Want to attend the wedding of the century but can’t, due to the fact that you are not a part of the Royal Family?

Well that is no longer a problem. The online massively multiplayer game, the Virtual World Web by Utherverse is hosting the virtual wedding, and you have the opportunity of a lifetime to attend and be a part of history.

Not only are they hosting the Royal Wedding, but they are hosting a post-ceremony reception and after party. Now if a wedding “guest” invests $20, then the ”guest” gets a chance to be one of the five Royal Family members, such as Prince William, Kate Middleton, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, Camilla Parker-Bowles. And the special guest to make things very interesting? Charlie Sheen of course. He’s going too. (again, virtually)

Event attendees are welcome simply by registering and downloading the required software at: www.princewillswedding.com.

This world is a mix of Second Life and the Sims. So for people who have played these type of games in the past should find this world to their liking.

The VWW has 7 million PC and Mac users that use Utherverse’s downloadable 3D Web browser to navigate a network encompassing 57,000 virtual 3D communities where members interact, socialize and conduct business in ways not possible on the “flat” Internet..

A Russian father who revoked his son’s videogame privileges after the boy played an online game for an entire week (imagine that), will have to hope that prison rehabilitates his son since he will no longer have the chance. After taking away his son’s keyboard, the clueless father went to sleep. The 14-yr-old then took the opportunity to find the family sledgehammer and do the  man in with 2 quick blows to the head.

The boy’s mother was also in the house during the killing. Rightly fearing for her life as well, she returned the keyboard promptly. The boy went on to play his game(s) for a couple more hours – with his recently deceased father lying in a bloodbath upstairs – before he finally fell asleep and police came to pick him up.

This story does raise my BS meter a little bit. The fact that it came out of Australia doesn’t help. As in any case like this, my gut says this family had problems that ran a little bit deeper than just videogames. The report says the boy had no criminal record and can be charged with murder under Russian law.

No word yet on what the teen was playing, but the smart money is on WOW, especially considering the hammer kill. Doubtful he’ll be doing too much leveling-up in the gulag, however…

Source: G4

Infogrames Entertainment, the parent company of Atari, announced Tuesday that will totally acquire Cryptic Studios, a leading publisher of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games.

“This acquisition is a critical step in the implementation of Atari’s strategy to become a leading online game developer and publisher,” said Atari spokeswoman Amy Wisel.

Cryptic is currently developing three unique MMO franchises, planned for release over the next three years on PC and next-generation consoles, including Champions Online to be released in 2009 and Star Trek Online to be released in 2010. A third game currently in development will be announced in the near future.

Cryptic employs about 150 people. Its revenues for the fiscal year ending June 30 totaled $17 million.