Officials for online golf gaming environment World Golf Tour have announced that they have secured venture capital firm Panorama Capital as its lead investor in its Series B funding round, with Battery Ventures also returning to participate. VC news weblog VentureBeat estimates the round in “the double-digit millions of dollars.”

Due for a beta release this summer, World Golf Tour offers an online community in which players can compete on recreated courses and sponsored tournaments for an “authentic golf experience.” Since the demo’s launch in May 2007, World Golf Tour has attracted more than 500,000 players from over 150 different countries.

World Golf Tour will offer monetization and charitable opportunities for both partners and sponsors, with PGA.com, TaylorMade, and Adidas Golf already featuring their products in the game. In-depth information and direct links to reservation systems and resort booking sites will also accompany each recreated course.

Said Panorama Capital principal Michael Jung, who took a seat on World Golf Tour’s board as part of the financing: “World Golf Tour is leading the creation of compelling new media experiences on the Web. The technology behind the product is like nothing else on the market and enables a very compelling proposition.”

Acclaim Games is partnering with TrialPay to give away Acclaim Coins, its virtual currency, for free. Players will be able to use Acclaim Coins to buy virtual items in the company’s online games, such as Bots and 9Dragons

TrialPay uses advertising revenue to pay the full value of each customer’s virtual currency. Players can receive free Acclaim Coins by trying or buying an offer from TrialPay’s blue-chip advertisers. They’ll be able to earn Acclaim Coins when buying clothes, sending flowers, or taking advantage of TrialPay’s other offers.

Acclaim Coins are redeemable in any of Acclaim's five free-to-play multiplayer online games, and can be used to upgrade weapons, change character wardrobes, or improve skill packs. With the offer, Acclaim Games hopes to gain loyal customers and reward players with free upgrades.

"We're excited to make our special features more accessible to players," said Acclaim Games CEO Howard Marks "Our new partnership with TrialPay allows more players the opportunity to customize their characters and use new features at no additional cost."

In a Cisco Systems meeting with over 3,000 of its partners in Honolulu last month, up to a thousand participants attended the conference online using virtual event software provided by Unisfair, according to a Business Week report.

Unlike virtual world Second Life, Unisfair provides closed and secure environments for clients to host private corporate events. Earlier this year, the company secured $10 million in Series C funding from Sequoia Capital and Norwest Venture Partners.

In just the past year, Unisfair has reportedly doubled in size, likely a result of conference planners looking to reduce hotel, catering, and travel expenses in the face of a slowing economy and rising fuel costs.

Along with attracting participants from over 90 different companies at its Virtual Partner Summit, Cisco’s marketing vice-president also noted that virtual conferences can still be useful resources even after the event ends: “We get almost twice as many people after a virtual event to view content that's been saved in a virtual environment."

[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. Part 1 of our investigation into Moshi Monsters can be found here.]

Moshi Monsters is a educational, social MMO aimed at "little kids and big kids alike" that allows users to adopt and raise their own monster, and today we've taken on that very task to see what features are on offer for budding foster parents!

The Moshi Monsters experience begins by "adopting" your monster from a selection of six species on the website. Players have a limited number of color schemes with which to personalize their monster (one of eight main colors and one of eight secondary colors) and apart from that (and choosing the monster's name) there are no other options to personalize the "base" monster that you create. But with six monsters on offer there is a nice range to suit different tastes -- from the "ninja kitty" Katsuma to the Yeti-esque Furi -- and Mind Candy have hinted that clothes will soon be available for monsters to purchase.

Dinosaur Junction has announced the opening for subscriptions of its child-safe, online, interactive prehistoric game, billing the virtual experience as both educational and entertaining. Registration to play is free, but a $5.95 monthly fee for a premium account allows players access to new games, missions, and secrets.

Players can explore the virtual world which includes a river, a desert region, a mountain region, and a town. In the town, there is a virtual museum which contains a number of educational games and information. Players can read about paleontologist digs and play trivia games that test their prehistoric knowledge.

Players can also earn gems by playing both the educational games and the interactive just-for-fun games, which can be used to purchase clothes in Dinosaur Junction’s shop. The site also features a real life store that sells educational books, DVD's, games, toys, and wall art.

Dinosaur Junction is a family owned and operated site which claims child safety and age-appropriateness as its highest priority. All company employees are prescreened, online gaming is monitored, and no personal information is displayed. Parents will be able to monitor and manage their child's accounts with the online Parent's Corner system, with which they can view their child's whereabouts in the game, view their buddy lists, monitor their conversations, and limit their play time daily.

German browser-based online game developer Gameforge has announced that is has opened a new San Francisco office to spearhead the company's push into the U.S. market as Gameforge Productions Inc.

Interestingly, the company also plans to seek out U.S.-based developers of full-scale MMOs looking for a partner to localize and operate their games in Europe.

Gameforge's own core development specializes in free-to-play titles such as Ikariam and OGame, whose graphical game clients are run entirely in-browser.

Its games are large social worlds apparently aimed more towards the 'hardcore' PC gamer, with an emphasis on more complex gameplay with player-driven communication, alliances, and trading.

Ikariam, a Civilization-like game, will be the title on which Gameforge's U.S. division first focuses - OGame, which the company also runs, is a strategic space-trading sim.

We had a chance to speak in-depth with Gameforge Productions Inc. president Lars Koschin, previously CTO of MMO portal Curse, about the company's products and plans.

Despite projections by some that its userbase would grow to 10 million by year's end, HiPiHi, China's largest virtual world, has recorded only 48,000 registered users so far, Business Week reports. NovoKing and UOneNet, two other Chinese virtual worlds which are still being tested by closed groups, have respectively 10,000 and less than 1,000 users. For comparison, Second Life has an estimated 13.5 million "residents."

While the three companies claim to not have invested in any marketing yet to attract more users, they've still managed to secure Chinese and foreign corporate partners hoping to build their brands, treating the space as China's version of Second Life. Companies such as P&G, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard have created floating billboards and virtual salons to reach China's mid-20s males.

With the limited audience, however, advertising isn't nearly as effective as companies had hoped. As a result, Chinese companies are beginning to introduce new applications to the virtual worlds, such as training factory workers, conducting online auctions, or opening virtual classrooms.

Jiangxi Copper, China's largest copper company, has already trained its first batch of workers through a training session held in NovoKing in late April. "The effectiveness of the traditional way of training new workers is extremely low," said Jiangxi Copper's human resource manager Xiong Ying. "It's not keeping pace with the speed [with which] our company is developing. The traditional training model needs to be reformed. The only way is to do so with virtual reality training."

UOneNet is considering setting up 3D mall for buyers and sellers to interact, as well an e-learning community partnership with a Chinese TV Station. Said UOneNet president Eric Ye: "The core is really this multiperson interaction in real time at such a low cost. You never had this before this 3D virtual world. Virtual worlds will eventually be an advertising platform. [But] when you start off, you have to start with things that are innovative and just show the potential to boost the value."

MTV Networks plans to unveil a case study to advertisers demonstrating how consumer engagement with programs and brands expand with each additional digital platform they are exposed to, including virtual worlds, according to a report from advertising news site Ad Week.

The "Multiscreen Engagement Case Study," which was conducted for MTV by Harris Interactive and MauroNewMedia in January of this year, details the involvement of 600 consumers with MTV's prime time hit show The Hills and their perceptions of key sponsor Pepsi.

The case study examined a control group of 300 people who did not watch The Hills and a group of 300 who did, finding that Pepsi's positive brand image traits dramatically increased among fans who watched the show and browsed The Hills content online, and even more so among fans who played in The Hills virtual world.

About half of the 240 fans who watched only the on-air version of the show said Pepsi promotes music events and supports music artists. Less than 30% of them said the brand was in touch with youth culture, and about 15% said they considered Pepsi "cool" or "hip."

Those numbers skyrocketed among those who watched the TV show and went online to enter The Hills virtual world, where upwards of 90% said Pepsi promotes music and recording artists, and nearly 70% considered the brand to be "cool," "hip," and in touch with youth culture.

Network executives say the study helps them make their case that MTV is the place to target 12 to 34 year olds, showing that in prime time, the networks are down 14% in that demographic, and MTV has had a gain of 14% according to Nielsen Media Research.

Said MTVN's integrated marketing executive vice president Tim Rosta: "What we've learned from the study is the more our audience engages with brand across platform the greater level of brand affinity they have. When we infuse it appropriately, brands become part of the dialog giving us the ability to create brand ambassadors. They know somebody is paying for the programming so they embrace brands where we don't try to fool them."

During Sony's PlayStation Day press event in London yesterday, Sony Computer Entertainment president and CEO Kaz Hirai discussed the company plans for its social world, Home, promising to open the service to the public "towards the end of the year," a comprehensive live report of the proceedings from UK-based site Eurogamer.

Home provides PlayStation 3 owners with a full-scale virtual world, allowing gamers to customize avatars and apartments, share gaming achievements, and socialize with others. Sony plans to add advertisements and lobbies with partnering retailers, as well as purchasable content, such as clothes, furniture, or larger apartments.

Previously, the virtual world was scheduled to open in late 2007 before Sony put off its launch to Spring 2008, citing "user feedback" for the delay. Sony later extended the delay again last month to Fall 2008, noting that the company needed to spend more time in development with Home. The service is currently under closed beta testing.

Commenting on Home's unspecified release date for this year, Hirai stated, "As great as it currently is, it needs a little more time."

Westwood-based MMO game developer Turbine is celebrating the first-year anniversary of The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar's launch by offering free access to the fantasy game based on J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth books during May 8-12.

Turbine is inviting former players to explore updates that've been applied since the MMORPG's launch, including a new region, new quests, a hobby system, expanded avatar customization options, and more. Gamers with retired accounts will be able to simply login with their old information during the free access weekend.

Turbine is also offering two new LOTR Online pricing options for a limited time until June, including a lifetime membership for a one-time fee and multi-month plans allowing players to pay only $9.99 a month when signing up for 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month subscriptions.

Vancouver-based networking company Utherverse Inc. plans to accompany Vancouver's New Music West Conference and Festival in May 14-18 with a virtual version of the festival in its online erotic virtual world, Virtual-Vancouver.

Advertised as "the first massively multi-user online music festival," the online event will provide audio and video of performing Canadian independent bands simulcasted in near-real-time. Adult users will be able to attend the festival by creating an avatar and visiting Virtual-Vancouver's ampitheatre.

In an interview with technology site Wired, Utherverse CEO Brian Shuster described Virtual-Vancouver's capability to host large-scale events for tens of thousands of users: "The trick comes in allowing hundreds or thousands of user avatars to appear in the same region of Virtual-Vancouver -- in this case, having thousands of users in a single amphitheater so that they can all enjoy a concert together. It is this problem that we have solved with a system that dynamically spawns new 'dimensions' of the amphitheater as needed, to accommodate as many users as necessary."

He continued, "In this way, the amphitheater will never be so crowded that anyone will have trouble enjoying the show, and users can move easily around the physical space, as well as between dimensions, so that they can meet, dance and interact with any of the other concert-goers from around the world."

[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. You can view Part 1 of our investigation here, and Part 2 here.]

I've spent over a week with my adopted monster, Shibito -- a character in the educational, social MMO Moshi Monsters, aimed at "little kids and big kids alike" -- so what are my conclusions?

In Playboy's Q1 2008 earnings call yesterday, chairman and CEO Christie Hefner discussed the company's new revenue opportunities and online plans, indicating an approach that sounds very similar to either an expansion of its current virtual world presence or building its own virtual world based on the media brand

"The playboy brand is what creates the unique connection we have with consumers and gives us a vital competitive edge," said Hefner. "It is the strength and appeal of the brand that will drive the company's future success, and we intend to leverage that in both immersive real world and in the virtual environment to increase shareholder value. "

Playboy already has a strong virtual presence in Second Life, where its "Playboy Island" is one of the most popular company-sponsored sites in the community. Just recently, the company ran a promotion in which it invited designers to create exclusive Playboy-branded merchandise to sell along with its real world goods on the island.

Hefner continued in the earnings call: "We believe that the potential of online is much greater than the performance we've seen in the last several years. And to realize that potential we have to catch up in terms of technological infrastructure and breadth of content and interconnectedness between what we do in the virtual world and what we're doing in other businesses in terms of e-commerce, in terms of events, in terms of advertising, in terms of social networking, etc."

Nexon America Inc., the North American division of Korea-based developer and publisher Nexon Group, is celebrating MapleStory's third anniversary (in the U.S.) by unveiling new areas, contests, and events for the free-to-play MMO game.

To date, MapleStory has amassed over 5.9 million users in North America. Some of the celebration's highlights include Showa, a new Yakuza-themed region, a cake-themed monster named Big Puff Daddy who terrorizes several towns. Special GM events, such as a sale on Nexon Cash, MapleStory's purchasable currency, will also be held.

MapleStory will also host a contest during the month-long anniversary celebration in which players can upload videos celebrating the anniversary for a chance to win one of five prizes, including a new computer worth $1,500.

Freaky Creatures developer Abandon Interactive Entertainment has enlisted customer service provider Game Center Group to provide support management services for Abdandon's forthcoming MMO.

Game Center Group will provide end-to-end customer relationship management services, including knowledge base management, CRM hosting, technical, account/billing, and in-game support, for Freaky Creatures.

Just two weeks ago, Game Center Group announced a partnership with Javien Digital Payment Solutions to offer alternative payment methods, such as microtransactions and specialized accounts (parent-child sponsorships, prepaid wallets, etc.), to its customers.

Said Abandon Interactive Entertainment James Ottilie, “Game Center Group offers the best-in-class solution for live support in this space. After an exhaustive review of all our options, it was clear the team at Game Center Group had the experience and depth on their bench to provide a true turn-key solution for comprehensive support in all major markets.”

In an interview at Sony’s recent PlayStation Day even in London, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe president David Reeves told consumer website CVG that the company was too ambitious with Home’s non-gaming applications.

After delaying Home twice since announcing the PlayStation 3 virtual world at the Game Developers Conference in March, 2007, Sony predicted at the London event that the service would open to the public by the end of 2008. Reeves was a little more specific, promising that an open beta for Home would debut in autumn.

In order to meet that deadline, though, development has shifted its focus away from non-gaming applications and more more towards the service’s gaming elements, such as trophies and launching games from within Home.

Said Reeves: "We've realised that maybe we were too ambitious with the non-gaming applications within Home, getting sponsors and stuff like that. In that sense we were deserting gamers. So, we're concentrating on the gaming by launching games in Home, and attracting people who are into gaming in first - instead of the Nike people, or Adidas people who are into fashion and not necessarily into gaming."

Following Kongregate's announcement last week that it had secured $3 million from Bezos Expeditions, Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos' personal investment arm, for its social Flash gaming portal, the company revealed a new project designed to extend its presence on the web, the Facebook Challenge Platform.

Launched in 2006, Kongregate's site invites users to not only play and rate over 4,000 Flash games for free, but to create and share them using a "video games meets YouTube" model. Members who've registered at the site can also setup profiles, friends lists, and chat with others.

Points and badges are rewarded for completing specific challenges (achievements) in the different games, and users can even invite their friends to games they've played and send challenges. That social strategy has worked out well for Kongregate, as its users spend, on average, up to an hour, playing games at the site, compared to users visiting Facebook and ESPN, who on average stay at the respective sites for 21 and 12 minutes. Kongregate intends to add this communal aspect of its Flash game network to Facebook, integrating its games and features onto the social site. Due for a public release later this month, the Challenge Platform hopes to attract Facebook's huge user base to the Kongregate experience.

Worlds in Motion spoke to Kongregate CEO and co-founder Jim Greer about the platform's seamless integration with Facebook: "Anyone with a Facebook profile will be able to start playing our games immediately. They won't need to set up a Kongregate account beforehand. It will all be available through Facebook's application directory, just like a regular game." Even users who have no interest in the platform's social features will be able to enjoy the games with a casual, single-player "Play" mode.

Mammoth Brand, a marketing initiative managed by toy maker NSI International, has teamed up with toy-store chain Toys"R" Us for the launch of Doko, a new "global trading game" targeted at boys and girls aged 6 to 13.

Starting this weekend Toys"R" Us will be the first retailer to sell Doko discs, collectible items which children can register online to trade and receive points. The points can then be used to unlock features on the Doko site and redeem real world goods or services from Mammoth's redemption partners, including Toys"R"Us, etoys.com, and DK Publishing.

The discs are 40mm game pieces with laser-etched, steel rims, each one providing a unique id and a Doko design in the piece's center. Once they've registered online, kids can trade the discs with each other for more points and track how far their discs have traveled during the trading process.

Children will be able to chat with and send messages to each other on Doko's child-safe and monitored site. They'll also be able to create friends lists and play hundreds of games. Aside from purchasing the actual discs, registrations and the site's features are all free.

To promote the game, earlier this month, Mammoth began its "Doko Drops" campaign by releasing over $1 million worth of Doko discs for people to discover throughout the U.S. and in London, Milan, Melbourne, Sydney, Honk Kong, Hamburg, Germany, and Tokyo.

Said NSI International president Frank Landi: "With the launch of the Doko game, Mammoth wanted to design a game for tweens that captures the fun of collecting with the interaction and reach offered by the internet. The Doko game is an opportunity for tweens to connect in a new way: to explore the world and make new friends in a social networking environment that is both safe and fun."

In its first-ever quarterly online game subscription tracking report - covering October 2007 to March 2008 - the NPD Group has gathered data claiming that online subscriptions, including MMO, casual, and console titles, represent over $1 billion annually to the U.S. gaming industry.

The NPD Group calculated these results by taking the monthly averages it had estimated from a newly compiled gamer panel for Q4 2007 and Q1 2008, respectively $94.3 million and $80.1 million, and multiplying the average of those two by 12 to get the annualized equivalent.

Said NPD spokeswoman Anita Frazier: "Now that NPD can estimate the value of the subscription market, it's clear that there is a sizable chunk of revenue being generated by PC gaming beyond what is reflected in retail sales."

The online subscriptions tracking report went on to show claims that 11 million North American gamers hold monthly subscriptions to online games. According to the report, revenues from console subscriptions rose 9% on an average monthly basis since Q4 2007 to Q1 2008.

The NPD Group also listed its own estimates of the top 5 rankings for MMOs and gaming subscription (largely casual) websites during the Q4 2007 to Q1 2008 period.

MMO/PC Game Subscribers:

1. World of Warcraft
2. RuneScape
3. Lord of the Rings Online
4. Final Fantasy XI
5. City of Heroes

Gaming Website Subscribers:

1. Pogo.com
2. Realarcade.com
3. Bigfishgames.com
4. Gametap.com
5. Disney.com

Said Frazier: "By contrasting the demographics of MMO players against those of gaming website players, the broad appeal of PC gaming is clearly evident. While the majority of gaming website players are females over the age of 35, MMOG players are largely males under the age of 35. The variety of content available to play games on the PC clearly can draw a diverse audience."

[The preceding article originally ran at Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

Publisher and Gala, Inc.'s European subsidiary Gala Networks Europe has announced its plans to release its third MMORPG, Street Gears, a free-to-play online game set in a persistent manga-style universe in which players challenge each other in races or trick contests.

Street Gears uses cell-shading graphics to emphasize the game's manga and arcade-like atmosphere. The game provides a mix of "avatar evolution" and extreme sports, offering a "colorful and competitive roller game " experience for both hardcore and casual gamers.

The "massively multiplayer roller game" will be exclusive to Gala's gPotato.eu portal. Set to debut in June 2008 with French and German versions, Street Gears will follow Gala's previous MMORPGs, Flyff and Rappelz, both of which are also available through the publisher's online portal. NFlavor Corp., the studio that worked on Rappelz, will return to develop Street Gears.

Sunnyvale-based Gala, Inc. subsidiary Gala-Net has announced a partnership with Target to offer its gPotato Game Cards exclusively through the retail chain. The prepaid game cards allow users to purchase in-game items and accessories for games hosted on gPotato, Gala-Net's online portal.

Users with the gPotato Game Cards will be able to log into and buy goods from any of the portal's titles, including Flyff, Rappelz, Corum Online, Shot Online, and Upshift StrikeRacer. The cards will be available at Target locations in denominations of $15 and $30, displayed in the stores' Entertainment sections.

Said Gala-Net CEO Jikhan Jung: “Offering these Game Cards at Target is very important for an MMO publisher because we want to be able to reach a broader market. Teens are the biggest fans of our online games, but since they are too young to have a credit card to purchase gPotatoes, these prepaid cards will be the most convenient option to purchase our premium items. Our denominations are ideal! They are perfect for our gamers who are on a budget.”

Berlin-based startup Metaversum is planning to recreate Singapore as an Asian hub in its forthcoming 3D virtual world, Twinity, according to a report from Asia-Pacific news site Today Online. From there, the company hopes to expand its virtual presence to other countries in the region.

Currently running as a closed beta with 2,000 users, Twinity invites its users to create realistic avatars and spaces mirroring real life as opposed to fantasy environments. Users can decorate their apartments, chat with friends, watch videos, and participate in other activities that "represent their real life."

Said Metaversum co-founder and chief marketing officer Dr. Mirko Caspar: "Singapore is a gateway to Asia, with access to native speakers of the main Asian languages, a stable business and intellectual property environment with a well-educated workforce."

Caspar continued, discussing the company's plans to add a local support staff: "We are considering starting with a customer support force to support our local customer base and then gradually expanding from localisation to marketing, business development, and research and development activities."

Singapore's Media Development Authority, a government statutory board, is currently reviewing proposals for a similar project to mirror Singapore as an online 3D world. Over 50 firms have submitted proposals for the project, titled Co-Space, according to AsiaMedia. Though the board hasn't yet set a deadline for Co-Space's completion, MDA deputy chief executive Michael Yap hopes to have the virtual world ready for the 2010 Youth Olympics, providing a chance for the world to see and experience Singapore without physically being there.