Newly established company RES Interactive LLC will officially launch Tootsville.com, a new line of plush toys with an accompanying virtual world, on July 4 with events at Jacksonville and Orlando Fun Spot locations, according to reports from the Orlando Sentinel and Orlando Business Journal.

The plush elephant toys, or "toots," can hook up to PCs via USB, enabling children to register and create an online version of the toy in the Tootsville.com virtual world, similar to Disney's Club Penguin and Ganz's Webkinz franchises. Once logged in, users can decorate their virtual homes, play games, listen to songs, and chat with friends.

Tootsville.com offers free accounts, but children will need to subscribe for a paid monthly account to access other features, such as premium games, special events, collectible pins, "toot" customization, and the ability to purchase clothes, house decorations, and songs.

Currently in beta, the site has approximately 3,000 users so far. RES Interactive president Louis Pecci expects Tootsville.com to grow its membership to 50,000 by the end of the year and to 1 million by July 2009. "We expect about 60 percent will pay the $5.95 membership fee." Pecci also hopes to further extend the virtual world with multiple licensing agreements: "everything from clothing to backpacks to toothbrushes."

According to Pecci, the word "toots" has already been tagged as a "bad word" on Club Penguin. "We're definitely on somebody's radar over there," he said.

Online child protection services provider Crisp Thinking has added virtual world and social networking site Xivio to its client list, incorporating its online safety features to shield children from adult content and other hazards.

Reporting record growth in the last 60 days, Xivio offers children, 'tweens, and teens a Flash-driven virtual world chat room environment where they can interact in customizable rooms with their personalized avatars. Xivio's existing child-safety features include Parents Zone, which is a control panel for applying child security settings, and a patent pending democratic content rating system.

Crisp Thinking will add NetModerator monitoring of live chat interactions to protect children from inappropriate conversations, bullying, and potential sexual predators.

Said Crisp Thinking CEO Andrew Lintell: "Increased usage of social networks and virtual communities is putting web site moderators under immense pressure to identify and track inappropriate content and potentially harmful relationships. Xivio is amongst the first to recognize that this will only increase exponentially. Crisp's NetModerator will dramatically enhance Xivio's ability to police their site effectively."

Educational software developer Knowledge Adventure revealed that it plans to bring its 3D virtual world, JumpStart Advanced Preschool World, online on July 31st, according to a report from daily newspaper Daily Breeze.

Based in Torrance, CA, Knowledge Adventure released JumpStart Advanced Preschool World, its software for teach 3-to-5 year olds pre-reading, early math, social studies, art, music, computer skills, and critical thinking skills, in May 2008. Parents are encouraged to participate in the virtual world, and are invited to specify which holidays will be celebrated in the game, upload photos for arts and crafts projects, and track their child's progress.

Though the developer hasn't yet launched the software's online component, over 20,000 children have already become subscribers and can access enhanced content in JumpStart Advanced Preschool World. According to Knowledge Adventure children as spending an average of one hour playing the game each day.

When the paid subscription service starts, the Web site will allow children to explore the learning tools, moving from level to level without having to buy new software. It will also allow Knowledge Adventure to continually add and update content, as well as provide a multiplayer environment with user-generated content.

Once the online component has been made available, users will be able to interact with one another in JumpStart's 3D virtual world, going on adventures, completing missions, earning rewards, and learning. Subscribers will also be able to explore the learning tools, move from level to level without having to buy new software, download new and updated content, and more.

Knowledge Adventure CEO David Lord indicated that the developer is looking to bring its JumpStart brand and other properties to the Nintendo DS, Wii, and the iPhone.

Pointing to the popularity of virtual worlds such as Disney's Club Penguin and the declining sales in the educational software market, Lord explained Knowledge Adventure's move to the virtual world industry: "Here is where the revenue opportunities are. Here are the growth opportunities. Our market's shrinking. Let's make sure we get into the virtual world market."

Global virtual community for teens Habbo has announced that it will be working with the Matthew Shepard Foundation, a non-profit organization promoting compassion and acceptance among young people, to educate users and promote diversity through an "Erase Hate" project.

Starting July 7th, the Matthew Shepard Foundation staff will host discussions twice a week in Habbo.com's InfoBus, a virtual room designed as the inside of a bus. Users will discuss issues such as dealing with bullying, discrimination and hate experienced on and offline and how to encourage respect among peers.

Said Sulake North America president and Sulake Corp.'s EVP of marketing, ad sales, and business development, Teemu Huuhtanen, “The Matthew Shepard Foundation is exceptionally qualified to provide support to our users as they navigate their difficult teen years. The InfoBus has always been a popular resource for our teen community and we know they will take advantage of this opportunity to share their experiences and learn new tools to foster acceptance and compassion.”

Matthew Shepard Foundation executive director Judy Shepard added : "It is a mission of the Foundation to support young people and provide them with the resources to lead healthy, productive, hate-free lives. Our partnership with Habbo will allow us to have ongoing conversations with young people about what they can do in the fight to replace hate with understanding, compassion, and acceptance.”

[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 with our Online World Atlas we've decided to start looking at the more interesting "non-traditional" MMOs, starting with Kingdom of Loathing, one of the most popular browser-based RPGs to feature a multiplayer component, with in-game chat, clans, player-stores and more community aspects.

Name: The Kingdom of Loathing

Company: Asymmetric Publications

Established: February 2003

How it Works: Kingdom of Loathing is experienced on the web through html. It requires no installation and navigation and gameplay are accomplished via mouse and keyboard input.

Overview: In Kingdom of Loathing, players choose one of six classes and begin a largely single player adventure to gain levels, earn meat (the world's currency) and eventually rescue a king. Adventures are turn-based with a limited number of turns each day. Players can engage in Player vs. Player, join clans and sell items from stores when they reach the appropriate level, and those who pass a literacy test can take part in chat with other players.

Payment Method: Kingdom of Loathing is free to play, and earns revenue through donations (which grant players special in-game items) and merchandising.

Key Features:
- Browser RPG
- Player vs. Player combat
- In-game chat
- Clans
- User owned stores/economy

Useful Links:
Official explanation
Coldfront KOLWiki (Unofficial Kingdom of Loathing Wiki)
RadioKOL (Kingdom of Loathing Radio)

From July 1 to 14, online game portal Gamescampus.com will host a closed beta test for MMORPG Concerto Gate, preparing for the Square Enix-produced game's North American release.

Concerto Gate is the sequel to Cross Gate, which was launched in Japan in July 2001. Though never introduced in the U.S., Cross Gate claims some 23 million registered users in Japan, Taiwan and Korea, and Concerto Gate features an updated game system and improved graphics.

Said Kevin Kim, CEO of OnNet USA, which runs Gamescampus.com: "I am thrilled and excited to introduce Concerto Gate to American players. Square Enix is, without doubt, one of the most famous developers in the world, and I believe the features of this game surely live up to their reputation. Concerto Gate is a terrific addition to Gamescampus.com, the leader in item-based games."

Square Enix producer Noriaki Watanabe added: "It is our pleasure to introduce Concerto Gate to American audiences through Gamescampus.com. We hope now that even more players can experience our game's revolutionary world and its exciting, new features."

Health service organization CIGNA HealthCare has announced the development of a 3D virtual health care community in the form of a Second Life island. The project hopes to provide visitors with seminars, interactive displays, educational games, and virtual health consultations to help foster help foster real and sustainable behavior change that improves health.

Developed by brand experience agency Method, the community welcomes arriving users with an avatar, which greets and leads them to the virtual seminars. The interactive presentation will allow users to participate in a variety of activities, such as learning about nutrition in the "nutrition zone" and voting on the fat content of particular food items.

Interactive games will also be available, such as "The Fridge," in which users click on food items to display their nutritional labels, and "Whack-a-Food," where players compete to test their knowledge of healthy foods.

Said Keith Dixon, Ph.D., president of CIGNA's health solutions unit: “As a health service company, we are always looking for new and creative ways to reach people with important messages about living a healthy and productive life. With a social interactivity that extends beyond geographic boundaries, and an exciting and appealing visual experience, CIGNA's virtual community enables us to reach an entirely new group of people that might not respond to health education messages delivered through more traditional channels.”

Analyst firm Gartner's vice president Carol Rozell added: “Companies are seeing measurable returns from using virtual worlds to create a more engaging communications experience with their employees and customers. The key to launching and maintaining a successful virtual world is to clearly identify a targeted audience, determine their needs, understand how they learn, and design a user experience that encourages interactivity.”

Webcasting and virtual events solutions provider ON24 has announced ON24 Virtual Show, a platform allowing companies and organizations to host trade shows, job fairs, conferences, and training summits in virtual venues.

ON24 Virtual Show customizable user interfaces, integrated webcasting and show reporting, profiles and message board discussions for professional and social networking, "smart booths" offering personalized content based on attendee's profile, and multilingual support.

ON24 believes that its service can help organizations reduce costs while decreasing the amount of time needed to plan and hold an event. Companies can also use the Virtual Show platform to extend physical trade shows with a virtual component.

Said ON24 president and CEO Sharat Sharan: "ON24 has a history of providing our customers with reliable solutions that work every time with global customer-centric service. With ON24 Virtual Show, we are transforming how organizations leverage webcasting and virtual events for their global communication and demand generation needs."

Following up his speculation that virtual worlds are heading for a severe downturn, The Digital Space Commons president and CEO Bruce Damer has outlined several ideas for creating a healthy and sustainable virtual worlds industry and promoting mainstream adoption.

He suggests that "small worlds" might eventually dominate the space, defining small worlds platforms as "easy to install and run programs or plug-ins serving lightweight spaces hosting a small number of users. The small worlds would exist parallel to the web, embedded in and drawing traffic from social networking sites. This would contrast more traditional virtual worlds, or "big grid-iron" worlds as Damer describes them, which exist in isolation from the web.

Damer believes that the industry should concentrate on the platform with the biggest footprint of potential adopters: "Social interaction both random and purposeful is the big user footprint available to virtual worlds especially when embedded into high-trafficked web-based social networks."

He adds that the platform also has to have the lowest barrier: "The small world form factor using already ubiquitous front end technology would naturally be the lowest barrier to entry to these users."

Though Damer recognizes that builder behind large grid-based virtual worlds with proprietary and heavy browser technology will likely not be interested in this approach, he notes, "The big grid-iron worlds approach may be enough sustain a company or two, but this is not sufficient to create a healthy industry."

He concludes: "One could envision inviting key players to a common poker game where the payout at the end of the evening might be a common small world platform tuned to the biggest user footprint and adopted by the biggest trafficked social networks? The stakes in this game are a new medium and a healthy industry and… social virtual worlds everywhere!"

The original creators of Neopets have founded their own company, Meteor Games, and announced production of an unnamed youth-targeted virtual world project, which features MMO-style gameplay and will benefit from the lessons learned from Neopets, according to CEO Adam Powell.

Neopets was originally founded in 1999 and acquired first by private investors and later acquired by Viacom in 2005 for $160 million.

Meteor Games is headquartered in West Hollywood, California, and is headed up by the two original creators of the Neopets franchise, Adam Powell and Donna Williams. Powell serves as Meteor's chief executive officer and and creative director, while Williams takes the role of chief operating officer and president.

According to the statement released by the company, its games will "cross the appeal of social networks, web-based casual games and traditional massively multiplayer online games." To find out more, Gamasutra talked with Adam Powell about Meteor and where it will take its new world.

Why did you choose now to found a new company and work on a new product?

Adam Powell: A lot of factors came into play, really. Personally, we're in a situation where we are able to make this company happen while at the same time, the industry has been going through such amazing growth. A lot of the trends we’re seeing – merging social networks, web-based gaming and MMO popularity – play well into our experience creating worlds and games. We just felt it was the right time for us to use our experience to create something new.

Cartoon Network New Media, cable television channel Cartoon Network's online publishing division, has announced Mini Match, a new 3D virtual world focusing on multiplayer match-ups and social gaming.

Players create customizable avatars in Mini Match, exploring environments based on adventure themes in Cartoon Network shows, such as Ben 10 and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. They will also play multiplayer games featuring characters and content from the channel's programs.

In the virtual world, players will be able to chat with one another using a custom dictionary loaded with only kid-appropriate words and phrases. By chatting, players can work together to solve puzzles and discover more about the Mini Match world, earning new avatar gear and in-game abilities.

Mini Match will be joined this fall by Cartoon Network's other MMO in the works, Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall. Developed by Seoul, Korea-based studio Grigon Entertainment, FusionFall will focus on getting players to work in groups, featuring lots of platformer elements and a multitude of Cartoon Network characters.

Said Paul Condolora, senior vice president, digital for Turner Broadcasting System Inc.’s Animation, Young Adults and Kids Media Group: “Mini Match opens up a whole new world of gaming to our online audience. The action-adventure theme complements some of our most popular shows and provides kids with a safe virtual destination for social gaming. Kids can come and enjoy the multiplayer games or insert themselves into the fabric of the Mini Match story by joining the ranks of ninjas, pirates, space pilots and other characters, customizing their ‘Minis’ with the gear those adventurous characters bring.”

Social gaming site Playfish has raised $1 million in bridge financing from venture capital firm Accel Partners, according to VC news weblog VentureBeat.

Headquartered in London - with offices in Beijing and Tromso, Norway - Playfish has produced titles such as "Who Has The Biggest Brain?" and "Word Challenge," both featured in Facebook with in-game advertisements. The company boasts that its games are played 100 million times each month and have picked up over six million players.

PlayFish intends to use its new funding from Accel Partners to "make contacts while continuing to develop new games." The studio launched in October 2007 with $4 million in funding and backing from Accel Partners.

China-based online game developer and operator Giant Interactive has announced that it has acquired a 25% stake in Chinese social networking service provider Five One Network Development Co., for approximately $51 million.

Founded in 2005, 51.com claims approximately 120 million registered users, with 31.4 million monthly unique visitors logging in 18 times per month on average. Its average daily page views are as high as 350 million, while its average monthly page views exceed 10 billion.

Giant Interactive's catalog of titles include free-to-play MMORPG ZT Online, which was voted the most popular online game in China in 2006, according to International Data Corporation. The company has three other forthcoming titles, King of Kings III, Empire Sports, and Giant Online, the last of which began open beta testing in March 2008. Giant maintains a nationwide distribution network to sell prepaid cards and game points for its games.

Said Giant Interactive chairman and CEO Yuzhu Shi: "With this strategic investment in the largest independent social network service provider in China, we are positioning Giant at the forefront of the trend towards increasing convergence between online games and social networking communities. Enhancing the community-building and social networking aspects of our online games has been one of our key strategic initiatives."

He continued: "The combination of Giant's online game platform and expertise at free-to-play game monetization with 51.com's social networking business provides a unique opportunity to broaden our player base, expand our community-building opportunities, reinforce user stickiness, and extend the lifecycles of our games. The 51.com management is a well-known team of industry pioneers with strong operating capabilities and a deep understanding of their customers. We believe this investment has the potential to create significant long-term value for both Giant and 51.com shareholders, and will help us to remain at the vanguard of the online game industry in the coming years."

Organizers for the Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2008 have announced three virtual world conference sessions for the event, which will take place August 10 - 12 at the Edinburgh International Conference Center.

The first talk, "Inline Transactions," will be delivered by Karl Mehta, CEO of of publisher-sponsored in-game commerce network PlaySpan. He plans to discuss how virtual world economies impact real-world economies through real money transactions.

Hemisphere Capital's Matt Rothman will host a session on “The 3 MMO’s– from Content to Community,” in which he will moderate a panel looking beyond technology to address "what it takes to build these new forms of entertainment." Redbedlam (RomaVictor) president Kerry Fraser-Robinson, Monumental Games (Football Stars) CEO Rik Alexander, and NiceTech CTO (Tronji-The Happy Lands) Toby Simpson are scheduled to participate.

For the third session, “Real Politics invade Virtual Worlds– dealing with social and economic issues in EVE online,” Redbedlam executive director Fred Hasson will interview Eve Online's lead economist and head of research and statistics, Eyjlfur Guâmundsonn, on the social and economic consequences of in-game communities.

[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.]

We're mixing it up in the Worlds in Motion Online World Atlas this week, by choosing to look at the browser-based (and largely single-player!) RPG Kingdom of Loathing. However, it's not completely off-topic, as the game features in-game chat, player stores and other community aspects. We go in-depth after the jump.

Celebrating the fifth anniversary of MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies, publishers Lucasarts and Sony Online Entertainment have announced the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game.

The first release for the online trading card game, Champions of the Force, is scheduled to debut late summer 2008. The game will be available exclusively to users with valid and active subscriptions to Star Wars Galaxies.

Subscribers will receive five free booster packs per month and will be able to purchase starter decks and additional booster packs through Sony Online Entertainment's Station Store.

The trading card game offers decks for both the light and dark sides of the Force, enabling players to fight virtual matches for the Rebel or Imperial factions. Players will also be able to collect cards within the MMORPG to add to their collection. In addition, “loot cards” can be redeemed for virtual items usable in the Star Wars Galaxies game.

Beginning July 22nd, Lucasarts and SOE will throw virtual “Empire Day” festivities which will include appearances by Princess Leia, regularly scheduled Imperial parades, in-game fireworks, performances by the Max Rebo Band, and the debut of two new statues for the Emperor and Yoda.

Furthermore, Star Wars Galaxies subscribers will also be rewarded with in-game items, such as a Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back virtual poster and wearable goggles inscribed with a “V.”

Hoping to separate its site from "virtual plush" communities, representatives for forthcoming street racing virtual Revnjenz have added a new twist for its registration requirements - kids will need to first purchase a "collectible" driver's license card from participating retailers to receive a code for registering a Revnjenz account.

Once users enter their driver's license code, they'll create a virtual version of the vehicle pictured on the cars, enabling them to play games, chat with friends, participate in races, and earn BoostBucks, the virtual world's in-game currency. Revnjenz targets the 'tween demographic, boasting content tailored for both boys and girls, such as car modifications and accessories available to purchase with BoostBucks.

The company behind Revnjenz is currently inviting retailers to put in pre-orders for the driver's license cards, promising their delivery for late summer to early fall 2008.

Think tank Virtual Policy Network intends to hold a two-day event titled Virtual Policy ‘08: A conference on innovation and governance in virtual worlds. The conference aims to define the virtual policy agenda for UK and Europe.

Scheduled for July 22-23 at the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform’s conference center in London, Virtual Policy ’08 will bring together industry veterans, policy makers, and academics to discuss the public policy implications of virtual worlds from a European perspective.

Key themes which will be examined at the event include intellectual property rights, financial transactions, governance frameworks, issues regarding kids in online spaces, and new models and tools for learning in virtual worlds. The conference will also cover innovations in brand promotion, virtual meetings, and online learning.

Designing Virtual Worlds author and University of Essex professor Richard Bartle will deliver a conference keynote, as will Technology Intelligence Group CEO Christian Renaud. CCP's (EVE Online) Eyjolfur Gudmundsson, Linden Lab's (Second Life) Dr. Jim Purbrick, and Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's Leigh Jackson will also be speaking at Virtual Policy ’08.

Said Virtual Policy Network founder Ren Reynolds: "This is the ideal time for a mature debate about the relationship between public policy and virtual worlds. Virtual Worlds are not new, having been invented in the UK almost 30 years ago, but today’s scale of use is unprecedented. With figures such as Habbo Hotel’s 90 million registered users and World of Warcraft establishes itself as a pastime for millions people around the world - virtual worlds are forcing themselves onto the policy agenda. This unique event will focus on the whole range of policy implications of this fascinating and rich global cultural phenomena .”

Australia-based middleware developer BigWorld Technology has upgraded its MMO technology suite, which includes BigWorld Server Software, Content Creation Pipeline, 3D Client Engine Package, and Live Management Tools & Instrumentation, to version 1.9.

The update contains new features such as an advanced terrain engine that enables support for unlimited texture layers, higher level of detail, and configurable height/shadow/normal/texture map resolution. In addition, the suite includes optimizations and improvements to patrol paths, web integration, skybox and weather systems, and its support for SpeedTree and Umbra partner technologies.

BigWorld Technology 1.9 also comes with support for Perforce, SVN, and CVS control systems. Both Mandarin and English languages are supported in the development tools user interface and art pipeline

The company's current MMO and virtual world licensing partners include Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, which is currently developing MMORPG Stargate Worlds, and 38 Studios and Sierra Online, which are both working on unannounced online PC titles.

Said BigWorld CTO Simon Hayes, "BigWorld customers and developers currently evaluating the technology are very excited by this release as it enables them to implement some pretty amazing scenery in their games that would otherwise be difficult to achieve."

[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.]

Kingdom of Loathing is the latest online game we're looking at as part of our Online World Atlas, and it's pretty unusual, because most of the time is spent in a single player RPG. However, this browser-based title has MMO aspects -- in-game chat, player stores and clans, for example – and we conclude our findings on its strengths and weaknesses after the jump.