FYI: Sony out of the Penguin Club

Sony No Longer in Running to Buy Club Penguin

Last month Sony was in early talks to buy kid-themed virtual Club Penguin for $450 million. After the price went above $500 million, Sony backed out, reports PaidContent.org. PaidContent also speculates that the deal breaker may have been over concerns with churn and Club Penguin’s dedication to non-profit donations. Regardless, there is another unnamed player in the ring now.

It may be that Sony just saw too much risk in investing in virtual worlds: “If you notice that almost everybody has one acquisition, because they are very expensive, and if the public moves on, you are left holding thin air. I mean, the virtual world you inhabit, you inhabit at your peril if it runs out of energy or excitement for the customer. If it runs out of energy or excitement for the customer you can buy Penguin Club tomorrow and maybe it will be Seal Club the next day,” said Sony Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer in an interview with the Financial Times.

Virtual Worlds News: Sony No Longer in Running to Buy Club Penguin

They didn’t mention how virtual worlds for the U13 set are a bit more difficult than anything else, did they? Funny how that is…

p.s. Thanks for the heads up Joi

technorati tags:Sony, Clubpenguin, Virtualworlds

Pondering: Perhaps Virtual Field Trips not far off?

This virtual road leads to Rome

A 10-year collaboration between UCLA, the University of Virginia and the Politecnico de Milano produced Rome Reborn 1.0, a virtual 3D model of the ancient city as it looked on June 21, 320 A.D.The researchers studied information on Rome’s topography, urban infrastructure, buildings and monuments, then filled in the rest using digital reconstructions.If Google had been around in 4th century Rome, this is what the city would have looked like on Google Maps.Credit: UCLA Experiential Technologies Center

Images: This virtual road leads to Rome | CNET News.com

Awesome? This is just ONE STEP CLOSER to Virtual Field Trips.

Virtual Field Trips?

Oh, Aye, Virtual Field Trips… something planted in my brain during a MacArthur Foundation meeting here in Chicago earlier this year. They talked extensively about a research project they’re doing– alluding to turning virtual worlds & gaming into a field trip exercise. Here’s another pair of Universities looking into the Virtual Field Trip adventure…

Ever wonder what Salem, Massechutes may have been like during the witch trials? Well… how about play the part of Abigail, or even one of her accusers, trying to work your way through the ties of church & state in early American times. Talk about difficult– how do you win that battle? (The Salem thing was more or less my sudden idea for an example– MacArthur produced better examples).

But they specifically mentioned– what if teachers could take their students on a field trip throughout ancient Rome? …Well, it looks like UCLA and the Unversity of Virginia are making steps closer to the visualization of such a thing (p.s. I’m not saying that they’re doing this in hopes of Virtual Field trips– I’m just making the observation that it might be assumed that using such awesome technology could produce cool effects for the classroom… that’s all )

Anyway… just thought I’d point this visual nugget out for anyone following the MacArthur Foundation initiatives or the Power of Visualization of worlds online.

The Social Network heavy-hitter Battle Wages On!

viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace

Over the last six months, i’ve noticed an increasing number of press articles about how high school teens are leaving MySpace for Facebook. That’s only partially true. There is indeed a change taking place, but it’s not a shift so much as a fragmentation. Until recently, American teenagers were flocking to MySpace. The picture is now being blurred. Some teens are flocking to MySpace. And some teens are flocking to Facebook. Which go where gets kinda sticky, because it seems to primarily have to do with socio-economic class.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to articulate this division for months. I have not yet succeeded. So, instead, I decided to write a blog essay addressing what I’m seeing. I suspect that this will be received with criticism, but my hope is that the readers who encounter this essay might be able to help me think through this. In other words, I want feedback on this piece…. (click link below to go to Danah’s site & view her paper)

What I lay out in this essay is rather disconcerting. Hegemonic American teens (i.e. middle/upper class, college bound teens from upwards mobile or well off families) are all on or switching to Facebook. Marginalized teens, teens from
poorer or less educated backgrounds, subculturally-identified teens, and other non-hegemonic teens continue to be drawn to MySpace. A class division has emerged and it is playing out in the aesthetics, the kinds of advertising, and the policy decisions being made.

apophenia: viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace

First of all– click that link to go to Danah Boyd’s site to weigh in if you wish.

Otherwise, here’s my ramble. Three funny things about this M v F thing:

a) A bunch of my mid-twenties friends in the UK just did this HUGE migration from myspace to facebook– several of which started a facebook group of their hate for facebook, and their wish for myspace to return to power.