Group director of business and development Mark William Hansen. “The more you play, the more you get to build things.”

Through Lego Universe, Lego Factory, other Lego-based video games, the company believes it can reach even more people than the 400 million who play with Lego Bricks every year.

Lego Universe will also have a physical component, as users will be able to order physical versions of their online creations -- which can be put together with potentially 6,000 types of bricks, many no longer being produced in Lego factories -- to have the delivered to their door.