Athletes play video games as Olympics go virtual | Technology | Reuters

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – If 24-hour coverage of the Olympic Games in China isn’t enough for fans, Sega has rolled out the official video game of the 2008 events in Beijing for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and mobile phones.

It offers 38 events from track and field to swimming to judo and has online play for the first time in an Olympics game.

Every four years, a different publisher tackles the Summer Games.

Sega enlisted U.S. gold medal contenders Amanda Beard, Tyson Gay, Nastia Liukin and Reese Hoffa for the cover of “Beijing 2008: The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games.”

Athletes play video games as Olympics go virtual | Technology | Reuters

CGAT 08 The Annual International Conference & Symposium on Computer Games & Allied Technology

Conference Update:

The evidently expanding Global & Asian Gaming industry defines the need for the Computer Games & Allied Technology 08 conference at Singapore. The conference provides a platform for the international gaming community experts to discuss and deliberate with their Eastern counterparts on the state-of-the-art, new research results, perspectives of future developments, and innovative applications relevant to games development and related areas. The conference shall strive to shed light on the inherent sociological and design differences between the East and the West while exploring the challenges faced by the Asian Gaming industry. The conference also provides an opportunity to the international and regional Gaming studios, Game production companies and Allied technology and service providers to showcase their technology, products and services at the concurrent industry symposium.

More Details click below:

Call for Papers – CGAMES.com.sg

clipped from cgames.com.sg Computer Games; Animation, Multimedia, IPTV, Edutainment and Security International Conference and Symposium on 28th-30th April 2008 KNOW THE LATEST RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY & BUSINESS TRENDS AT TECHNICAL SESSIONS Authors should submit a complete paper in English of up to 8 A4 pages, using the submission procedure indicated below. The program committee will review all papers and the contact author of each paper will be notified of the result, by email. Each paper should clearly indicate the nature of its technical/scientific contribution, and the problems, domains or environments to which it is applicable. Authors must also indicate the conference track to which the paper is submitted. The paper must be carefully checked for correct grammar and spelling. SUBMISSION OF PAPERS

RedLightCenter.com – Virtual Sex Life gets analysed by conancat – itsReal

“And hell, what’s so fun about cybersex when you can’t hear the other person moaning and feel his/her heat for real?” says conancat.

APLINK thinks ConanCat under estimates how humans need to fantasize, it is very REAL and virtual worlds today are virtually on a path to our reality just as the TV already is !!!See the rest of his REAL thoughts at ConanCat

“But this–Redlight Center–an MMORPG about love, dating, and sex, to me, is getting tee a bit weird.” – conancat

Sad Days at Second Life or is it – itsReal

A bank maybe bankrupt, gambling restrictions need to be explained, enforcement of Linden Labs policies – it is starting to sound like life as we know it. The publicity machine is still operating with little effort from Linden Labs, the media hype is engaging minds worldwide… what really is Linden Labs bracing for us…

This week in Virtual Worlds Weekly – it’sReal

Virtual Worlds Weekly – Volume 1, Issue 16 – June 15, 2007
http://www.VirtualWorldsWeekly.com
Need to know what’s going on daily? Visit www.VirtualWorldsNews.com

This Week’s News

Doppelganger Partners with Kitson and Rocawear
Two VCs Invest in Indian Virtual World Game Developer
Second Life to Have Standardized Voice Within Months
Playboy Opens Up in Second Life (includes exclusive interviews)
Faketown talks Fighting Carbon Emissions and Marketing in 2D (includes exclusive interviews)
MindArk Discusses China’s Upcoming World in Entropia (includes exclusive interviews)
Metabirds and Centric Discuss Second Life and HiPiHi (includes exclusive interviews)
Eduserv Invests £333,000 into Virtual Worlds Eduction Research
Children’s MMOs in the New York Times
Korea Establishing User-Created Content Censorship Rules
Open source Second Life add-ons still months away
Windlight Goes Open Source
Areae Picking Up Steam Prior To Launch

New Product News

Forterra’s New SDK Signals Shift from Service Company to Software Company
MEGACITY Creating Business-Friendly Virtual Tokyos
Empire of Sports, First Sports-Based Virtual World to Launch
Sony Announces Free Realms: Free-to-Play Virtual World
Update: Japan based Co-Core to launch Tokyo Reproduction Virtual World
MTV Launches Virtual Lower East Side: 5th Virtual World in 9 Months
Lego Universe Virtual World To Have Community Features?

Announcements

Virtual Worlds Fall Conference and Expo – October 10-11, 2007 – San Jose – Early Registration is now open –
VW Fall – Official Hotel Discount Set – book your room now.

Market Research

82 Percent of IT Leaders See Opportunity in Virtual Worlds
Analysts Predict Political Pullout From Virtual Worlds
Canadians Warming Up to Social Networking, Not Virtual Worlds
30 Percent of Top 100 Dutch Companies Involved in Virtual Worlds
Most Second Life Users Likely to Buy Virtual Goods
20 Percent of Interactive Agencies Look to Virtual Worlds

Briefly Noted

Virtual Worlds As Data Center Organizers?
Search for Missing Girl to Enter Second Life
Interview: Sparter Talks Virtual Gold Trade, Farming, and Property Rights
Who’s New to Second Life this Week (13 firms referenced)

Virtual Worlds Weekly Contact Information

Contact us

VC Funds mainly in the US on a spending frenzy in the Games Industry – itsReal

Will the F1 Race annouced  yesterday in Singapore bring these investors to Singapore shores where technology and animation is soon to be a thriving industry….for this region Thailand gets some funds…

Directly below is a list of VC deals in the games space + Mergers & Acquisitions activity in the games space:

Source: Stuck in Customs 

VC Deals (in no particular order):

Company: Red 5 Studios, Aliso Viejo, CA
Investment: $ 8.9 million
Investor: Benchmark Capital
Description: Red 5 Studios is an online game studio which develops original MMO games.

Company: Digital Chocolate, San Mateo, CA
Investment: $ 22.5 million
Investors: Bridgescale Partners; Chengwei Ventures; DN Capital; Glynn Capital Management; Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Montagu Newhall; Outlook Ventures; Sequoia Capital; Sutter Hill
Ventures; WHI Capital
Description: Digital Chocolate is a developer of games and applications for mobile phones.

Company: Electric Sheep, New York, NY
Investment: $ 7 million
Investors: CBS; Gladwyne Partners
Description: The Electric Sheep Company designs experiences and delivers add-on software for 3D virtual worlds. The Company delivers strategic, creative, and technical insight and services to organizations, works with multiple virtual world platforms, and has developed many projects on behalf of brands.

Company: Double Fusion, San Francisco, CA
Investment: $ 26 million
Investors: Accel Partners, Hearst Corporation, IDG; Ventures Pacific, Jerusalem; Venture Partners, Norwest; Venture Partners, Sedona; Capital, Time Warner
Description: Double Fusion is a provider of in-game advertising and marketing solutions. The company’s technology delivers a range of advertising possibilities inside and around video game and casual game titles.