1. Forbes.com (USA) – Second Life’s Second Wind. “In what tech pundits at Gartner Research call the curve of hype and gloom, Linden Lab’s virtual world, Second Life, has officially entered the gloom stage. In October, Reuters pulled its full-time Second Life reporter Eric Krangel, who had written daily news stories about the virtual world’s economy for a year and a half, out of the virtual world.”

2. The Times (UK) – Days of tedium in front of a computer: corporate gaming is just like real life. “The recent news that a couple are divorcing after a woman caught her husband’s character hitting on a female avatar in the Second Life virtual world, and the subsequent revelation that a 15-year-old boy collapsed and went into convulsions after playing the World of Warcraft online game for 24 hours, have demonstrated how blurred the lines between reality and virtual reality are becoming. The business world has not been left unaffected by the trend. Companies such as BP and IBM have conducted real business meetings in Second Life and business simulation games are, suddenly, everywhere, with students across the world competing in online “invitationals”, in which they run fantasy companies in competition with one another. One games publisher has even produced a title, Informatist, for the Apple iPhone, so that the work-addicted can get a fix of the office while on the move.”

3. iReport.com (USA) – Miss Virtual World. “The Miss Virtual World 2009 pageant was held Saturday (December 6) from 11 AM to 5 PM by Frolic Mills of “The Best of SL (BOSL)” enterprises. Set in a glitz and grand glam four-sim auditorium, the event was received by a live audience of over two hundred avatars, as presented by several judges, a dance troupe, and a cast of 18 models representing Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA, and Venezeula. At the end of the landmark event, Miss Virtual World 2009 was announced as Mimmi Boa, representing Italy.”

4. Express Buzz (India) – virtual war on terror in cyberspace
.”Video games have often been the target of criticism for simulating violence, with journalists, particularly after high school shootings in Western countries, going to the extent of labelling them ‘murder simulators’. Fortunately, video games haven’t yet been blamed for the terrible incidents that occurred in Mumbai last week. I, for one, expected anti-video game lobbyists to immediately blame “Grand Theft Auto IV” and bring to our attention “obvious” parallels between simulated drive-by shootings in the game and the actual incidents.”

5. The Seoul Times (South Korea) – Internet Addiction A Reality in A Virtual World. “With one of the most advanced IT infrastructures in the world and almost universal access to surfing the net, Internet addiction is on the rise in South Korea. Often called “the worlds most wired country,” over 10 million people are subscribed to super fast broadband connectivity and have made using the internet part of their daily life. Now efforts are underway to control this growing problem as it is thought that more than a third of web users are at risk of dependency and what experts are calling a compulsive disorder.”

6. New York Times (USA) – Original Sim. “I’m sitting in front of a long glass desk in the office of the architect Scope Cleaver. It’s quite a place, with undulating concrete walls, sharply angled yellow-tinted windows and long, cantilevered balconies. And then there is Cleaver himself. He has dark shoulder-length hair, he’s about 3 years old, and he can fly. Welcome to the surreal world of architecture in Second Life.
Unchecked by the usual limitations, designers in Second Life are creating unbelievable structures and entire worlds — either for the money or simply because they can. From sci-fi cityscapes to towers made of French toast, there are endless chances to experiment here.”

7. Kotaku (USA) – U.S. Army Invades Second Life. “You know the United States Army is hard up for recruits when they start poking around in the unicorn-filled virtual world of Linden Labs’ Second Life. The Army will be setting up two islands in the virtual world. One is a recruiting center with information and means to contact the recruiting office in case you feel so inclined, and the other will be filled with activities like parachuting and rappelling with weapons, both of which are activities you can already perform in SL, only afterwards you can go and relax at a dance club dressed as Optimus Prime with a unicorn for a penis.”

8. Physorg.com (USA) – Scientists demonstrate their commitment to the environment by going ‘virtual’. “Scientists from around the world proved their green credentials by participating in a conference on climate change and carbon dioxide storage in the virtual world, this week (3 December). Organised by Imperial College London and Nature Publishing Group, the conference encouraged scientists to meet in the virtual environment of Second Life, instead of the real world, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions normally associated with travelling long distances to international events.”

9. Gamers Daily News (USA) – See Wii Sit, See Wii Play, Speak Wii Speak. “Today sees the launch of an exciting new communications tool, as Nintendo launches the innovative Wii Speak accessory and its associated communications portal, the ‘Wii Speak Channel’. The launch of both will help Nintendo to create new social gaming experiences for all. From today you can also experience the full benefits of Wii Speak with the launch of Animal Crossing: Let’s Go to the City for Wii which comes bundled with the game. The Wii Speak accessory enables Wii users to easily connect to and talk directly with each other* through their Wii console, using the free-to-use Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection**. Wii Speak is placed on or in front of the TV in the centre of your living room, which means conversations can be picked up from an entire room of people. This ensures that your friends and family can converse in comfort with you – whether they are just up the road or half way across the world, enabling true global communication on your Wii.”

10. VentureBeat (USA) – Youth media ad network GoFish reels in $22.5M. “GoFish, a media-based advertising network targeting six to 17-year-olds (and moms), announced that it has brought in $22.5 million in private placement funding, which it will use to pay off its $14.5 million in debt and expand its sales and marketing staff. Backers Panorama Capital, Rustic Canyon Partners and Rembrandt Venture Partners will choose whether or not to kick in an additional $2.5 million in the next few weeks, according to the structure of the deal. They will also be able to purchase new preferred stock at $0.20 per share.”

1. BBC (UK) – Virtual worlds with real purposes. “The idea of having a virtual you following the real you around may seem rather strange – for those of us used to having our feet firmly on the ground.
But the creation of a virtual Berlin lets people be in two places at the same time – as 20km of the city has been faithfully replicated into an online world. By the end of 2008, 50,000 buildings in the German capital are expected to have been copied into the virtual world.”

2. Gamasutra (USA) – Interview: Sony’s Buser On PlayStation Home’s 2008 Launch. “Sony’s PlayStation Home online world for the PlayStation 3 has had a somewhat tortured genesis, with a long period of beta testing and a release date originally pegged for late 2007, before being delayed to Spring 2008 and back to now. However, PlayStation Home director Jack Buser tells Gamasutra that the release of the tardy but much-discussed PS3-defining virtual world “will launch this year”.

3. Licensing.biz (UK) – Nelvana content goes online. “Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana will now offer its aminated content on demand in the US UK, France and French speaking Europe.
Programme including 6teen, Tales from the Crypptkeeper and Di-Gata Defenders will be available through Tribal Nova’s KidStudio online environment.”

4. The Courier-Journal (USA) – Virtually addictive. “Every night, Dillard Raymer wields a sword, hunting wild boar and giant spiders and night elves. He meets his buddies, embarks on quests and occasionally finds himself in a battle. He uses magic and trades in gold in the lands of Azeroth. Then he goes to bed at his Valley Station home. It’s another successful night inside the World of Warcraft.”

5. The Guardian (UK) – Playing socially: virtual worlds with a gaming bent. “It’s my last day before I return to Blighty and the Friday after Thanksgiving, and I’m still stuffed full of last night’s mighty dinner. Rather than give myself indigestion with too much pontification and heavy-duty gaming mumbo jumbo, I thought I’d take the time to point you to some nice social play environments recommended by PC World. These spaces are the more playful, structured cousins to Second Life (although author Darren Gladstone does give that virtual world a whirl), which centre on gaming, but with a social element.”

6. iTnews (Australia) – Despite reports, Telstra and Second Life remain inseparable. “It’s a match made in heaven: Telstra is Australia’s biggest telco and ISP, while Second Life is one of the world’s hottest social networking tools. So when the media reported that “the game was almost over” for Second Life, Telstra was quick to defend its investment. Recently, Tourism Victoria withdrew its advertising funding from Second Life’s ABC Island. This prompted Deacons technology and media partner Nick Abrahams to comment to The Australian that “the drop in commercial interest in Second Life had been noticeable over the past nine months”.

7. mad.co.uk (UK) – Work and play. “The toy industry is a tough market, with retailers and brands fighting for consumer spend. Digital lets toy makers extend their connection with kids. The toy market is facing its toughest Christmas in at least two decades. While toy retailers are reporting it has already been quiet in the run-up to December, most are hoping the approach of the big day will spur shoppers to action. When they do start shopping, digital will play a crucial role in the fortunes of the industry.”

8. New Brunswick Business Journal (Canada) – Innovation Fredericton-based Syntesi heightening the training of tomorrow’s worker. “Syntesi Corporation, a subsidiary of Accreon, a Fredericton-based business consulting and information technology service provider, is looking for ways to train current and future workers that will meet its clients’ needs and teach the workers using media they can relate to. Tim Workman, vice-president of capability development for Syntesi, cites an American study suggesting more than 55 per cent of teens aged 12 to 17 are participating in online social networking, and half of them are gaming.”

9. Virtual Worlds News (USA) – Google: Lively Didn’t Meet “Tough Targets”; Looking to Use Tech Elsewhere. “When Google shut down Lively last week, it did so with as little fanfare as when it launched the virtual world, just a short blog post. Not much more has come out past the thoughts of a few partners and observers, and Google has been fairly tight-lipped. When I reached out to find out why the virtual world project was being canceled after only five months (and years in development) and to find out what might have been, I heard much the same thing as the official announcement. Google wanted to take risks, but also recognize when a gambled hand was finished.”

10. The Guardian (UK) – How an avatar on Second Life sparked a real-life court case. “Who is Victor Vezina? That’s the question bloggers have been asking since this Second Life avatar – a 3D representation of a real person – became embroiled in a legal dispute that could prove a test case for how much jurisdiction courts have over virtual worlds. Richard Minsky, an artist and publisher who also operates in Second Life, is suing Vezina, along with two directors of Linden Lab, owner of the virtual world, over use of the word “SLART”. Minsky obtained a US trademark in March 2008; Vezina had launched an art gallery called “SLart” in Second Life early in 2007. Curiously the case may turn on something as simple as a space between the letters SL and art: literally much ado about nothing.”