Welcome to a virtual world where television meets the Internet. Electronic Arts, creator of Need for Speed, Medal of Honor, The Sims, and Command & Conquer, today announced a partnership with the Endemol group,  creators of Big Brother, Fear Factor and Deal or No Deal, to launch a new digital entertainment concept, ‘Virtual Me.’

Virtual Me allows players to create avatars, using EA’s cutting edge avatar creation technology,  with a high performing, simplistic tool that creates astonishingly life-like cyber-clones and uniquely customized appearances and identities.

Gerhard Florin, Executive Vice President and General Manager, EA International said, “With Virtual Me we are at the forefront of a new, hybrid form of entertainment that takes gaming beyond the console. Endemol is a great partner to help us bring together the best of TV and video games for an offering that can appeal to mass market audiences and change the face of entertainment.”

Virtual Me players will meet and socialize in a virtual world, and will be given the chance to compete in virtual versions of  The Endemol Group’s TV talent shows such as Fame Academy and Operacion Triunfo, and its popular game shows like Deal Or No Deal and 1 vs 100.

Peter Bazalgette, Chief Creative Officer, Endemol comments: “We’re told that people are starting to spend more time online than they are watching TV. Both markets are now important and this has huge implications for content creators. Our opportunity with Electronic Arts is to develop ideas that fully embrace the way people are consuming entertainment today.”

EA and Emdemol will each create a team to discuss and share ideas towards the development of Virtual Me, which is scheduled for launch in the coming months.

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Entry was posted on Monday, April 16th, 2007 at 4:59 am under Internet.

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