Google Announces Online Browser-based World: Google Lively

According to a recent post over on Gamasutra, Google has announced Google Lively, which is a browser-based online world embedded in social networks such as Facebook. Google Lively will allow you to create your own virtual space where you can chat and interact with your friends in rooms you design, express yourself by customizing your avatar and stream personal photos and video, and provide you with the ability to add your room to your site and invite your friends to chat and help decorate.

According to the Lively help center:

“You’re about to embark on a chat experience in which you can communicate and express yourself using avatars in your very own space. Choose an avatar and use it to make friends and chat. Create rooms, decorate them to your liking, and make sure to invite your friends over.”

Google’s head of 3D operations, Mel Guymon, stated that the project’s goal was to create a “true persistent space” for social network users and it will run as an application via a webpage plug-in using Emergent’s Gamebryo engine. The project, in development for over two and a half years, is closely integrated with Facebook and the OpenSocial standard and a MySpace integration is coming soon.

Loads more information can be found via Gamasutra, who has the whole lot of information on this new application, and you can read all the gory details by clicking through the link below.

Thanks: Gamasutra