You won’t read about it in the headlines, but deep in the high-tech corporate campus of the Research Triangle Park, in Durham, North Carolina, desperate refugees fight for survival against mutant cannibals in a dystopian wasteland where civilization is just a dim memory.

No, it’s not a hyperbolic recession metaphor (at least not exclusively), it’s Fallen Earth, the post-apocalyptic virtual world created and maintained by RTP game company Icarus Studios. Fallen Earth, you see, is a video game — one in which thousands of players play simultaneously via the Internet and their personal computers.

Technically speaking, Fallen Earth is an MMORPG. That stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game — surely the industry’s most unwieldy acronym. Launched this fall after an extensive beta test period, Fallen Earth is hoping to capture a corner of the MMO market left open by established games like EverQuest and World Of Warcraft.

Frankly, they could be onto something: end-of-the-world scenarios seem to be on our collective mind these days. Recent and upcoming films like 2012, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and the animated adventure 9 are upping the ante in the disaster flick category. Clearly, we are sublimating our collective anxieties about global warming, pandemics and terrorism.

But don’t despair: while MMO games like Fallen Earth project our fears, they may also be pointing to a potential solution and an escape from the aforementioned apocalypse. Let’s say civilization does end — via virus, radiation or ocean waves. Why not simply upload your personality as a ROM construct to your favorite virtual world?

Okay, there are some logistical hurdles here. For starters, we’ll need to bury the server farms along with several trillion batteries. But I’m the idea guy — I’m thinking big picture. And no matter what your way of life, I’m convinced that there is a virtual world into which you could plausibly retreat in the event the world you currently inhabit is burned, flooded or otherwise rendered unavailable to you. And I can help you find it.

Check out these virtual worlds listed below, all of which are actual MMO games. (OK, all but one — see if you can spot the fake.) Which would you choose?

Club Penguin: Use your penguin avatar to waddle your way through various puzzles and games.

Urban Dead: Live forever fighting zombies as a human survivor, or eating brains as a zombie. Your call.

Monopoly City Streets: Buy and sell virtual real estate on real-world streets using Google Map images.

Lots and lots more, after the jump.

Toontown Online: Fight back against hostile corporate takeover by deploying classic cartoon “gags” — banana peels, seltzer bottles, dropping anvils, etc.

Ran Online: Fight undead undergraduates from rival universities.

Continuum: Abandon the third dimension entirely and live forever in a frictionless 2-D cosmic world.

Third Life: Try, try again in a virtual world exclusively for those who have managed to screw up both their real life and Second Life.

Sociolotron: Fight monsters, establish a dynasty and have virtual sex. (Link NSFW.)

Kingdom of Loathing: Fight monsters, establish a dynasty and get drunk. (link barely SFW)

Hello Kitty Online: Help Hello Kitty fight a “mysterious and malevolent power.”

Monster Farm Online: Breed and raise specialized monsters, then fight them.

Pirates of the Burning Sea: Swashbuckle your way through the Caribbean circa 1720.

Tantra Online: Help your tribe defeat monsters from Hindu mythology.

Blackout Rugby: Manage a virtual New Zealand rugby team until the end of time.

* Third Life isn’t real, although it should be — too bad some cybersquatter is sitting on the domain.

This holiday season, why not give the gift that, if properly selected, will hijack your loved one’s life for several months, devouring all discretionary time?

The trick, of course, is selecting the right game – especially for children and younger gamers. You’ll lose a lot of cool points if you get your niece Cooking Mama 3 when what she really wanted was Command & Conquer 3.

Below is a list of some of the best recent games for gift-giving, arranged by ESRB Rating. Most of these titles have something to offer children and adults, with a bonus pick for grown-up gamers who might be interested in blowing up space zombies.

Little Big Planet: Game of the Year edition (PS3; Rated E)

Little Big Planet, which won dozens of awards last year, is a category unto itself. An alternate-dimension platforming game, LBP lets players of any age traverse themed worlds which – in terms of the game’s story – represent nothing less than the creative impulse of the cosmos. Trippy, huh?

The real adventure is that players can create levels and entire worlds, then share them with other players over the PlayStation Network. Adults will appreciate the sophisticated game design philosophy underneath it all; kids will simply love the idea of a cosmic sandbox. This Game of the Year edition adds bonus levels and downloadable content packs. Highly recommended. (Bonus for hand-held gamers: LBP is out for the PlayStation Portable as well.)

MySims Agents (Wii; Rated E)

Sims auxiliary games have a crazy charm, with their blocky animation and focus on social interaction. MySims Agents goes in a different direction, though, offering a much more linear, quest-and-puzzle-based adventure. A player starts as a neighborhood digital sleuth (Wikipedia Brown?) and wind up commanding a team of international spies. It’s good for gamers who are into this kind of item-fetching, dialogue-tree gaming, and there’s nothing here for parents to fret about.

Space Invaders Extreme 2 (DS;

Rated E)

The original arcade classic gets another makeover with the sequel to last year’s inspired shoot-’em-up for the Nintendo DS. Those old enough to remember the original will enjoy how Extreme expands the concept in just about every direction. Color-coded invaders, new weapons, varied attack patterns and frantic boss fights make the original game seem glacial. Kids will dig the simplicity and instant-gratification of it all. Excellent for airports and long car rides.

Ratchet and Clank (PS3, Rated E10)

Rivaling Little Big Planet for the most wildly creative game on the PS3, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time continues the franchise’s deft combination of cartoon action and puzzle-solving. This latest iteration ups the ante with some delightfully clever time-manipulation puzzles for Clank. Meanwhile, Ratchet flies across the universe to shoot it out with intergalactic baddies. R&C hits the sweet spot – friendly enough for kids, smart enough for adults.

Tornado Outbreak (PS3/Wii/X360; Rated E10)

While somewhat less exciting than the pre-release hype promised, Tornado Outbreak is still a unique gaming experience for players of all ages. The basic gist: Players get to see what it’s like to be a tornado – can’t argue with that. In stylized animation form, Zephyr the tornado tears up farmhouses and silos to grown bigger and stronger. Some clever game mechanics mix up the action by having Zephyr fight rival elementals – fire beasties, for instance.

Nerf N-Strike Elite (Wii; Rated E10)

Here’s a generous package for that young gamer in your life who likes his Nerf guns and video games and would like to play with both at once. Not to gender-stereotype, but it seems young boys of a certain age are hard-wired for this stuff. The gimmick here: You insert the Wiimote into the included Nerf gun and aim at the screen, shooting gallery style. Swap out the Wiimote, and you’ve got a functional suction-cup Nerf shooter for those backyard turf wars. Nerf makes it as gentle as possible. On screen, the bullets are foam darts; the enemies are robots and no blood is spilled.

Dead Space Extraction (Wii; Rated M)

Fans of the original Dead Space will appreciate this variation on the franchise’s horror-in-space theme. Extraction is a rail-shooter like you’ve never seen – with an engaging story, strategic elements, astounding visuals and maximized spookiness. The game’s famous strategic dismemberment system remains, and using the Wiimote to blast space zombies is exactly as much fun as it sounds. That’s a hard “M” rating, by the way. Extraction is seriously scary and decidedly not for kids.

Sony aims to send home the first upgradable robot dog.

We have an International Space Station in orbit. We’ve cracked the genetic code. We’re cloning animals and eventually maybe even people. What’s next?

Why, robot dogs as programmable as your PC, of course.

This month Sony demonstrated its new “entertainment architecture,” OPEN-R, at the Game Developers Conference in San Diego. The goal is to let third-party developers create new hardware and software add-ons for Sony’s popular AIBO robot dog.

Here, AIBOy!

While the AIBO hasn’t caught on in the U.S. beyond a small market of robot enthusiasts, it’s wildly popular in Japan. (AIBO in Japanese means “companion,” and it’s also a convenient, if somewhat clumsy, acronym in English for Artificial Intelligence RoBOt.)

Just under four pounds and about one foot long, the AIBO looks like a plastic Jetsons version of a Scottish terrier. The latest AIBO-210 model retails for around $1,500.

Like the Tamagotchi of a few years back, the AIBO is designed to be a digital pet. It has built-in sensors for hearing, touch, balance and sight. It wags its tail when happy and otherwise communicates “emotion” through LED lights in the face and tail.

The latest AIBO-210 model adds voice recognition and movement control over a wireless local area network. What’s more, AIBO owners can purchase additional behavior packs—software bundles stored on a memory stick that you insert into the robot. The AIBO Party Pack, for instance, lets you play games such as rock-paper-scissors.

Trading Up

Sony is hoping that by providing an open platform for third-party developers, AIBO owners will continually “upgrade” their pet—swapping new hardware and software in the same way video-game fans buy new titles.

“Once you come up with different applications, anything can happen,” says Jon Piazza, spokesperson for Sony’s Entertainment Robot America division. “Look at the [home console] video game industry—this could be the start of something like that… This could be on the same level as PlayStation 2.”

Other vendors are banking on the same concept. Technology company iRobot is creating a consumer model of its iRobot machine, which can be remotely controlled over the Internet via a regular Web browser. iRobot is also working on a developer’s kit and hopes to ship early next year. Spokesperson Sharon Campbell says iRobot is aiming for a price point “around that of a high-end notebook PC.”

Teaching New Tricks

So what kind of add-ons can we expect for our future robot pets?

“You might see a GPS system, or a module that lets AIBO read you your e-mail,” Piazza says. Another possibility: an AIBO-Cam that wirelessly broadcasts what the robot sees and hears back to your PC or television.

The AIBO is wired for hardware add-ons as well, with easy pop-off parts. “It could be possible to pop on wheels to let AIBO roll around,” Piazza says. “Or maybe you want a lion head or a dinosaur head—or something totally futuristic-looking.” Steadied with wheels, Piazza says, AIBO could even be programmed to wheel a tray of margaritas around at your next party.

Using mathematical models and a 3-D Web browser, international food organizations collaborate on raising virtual crops.

In the ongoing effort to eradicate world hunger, international food organizations are applying the latest Internet technology to some of the world’s oldest problems.

The International Potato Center (known by its Spanish acronym CIP) is assembling a three-dimensional online research lab to help researchers, educators and decision makers collaborate on a global basis. Working with ActiveWorlds.com, which develops online 3-D environments, CIP is planting the seeds for one of the world’s first virtual crop fields.

This is no ordinary collaborative network. Using ActiveWorlds’s Internet browser, researchers can actually (well, virtually) gather together within a shared 3-D environment online—be it a potato farm in the Andes, a cattle ranch in Wyoming or a mango grove in Burma.

Sim Pickings

Computer-generated agriculture simulations have been employed for more than a decade but are often accessible only within centralized research institutions and universities. Researchers participating in the CIP project, however, need only an Internet connection and the free ActiveWorlds browser to connect.

Dr. Roberto Quiroz, CIP’s head of natural resource management in Lima, Peru, says the virtual lab can display different environmental scenarios that are played out within the 3-D environment.

“We can link our existing models and put a visual face on them—a 3-D interface,” Quiroz says. “We can model a farm, for instance, and then you’re seeing that farm. Then we can apply an erosion model and show how rainfall will impact the farm in 20 or 25 years. We are trying to make those kinds of things visual so decision makers can see them.”

The World Wide Harvest

CIP belongs to the international Future Harvest group, along with 15 other food and environmental research centers worldwide. Quiroz says that 10 centers, funded by Future Harvest’s System-Wide Livestock Program, are participating in the trial phase of the project. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization; several international agricultural research centers; and universities in Europe, the U.S. and developing countries will also participate in the virtual lab.

Richard Noll, president and CEO of ActiveWorlds, says the virtual lab provides a common interface for institutes around the world to share their information. “A virtual lab on the Internet allows them to have a shared space whereby they don’t have to travel to Lima to get together and compare data,” he says.

Besides offering 3-D modeling capabilities, the virtual lab can also be used to share conventional data, Noll says. “One half of the interface is a 3-D window with chat. The other side is a standard browser which allows you to get any kind of Web data you’d get normally—pictures, graphs, documents, sound files.”

Quiroz says the initial reaction to the trial project has been positive. “I presented a prototype to my board of directors and they were crazy about it. They said, ‘This is the way to go!’”

Opening Up the Farm

Another aim of the virtual lab project is public outreach, Quiroz adds. The public will be able to access all virtual simulations, which will include a prototype with simple models available by the last week in June.

“People anywhere in the world can come to the world we’re building here and see what we’re doing and ask questions online to our researchers,” he says. “We also hope to help decision makers deal with agricultural policies and resource management.”

“Our mandate is to help the poor people of developing countries improve their well-being through agricultural research, through science and technology,” Quiroz says. “We want to develop this lab to help researchers who don’t have the capability of developing their own [computer modeling] systems, but can use [our system] online.”

Glenn McDonald and Harry McCracken

From the August 1999 issue of PC World magazine

Ten minutes before my auction was due to close, everything fell apart. I was about to score a sweetheart deal on a brand-new, in-the-box 3D graphics card–and my bid of $50 was just sitting there.

Without warning, two other bidders swooped in and upped the price to $60. Panicking, I raised my bid to $65. No good. The price jumped to $70 … $75 … $80.

When the dust settled, the card went to “BD from Richmond, Virginia” for $95. I cursed him under my breath. Then I surfed off to see what other cards were up for bid, and the hunt began anew…–Diary of a Web auction bidder

Welcome to the wild world of online auctions. At its worst, the adventure can be hair-raising. But at its best, it can be an addictive way to buy high-quality products at bargain-basement prices. The range of items up for bid is nearly unlimited, from factory-fresh PC gear to toys like the ones Mom tossed out when you were a kid.

It’s no wonder auctions rank among the hottest Web shopping sites. Even so, successful auction buying isn’t a no-brainer. We speak as battle-hardened veterans of bidding at big-name sites (see “The Bidder Truth”).

We began our quest with a wish list of 20 products, including a 333-MHz or better computer for less than $750, a $250 17-inch monitor, a $200 CD jukebox, an $80 golf club, and a $50 cordless telephone. Because collectibles today rank among the most popular of auction items, we also sought some special fare: a vintage copy of Stephen King’s novel The Stand, a Mark McGwire rookie card, and a poster for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Girded with credit cards, money orders, and determination, we went abidding. And we nabbed some real deals, including a Pentium II desktop PC with DVD-ROM for $770, and a notebook with a great active-matrix screen for $929. We snapped up the McGwire card for $120 and the Star Wars poster for $55. (We’ve seen these items selling elsewhere for $200 and $150, respectively.)

Bids Gone Bad

We didn’t, however, come away from every auction we “won” feeling like winners. Some products were incomplete, and one never arrived at all. In addition, auctions don’t come with all the standard assurances of retail buying: Return and warranty policies are often lacking.

On any given day, even the best sites may be awash in so-so deals. It all depends on what you’re looking for. That makes the sites hard to rate, but two–EBay and Onsale–are standouts. Both have scads of items to choose from, well-designed interfaces that simplify buying, and plentiful help and tutorials. They’re not the only auction sites worth a visit, but they’re smart places to start.

No matter where you bid, arm yourself with thorough knowledge of the item you bid on, the seller offering it, and the rules of the game. Impulse bidders are begging to be disappointed–a fact we’re embarrassed to admit we learned the hard way.

Ten minutes before my auction was due to close, everything fell apart. I was about to score a sweetheart deal on a brand-new, in-the-box 3D graphics card–and my bid of $50 was just sitting there.

Without warning, two other bidders swooped in and upped the price to $60. Panicking, I raised my bid to $65. No good. The price jumped to $70…$75…$80.

When the dust settled, the card went to “BD from Richmond, Virginia” for $95. I cursed him under my breath. Then I surfed off to see what other cards were up for bid, and the hunt began anew…