Best Of WorldsInMotion: From Trukz to Moondo

Regularly, we'll be featuring the top stories from the surging online/virtual world space from Gamasutra sister site WorldsInMotion.biz. Recent notables in the space include an Online World Atlas entry for MMO trucking simulation Trukz, several interviews including Sam Glassenberg, CEO of Funtactix, discussing "cross-gaming universe" Moondo. - Online World Atlas: Trukz "Trukz makes it clear that not everything needs to be festooned in triple-A graphics and mechanics as long as it has a concrete theme. Though few gamers might be interested in long haul trucking, there is nothing wrong with concentrating on a small group of gamers and offering them the best experience they can get within their limited requirements." - Interview: Sam Glassenberg, CEO, Funtactix "Moondo is what we call a cross-gaming universe—which means that for the first time, a casual gamer can bring their character and virtual items with them from game to game and across different genres of games." - Interview: Victoria Pearson, Asylum Entertainment "The founders of Asylum Entertainment, with young kids themselves, felt that they had the inspiration, creativity and the means to design and develop games for children. It was only back in 2007 that they considered moving into the MMO domain. Asylum wanted to create something which was both safe and fun for their kids, themselves, as well as others from all over the world." - Interview: Avni Rambhia, Technological Evangelist at Arxan "There will always be an arms race between developers and cheaters. Newer programming technology like Silverlight and JavaFX brings new development capabilities, but also creates greater susceptibility to hacking. Newer hacking technologies like virtualizers and emulators facilitate creation of exploits and make it much harder to detect hacks and cheats. Application hardening technologies and client protection strategies have to keep pace with these advancements to ensure ongoing security." - New Virtual Music World Music Mogul Launches "New virtual world Music Mogul has launched, billing itself 'the world's first online music world' in a blustery launch announcement that includes claims that the world is to ''make a mark on the music industry and social networks' with 'ground-breaking design'." - Artix Claims "WoW-sized" numbers for AdventureQuest Worlds "Artix Entertainment has announced the website of its browser-based MMORPG called AdventureQuest Worlds, launched just over a month ago, is getting 400,000unique hits per day (12 million per month), a number which, according to their release, 'compares favorably with Blizzard’s World of Warcraft’s recently announced 11 million subscribers.'" Interested? Read daily news on the online/virtual worlds space at the WorldsInMotion.biz weblog, with the next Worlds In Motion Summit planned for GDC 2009 in March 2009.