Last week, Millions of Us helped launch the Superstars of WWE into the virtual world of Habbo Hotel with the WWE Habbo Royal Rumble campaign. What resulted was viral mayhem! In addition to the ridiculous number of Habbos participating in the campaign proper, Habbos went well beyond the call of duty, building their own Royal Rumble and WWE themed rooms, role-playing as their favorite Superstars and rumbling virtually. It was wildly entertaining and satisfying to see!

Habbos role-play in their WWE Royal Rumble themed room

Here are the results from the WWE Habbo Royal Rumble:

• First WWE Superstar to enter the ring: KEVIN THORN

• First WWE Superstar to be thrown out of the ring: BATISTA

• Last WWE Superstar to be thrown out of the ring: DH SMITH

• WWE Superstar who WINS the Habbo Royal Rumble: JEFF HARDY

For all Habbos who have voted and answered at least one question correctly - CONGRATULATIONS, you are well on your way to gently being sprayed by the sweat of your favorite Superstar, that is if you’re lucky ; ) I will post which lucky Habbo wins the sweepstakes for a trip for two to Wrestlemania24 in the comments section shortly.

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Passage to Zhong Fu was originally created by me, Poid Mahovlich, duckyfresh Wantanabe and Dizzy Banjo for the 48 Hour Film Project in Second Life. If you’re unfamiliar with how the 48 Hr Film Project works, what happens is that all teams are given 3 random items that they must include; a prop, a character and a line of dialog. Addtionally, each team is randomly assigned a genre that they must work with. For this, all teams had to have a flamingo as a prop, the character Tony Martin - teacher and the line of dialog, “That’s the way that it goes.” As for genre, we were tasked to make a “road movie.” We had blast putting this together and are pretty happy with the results. Of course, since we were one of the event’s sponsors we weren’t part of the competition.

After turning in our cut on Sunday night, we knew there were a few more things we wanted to do to the film. So what I’m posting here is a little different. This is probably the 50-something hour version. We added back in the scene with the cage which we originally had to cut to meet the time requirements. Doing that meant that Dizzy had to compose some new music as that scene really joins the two before it and the one after as a single musical section. Poid and I also shot a new ending scene. The original had Poid walking down a city street but that came from the initial idea which sort of evolved as we shot and edited the piece. I like this ending much better because it brings us back to where the film starts, having changed - which, I think, is the theme and was the inspiration for adding the I Ching quote at the beginning.

We’re going to show it inworld on one of the Princeton Sims. Please join us this Sunday, February 3, 2008 from noon - 2 p.m. SLT. Screening SLURL. The event will feature live music by Dizzy Banjo and will take place on an ephemeral landscape designed by Poid Mahovlich. Come and interact with the cast and crew, props and scenery used in the filming.

Read more here and here.

Worlds in Motion, a CMP-owned blog that is one of the leading chroniclers of our emerging industry, picked up today’s news that Mark Stephen Meadows (aka “pighed”) will be MoU’s second artist-in-residence.

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This week, World Wrestling Entertainment and its Superstars are invading the virtual world of Habbo Hotel, injecting the cyber-community with a level of excitement usually reserved for the wrestling ring. Millions of Us is proud to present this chair smashing, spandex ripping good time! ; )

The craziness ensued yesterday when 59 digitized WWE Superstars (wrestlers) called upon Habbos everywhere to campaign for their entry into the WWE Habbo Royal Rumble.

My assigned WWE Superstar

Campaigning can be done in a variety of ways including sending shout-outs from the Superstars themselves using a rad web-to-mobile service called Kadoink. Since these Superstars are totally at the mercy of the Habbo community and their assigned “campaign manager,” some of these Superstars have personal messages they’d like pass on to you. Tommy Dreamer, for instance, would love to call you up and greet you with “…give me some votes alright or else I’m gonna come to your house and maybe BASH your head into the computer screen. Thanks!” Well, how’s that for motivation?

From the pool of 59 Superstars (shown below in all their pixelated glory), voting amongst the Habbo community determines the top 30 most popular Superstars which make it into the Habbo Royal Rumble. Like the real Royal Rumble, our digitized version has Superstars competing to be the last one standing in the ring. Habbos vote for who they believe will be last man standing, along with first to enter the ring and last to enter the ring. Who will win this digital battle of the brawns? You’ll have to wait until this Saturday to find out! Along the way, Habbos get virtual buttons and stickers, but the coolest prize of course is the grand prize - a trip for two to WrestleMania24. For those in the know, these tickets are hotter than you-know-who’s temper ; )

So far, engagement has been one of the highest, if not the highest, in Habbo US history. Our Habbo Royal Rumble group membership filled to cap shortly after launch on Monday requiring us to create additional groups to accommodate all Habbos interested in membership. Impressive! Seems like Habbos <3 WWE!

Habbo Hotel is now officially the 4th virtual world we have entered and to be able to inaugurate our presence with our longstanding client WWE is especially pleasing. As Reuben, CEO of MoU, states - “Habbo pioneered the booming youth virtual world space and is one of the most internationally successful communities of its kind. It’s a very significant addition to the portfolio of platforms we can offer to our clients.”

Special thanks to Kristin Kanan and team at Sulake Inc. for their contagious enthusiasm, lightening-fast turnarounds, and badass pixel art!

Questions?

Contact Eliana Sur - eliana(at)millionsofus(dot)com

WWE Habbo Royal Rumble group page showing all 59 Superstar avatars in their pixelated glory.

Sweet banner ad!

It was our honor to facilitate the inaugural 48-Hour Film Project competition in Second Life last weekend. Some truly amazing machinima were submitted, all the more amazing for having been pulled together in under 48 hours.

Massively picked up the news about the winner, announced just this morning.

Imagine Life Sweeter‚Ñ¢
The contest that proves life is even sweeter the second time around.

We’ve made our choices.
It’s time for you to make yours.

Vote for your favorite
We asked Second Life residents to send us their wildest ideas about what would make Second Life sweeter. And we got some doozies. Our panel has narrowed it down to a select few. Four, to be exact.

So now it’s your turn. Visit SPLENDA® Island in Second Life from January 17 – 23, and cast your vote for the sweet idea you’d most like to see.

Remember – you can only vote in Second Life. Just head to SPLENDA® Island, and look for the giant tipped-over coffee cup. You can’t miss it.

Ladies, gentlemen and gender-neutral avatars, meet your finalists:

Lyra Muse – Passing Pinger
Second Life¬Æ isn’t the small town it once was. With so many residents, it can be tricky to meet people with similar interests. So how do we make this aspect of Second Life¬Æ sweeter? With the Passion Pinger, of course. The Passion Pinger is a device that lets you enter your interests, with as many key words as you like. Then when someone in your vicinity is into the same things, you get an IM letting you know that there‚Äôs a potential new friend nearby.

Moo Money – The SPLENDA® Island Community
This idea ties together SPLENDA®, Second Life®, and the community at large, with a variety of fun, creative, social activities.
- A SPLENDA® recipe competition
- An in-world cooking show, with ingredients, recipes and instructors
- “Sweetest Couple in Second Life®“ a romantic weekly contest for couples young and old, to explain why they are the most awesome twosome on the grid
- Cooking scavenger hunts where residents follow clues and search for ingredients around the island, then “prepare” them at a station. The first one to make the prepared dish from the recipe task list wins!

Dimitri Illios - Second Life® Adventure
What would make life sweeter? How about an interactive, fairy-tale adventure? Residents would interact with game characters who would offer riddles and clues about nutrition, then determine right answers. Players would then need to share some of their information with other players as a requisite point for final triumph. As players advance to higher levels, they would receive treats or coupons.

Shava Suntzu – The SPLENDA® Pool Experience
Dive into a sweet swimming pool filled with fluffy SPLENDA¬Æ No Calorie Sweetener, using fun new animations! And don‚Äôt forget to enter the diving and swimming competitions. The pool would be surrounded with snack carts that show calories and nutritional information, along with an educational note saying “If this treat was made with sugar: [however many] calories.”

Remember – you can only vote in Second Life, and only from January 17 – 23. Just head to SPLENDA® Island, and look for the giant tipped-over coffee cup. You can’t miss it.

Looking forward to seeing you there.