National Geographic announces “Virtual World of Music”

National Geographic has announced today that they have teamed up with NDi Media to develop and distribute “Virtual World of Music.” While they haven’t released details of how users will be interacting in the world, it will be a multiplayer social gaming experience to be released in early 2010.

Users will use NDi Media’s Mixing Studio to create tunes using themes and beats from around the world. The platform has already been tested by kids to ensure that every song made will come out sounding good. National Geographic already has a series of mini-games and exploration tools on their site and will hopefully be taking things to the next level with this launch.

What is particularly exciting about this announcement is the possibility of integrating music discovery with creation and then being able to take it to an online community for discussion. Good music isn’t only created in the US and Britain and hopefully this project will allow music exploration along a wide range of cultures.

We’ve seen other kid’s virtual worlds base their ideas around music but none capture the scope of ability and education that this world seems to be offering. It’s too early to tell how the world will pan out and what level of engagement it will offer but the announcement leaves plenty of room for excitement.

-Chase