We've seen just a few virtual worlds launch in the last year or two, and a few 3D web browsers too. However, Yoowalk aims to combine the two. It's an intriguing new virtual world launched by a French firm, which also ties in instant messaging clients and avatars.
It’s entirely Web-based, and I’ve been messing around in the beta version, which launched this week. The 3D browsing implementation is interesting: it reformats websites onto the walls of isometric ‘rooms’. However, the whole concept is a bit fiddly - you’re looking at a web page inside a Flash application running in a traditional browser, so if you want to surf Facebook or Google, surely you’d just open up another tab?
Focusing on more collaborative web browsing could be interesting though, if you could round up enough friends (with registered avatars) to interact with sites at the same time. The company behind Yoowalk is pitching it as ‘Web 3.0’ - a term we’ll be hearing more of in the coming months from all manner of companies. The idea of blending Web 2.0 sites with 3D virtual worlds justifies the tag, but it’s a bit early to tell if Yoowalk is the world to prove the concept.
Still, CEO Xavier Marvaldi is certainly bullish: “We are the first to blend these concepts together and make them accessible in one click. In three years time, we aim at being the European leader in virtual worlds with 10 million unique visitors.”
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