Win a game in the virtual world, for instance, and the toy gains a new functionality in the real world.
Hogan thinks social games can both help THQ expand its consumer base as well as potentially provide new sources of revenue, through in-game sales of virtual goods, for instance.
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For instance, if the virtual server goes down, all of the virtual machines go down, destroying availability.
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Once a design is set, different bits of the manufacturing process are tried out on computer: a virtual pipe-bending machine, for instance, makes sure that the fuel lines which snake their way through the airframe can be created without wrapping themselves around the machine and bringing it to a halt.
The flight simulator, for instance, cannot simply download the virtual aircraft from the design computers.
FarmVille players, for instance, can pay to collect virtual animals.
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That opens up the possibility of putting virtual objects into the real world, letting you "pick up" a computer-generated 3D architectural model and spin it around in your hand, for instance, or gesture to control a virtual display appearing on an actual wall.
The cry was answered partly by a new breed of mouse made specifically for navigating virtual worlds. 3D Connexion's SpaceNavigator, for instance, features a knob you can push in any direction to fly around, with your speed depending on how hard you push.
For instance, users can select a color by touching a virtual palette and then "paint" images on the screen with fingers or a brush.
However, many of our purely technical, function-specific learning (updates to tax regulations, for instance), have been transformed from live learning to rich virtual delivery.
Microsoft, for instance, in 2010 let FarmVille players explore various parts of its Bing search engine and gave people virtual currency for Liking Bing on Facebook.
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