Over at Tech Digest, Stuart Dredge makes his case for 5 companies who ought to have virtual worlds of their own. It's an interesting list, and one could argue back and forth the benefits of any of the 5. Being a fanboy, I'll admit to being excited by the thought of a Nintendo space, and an Apple space.

In fact, the Apple thing could be its aborted 'eWorld' with a new lease on life. Nintendo could have a ton of different areas themed after any number of their more popular franchises: Mario, Metroid, Pokémon, Zelda, etc. Google is something I think everyone's curious about, and Microsoft is fearful of. The BBC has been interested in the whole virtual worlds topic for a while now, witness their various SL events. Nokia? Ehnh. Any companies we should add to this list? Send 'em in!

As this article speculates, Microsoft might be throwing its hat into the ring. Daniel Schiappa, general manager of the entertainment and devices division at Microsoft, and reportedly in charge of MSoft's virtual worlds strategy, attended the Virtual Worlds Conference in San Jose, with the enigmatic line " ... by this time next year, you'll probably know more about why I'm up here."

Well, so much for speculation. That's pretty much an open invitation to assume that they're going to have some form of virtual space, whether for a PC box or the XBox 360. Will this signal to the world that it's time to take virtual worlds seriously? Or will it seem another nail in MSoft's coffin to those who say the giant company just doesn't get the online model?

(Via tech.co.uk)

I think it's funny that Microsoft should weigh in against Sony in this article, claiming that Sony apparently didn't realize what it was getting into with the whole 'Home' business. Is this a message that Microsoft is working on their own virtual offering?

We know that they have dabbled a bit in SL, but are they ready to go whole hog? I can't decide if it's the sort of thing that they'd do, or feel pressured to do, given that virtual worlds are on the rise, with many different developers putting their irons in the fire. Would it be wise for Microsoft to spread themselves out further by offering something significantly different from their current suite of applications? They're still trying to build up their online apps to compete with Google ... what do you all think? What would a Microsoft virtual world be like?

(Via Joystiq)

Microsoft has already asked us to defy all challenges in Second Life, but now they're asking us to defy all advertisers? Geert Desager, a Marketing Manager for Microsoft, commissioned this commercial, The Break Up, to show the relationship between most advertisers and their consumers. While it was intended to reflect real life situations, it certainly rings true in Second Life.

In the commercial, the consumer wants a divorce, while the advertiser sees nothing wrong with their relationship. She, the consumer, feels that he, the advertiser, isn't being genuine when he says he loves her. They don't talk anymore, he does all the talking, and he even tries to buy her love. He claims to know everything about her, and then goes into describing her target demographic, not the consumer herself. In the end, she walks off frustrated while he offers the incentive of a tiny, minuscule chance to win a vacation.

Does this sound like any real life companies that came to Second Life? How many of them showed up to much fanfare only to never be heard from again? How does this commercial make YOU feel? Leave a comment!

During my statistical sweep of things Second Life yesterday, I discovered a new private island on the Second Life map. Called Microsoft Xbox, the island appears to have only been in existence for a few scant hours. It's locked down, of course, and there's likely nothing to see yet, but obviously Microsoft have additional plans in Second Life.

Recently, Microsoft apparently looked into the possibility of running Second Life on Xbox systems, but Microsoft's development ethos has long shunned many of the core systems, particularly the graphics system used by Second Life for multi-platform portability. That would make for expensive development efforts, and long delays after updates before new versions could be made available. That would seem to suggest that Microsoft's stake in Second Life is still a matter of advertising, and public relations at the present time.

"Representatives from all the companies shown here will be present for scheduled interviews. If you haven't scheduled your interview, please email us at NiW@tmp.com. You can also copy and paste your resume into a notecard and drop it off into one of the drop boxes located within each company's lobby."

This job fair in itself shows a great leap forward in thought on the part of the representative companies, not only in the sense that respondents needn't be physically present to conduct a job interview, but also that they're using SL to do this. If any of you are looking for new work, do check this out before it's too late!

Shacknews' Chris Reno has posted his mini-interview with Microsoft's corporate VP of Microsoft Game Studios Shane Kim at MS's recent Halo 3 beta test in San Francisco. Kim was casually dismissive of Sony's future success with Home. When asked if MS was working on something similar, he said "I've spent some time with the Linden Lab guys ... It's all software, and we're the software company in this market here. I doubt [Sony's] ability to implement it and execute it in a really rich and compelling way."

Translation: "We don't see any money in doing it, but if we did, we'd kick their ass."

It took long enough, but Microsoft has now officially developed a presence in SL with the help of Millions of Us. On Thursday, May 10th, at 6 PM SL Time, we'll see the unveiling of Visual Studio Island, which I presume is all about the Visual Studio set of applications.

As you can see by the photo, the island is action-oriented, with areas on the map declaring 'challenge', 'leaderboard', and, uh ... 'blimp mooring'. Is there something in the blimp? We'll have to wait and see, but my hope is cookies. Lots of cookies.

More information to come on the Millions of Us site, as well as Defy All Challenges.

(Thanks, )

This is the thirty-third (and a third?) in a series of mini-interviews with the residents of Second Life. For the most part, I'll try to leave the responses unedited, except where editing will grant greater clarity.

I have been an admirer of Gwyneth Llewelyn for quite some time; ever since I found SL, actually. The level of intellect displayed on her blog is rather mighty indeed, and I read it often, frequently having to mouth the words to myself in a vain attempt to understand. This also marks the first time a Resident Snapshot has gone longer than one page!

SL name:
Gwyneth Llewelyn

How did you first come to SL?:
In mid-2004, I was looking for some 3D environment on the Mac, just to have a bit of fun, after being bored with The Sims. There are very few ones, and World of Warcraft was not available for a "trial download". I came across SL which at that time had a special feature announcement on Apple's website. So, it was mere luck. Most "games" tend to grab my attention for about 15 minutes; they're simply not compelling enough ... although "building" games like the Sims, or Civilization, Alpha Centauri, etc. always fascinated me, even if I cannot claim to be good at any of those :)

After spending 90 minutes tweaking my avatar (6 times longer than I expected SL to appeal to me!) I thought there was "something" to SL. I spent that first day 20 hours online ... then slept another 4 hours ... and logged in for a further 16 hours :) After that, I realised that SL was something totally unexpected, new, completely different, with an appeal that I haven't felt about any application whatsoever - at par with the first graphical web browser, Mosaic, back in 1993.

In a recent post, Mark Oehlert of e-Clippings (and Booz Allen Hamilton) asks if Microsoft is jumping the shark with Windows Vista by launching it in Second Life strip clubs. It is safe to say that this event occurred in Second Life on January 30Th 2007 at 5PM EST (Darn, I missed it), and it featured Praga Khan (aka Lords of Acid). Video of the event was streamed to the following Sims (Get the SLURLs here):

• Strawberry Estate
• Parioli Club
• Sanctuary Rocks
• Elements @ Goddess of Love 3
• Cryonville Island
• Isle of Lesbos
• Mermaids Gentlemans Club
• ShowGirls Gentlemen's Club
• Liquid Dreams
• Irie Vibes Club

Some of these places are strip clubs, although I am not familiar with all of them. Should we look down on Microsoft for embracing what might be considered the underbelly of the Virtual World, or should we applaud their attempt to reach out to the community where they live (If you live in a strip club)? I personally think it is nice to see a company working with established Second Life venues, no matter their regular content, as apposed to building their own island that will never be used again until their next product launch.

The question still remains, however, will Second Life run on Vista? There are rumors of ESRB rating locks and possible OpenGL incompatibilities that may leave Second Life stranded in the land of XP. It seems like this event could be the first attempt by Microsoft to extend an olive branch to the Second Life Community.

Joe Lewis at webpronews.com offers his thoughts on the current rumor that Google might be thinking about creating its own immersive environment. True or false, it's fun to think about, so here are my two ellz.

Whether or not you've seen/played with Google Earth, it's clear that Google has done a great job with making a fun application. Its popularity is probably what prompted Microsoft to offer their own version, and I'm surprised Apple hasn't followed suit. These apps, however, are less sophisticated than SL by many degrees; they do one major thing, and they do them well, but there is no interoperability as yet.