Google announced last night that it would be shutting down Lively in at the end of December, just under half a year after it launched to beta in July. At the time, Google's entry to the virtual worlds space was...

In 2007, malware aimed at online games and virtual worlds increased by 145% as 30,000 new programs came out designed to steal passwords for those programs, according to a new report from the ENISA [PDF]. The European agency counts 1...

Sulake has posted a job listing "looking for a talented 3D graphic designer for a new virtual world title." Habbo, its current 2.5D virtual world, has certainly shown that you don't need 3D to be successful: users have created over...

Google has announced that it is shutting down Google Lively at the end of December, according to a blog post. Lively was launched in July. "Google has always been supportive of this kind of experimentation because we believe it's the...

VastPark announced today that five new companies had joined its developer program, which was announced in September: MindTaffy (US); eLearning results specialist FinPa (Australia); virtual world developers Metaversatility (US); realXtend developer ADMINO technologies (Finland); and Second Life development company The...

The number of broadband subscribers around the world has reached 400 million, according to a new report prepared for the Broadband Forum by industry analysts, Point Topic. In 1998 there were only 57,200 broadband subscribers, so it's taken some massive...

The Nokia Foundation granted its 2008 award to Sulake founders Aapo Kyrölä and Sampo Karjalainen. A €10,000 award was given to the creators of Habbo at a scholarship awards ceremony earlier this week. "Aapo Kyrölä and Sampo Karjalainen have been...

Live Gamer announced today that it had partnered with Acclaim Games, GoPets and IAC's InstantAction.com to launch player-to-player marketplaces for real-money trading of virtual goods. GoPets is moving first, launching a closed beta of Live Gamer Exchange today. InstantAction.com will...

Outspark has hired Paul Thind, former General Manager, North America, Sulake, as its Chief Business Officer. No formal announcement has been made yet, but Thind's LinkedIn profile lists his work for Habbo Hotel in the past. Payment Guy reports that...

In September 2007, Alyssa LaRoche was working on obtaining a trademark for her Second Life avatar, Aimee Weber, as a part of her virtual design business. Last week Grossman Tucker Perreault & Pfleger announced that they had successfully prosecuted the...

The PlayStation 3 celebrated its second birthday earlier this week, and Sony highlighted a few achievements on its blog, including the fact that there are "14 million active [PlayStation Network] accounts and 273 million pieces of content downloaded." That's not...

CyberExtruder.com, Inc., announced last week that it had been granted patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The patents, which protect CyberExtruder's process of creating 3D models of people's heads...

When China announced earlier this month that it would begin levying a 20% tax on virtual transactions, prices began to rise for virtual assets, reports Shanghai Daily. According to the article, as details have emerged, it appears that sellers of...

Sulake, the developer of Habbo Hotel, announced today that it had selected the Entrust IdentityGuard versatile authentication platform for its remote moderators and broader workforce to log in to corporate environments. Sulake wil deploy one-time passcode tokens later this year...

The MIT Media Lab announced today that it had created the Center for Future Storytelling. The Center is funded through a seven-year, $25-million commitment from Plymouth Rock Studios, a new movie and television studio opening in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 2010....

Avatar Reality will be bringing its high-end virtual world, Blue Mars, to beta in January 2009, reports Eurogamer. The beta will last for three months, and Avatar Reality expects a full launch in April 2009. Blue Mars runs on CryEngine2,...

SAP posted the video below to YouTube earlier this week showing off work the company is doing in Second Life and with Radio-Frequency Identification. On the retail front, SAP is testing RFID chips in one physical store to track product...

KPMG, a network of firms providing audit, tax and advisory service, held a 48-hour virtual jobs fair in Unisfair in September that drew 20,000 registrants and generated 9,300 applications for jobs at 45 KPMG member firms representing over 40 countries....

Near the beginning of October, Disney launched World of Cars with Test Track, a preview car creator and racing game, to lead up to the full launch of the virtual world next year. Right now users can create accounts and...

Just a brief update on what's going on in the VWN LinkedIn Group (which has just today grown to more than 1,000 members). Recent discussions currently takening place in the group include: - Looking for a PR agency with VW...