Google ventures into virtual reality with Lively

posted by   sona240 (44)   1 month ago (in.news.yahoo.com)

In the latest expansion beyond its main mission of organising the world's information, Internet search leader Google hopes to orchestrate more fantasising on the Web. The Mountain View, California-based company unveiled a free service in which three-dimensional software enables people to congregate in electronic rooms and other computer-manufactured versions of real life. The service, called Lively, represents Google's answer to a 5-year-old site, Second Life, where people deploy animated alter egos known as avatars to navigate through virtual reality. Google thinks Lively will encourage even more people to dive into alternate realities because it isn't tethered to one website like Second Life, and it doesn't cost anything to use. After installing a small packet of software, a user can enter Lively from other websites, like social networking sites and blogs. The Lively application already works on Facebook, one of the Web's hottest hangouts, and Google is working on a version suitable for an even larger online social network, News Corp's MySpace.