There has been a huge influx of social virtual worlds over the past several years. They've come in all shapes and sizes, however immersive social 3D virtual worlds such as Second Life have required the user to download additional software. For reaching a wide audience, this has been a significant barrier. Browser-based 3D social worlds, now with the arrival of SocioTown (http://www.sociotown.com ), which has just entered public beta testing, are a reality and with it comes the potential for social 3D worlds to finally reach the masses.

Estimated to generate 1 billion dollars in annual revenue, virtual worlds have become a huge business. 3D social virtual worlds that require additional software downloads, however, have not quite enjoyed the same success as the internet-based 2D social worlds. To get beyond the hype and promises, and finally deliver the results of their 2D counterparts, browser-based SocioTown may signal an opening for immersive 3D social worlds.

Only requiring the standardized Adobe web-plugins, which most browsers already have pre-installed, SocioTown features real-time 3D graphics. SocioTown's visuals are stylish and colorful with modest system requirements, which make it accessible to a wide audience, altough the 3D graphics of SocioTown are not on the level of the latest high-end video game consoles found on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. A formula that has worked very well for leading video game console the Nintendo Wii.

SocioTown, being the first web-based 3D social virtual world, has the technological edge, but content-wise it also introduces several innovative social networking features, many of which are generated from real-time chat. SocioTown looks to push innovations through user interaction not just platform delivery.