For those not familiar with Marc Owens’ work, he’s the man behind the Avatar Machine. It’s a suit which allows the user to view themselves as a virtual character in real space via a head mounted interface. Now he’s working on another suit that’s sure to turn heads. According to a study that found that 54 percent of all males and 68 percent of all females gender swap in a virtual setting, psychologists have proven that the majority of people aren’t satisfied with their gender and want to cut their genitals out.

Thankfully, Marc Owens has the cure. If you’re the kind of guy that feels comfortable dressing up in your mother’s clothes or the kind of girl whose always wanted to play QB on the high school football team then the Virtual Transgender Suit was made for you. It replicates the aesthetics of the typical virtual female form while portraying it in physical form, kind of like if you were to act out Facebook in a real life setting. So, if cross dressing just seems a little too gay for you, how about trying out the Virtual Transgender Suit? You’ll look like a woman but no one will criticize you because you’ll look like a virtual woman.

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The main reason you bought a Playstation 3 was probably due to Killzone 2 or Playstation Home, Sony’s new online service that’s supposed to be something like Xbox Live meets Second Life. You and your friends can meet up with your avatars, talk, chat, shoot the shit and so on. Oh, and more importantly, you can play games together too.

As of today, Sony is accepting applications for the closed beta test of the Home service. Right now it only looks like Japan is lucking out but the US market could soon follow:

Applications are initially being accepted from Thursday until Aug. 11 from users in Japan only. Sony expects to offer access to about 10,000 gamers during the beta, which will begin in late August.

During the beta stage users will be able to play the games that make up Bandai Namco’s “Namco Museum” package, which include PacMan, in the service’s “Game Space.”

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Step aside, Second Life. There’s a new time-wasting virtual social network just released by Google. It’s called Lively and it’s your ticket to the cyber world, complete with emotes and customized avatars. Screw that pay to play bullshit on Second Life. Hell, no one wants to hear your lame cyber concert anyways. Play on a real stage or go home!

Lively’s client is free to download and runs with IE or Firefox. Images and videos are viewable in Lively, as well as the ability to embed websites, like your Tumblr or other blogs into your Lively “living space.” Though the content isn’t quite there on Lively (lacking an economy like that of Second Life), it’s still free to play and you’ll feel less dorky playing it than you would with Second Life. Give it a try and let us know how it is.

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Do you got game? Do you at least have Second Life? Great. Good news for you. The NBA has officially opened shop on the popular social virtual world.

The NBA launched its presence in the virtual world of Second Life this morning, following an in-world press conference yesterday that featured NBA commissioner David Stern making the announcement. Built out by the Electric Sheep Company (sponsors of this blog), the NBA region in SL features a basketball arena, streaming video of classic NBA games and more recent highlights, virtual NBA merchandise (natch), and four half-courts where fans can play HORSE or enter dunking contests.

Ya know? I never really got into Second Life, but I haven’t been on there in at least a year. It might be worth another try. Maybe buy my avatar some pimp jerseys. — Andrew Dobrow

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What a wonder it would be to be able to have a social networking platform such as Second Life, mixed with the sketchings and locations of Google Earth. That’s exactly what is traveling through the rumor grapevine right now. A Googleized version of Second Life.

The satellite imaging technology of Google Earth is rumored to be in development as a foundation for a new social chatting world, much like Second Life. 3D sketching program SketchUp, bought by Google last year, would also have a huge roll to play in the sketching of a 3D world.

As TechCrunch points out, the only pieces missing from the conversion are avatars and a working economy. Yet with the new eyeing of several advertising platforms, Google is on the right track to create its own Universe.

Though, for now it seems that their are so many missing chunks from the big picture. The sketch mapping of Google Earth is not nearly as graphically sophisticated as would be needed for a avatar based social world.

There’s no doubt about it. Google has thrust itself into every competing faction that has unveiled its self within the last few years. Many of Google’s applications are now looked at as top of the line for usability. Is avatar networking the next hill to conquer for the big G? — Andrew Dobrow

Google’s Metaverse [TechCrunch, via New Scientist]