Virtual Worlds Forum

Pulling website content into Second Life is one of the key features required for enterprise use, so Daden's launch of its Daden Navigator web browser is sure to make a splash. They're billing it as the first "publicly available web browser" for the virtual world, in contrast to the browser launched by Linden Lab earlier this year, which Daden says didn't allow users to click on links to surf between different sites.

We wrote about the rumoured Xbox Live avatars on this blog a couple of months ago, when news leaked out onto the web of Microsoft's plans to take on Nintendo's Mii avatars on Wii. Now the news is official though: Microsoft unveiled its avatars last night at its E3 press conference. What's more, they're pretty much exactly as they appeared in those early leaks.

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.

Independent website Walk Highlands has launched an innovative new feature allowing visitors to virtually, well, walk the Highlands. It uses the Google Earth browser plug-in to present a 3D model of the site's 500 walks in the Scottish highlands. Users can switch into a first-person view at any time, to get a sense of what they'll be able to see as they go - for example from the top of a particular hill or mountain ridge. It's clearly intended as a planning tool for people heading to Scotland for their holidays, but it's immersive enough that you could clearly spend a happy few hours simply enjoying the virtual exploration too. Check the video above for a demo, and click here to try for yourself.

Games blogs are buzzing right now with some seemingly leaked information from Microsoft concerning its plans to introduce 3D avatars for the Xbox 360 console, fulfilling a similar purpose as Nintendo's Mii avatars do on its Wii console.

Weblin has been around for a while - it's a service allowing people to create their own avatar, then interact with other people's avatars when surfing the web. However, the company has made a big step in accessibility by launching Weblin Lite, which ditches the need for a separate client to use the service.

There's plenty of speculation today on Apple blogs and news sites about a patent application by the company that's just been published, for a 3D remote control that's not entirely dissimilar to Nintendo's Wiimote. Although presumably dissimilar enough to deserve its own patent. Anyway, the theory is that it could be used to interact with a virtual world, if Apple chooses to launch one.

In truth, the answer is probably 'no', but Apple nevertheless filed a patent in 2006 titled 'Enhancing Online Shopping Atmosphere', which appears to describe a virtual 3D retail environment selling books, music and electronics. There's some really interesting stuff going on with the avatars, as indicated by Apple's patent, too.

There are a number of guitar tutorial sites that have launched in the last year, and they're all based around video lessons. However, a new site called iPerform 3D is taking the Web 3D route. They start by filming the teachers playing, but use motion capture to then turn that into a virtual 3D guitarist.

Is there any phrase more likely to get VCs flinging money at you than '3D Facebook chatrooms'? I don't think so. The company is Vivati, a US-based startup founded by former Electronic Arts exec Keith McCurdy.

This is truly exciting. Virtual world MyMiniLife has introduced a new feature that lets people take digital photos of furniture or objects, and then turn them into virtual versions to use inside MyMiniLife. The idea presumably is to give people more personalisation options, even if they don't have the time or inclination to create objects themselves. The video above shows how it works.

I remember the first wave of web avatars back in 2000, when several firms were touting a future where 3D characters would accompany us on our web surfing. It didn't quite happen then. However, the social media boom makes the idea more appealing now. Gizmoz is one of the new startups hoping to capitalise, and it's just raised a fat funding round to do it.

Yesterday's Sunday Telegraph had a big feature on virtual fashion, leading on virtual world Stardoll, but also taking in other websites and worlds that allow avatar-based dressing up. It's the latest bit of acclaim for Stardoll, which now apparently gets more than six million visitors a month, 94% of whom are teen and tween girls, with 25,000 new signups every day.

More news of investment in the virtual worlds space. US firm EveryScape has secured a $7 million funding round (its second) led by Dace Ventures, and with participation from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Fisher New England, Draper Atlantic, and LaunchPad Venture Group.

Siemens PLM Software is the latest company to ramp up its activities in Second Life, rather than pull out. It's launched a new feature on its Innovation Connection island allowing people to create their own 3D Razor Scooters, as a way of introducing them to Siemens' CAD software.