Twinity blog

Today Robert B. Cohen presented his new book to an exclusive audience in real and virtual Berlin. Enjoy the pictures.

Dear Twinizens,

As you may have already read in the Blog, in the coming weeks there will be some major improvements to Twinity which focus on reliability and speed. We’re sure that you will like what you see, however, the road may be a little bumpy at first. We wanted to let you know that there will an update today to both the client and servers. Because of this, Twinity will be down for a longer period of time than normal (compared to past updates). The update will occur today beginning at 13:00 and complete by 15:00 (CET). Here is a short update on some of the key changes coming with this release:

- Major database changes to prepare for scripted objects
- Integration of new game server to improve connectivity and performance. Please be aware of potential instabilities in the next days as we are deploying a completely rewritten game server
- Minimap Layers – Ability to see selected location categories overlayed on the minimap
- Adding Unicode support
- Some minor fixes which occasionally caused the client to freeze
- Small improvements to the Inventory window which include resizing

Thanks,

Craig

You can read more about it here. This is a tremendous recognition of our vision for Twinity – a virtual world that enhances the real world. Real people, real places and a virtual world powered by real life are seen as an emerging disruptive technology!

We also thank our partners, companies like BigPoint, Anshe Chung Studios, Second Interest and Twofour, for their support and vision in working with us.

Lately, we’ve been getting a lot of feedback about Twinity, not all of it positive, but we’re listening. I wanted to take a few moments to share some of the feedback, and what we’re doing to try to continue to make Twinity better for you. (more…)

Twinity, in cooperation with C/O Berlin – International Forum for Visual Dialogues, celebrated its first virtual art exhibition last Friday. Many art appreciating Twinizens enjoyed the photographic works of both ‘wowe . Essence. Twenty-five Years of Portraits’ and ‘Jerry Berndt . Insight . Night Photographs’.
View more screenshots of the successful C/O Berlin Gallery opening party after the jump. Thanks to all who enjoyed the show! (more…)

Over the weekend, Twinity was featured in a Click episode on the BBC. You can watch the episode by choosing your preferred video format and bit rate from “The Show” section on that page. The piece on Twinity starts at about the 1 minute mark and continues for about 8 minutes. There’s also a written piece about Twinity accompanying the show. (more…)

Would you like to get more involved in the Twinity community, help other Twinizens and provide us with feedback and your ideas for improving Twinity?

Then you might be perfect for the Twinity Mentor Program! Requirements:

Registered at least three months in Twinity

Actively involved in Twinity events

Willing to help others and share knowledge

Desire to give feedback on improving Twinity

Spend five hours or more per week in-world as a Mentor

If you want to find out more about becoming a Twinity Mentor, please send an email to mentor (at) twinity dot com.

If so, head on over to Samantha’s Corner to read more from the first in-world Twinity reporter.

Metaversum, developer and operator of the 3D online world Twinity, has been awarded funding from the mutli-agency IDM R&D Programme Office hosted by the Media Development Authority of Singapore to develop geo-tagging and geo-located media streaming in Twinity. In another part of this project Metaversum will also development advanced virtual city building tools to facilitate the construction of virtual Singapore in Twinity. Metaversum has already begun signing up local media, content, and brand partners in preparation for next year’s launch of virtual Singapore in Twinity. (more…)

The BBC recently ran a story titled “Virtual worlds carve out new path“. The article features a section based on an interview with our CEO, Jochen Hummel. On that page, this interview is the second video, towards the middle of the page.

Some highlights of what the BBC reported:

Capturing the twin trends of social networking and fascination with 3D worlds, the Berlin-based firm is creating a backdrop that allows users to hang out in some of the world’s most famous cities.

…

“Fantasy worlds give you freedom and allow you to fly but the fantasy element limits them for the real world,” said Jochen Hummel, the chief executive of Metaversum, the company behind Twinity.

The story was also picked on, among other places, at:

• My game space, my fun space
• Bunpai
• The BigWorld blog
• Inside Arab Gaming

Cross-posted on the Metaversum blog