1. The Times Online (UK) – Lifelike animation heralds new era for computer games. “Extraordinarily lifelike characters are to begin appearing in films and computer games thanks to a new type of animation technology. Emily – the woman in the above animation – was produced using a new modelling technology that enables the most minute details of a facial expression to be captured and recreated.”

2. Press of Atlantic City (USA) – Virtual Realtor home finds real fans online. “I like stories that have something surprising about them, as I’m sure most readers do. While it’s nice to have what I know or suspect confirmed, it’s more valuable and maybe entertaining to find out something I didn’t imagine. Early last month, the New Jersey Association of Realtors announced it had opened offices in Second Life, a virtual world online. That was surprising enough, since its members’ obsession with real estate in this world leaves little time to worry about one where there’s no commission for property sales.”

3. The Independent (UK) – Stroke sufferers take virtual road to recovery. “It may look like a futuristic video game, but this virtual reality treadmill could hold the key to rebuilding lives for stroke and injury sufferers. A scientist at Portsmouth University has developed technology that can speed up recovery for patients by tricking them into believing they are moving more slowly than they actually are.”

4. Top 40 Charts (USA) – Worlds & Paid, Inc. Partner To Deliver Advanced 3-D Virtual World with e-Commerce For Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels. ” Futuristic 3-D social networking community Worlds.com (OTCBB: WDDD) and PAID, INC. (OTCBB: PAYD) have joined forces to develop a cutting edge, rich immersive 3-D environment for hip-hop legend Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels, who co-founded the pioneering hip hop group Run-DMC. The highly symbiotic relationship is expected to open an ever-evolving series of pathways to increase web site traffic, enhance the experience of WORLDS.COM users and PAID celebrities’ fans and grow the revenue and profits of both companies and their clients.”

5. The Vancouver Sun (Canada) – Break the rules in cyberspace and suffer exile in a virtual cornfield. “Where’s Roy Bean when you need him? The legendary hanging judge claimed he delivered the only law west of the Pecos back in the Wild West days in Texas. The modern-day equivalent of is nowhere to be found in the modern frontier known as the Internet. The Internet remains a dangerous place where real-life hucksters, thieves, sexual predators and fraud artists roam all too freely. But it is also home to imaginary worlds that are not unlike the gated communities of cyberspace.”

6. BBC News (UK) – Poor earning virtual gaming gold. “Nearly 500,000 people in developing nations earn a wage making virtual goods in online games to sell to players, a study has found. Research by Manchester University shows that the practice, known as gold-farming, is growing rapidly.”

7. Information Week (USA) – Google’s Lively Unloved. “So Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s Lively isn’t so lively. According to The Economist, “Hardly anyone is using Lively.” That’s not exactly a surprise. As I said when Lively was released, “Lively feels more like a Google Talk-powered chat room with 3-D camera controls than an immersive environment like Second Life.” And that’s not to praise Second Life, which I find equally tedious.”

8. Christian Science Monitor (USA) – A second income on Second Life. ““Blaze Columbia” is, by any measure, doing well with his line of designer clothing. He’s on track to generate more than $100,000 in annual profits, barely a year after launching his business. And that’s in addition to a first career as a professional photographer. There’s just one big difference between the clothing that this Missouri resident produces and that of any other top-of-the-line dress or business suit: His don’t exist – at least not in the physical world.”

9. OStatic (USA) – An Introduction To OpenSim: the “Apache of Virtual Worlds”. “You’ve probably read a bit about OpenSim, the BSD-licensed virtual world server, and recent news that IBM and Linden Lab are working to make Second Life and OpenSim interoperable. Besides that project, what’s OpenSim about, who’s working on it, what are they doing with it, and how do you get involved as a developer and participant? Here’s a starter’s guide, created with the help of Tish Shute, whose virtual world blog UgoTrade is an indispensable resource on the latest in OpenSim news.”

1. Newstrack India – Stardoll.com is Brit kids’ most popular site. “Britain’s most popular website for under-12s has been set up to pass on the art of knitting clothes for dolls, according to a new survey. The survey by the Internet analysts Nielsen Online put Stardoll.com at the head of its Top Ten sites visited by the youngest web users. Second in the list was Club Penguin, a virtual world in which players adopt a bird and march it round the beach, theatre or school.”

2. Tampa Bay Business Journal – Entrepreneurs find typical business strategies don’t work in a virtual world. “After previous stops in New York, San Francisco and Chicago, the Second Life Community Convention steps into reality at the Tampa Marriott Waterside the weekend of Sept. 5. It’s visiting a city that already has had its share of entrepreneurs who have jumped into a realm only the Internet, and maybe even a little science fiction on the side, could create.”

3. The Times (UK) – Where the web kids are. “Are they lurking in the darker reaches of YouTube? Or delivering a series of ‘pokes’ and other greetings on the social networking site Facebook? Nope. Today’s kids aged 12 and under are likely to be whiling away their online hours playing games on sites you have never heard of.”

4. Wall Street Journal (USA) – Fluid Entertainment Invites Kids to Play With Purpose in Emerald Island. “Today, Fluid Entertainment announces the title and first details for Emerald Island(TM), their original children’s MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game. The company, whose formation and funding was announced earlier this year, is adding this upcoming title to their extensive library of software games for children. Currently in development and slated for release Fall of 2008, Emerald Island challenges players to become online eco-heroes in a mission to save a vibrant, imaginary, virtual world from environmental destruction.”

5. AsiaOne (Singapore) – Donation, sir? It’s online. “A Singapore charity has taken fund-raising to the virtual world, The Straits Times reported. Instead of selling flags or lucky draw coupons potential donors now visit the giant virtual universe Second Life. They enter a special zone filled with candy castle, lollipop trees and chocolate rivers. Each of these virtual goodies come with an option to buy them, and all it takes is a click for the cost of the items to be debited from their virtual accounts. At the close of the donation drive on Sept 21, the virtual funds, collected in Second Life’s currency Linden dollars, will be converted to real Singapore dollars.”

6. Ars Technica (USA) – One month later: Google Lively? Not so much. “In July, Google released Lively, a “Second Life in the browser” plug-in that lets anyone embed a basic 3D chat realm on a website or blog. We strolled through Google’s new social world back then and found that, possibly as a result of the “20 percent time” Google allows employees to spend on projects like this, Lively seemed to be 20 percent done. Now, a month later, we took another look to see if Lively is living up to its name.”

7. Times Union (USA) – Redirecting kids’ passion for video games. “Your son in high school can lay down a face-melting solo on “Guitar Hero,” while your middle school daughter can reach the highest levels on her Hannah Montana video game. They spend hours, without parental provocation, passionately engrossed in their Nintendo DS and Xbox 360 systems like young Einsteins burrowing into a physics problem.”

8. GigaOM (USA) – Why The MMORPG Subscription-Based Business Model Is Broken. “Famed game developer and analyst Scott Jennings recently announced on his blog that he’s quit online game publishing giant NCSoft to join John Galt Games. His new home is the small casual game startup developing Web Wars, a sci-fi game played via a browser plug-in, where web sites themselves are territories to fight over. (Sort of RocketOn meets battle cruisers.) The move is a bit like a top Hollywood producer quitting the movie business for an obscure online-video startup; it’s such a big jump, you want to know why.”