MTV's Jeff Yapp chatted about the media giant's future musings on virtual worlds at the recent Under the Radar Digital Entertainment and Media Conference in Mountain View, CA. "The scale and the scope of this thing is absolutely immense; we have fairly ambitious plans," Yapp said, amid footage of Doppelganger's Virtual Lower East Side and MTV's Virtual Laguna Beach being synthesized as mobile, web, and TV content. "We believe in 'one avatar, one world'; the ability to take your avatar-- that personality, that 3D representation of who you are-- anywhere you want to go." Check out the video at CNet (for all you gamers, there's Rock Band stuff, too!).

Yapp's presentation was a keynote separate from the virtual worlds group presentations at Under the Radar, where Doppelganger and Kaneva were the highlights. During the panel, Doppelganger (Virtual LES) CEO Tim Stevens said their service currently has 150,000 users, growing at a rate of 10% weekly. Kaneva, whose 3D social networking site just went public beta in April, said that despite its resemblance to MySpace and its ilk, it sees its primary competitor as television and movies-- go figure. Both of these companies glean their primary income from sponsorship and the sale of virtual goods.

Another participant in the group was Meez, an avatar specialist. Through Meez's website, users can design custom avatars that can then be exported to other services. Photobucket members, through a recent partnership with Meez, can now export and store their 3D avatars on Meez. Despite having 2 million registered users (and 425,000 newcomers each month) to Photobucket's considerably larger estimated 40 million, Meez apparently gets enough revenue from sponsorship, virtual goods, and their associated promo partnerships to be able to pull it off.

Finally, founder Corey Bridges discussed Multiverse, an MMO development platform that runs in a "world browser" (according to Bridges, that's like a web browser) and can be used by anyone to make their own online games. Multiverse is the platform University of Indiana prof Ted Castronova is using to build Arden, his MacArthur-funded Shakespearean world. In a round of fundraising led by hedge fund Sterling Stamos Capital Management, Multiverse recently snagged $4.175 million.

[Via Webware.com]

The Multiverse Network, Inc., which builds networks for MMOs and 3D virtual worlds, has released version 1.0 of their platform, a software solution for online worlds developers. The Multiverse Platform has been in beta until now, and the company says that over 11,000 development teams participated.

The Multiverse Network has also launched an initiative it calls "Worlds in Progress," a collection of early prototype games and worlds built on its platform, with the aim of providing consumer access to the network. Four worlds have been launched, and all of them are accessible via Multiverse World Browser, a free downloadable that enables consumer access to any game on the network.

Among the Worlds in Progress currently launched, the featured MMO is Dark Horizons Universe, built by indie game studio Max Gaming Technologies (Lore Invasion, Kachinko). The other new prototype world is Doomsberg Entertainment's Forgotten Legends, a skill and power-based fantasy game,

Two other offerings that Multiverse calls "sample worlds" are the Multiverse Social World, which provides a basic environment for people to chat and dance, and the Multiverse Fantasy World, which puts players into a basic MMOG-style game.

Also on the horizon for the network is Wardog Studios' Force of Arms, a futuristic hero RPG, and RETRO Laboratory's LunarQuest, where players, as cadets, are tasked with colonizing the moon.

Multiverse says it expects production-quality versions of these worlds to become available on its network in late 2007 or early 2008, and that they will continue to launch new prototype games and worlds as they become available.

Included with the Multiverse Platform, development teams receive the complete source code for both sample worlds, which they can use as a starting point for their own products, or as training material. Multiverse says it has no plans to continue developing either world beyond their current state.

"By providing our technology without upfront fees and eliminating many technical barriers, we've made virtual world development faster and less expensive than ever before," said Bill Turpin, Multiverse co-founder and CEO.

CNet is reporting that Multiverse Network will soon announce a partnership, to be called "Architectural Wonders," that will enable users to design custom virtual worlds using Google's SketchUp 3D models, drawing on Google Earth terrain.

Multiverse unveiled version 1.0 of its MMO and virtual world network earlier this year with its Worlds in Progress initiative, a collection of early prototype games and worlds built on its platform, with the aim of providing consumer access to the network. Four worlds have been launched, and all of them are accessible via Multiverse World Browser, a free downloadable that enables consumer access to any game on the network.

Now, though, users will apparently be able to use the Google tools to get specific, creating real-world locations based on Google Earth and populating them with 3D models. "The goal is to grab things from the 3D Warehouse when looking at things in Google Earth and then make an instant multiverse world," Multiverse founder Corey Bridges explained in the article. "What we've done is provide a more streamlined interface for using [Google's technology] as a virtual-world production tool."

Multiverse users have been able to use some of the SketchUp models for some time, but now it seems they will have a broader range of options. This is good news, and a long time in coming, to all of those eager to experiment with the possibilities of Google technology for the virtual worlds space.

[Via CNet]

When the Multiverse Network first unveiled its platform, a software solution for online worlds developers, it launched an initiative it calls "Worlds in Progress," a collection of early prototype games and worlds built on its platform, with the aim of providing consumer access to the network. Along with the initiative, it launched one flagship world, an MMO called Dark Horizons Universe, a prototype MMO called Forgotten Legends, and two "sample worlds."

At the time, the company said that Retro Labs' Lunar Quest and Wardog Studios' Force of Arms were in the pipeline, and the company's just announced their immediate availability via Multiverse's World Browser, though the company says they're "not production quality yet."

"We're building our world on the Multiverse Platform because their technology delivers the features, functionality and performance our team needs to create a world-class teaching application," said Tim Holt, lead designer, Retro Labs. "Their platform allows us to combine traditional gameplay features and capabilities into an innovative virtual world designed to engage students and make them a part of the teaching process."

Lunar Quest incorporates flash-based mini-games to teach students about physics, science and math, casting student players as lunar colonists, while Force of Arms is a more traditional, futuristic hero MMORPG.

"We continue to be impressed by the early efforts of many of our indie customers," said Corey Bridges, co-founder and executive producer, The Multiverse Network, Inc. "Seeing this range of diverse ideas come to fruition so quickly is exactly what will blow the doors off this industry and pave the way for significant innovation."

It's clear that online distribution is transforming the video game industry into something exciting -- and publishers are scared. At the SXSW conference in Austin, Multiverse's Corey Bridges was there to suggest that they most certainly should be.

With previous experience at Zone Labs, Netflix, and Netscape, Bridges is used to promoting ideas other people think are nuts. His latest venture, Multiverse, is no exception. They've created a platform that allows anyone to create an online world – who wants that?

When the Web first came out, people thought it would be dominated by the big guys, like Time-Warner, Bridges recalls. Turns out, it’s the indies that generate the bulk of the content. There is a near-universal desire to create; says Bridges, “Everybody wants to express themselves in some way.”

Is Traditional Publishing Dead?

The indies are significantly affecting traditional media, explains Bridges. Critically, production and distribution are now in the people’s hands. This results in stats such as Facebook's 70 million users in 4 years, Google with $4.83 billion in revenue in Q4 2007, and Blizzard with 10 million WoW subcriptions worldwide -- which makes Blizzard the de facto #1 media company in the world right now.

“Sucks to be you, media oligopolists,” says Bridges. Nowadays, newspapers are folding and the music industry is going through painful spasms. Retail stores are dropping like flies. The venerable Tower Records up and died. Things are changing.

For example, Nine Inch Nails recently released an online-only “album," with no record company involved. Fans could choose from several versions and packages, including a $300 deluxe version with a vinyl pressing and Trent Reznor autograph.

The film/TV industry is even starting to twitch, Bridges continues. Movie theater revenues are deflating, video stores are beset by Netflix, and the industry was rocked (and possibly undone by) the recent Writers' strike for a cut of online and DVD sales.

As far as Bridges is concerned, video game publishers are next on the chopping block.

Over the past few years, affordable technologies have enabled individuals to produce media content at home. Shipping has become more reasonable, and folks find the middle man less and less necessary.

Video game companies spend a ton of money creating games, which forces them into conservative choices. With production costs at $10 million minimum, a bad game can take down a whole company. Once in the store, a game has maybe a month to prove its selling value. After that, it’s off the shelf. Even if it sells well, the studio usually makes a profit of only 8-20 percent.

So publishers are understandably risk-averse. The outcome, however, is problematic. Under the Hollywood blockbuster model, companies rely on the same old genres, depend on franchises, and constrain creativity. Industry jobs routinely grind people up and spit them out. Game development falters.

But there is good news, says Bridges. Broadband, middleware – specifically, indie-geared platforms for noncommercial use, – and the emergence of a universal client. Of course, Bridges has a reason to promote this avenue; his company's Multiverse Network is one such solution.

As the online world industry continues to grow, Bridges predicts it will take a huge chunk out of the video game industry. "MMOs are not some weird little genre that popped up out of nowhere," he says. "WoW is not a fad, it’s a harbinger." According to Bridges, everyone will have an avatar in a few years.

At the same time, social networks are growing by leaps and bounds. Electronic Arts recently began to develop Facebook applications. "Folks are starting to realize that $80 million budgets and 6 year production schedules are not tenable," Bridges adds.

"This year, the intersection of virtual worlds and social networks will be huge," he says.

From Their Compost, A Garden

Bridges predicts we will see new genres of games for different consumers – not just hardcore gamers – and smarter games for smaller market segments (not just “not only hardcores” but also “not only mainstream dreck”). These trends will benefit both indies and the established publishers -- but the indies will move more quickly, he says.

Today's hitches, according to Bridges: The genres are limited, and few companies control the majority of the market. Digital content is expensive to build, and there is significant friction for new users.

Tomorrow all that will change, Bridges predicts. Independent developers drive innovation. As viral marketing campaigns show, people are more inclined to take information from trusted sources. Communities and forums will continue to grow.

Right now, online worlds are a new medium, he continues. As businesses integrate these tools, the stigma of gameplay will recede. According to Bridges, the distinction between industries will soon blur: video game, virtual world, social network – all will combine as the World Wide Web.

As self-publishing indie studios blossom, Bridges predicts a consolidation of the bigger publishers. “They will still push atoms when everyone else is pushing bits.”

Without their stranglehold on distribution, publishers will fill the remaining niches. They will compete with boutique firms to offer financing, recruitment, management, and marketing services. Overall, we will see better design, fewer publishers, and more millionaires.

“So what world,” asks Bridges, “will you build?”

[The preceding article by Jessica Maguire originally appeared at Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra.]

At the 2008 Virtual Worlds Conference in New York, Multiverse revealed that consumers can now enter any world built on its platform either through the company's 3D world browser or through web-embedded Flash.

Multiverse's goal in enabling this is to prevent developers from needing to choose whether to develop in 2D or 3D. During the conference, the companies demoed its virtual Times Square prototype both ways -- through the Multiverse World Browser and then through the web. Users of either method can interact in Multiverse worlds simultaneously.

Flash developers gain access to the scalability of Multiverse's platform, which can handle, the company says, up to 2,000 logins per server. The gain for 3D developers is the ability to reach a broader audience through the web -- different user groups prefer to approach their online interaction in different ways, and since the same project can be accessed either as 3D through Multiverse or Flash through the web, the result is likely to be fewer limitations for developers.

Multiverse co-founder and executive producer Corey Bridges explained, "Developers of Flash games can now benefit from the most scalable and customizable servers in the virtual world industry. With these new capabilities, we'll soon see true virtual worlds appearing on social networks like Facebook and MySpace. The intersection of virtual worlds and social networks starts here."

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."

Academy Award-winning Producer and Multiverse Advisor, Jon Landau, announced three new in-development projects from the developer of virtual world development platform multiverse. The company has partnered with Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising to develop a Buffy the Vampire Slayer MMOG and Places in Time: Titanic, "the world's first interactive learning experience"; both to be launched as part of Multiverse Places, a zoned, open source virtual world.

Multiverse Places is currently in beta, and currently offers application for social networks and a 3D virtual world that users can access once they have installed the Multiverse World Browser. Both are available for free and places is intended to serve as a connecting hub to the wider Multiverse Network for worlds and special zones built by third-party development teams and partners using Multiverse's open source technology.

Using the technology, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer MMOG is to allow players to play in either 3D or 2D (with both players inhabiting the same spaces) and is to go into beta before the end of the year. Discussing the project, Corey Bridges, co-founder and Executive Producer, Multiverse, said, "Not to give away too much, but when the 'Buffy' team finished the television series, they created the perfect launching point for an MMOG where everyone will feel like they're an important character in the ongoing story."

Relatedly, Fox's previously announced MMOG based on Joss Whedon property Firefly (also using Multiverse's technology) has been delayed.

Places in Time: Titanic is to "combine qualities of massively multiplayer online games and virtual worlds into a new form of experiential learning," with users able to experience Titanic in "real and condensed" time, move from one event to another, and "through their own actions affect the world around them, enriching the experience for everyone."

"We're not simply creating a place for someone to go," said James Cameron, director of the film Titanic and a member of the Multiverse Advisory Board. "We're creating a journey for them to go on that will both be exciting and educational."

Developer Multiverse has announced the launch of Battle, the company's first web-based title based on its development platform. Battle is a multiplayer "gladiatorial combat" title where players use weapon and magic attacks to defeat their opponents.

As well as being available on their own website, Battle is playable at social network sites including Facebook, MySpace and Friendster, and casual games portal Kongregate.

According to the company, Battle was developed to "showcase what's possible" with their technology.

"Battle is the first glimpse of a whole new level of excitement in casual games. While new players can begin having fun in seconds, experienced gamers will be thrilled to finally see in a web browser the kind of action and graphics they've found on consoles and in massively multiplayer online games," said Corey Bridges, co-founder and executive producer, Multiverse. "We're confident Battle is going to redefine players' expectations of what's possible in casual games."

Prince Edward Island-based developer Telos International has announced it is scheduled to release its MMO, City of Sinners & Saints during "Summer 2009."

Developed using the Multiverse platform, the company states City of Sinners & Saints has been designed "for the next generation of social networkers looking for an expanded experience on a website."

The title is to feature a "virtual friendship manager", allowing users to track other users online and observe their "top ten" friends, "animotes" allowing users to gesture with their cel-shaded avatars, quests to earn in-game currency with which to purchase clothes, a "living space" and other virtual goods.

“City of Sinners & Saints is being specifically built for the next generation of virtual world travelers,” says Sean Yeomans, president, Telos International. “Our vision is to offer a new kind of experience beyond the normal boundaries of social networking. The city is a place where visitors can enjoy rich content of cartoon-style graphics, comedic story lines, casual games, and social related quests that offer endless hours of challenging yet light-hearted fun.”