Another Day, Another Virtual World

The galaxy lost a planet when scientists reclassified Pluto, but virtual worlds are seemingly announced every day. Earlier this week LEGO said it was working with NetDevil to create a branded MMOG due out in 2008. Consumers can sign up to get exclusive content and participate in the development process. After posting news on the Web site, LEGO preceded to use its little plastic bricks to build a wall to block press inquiries. Those bricks really hold up to some battering. Though there was speculation on blogs like Clickable Culture on how well LEGO will be able to maintain a safe environment for its target audience, kids, when users can design less than sanitized objects and messages with the very LEGO blocks that build construct the world. It’s still a pretty cool concept for a virtual world.

At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) Sony announced PlayStation Home. A virtual community for the PlayStation 3 which sites like Joystiq are calling comparable to Second Life. Early screens portray a utopia-like environment and certainly nothing like the world of Miis populating the Nintendo Wii system. As advertising on the PS3 has been somewhat at Sony’s discretion, brands wanting in on the action may not have as much free reign as in Second Life.