Close to one year ago, we stumbled onto a new Microsoft island in Second Life, called Microsoft Xbox. The island was brand-new, and was still closed to the public, and there was a lot of speculation as to what it was for. This was fueled by talk of Microsoft having explored the idea of Second Life running on the Xbox platform, but the facilities specification for the system isn't adequate for running the virtual world, as-is.

Microsoft stayed mum on both topics, declining to comment on either the island or its Xbox investigations, and time dragged on. While the island eventually vanished without fanfare, it appears that Nintendo Island has just appeared on the Second Life grid. Still closed to the public, and with nothing built there yet, but with the likes of Atlus getting into the act, and an increasingly strong representation of Japanese industries in the virtual world, a Nintendo presence in Second Life makes a lot of sense.

Xbox out, Nintendo in originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.