It's a sad news special for  those who enjoy some digitalized Disney magic. It's been decided that Virtual Magic Kingdom, the virtual world developed and released in 2005 to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the real Disneyland's opening, will be closed for good on May 21

As with Habbo Hotel, Virtual Magic Kingdom was developed by Finnish studio Sulake and shared many similarities with the social networking site. Players with registered accounts are able to decorate their personal rooms, earn and spend in-game credits, and participate in a variety of online events and activities with their customized avatars, all in a "safe, non-threatening environment."

Said producer Seth "Yavn" Mendelsohn: "In the time since we've launched VMK, we've seen many players come and go, and we're hoping you will graduate from VMK too – in particular, to games like Pirates of the Caribbean Online, Disney's ToonTown Online, Club Penguin and the upcoming Fairies and Cars online virtual worlds. We think you'll find you enjoy those just as much as VMK – if not more."

FAQ posted on VMK officialsite ,here

Via World in Motion

The second annual Virtual Worlds Conference will be held in New York City on April 3rd and 4th this year.

Game, toy, entertainment and media industries converge

Virtual Worlds Management has announced the program, speakers and exhibitors for the second annual Virtual Worlds Conference taking place from April 3 - 4 in New York City.

Speakers will include executives from Mattel, MTV, Google, Disney, IBM, Habbo, Gaia, crayon, Alloy Media, Electric Sheep Company, Epitome Pictures, G-Unit Records, Millions of Us, Cookie Jar Entertainment, Needham & Company and Zula USA, LLC.

"What began as technologies embraced by Internet sophisticates is now at the heart of revolution that is reshaping the media industry, toy industry, the entertainment business and technology companies," said Christopher Sherman, Virtual Worlds Conference executive director.

Get more details at the GamesIndustry.biz press release.

Rumors of Google's plans to create a virtual world that rivals that of Second Life have popped up once again over the weekend. The company could now be collaborating with Arizona State University to test the 3D social network, which may be tied into Google's current applications of Google Earth and Google Maps.

ASU students received a questionnaire yesterday, screenshots of which were originally posted by a MacRumors forum member, that hinted strongly at Google's plans. Specifically, the questionnaire intro says that students will be able to test a product that will be publicly launched later this year by a "major Internet company," and the graphic makes reference to 3D modeling, video gaming, and avatars. It proceeds to ask questions about students' involvement with social networks like MySpace and whether they have Gmail accounts. The social network referenced by the questionnaire is currently being dubbed "My World."

As the Google Operating System blog points out, ASU has had a heavy affiliation with Google in the past: ASU was among the first to test Google Apps, the university depends heavily on Google Maps, and all ASU campuses have full 3D models in Google Earth. Google even