It was good to see The Gamer Disposition by John Seely Brown & Douglas Thomas, Making Alternate Reality the New Business Reality by Jane McGonigal, The Metaverse : TV of the future? by Miklos Sarvary, Giving Avatars Emotive control by Judith Donath and Happy Metadata trails by Jan Chipchase making this years list.

All are recommended reading and food for thought as we enter the Meta Age. For those interested in linking the above ideas together I recommend listening to this podcast. Adam Pasick interviewed Mitch Kapor at Davos last week and touched on many of the above themes.

Jane McGonigal was named one of the TR35 2006 young innovators changing the world through technology. Her work focuses on improving quality of life through reality-based gaming. She gave a wonderful presentation on Connecting Games with Reality at the Web 2.0 Summit last week.

Currently Lead Game Designer with the Institute for the Future Jane believes that “one of the most important technology trends over the next 3-5 years will be the effort to embed dynamics of network game play in everyday life”. Runtime is 11 minutes and highly recommended viewing.

Good to see Eric Pfanner giving the Serious Games Institute some much deserved mainstream media coverage. We are seeing many such initiatives sprouting up around the world as people awaken to the opportunities that virtual worlds present. Futurists are beginning to spread the word. Ray Hammond predicts “that in 10 years, every single business person will be conducting their business in parallel virtual world as in the real world.”

When Dr. Jacob Bronowski stated in the BBC series The Ascent of Man that “in essence all science and human thought are a form of play” it immediately registered. Bruno’s words serve as an inspiration every day as we explore the transition from role play within the work place to plays role within the work space. For those interested in tuning into this transition from 20th to 21st century organisation thinking Cory’s case study is a good place to start. Interesting times indeed.

Metanomics 07 is off to a good start with this weeks guest speaker Sandra Kearney, Global Director of 3D Internet and VIrtual Business at IBM. Sandra gave an interesting and interactive one hour presentation on IBM’s involvement in the metaverse. VIdeo archives of all Metanomics 07 sessions are available over on the Second Life Cable Network.

Justin Ratner gave a keynote titled Virtual Worlds – The rise of the 3D Internet at the Intel Developer Forum. A webcast of his talk is available here for those interested. After Intel’s recent acquistion of Havok and partnering with Qwaq Forums on an enhanced virtual workspace product its Virtual World declarations of intent are noted.

Last but not least Sony pushed back the launch date for Home from Autumn 2007 to Spring 2008. Having followed beta developments since April 2007 it still requires work and Sony is doing the right thing. With a steadily growing PS3 online user base of 2.7M worldwide it is eagerly awaited.

This fall, WIRED Magazine is bringing its vision of a new world’s fair to Los Angeles. Experience more than 160 exciting exhibits from scientists, researchers, and inventors around the globe. WIRED NextFest features innovations in communication, design, entertainment, exploration, health, play, robots, transportation, security, and green living.

WIRED NextFest kicks off today in Los Angeles. It runs from September 13th-16th in the South Hall (J and K) at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Exhibitors are offering the opportunity to experience first hand their vision of the future. For those attending the four day event we recommend checking out Brainloop.

Brainloop is an interactive performance platform which employs an application called Brain Computer Interface (BCI) that lets users explore virtual spaces such as Google Earth simply by imagining basic movements. The exhibit is a production of Aksioma – an Institute for Contemporary Arts in Ljubljana.

Virtual experiences todate have been limited by computer peripherals such as the mouse and keyboard. Unchanged for decades these interface tools were designed primarily for a 2D world of data input. Last year Nintendo gave people a glimpse of just what is possible with the launch of its wii remote which harnessed motion sensor technology.

As Christian Renaud points out peoples perceptions of what is real and what is virtual will evolve over time. This will accelerate as more interactive performance platforms (driven by voice, motion and ultimately thoughts) to interface within 2D and 3D environments become available. Interesting times indeed.

According to a 2007 survey by the eLearning Guild, which polled nearly 1,500 of its members, from large and small companies throughout the U.S., 38% of insurance companies are investigating using games for work. In finance, accounting, and banking, that figure was above 50%.

Business Week has a special report titled The Power of Gaming which is recommended reading. It showcases how businesses such as McKinsey, Johnson & Johnson, Sears and Royal Philips Electronics are currently using gaming as recruitment, training and collaboration tools. Market research which previously took cool hunters a year to compile is now readily available in real time globally. Many of the tools we have seen todate are remarkably primitive relative to some of the offerings coming to market over the next 18 months.

Whole new industries are being created by a handful of designers and developers who stepped outside of their respective comfort zones within the gaming and entertainment industries. They are taking advantage of the ever increasing number of platforms becoming both accessible and affordable. Some were present at the fifth annual Edinburgh Interactive Festival whose theme this year was Expanding the Creative Culture of Games. For those interested Andrew Doull did a great job in live blogging many of the sessions.

It is refreshing to see public acknowledgment of the fact that games both entertain and educate. Authors such as John Beck, Steven Johnson and David Shaffer have been banging the drum for a number of years now. With generous benefactors such as the MacArthur Foundation funding digital research projects our awareness and understanding of the opportunities to hand will become more common place.

Having fun with fundamentals is something The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (TRLPO) understands. If you fancy joining TRLPO for a live performance in Second Life on September 14th then register to win a free ticket to the event. It promises to be a new experience for all concerned.

Philip Rosedale incorporated the soon to launch SL Voice feature in his demo at the AlwaysOn Stanford Summit 2007. His follow-on session with Irving Wladawksy-Berger, Chris Sherman, Chris Melissinos moderated by Jaron Lanier titled How Real Is the Virtual Web is recommended viewing.

Reactions to the Club Penguin deal over on Techmeme and the panel discussion at AlwaysOn give a flavor for what casual virtual worlds and virtual goods hold in store for the future. Interesting times indeed.