Twinity Blog

The Guardian has an interesting piece about different approaches to efforts to build a virtual model of London. Naturally, Twinity is included in the list:

Twinity.com, a German company that has already built a virtual Berlin, is building London from Soho towards Westminster and hopes “definitely” to go live this year. Its avatars, which will look realistic as you can transplant your own photo on to your face, will help it build up a strong Facebook-style community in 3D.

As noted, the strength and compelling point is a community in the 3D virtual world.

sered has an interesting post on location, comparing it in Second Life and Eve Online, and finishing off the discussion with a comparison to Twinity:Read More

Krazy Kakshi has a diary entry about Twinity.

At first glance of Twinity, I was already impressed especially with the level of character detail

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As you can see though, the character customisation options are definitely more advanced and specific than the other games I mentioned, which pleased me a lot, as I can now create a much more detailed avatar of my inner personality woot :P. There are a couple of options that have intriguied me a fair bit, there’s an option to create yoru avatar’s face using a photo, which I will test in a minute and report on it. Also in the bottom middle of the screen, there isa silver toolbar with an “animations” option in it. Upon reading the user guide, I found that you can make your character perform a series of preset animations such as dancing and cheering, which is something I usually like in a game with 3D avatars in :P.

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I didn’t bother with the feature that lets you put a photo of yourself as your avatar’s face because I didn’t have a photo that met their requirements, and also I realised more importantly, that this character is supposed to be a self expression of who we are on the inside, so there’s no point basing the character’s appearance around mine, as I didn’t choose how I would look on the outside when I was born, but I chose who I was on the inside when I grew up instead, and that is what is important after all for this module (I have to say though, I think I was starting to sound a little poetic just there!).

Here’s the link, prominently noting one of Twinity’s key features:

Trend #5 – Collaboration Becomes Key

Platforms like Twinity and ExitReality have been really showing us lately how a 3D space can be enhanced by enabling other people’s technologies and promoting other companies. With the massive number of virtual worlds out there these days, strategic partnerships are what makes or breaks a company, and we’re seeing some fantastic collaborations these days that truly enhance the user experience.

These two worlds are also forerunners of a sub-trend: web browsers in worlds, and worlds in web browsers. How important is that long-term? Jury’s still out; we may know by the end of 2009.

Check out this massive list of virtual worlds and related links.

Virtual Underworld has a quick note about 3D virtual Manhattan in Google Earth, with a note on quality:

this has got to be the largest and most ambitious one done to date, and could possibly set the standard for building the entire Earth this way. Take it from me, I know my “mirror worlds”.

That being said, I have seen better: Geosim Philly is far more detailed. Ditto Twinity’s Berlin build. Also there is a fabulous Forbidden City.  These three even exceed some of the best mirror worlds in Second Life.

Twinizen Will has some interesting comments and questions about Twinity and online content on his Animexter blog with a post called “Simple Lies” suggests a model for documentary.Read More

I found this comment on Annetta’s blog quite succinct:

things such as zwinky,twinity,there,imvu and others help u interact with other people play games and earn points while achieving goals in the comfort of their own home. u can even build an avatar that looks like ur person.the computers and the 21st century go hand in hand .together they create internet. a vast space of communication that has no limits.it has boundless possibilities and if we reach out & grab them we can help better our selves and our world

Sered can tell you more.