by DBbuilder
For the past year I’ve been a Xulu alpha tester. Xulu Entertainment is a California company that is developing a massively multiplayer virtual world for creating, sharing and playing high-definition 3D games. Xulu’s alpha phase has now gone public! Anyone can come to www.xulu.com and register to play for free. All you need is a PC running Windows 7 or Vista with a DirectX10-compatible graphics card, and for now, be located in North America. Installing is quick and easy, and you’ll be exploring Xulu in no time.
The Xulu Universe is a combined gaming, social, and creation experience where all genres of play seamlessly co-exist. To start with, each player gets an avatar (robot or android), a rover, and a flying bubblecraft to cruise around in and play games. These are all customizable so you can personalize them to your liking (although early customization features are limited).
The initial line-up of venues includes: high-action sports (off-roading, stunt driving, racing), team-based gladiator games (capture-the-flag), casual games (shooting arcade, obstacle course), scavenger hunts, sightseeing, and free exploration. In addition, there is a large welcome area along with places for socializing and lounging.
The Xulu world is still relatively bare-bones, but it has some interesting architecture and landscape features. Xulu will continue to expand the world and introduce new environments, game genres, vehicles, robots, creatures, human-like avatars, gameplay components, customization features, and related Creator Kits. Also in the works are gliders, hovercraft, jetcars, lifters, planes and spacecraft.
Xulu recognizes that the best ideas often come from people with little or no technical background. They wanted to create a system to tap into that and let anybody build the kind of games they want to play. So they developed a Venue Builder tool, along with a starting library of dynamic models of vehicles, structures, and more that you can customize and drag-n-drop into place. After you’ve completed your masterpiece, you can share it with the community.
Xulu wants to be a leader in next generation on-line gaming and entertainment. They even have tournaments and regularly offer prizes for getting your name on the leaderboard. Check out this trailer:
Watch my green car become airborne at .11 and hit the gong! See also the best vehicle customizations from the Xulu Car Show 1.0 Winners Showcase: http://youtu.be/aaGIcdIIuCo
Race over to www.xulu.com – I look forward to seeing you in the game world!