Multiverse Introduces Places; Revolutionizes 3D Social Virtual Worlds
Innovative Online Destination Integrates Social Networks and Gameplay; Open Sources World to Developers
MOUNTAIN VIEW/PRNewswire/ -- Multiverse, a leading
provider of virtual world development technology, today announced the
launch of Multiverse Places, a unique virtual experience that combines
the easy connectivity of social networks with the immersion of online
games. Currently in beta, visitors can explore "Places" at
www.mv-places.com.
"We designed Multiverse Places to solve the problems that held back
the growth of earlier, first-generation virtual worlds -- the issues
that caused most players to say, 'I don't know anyone,' and, 'there's
nothing to do here,'" said Bill Turpin, CEO, Multiverse. "Places gives
visitors an engaging online experience, and also offers creative
opportunities for independent content developers, big consumer brands,
and enterprises looking to establish a meaningful presence in this new
medium."
Places consists of two distinct, yet synergistic, offerings; an
application for leading social networks and a 3D virtual world that
anyone can access once they have installed the light-client Multiverse
World Browser. Both available for free, the social networking
application helps introduce consumers to certain aspects of the virtual
world and offers an easy path for them to experience the full-featured
Places.
Initially set within the electric nightlife of New York's Times
Square, the best-looking location ever released in a virtual world,
Places is a rich, vibrant urban environment in which visitors can
socialize and play games with other people in public places. Visitors
can also watch movies, listen to music, and interact with friends in
the privacy of their own, customizable personal places.
Friends connected via an existing social network will be
automatically recognized as friends in the 3D virtual world, with a
feature that will appear in a few weeks. Visitors can communicate with
other people in the virtual world not only through text, but also with
hands-free free voice chat. They can also leave messages in their
friends' guest books.
The social network application gives consumers the ability to create
or customize the same avatars they have in the 3D world. Consumers can
also send static or animated postcards to their friends that depict a
range of interactions between their avatars, such as kung fu fighting,
flirting, and dancing.
Multiverse plans to continue adding significant content and
capabilities over the coming months. Future releases will offer deep
gameplay -- a first for social worlds, additional themed zones,
increased avatar interaction, and even deeper avatar and place
customization.
Open Source Opportunity
Multiverse's vision is to make it technically and financially
feasible for anyone to build and launch a virtual world. As such,
Multiverse offers Places as an open source virtual world. Developers
can access, modify, and add to its user interface, avatar behaviors,
menu system, art assets, avatars, and -- most importantly -- its
gameplay or structured interaction capabilities.
"By opening up Places we're allowing developers to make changes that
matter most to them," said Rafhael Cedeno, CTO, Multiverse. "In turn,
we'll be able to add really cool content to the core world much faster,
thus improving and extending the overall experience for everyone."
Places will also serve as a connecting hub to the wider Multiverse
Network for worlds and special zones built by third-party development
teams and Multiverse partners. Multiverse's revolutionary technology
and business model lets developers host their worlds wherever they
want. Built atop open standards, the Multiverse Platform includes
everything developers needs to build, launch, and manage a completely
unique virtual world.
To date, over 25,000 development teams have registered to use the
company's technology, many of whom are building Massively Multiplayer
Online Games (MMOGs), social and educational worlds, and business
collaborations environments. Developers can begin building with the
Multiverse Platform for no upfront costs. A revenue share model is
applied to all commercial endeavors.
About The Multiverse Network, Inc.
Multiverse is a leading provider of virtual world development
technology. The company's technology platform has changed the economics
of this medium by empowering development teams to create high-quality
virtual worlds -- including Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs),
social and educational worlds, and business collaboration environments
-- for less money and in less time than ever before. Multiverse solves
the industry's prohibitive challenges by providing development teams
with the Multiverse Platform, a comprehensive, pre-coded client-server
infrastructure and tools, a wide range of free content -- including
sample worlds for modification -- and a built-in market of consumers.
The company gives consumers a single program -- the Multiverse World
Browser -- that lets them enter all of the worlds built on the
company's platform and available in the company's network.
For more information about the company, please visit www.multiverse.net.
Source: The Multiverse Network, Inc.
CONTACT: Alan Dunton of The Multiverse Network, Inc., +1-415-290-8219,
alan@multiverse.net
Web site:
http://www.multiverse.net/
http://www.mv-places.com/