The Second Life® experience is coming to mobile. The 3D virtual world platform, created by Linden Lab® will soon be available on 3G handsets via Vollee’s streaming mobile games service. Beta trials for Vollee’s new mobile offering for the Second Life Grid platform (an inter-connected platform which extends beyond the mainland of Second Life itself) will be open to those who pre-register by visiting www.vollee.com/secondlife.
Vollee’s Second Life mobile service will enable access to the virtual world of Second Life for Residents to explore, interact and communicate on-line. The Second Life mobile experience reformats the online world to fit on mobile phone screens while mapping the keys on handsets to commands in-world. Existing Residents can simply log-in and people new to Second Life can also try out the online world for the first time through the mobile service. With a simple download to their 3G mobile handset, anyone can enjoy their online Second Life session while on the move.
“What we have developed is a service which, for the first time, allows you to access a rich persistent virtual 3D world the way it is supposed to be experienced on your phone,” said Martin Dunsby, CEO, Vollee. “This is a true ‘before and after moment’ in which mobile is living up to its potential in serving as an always on, connected platform.”
“For Linden Lab, this represents an intuitive way to extend the reach and accessibility of the Second Life Grid platform,” said Chris Mahoney, Business Development Manager, Linden Lab. “This is a great way for Second Life Residents to stay connected to their friends, business and experiences in-world, wherever they are.”
Vollee’s proprietary solution is the only one on the market that can stream any high-end PC title to mobile, including popular massively multiplayer online role playing games. The company’s technology takes into account the screen size, the key layout and makes sure all the fun of playing the original game remains. Vollee's interactive video streaming platform optimizes compression to minimize bandwidth requirements and also leverages the 3G mobile networks in such a way that gamers can not only navigate virtual worlds but also play fast paced, high quality video games previously impossible on mobile. A single software download to a 3G handset provides access to Vollee streamed titles, enabling gamers to find and play mobile games more easily than ever.
Vollee’s Second Life mobile beta trials will begin in May 2008, but fans can pre-register beginning today by visiting www.vollee.com/secondlife. More information about the Second Life Grid is available at http://secondlifegrid.net.
About Vollee
Vollee streams a console gaming experience to 3G phones, offering a radically different user experience than previously seen in mobile gaming. By providing the highest quality always-connected games through its subscription service, people can now discover the fun of high-end video games on their mobile handsets. Using its patent-pending VolleeX engine, Vollee delivers an exciting catalog of licensed titles with their original 3D graphics, sophisticated AI and deep game play.
Vollee’s service allows video game and PC software publishers to safely enhance and expand the reach of proven franchises, maximize return on original investment, leverage cross-marketing on new titles and extend existing online gaming communities to mobile at a fraction of the cost and time. Vollee offers mobile operators a showcase for 3G networks, increased ARPU through extended game play, a greater share of publisher marketing budgets and the opportunity to attract new gaming consumers.