IBM creates a 3-D virtual world for Earth Day

IBM has been touting virtual worlds like Second Life a lot lately. But it’s also getting into the game. For Earth Day, IBM has designed a virtual world game dubbed “Power Up.” It’s a free 3-D multiplayer virtual world game on a planet called “Helios.”

Players create avatars to ride through rugged mountains and search through junk yards to help rebuild broken wind turbines, solar panels, and dams. They have to avoid floods, sandstorms and SmogGobs. The mission is to save the planet. IBM says the world is targeted at teens who have an interest in fantasy worlds as well as a desire to learning about energy conservation and science.

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.