ASIA : Hong Kong based Artificial Life, Inc. announced that it will release the world's first virtual disco for 3G phones as a new mobile product line.

Inset shows DJ Vivene inside the disco.

The 3G virtual disco is presented to the users as a 3-D animated virtual building with several floors representing different music clubs and styles of music according to the selection and tastes of the listeners. In the intro sequence the user can select an animated 3-D character (avatar) as his or her virtual persona and visit the different music rooms in the virtual disco.

Music is offered for download or streaming in combination with high quality 3-D animation clips showing synchronized dancing avatars.

Inset shows outside the disco.

Music formats supported are: MP3 and AAC, the video format supported are: MP4 and 3GPP. Digital Rights Management (DRM) is handled by Artificial Life's SEMP(TM) middleware which provisions media based on authenticated and authorized devices and users.

The new product line is scheduled for release in April, 2005. A first showcase of the 3G disco will be presented at the 3GSM conference in Cannes, France at the SUN(R) Microsystems booth: Cannes, Palais des Festival et des Congres, Exhibition Hall 1, Booth 6, Station 4: Java Platform for Rich Mobile Data Services.

'We are very excited about this new product line. The virtual disco is a spin-off from our V-girl product. We are using the same high quality graphic elements and avatars and combine them with sound clips and songs of different genres for the 3G phones. This is a very new and innovative way to sell and deliver music downloads and streams to end users with 3G phones,' said E.Schoneburg, CEO of Artificial Life, Inc.