Gaia Interactive has announced that its online community Gaia Online has been expanded with the launch of a closed beta for a casual MMO, and has announced that the upcoming title's official name is to be zOMG!.

10,000 community members will be able to participate in the beta program, selected from 120,000 applications received since April.

zOMG! has been in development since 2006, and is a flash-based environment that is to be released for free and require no downloads. Players are to interact in zOMG! by engaging in quests, battling monsters, exploring the world and socializing with friends. zOMG! also serves as an extension of the Gaia Online virtual world, extending current Gaia Online offerings such as mini games, customizable avatars and forums.

“Our Gaian community is loyal, vocal and not afraid to ask for what they want,” said David Georgeson, senior developer of zOMG! at Gaia Online. “It only makes sense for online worlds to place a huge emphasis on community involvement. In our case, they aren’t just the people who will play the game; they’re the ones who asked for it.”

Funtactix, a developer based in Menlo Park, California, has announced the release of Moondo, an online world that “enables players to move rapidly between 3D multiplayer games, keeping the same avatar, friends, and virtual items.”

The benefit of this concept, Funtactix explains, is that rather than require the player to “invest significant time and money in a single repetitive gameplay experience,” Moondo allows players to “move assets across a variety of game genres.”

Moondo has been available in limited beta since February, and the company plans to unveil a selection of sports games for Moondo players in August, while a full browser based version of the cross-gaming universe is due in October.

Set in a futuristic theme park on the moon, Moondo is to feature multiplayer, short-session party games in a variety of genres, such as shooting, racing, and sports, integrated with a social network. Moondo currently offers free-to-play games in two genres: shooting and racing.

“Massive growth in PC gaming will not be driven by today’s shrink-wrapped games on high-end PCs. Rather, it’s mainstream consumers discovering fun, new, affordable social gaming experiences that will fuel the industry,” said . Sam Glassenberg, CEO of Funtactix. “These consumers don’t want to invest the time and money to learn a new game, only to have those efforts prove worthless as they move to the next one. Cross gaming eliminates those barriers, satisfies their thirst for new game genres, and keeps players coming back– ultimately creating a longer playing cycle with more valuable, lasting items.”

Think Services Game Group announced today that Lane Merrifield, co-founder of Club Penguin and recently-named head of development for the Walt Disney Company's kids and family-targeted virtual worlds, has been confirmed as a keynote speaker for the Austin Game Developers Conference (Austin GDC) 2008 taking place September 15-17 at the Austin Convention Center.

Merrifield's keynote entitled, "At Their Service: Making a Difference by Putting Players First," will explore some of the key elements that go into developing and maintaining a uniquely engaging and profitable virtual world.

Club Penguin, part of Disney Online, is a virtual playground designed for children between the ages of six and 14. Lane helped develop and launch the site in 2005 and since its inception, has led the management, operations and business strategy. The company's commitment to creating a safe and ad-free online environment helped propel Club Penguin to international acclaim and a partnership with the Walt Disney Company, which acquired Club Penguin in August 2007.

In his keynote, Lane will explore the idea that true success is derived from a mindset of focusing on the creation of a customer service-based culture. He argues if you do that correctly, monetization will take care of itself.

"In this era of rapidly growing social games and virtual worlds, new players and investors are constantly throwing their hats in the arena -- hoping to create the next big connected game. The reality is that many of these online games won't reach a critical mass," said Austin GDC conference director Izora De Lillard. "Lane Merrifield's talk will inspire developers to consider how to create a truly compelling experience for the gamer; and perhaps help them create the next Club Penguin."

As a celebration of what's new and next within online game development, Austin GDC will also play host to the Worlds in Motion Summit featuring sessions on how business can enter and capitalize on virtual worlds with featured speakers including: Raph Koster of Areae Inc. Metaplace, Shervin Pishervar of Social Gaming Network, Chris Waldron of Fusion Fall Cartoon Network, and Michael Rowe of 3D Internet & v-Business & Business Management IBM.

Early registration discounts are available until July 31st. For more information on Lane Merrifield's keynote and all other sessions taking place at Austin GDC, as well as for online registration, please visit the official website.

Knowledge Adventure, a developer of virtual worlds for 3-to-10 year olds, has announced the appointment of two new executive team members Thomas Swalla is to be president of e-commerce and Sudhir Krishnaswamy is to be vice president engineering and general manager of Indian operations.

The newly appointed Swalla and Krishnaswamy are to “play a strategic role” in the online expansion initiative that Knowledge Adventure are setting into motion by taking their brands, JumpStart and Math Blaster, online. This forms part of the company’s overall strategy to leveraging its history as a provider of kids' software to “establish the company as the leader in adventure-based 3D virtual worlds.”

As president of e-commerce, Swalla is to lead all online initiatives for Knowledge Adventure including the company's website properties and the JumpStart membership community. Swalla previously served as vice president of business development at event ticket reseller RazorGator. Krishnaswamy is to be responsible for building, managing and overseeing the team in India.

Additionally, Knowledge Adventure has announced the immediate promotions of James Czulewicz to VP Business Planning & Analysis/Retail Sales and William Kennedy to VP Finance and Administration.

"Thomas and Sudhir bring tremendous passion and experience to Knowledge Adventure at this pivotal time in our history," said David Lord, President and CEO Knowledge Adventure. "Their previous successes ensure our next phase of innovation and expansion into the virtual world/online gaming market will be successful and rewarding for our JumpStart kids and parents."

Conduit, a provider of website syndication solutions for web publishers, and Power Challenge, developer of online multiplayer title Power Soccer, have announced the introduction of the Power Challenge Community Toolbar, a download allows players to monitor games, launch challenges and track their progress.

The Community Toolbar has been built with the Conduit Website Syndication Platform, and allows Power Challenge the ability to send messages to their community via Conduit’s Community Alerts, which are sent directly to user’s desktops.

Power Challenge has stated that already 30,000 players of Power Soccer have used the Conduit toolbar since its launch.

“With the Power Challenge Community Toolbar, more than 1,000,000 players can take their game with them everywhere they go on the Web,” said Ronen Shilo, CEO of Conduit. “And Power Challenge can now keep their members permanently online by communicating with them on a whole new level ­ delivering the most desirable information and applications fast, right in the browser and on the desktop.”

[Just a note to remind readers of the early deadline for Austin GDC, which includes the Worlds In Motion Summit alongside a jampacked Online Summit track - five simultaneous tracks of online game goodness, hope you'll consider joining us.]

The organizers of 2008 Austin Game Developers Conference (Austin GDC) are reminding possible attendees that early registration for the September 15th-17th event - which includes keynotes from Bruce Sterling and Club Penguin co-creator Lane Merrifield - ends tomorrow, July 31st.

Austin GDC 2008 is presented by Think Services, organizers of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference (GDC) and the parent of Gamasutra.com and related websites, including this one.

The event is a three-day, multi-track game conference taking place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas September 15-17, 2008, and continues a multi-year tradition of an Austin-based game event appealing to a nationwide and worldwide game community.

The Austin GDC this year consists of the following elements:

- Austin GDC Online Summit - Austin's signature summit, with four parallel tracks on business and marketing, technology and services, design, and social networking and community for online games. Major speakers from Bioware, Cartoon Network, Disney, EA, NCSoft, and Sony Online Entertainment are participating, with Club Penguin's Lane Merrifield keynoting.

- Worlds In Motion Summit - specifically concentrating on virtual worlds, and expanding from the successful GDC Summit, this business-focused two-day event includes sessions on Facebook gaming, user-created virtual world content and the future of the metaverse - with speakers from IBM, NBC.com, IAC, and more.

- Austin GDC Writing Summit, featuring a keynote from futurist and science fiction writer Bruce Sterling on 'Computer Entertainment 35 Years From Today', plus notable lectures from leading writers from id Software, Carbine Studios, Red Storm Entertainment and Ubisoft.

- Austin GDC Audio Summit, with a keynote from Sony's Jason Page on next-gen audio, and other speakers including Austin Wintory, composer of fl0w, Slipgate Ironworks' Kurt Larson on adaptive music for MMOs, and a special 'Iron Composer Texas' to be fought out on site.

- Game Career Seminar, including notable lectures and panels for those wanting to get into the game biz, such as 'The Game Job Interview RPG', the ever-popular 'Pitch Your Game Idea' panel, and 'You're Hired! How to Get HR to Notice You' - featuring speakers from Vicarious Visions, Nexon, Ghostfire Games, and more.

In addition to an Expo show floor with many game technology companies in attendance, Austin GDC will also showcase the recently announced winners of the 2008 IGF Showcase for Austin GDC, picking the very best examples of 'local flavor' in terms of indie games from Austin and the Southern U.S.

Those interested in registering for the event can visit the official Austin GDC website to purchase their pass - early registration ends on July 31st, though passes will still be available after that date.

Octopi, developer of the multiplayer strategy game Pox Nora has announced an agreement to re-acquire all of the assets of Octopi from its parent company, FUN Technologies.

Octopi was founded in Tuscon, Arizona in 1998, and has a history developing single-player and multiplayer online and mobile games. Octopi's online strategy game, PoxNora, has more than 2,000,000 registered users from around the world according to company literature.

The return of Octopi’s assets follows FUN Technologies acquisition by Liberty Media Corporation.

Daniel Kopycienski, founder and president of Octopi, commented, “We look forward to continuing to develop new features and enhancements for PoxNora, and bringing some exciting new game titles to market in the coming years. There is a large market for casual strategy/MMO-style games, and Octopi has the experience and development tools to rapidly deliver some exciting products.”

Turbine has announced a partnership with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to distribute The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria at retail in North America. As part of the announcement, Turbine revealed that the title is to be available in two retail packages (a “complete” and a “collector’s” edition) plus a digital download available only to existing subscribers.

The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Complete Edition is to include the original The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, all content updates released since launch, and The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria. The Complete Edition is to be available at retail stores nationwide and is orientated towards attracting new players.

The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria Collector’s Edition is a limited release that features the content of the Complete Edition in leather-bound book packaging and 3 tokens that can be exchanged for the player’s choice of 8 different in-game items, a cloth map, a gold-plated ring with chain and pouch, a poster, “The Lord of the Rings Online Art and Music Collection” and the official soundtrack, and a starter guide.

The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria expands the original title with a new underground environment, including Dwarven cities, a new “Legendary Item” system, new dual height map technology, two new classes and ten additional levels.

“We are excited to self publish The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria and to partner with Warner Bros. to distribute the title at retail this fall,” said Jim Crowley, president and CEO of Turbine, Inc. “Mines of Moria introduces breakthrough content and features including our Legendary Item system that will revolutionize the way players advance and customize their unique heroes.”

Research and consultancy group Strategy Analytics has released a new study, "Defining the Total Economic Return from Virtual Worlds Applications," which “guides companies in terms of expected returns from virtual worlds investments.”

The report finds that many companies have found that investments in virtual worlds have not met expectations, but reasons that their failure relates to “poorly implemented media strategies that do not include virtual worlds as part of an integrated PR and promotional effort,” and that companies generally fail to use appropriate metrics to assess their level of success or failure.

As a result, within the report Strategy Analytics examines the benefits of virtual worlds and provides a process for evaluating investments based on those benefits.

Barry Gilbert, Vice President and Research Director of the Strategy Analytics Virtual World Strategies program, said, "Companies will require more specific measurement tools in order to continue their investments in virtual worlds."

While companies can access virtual worlds with a small development investment, they often find that building and sustaining consumer momentum requires an on-going budget of at least 60% of their initial investment. "Multi-billion dollar global brand companies looking to target the global youth market should be investing a minimum of one percent of their advertising and promotional budget in virtual worlds," noted Gilbert.

Linden Lab has announced the Open Grid Beta has been opened to the public, based on the work from IBM and Linden lab on developing an open standard for interoperability between virtual worlds.

This initial public beta offers the intergrid teleport code, intended for virtual world developers attempting to make virtual worlds interoperate. It offers a base level of interoperability -- no inventory, textures, or attachments are transfered upon intergrid teleport, and the user’s avatar appears on the target grid as the grid’s default avatar.

Specifically in this first phase of the beta, developers will be able to teleport between Second Life's preview grid and a patched version of OpenSim (an open source server for hosting Second Life-like virtual worlds.)

Along with the Open Grid public beta, Linden Lab have also announced that they are also sponsoring Pyogp, an open source client library and test harness code.

“This is a historic moment in the development of virtual worlds,” said Open Grid Public Beta Manager Whump Linden, “we look forward to your participation.”

Officials from Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) have announced that they have opened applications for a closed, Japan-only beta test of the Playstation Home virtual world. The test is for 10,000 users, and applications are to be accepted through August 11th, with the test beginning later that month.

Home’s ambitious online community service was previously delayed from its originally intended late 2007 launch to spring 2008. At the time the earlier delay was explained by a desire to incorporate more user feedback and the difficulties of preparing a near simultaneous worldwide launch. The final release date has yet to be announced.

Similar beta tests are to also be offered in the U.S. and Europe in the following months, Sony officials told the Associated Press.

Speaking previously on the delays for the release for the service, Kaz Hirai, president and group CEO at SCEI, said, “We understand that we are asking PS3 and prospective PS3 users to wait a bit longer, but we have come to the conclusion that we need more time to refine the service to ensure a more focused gaming entertainment experience than what it is today."

Six Degrees Games, developer and publisher of the upcoming tween-orientated virtual world Action AllStars, has been revealed to have raised venture capital worth $7 million. The funding was disclosed in the the PricewaterhouseCoopers/NVCA MoneyTree Q2 report from earlier this month.

No names of investors were disclosed, however Prism VentureWorks now lists Six Degrees as a portfolio firm of the company.

Six Degrees Games was founded in 2006 and includes Mark Koerner (previously of Naughty Dog) as Creative Director, and David Ortiz (previously of EA) as Vice President of Product Development.

The company has been developing Action AllStars, a sports-themed virtual world designed for ages six to 14-years-old (but open to all ages). The virtual world is currently in closed beta.

Everquest II and Star Wars Galaxies players are now able to use Vivox's Station Voice service in-game for free, Sony Online Entertainment announced today.

The service, which will also launch in Everquest in September, allows players to talk to each other through integrated voice chat.

It also provides for moderator controls, through which a user can manage group and user chat activity, including individual volume and mute settings per users.

SOE says it will implement other Vivox services "later this year," such as voice fonts and connectivity with the game's Station Launcher tool. The company also aims to extend these same features to other current titles, as well as future games like The Agency.

John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment, explained, "The integration of Station Voice into these initial games was seamless, and we look forward to incorporating this added gaming experience into other SOE titles, as well as implementing the next phase of features to come soon."

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