NBC Universal Pushes Further Into Second Life

Because Linden Lab was unable to sell and open enough private islands for NBC Universal's initial debut, the company was forced to rent land from Second Life millionaire and land baroness Anshe Chung. Nearly one month later, those islands seem to have been returned, as NBC's total island count currently stands at 10.

NBC Universal is just one name on an already impressive client list for The Electric Sheep Company. Others include Starwood Hotels' (HOT Quote) aloft private island, Major League Baseball's Yankee Stadium, Nissan, Sony (SNE Quote) BMG and Reuters (RTRSY Quote).

In addition to developing NBC Universal's "Sessions" event, The Electric Sheep Company also teamed with marketing services firm Electric Artists to cultivate a project for iVillage, the female-focused Web site that NBC Universal purchased for $600 million in March. Previously, the two companies had worked together to create the virtual replica of Starwood's aloft hotel, so collaboration between the two is nothing new.

iVillage's Girls' Night Out, a celebration of women connecting to the virtual world, debuted last Thursday on The Electric Sheep Company's Sheep Island in Second Life. The biweekly event offers tours of Second Life destinations of interest to women, as well as communications with notable Second Life female avatars, such as Nephilaine Protagonist, one of Second Life's biggest fashion designers and a virtual female pioneer who was one of the first to make Second Life her full-time profession.