Donatelli is right, inasmuch as big data centers and the cloud are creating worlds where networking, storage and servers are so tightly coupled as to be in some ways indistinguishable from each other.

FORBES: HP Remakes Data Center Package

Those involved in creating virtual worlds for children got their chance to answer his criticisms during a panel session at the conference.

BBC: Boys playing with handheld game console,

Hirose says the penchant for creating small, controllable worlds has nothing to do with escapism or isolationism.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Travel Watch | Who Needs Nature? Japan Does It Better

He was particularly focused on creating unique and interesting worlds and allowing players to move freely through them (a unique concept at the time).

CNN: 'BioShock' creator talks history, writing and 'nerdity'

Seagle, worked on the largest franchise characters in comics from Superman to X-Men before refocusing on creating their own original worlds and characters for their comic books and graphic novels, which are published through their Man of Action imprint at Image Comics.

FORBES: Man Of Action Studios Founders Talk Games And Transmedia

To compare alien planets, Dr. Mendez at the Planetary Habitability Laboratory and his colleagues are creating an Earth Similarity Index that ranks worlds by their resemblance to our own planet, on a scale from zero to one, based on their mass, radius, density and surface temperature.

WSJ: Login/Register to set your edition

It records and distributes content from both worlds, with a focus on creating a fusion of the two as it introduces Western artists to a new, larger audience called desi (Hindi for everything from the Indian subcontinent) and provides South Asian artists a platform from which to cross over to the Western world.

FORBES: Magazine Article