The next retail marketplace is online. No, not real-world goods purchased via the web, but virtual goods purchased online for your virtual life. It's a brave new world that Warner Bros TV is leaping into by releasing lines of "branded virtual goods" based on some of its programming.

The Time Warner-owned TV hit-maker just announced a partnership with Virtual Greats aimed at creating "custom branded boutiques for the initial launch of branded virtual goods from popular series The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, and Pretty Little Liars." So what the heck is a "branded virtual good?", you ask?Continue reading...

Need a T-shirt for your avatar? Or a movie poster for your avatar’s bedroom? Help is on the way.

Universal Pictures has signed a deal with Virtual Greats to create virtual goods for two of its films, Brian DePalma’s Scarface with Al Pacino and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The first batch of virtual goods will be found on Meez.com, a social entertainment destination for teens and young adults, according to a press release.

Virtual goods, by the way, are things bought in virtual communities or virtual games that cannot leave that environment. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the most expensive virtual good ever sold was in the virtual Entropia Universe, where a space station called the Crystal Palace went for $330,000. Hey, the place came with four biodomes stuffed with aliens to hunt down along with a lovely bar to quaff virtual lagers.

Prices like that help explain the results that research firm In-Stat came up with last year when it predicted that $7.3 billion would be spent in virtual goods in 2010. So Universal wants a piece of that action and its first items will appear on Meez later this month. And more Universal virtual goods are surely to follow at Meez and on other sites.Continue reading...