Product: Icarus Launches Tech Suite For 3D Worlds

Technology firm Icarus Studios, which specializes in assisting clients develop virtual worlds, MMOGs, simulators, and 3D educational products, has released its next generation Icarus platform with a full suite of middleware tools. The technologies, which were developed by a 65-person team over six years of development and QA testing, represent “the only suite of tools designed from scratch specifically as an integrated 3rd party environment for 3D online world creation,” according to Icarus CEO Jim Hettinger. The Icarus platform incorporates a number of highly regarded technologies from within the video game and virtual world development space, including voice communication services provider Vivox's VoIP services, Ageia's PhysX physics engine, IDV's foliage middleware software SpeedTree, and OC3 for avatar speech and facial expressions. According to Icarus, the platform has already been licensed by two unnamed clients covered by NDAs, and is being used by MMOG Fallen Earth, which is currently in development. The studio notes that the technology suite is designed to meet the needs virtual words developers by supporting functionality such as user generated content, in-world social and entertainment activities, diverse revenue models, and in-world profiled marketing on a secure and scalable platform. Added Hettinger: “Our goal is to blur the lines between the real world and virtual worlds with features such as integrated working browsers, dial-out to real world phones, and real-time video streaming. We have taken everything to the next level including the network architecture where our servers have the ability to dynamically re-task themselves based on user demand, allowing us to offer a massively scalable solution."