After this post I may have to give up on reporting all the new virtual worlds - they’re popping up like so many wack-a-mole rodents and the day’s just not long enough to track ‘em all. But before this meme goes dark I can report on two PaidContent.com posts relevant to the convergence of virtual worlds and social media.

Turner Goes Deeper into Virtual Worlds reports the soon-to-be-announced deal between the Turner division of TimeWarner and Atlanta-based Kaneva. Kaneva has developed a multiplayer online gaming platform that makes it easy to mash up all the good stuff: virtual worlds and user generated content, social networks and video. Though it’s only available for Windows XP and Vista at present, the PaidContent post reports they have deep pockets so that may change in time: “Kaneva co-founder and CEO Christopher Klaus should have plenty of money to self-fund—he founded Internet Security Systems (ISS) in 1994 and sold it to IBM for more than $1 billion. Kaneva co-founder Greg Frame was founder of IndigoOlive Software, Inc. In beta, Kaneva is trying for a mix of ad support, premium membership and virtual good sales.”

The other PaidContent post announcing Warner Bros. T-Works To Offer Online Video, Gaming, Virtual World Featuring Cartoon Icons only describes a content play at this point and the more detailed BusinessWire news release offers no platform or tech specs. Still, hold your finger in the air and once you get past the hype (”new studio uber-brand”) it sounds remarkably similar to Turner’s gambit with Kaneva. I’ll pass on the uber-hype but will be following this one too, if only for the chance to mash up Bug’s Bunny ‘toons with my videos.