If MMORPGs weren't proving attractive enough as the opportunity to live a second, virtual life, free from the boring conventions of the everyday, then the inclusion of real world within the game could be either good or bad - depending on your perspective. The in question is Second Life, already hailed as one of the most realistic alternative reality titles (property within the game has, for example, already swapped hands for vast real-world money), with Channel 4 and the Sci-Fi channel among stations set to provide television content to the game world.

The shows will apparently be broadcast for free to start with, and all you'll need is what's being described as a 'distribution point', which is basically a screen within the game. Despite being initially funded by advertising, we assume, the television could in the future be pay-per-view, opening the opportunity for the latest show and to enter the game. Content created by the game's players will also be broadcast, as part of a planned 100-channel round the clock service.

Virtuallife.tv, as it'll be known, should be out come the end of the month. More soon.

By Luke Guttridge