Ingle Games has released details on four features they've introduced to Magic World Online's ongoing Open Beta run: The Marriage System, the Official Promotion System, Hero Island, and the Evil Zodiac Instance. Further details on each are available in the full article.

Move over Second Life, there's a new 3D virtual web space in town which is trying to make a name for itself in the online community. SceneCaster is a company that has a created a 3D scene creation application that integrates itself with many other web-based apps and online accounts.

While it isn't a virtual world in the way that Second Life is, SceneCaster will allow users to customize a virtual space for themselves and allow them an easy way to share media files as well as build an online community through its user-friendly interface.

It's definitely easier to access and link your virtual space with SceneCaster's new application since each scene created there is already embedded into a web page.  Also, SceneCaster has tied itself to several big names in the online networks and e-commerce scene.

The application will be integrated with Google's 3D Warehouse, which allows the user access to many 3D images to help customize their web space. SceneCaster has also enabled the incorporation e-commerce sites like eBay and Amazon, as well as other networks like Facebook and Flickr.

All in all, while not as fluid as its long-time virtual world counterpart, Second Life can expect some tough competition in the game of 3D virtual communities with what SceneCaster has in store for everyone.

Slipping back to our business suits, we've gotten word that U.S. market research firm Parks Associates has discovered that online gaming still outweighs video streaming or social networking over the Internet. The report entitled "Casual Gaming Market Update" claimed that at least 34% of adult Internet users play online games on a weekly basis. Games they play include casual games, confirming the rise in popularity of the casual gaming sector.

 

In contrast, 29% of those surveyed watch short online videos, and a smaller 19% visit social networking sites at least once a week. Additionally, online gaming is also experiencing a major surge in the North American region. Parks Associates observed a 79% year-on-year rise in online gamers, compared to the 46% climb of social networking users.

Still, video streaming users are ascending at a steep 123%, and the online gaming sector would do well to challenge that rate in the following years. The online gaming sector is becoming a ripe source of income, and Parks Associates still recommends the tried-and-tested Western business models for the region.

In the Eastern front, the online gaming sector is becoming a blossoming playground for the Asian gaming industry, as Taiwan, Korea, and China have experienced phenomenally market booms in the previous year. Market predictions are also off-the-roof for the Far East, and it may have already grown leaps and bounds in the first half of 2007.

Because people WoW and click Flash more than they Facebook or Youtube, we'll be monitoring for more developments as they come clicking by.

Last week, we reported on players now being able to show their stuff from the WoW Armory on a social networking website. Now, Facebook has an updated World of Warcraft Import tool from GuildCafe that allows players to search for people in the same realm.

Aside from being able to import your Armory profile to your facebook, Version 2.0 will allow players to search for people playing in the same realm as they're in. Hmm... Probable use will be to search for guildies in the same area as you are - or to find out if your in-game *cough* girl friend is really of the female species. Jokes aside, this would be a nifty tool for finding, well...friends.

Would you use this feature? If so, for what? Share your thoughts.

While Blizzard's World of Warcraft's Armory System can be a thing of of embarrassment for some players, we imagine there's more than one guy who wouldn't mind mind strutting around what their in-game identity is packing, both skill and gear-wise.

For the guys who have an inkling to show off their virtual muscles, we've picked word that the Facebook social networking website now allows WoW players to import their character profiles to the site.

This was made possible thanks to the new Facebook Platform technology, which bases its info on the WoW Armory System we mentioned earlier. Just make sure to have a a Facebook account handy for this new perk - dressing you character up nicely will also help.