Following their recent announcement of the addition of player vs. player combat to the game, KingsIsle Entertainment has announced the upcoming addition of a new location to their virtual world Wizard101.

Dragonspyre will be the first new 3D location to be added to the game since the game launched in fall, and is expected to launch in January 2009.

Continuing the storyline of Wizard101, Dragonspyre is an "ancient haunted world" in which a renegade professor has been seen, and is a "dark world where the inhabitants held a special interest in fire magic".

We previously covered Wizard101 as part of our Online World Atlas, calling it "easily the most impressive kid-orientated virtual world that [we'd] played in [our] (admittedly short) time investigating them ... It's probably the perfect example of how free-to-play can work. The core game is so fun from the get go [we] imagine most players want to pay for it just to unlock the extra possibilities on offer."

[Each day, Worlds in Motion will be taking a closer look at individual virtual worlds. We'll start with a nuts-and-bolts overview, then move on to an in-depth tour, to be followed up with a conclusion-- all with the aim of bringing you all the essential info and details on each world in the rapidly-developing virtual landscape.]

We've been filling in a lot of the surprising blanks in our Online World Atlas recently, such Audition and NeoPets, so here’s the latest blank we're going to fill—Travian, one of the most popular browser-based civilization building games.

Outspark has announced that it has partnered with PayByCash to allow users to redeem PayByCash’s Ultimate Game Card for “SparkCash”, Outspark’s in-game currency.

The Ultimate Game Card can be purchased from over 21,000 retail locations in the US and Canada, including 7-Eleven, Rite Aid and Wal-Mart.

SparkCash allows players to buy premium in-game items in Outspark's MMORPGs Fiesta and Secret of the Solstice, choosing from premium items to customize their in-game characters with ridable mounts and costumes among other options.

“These non-branded cards are a great way to buy SparkCash for players that don't have a credit card or to give the gift of SparkCash to friends this holiday season,” said an Outspark representative.

French tools developer N-Sided has announced a new avatar creation solution for virtual worlds and MMOGs, QUIDAM. The company promises the software is “unique in combining and merging various anatomical elements and clothes into one seamless model.”

QUIDAM, they continue, is the only character generator able to "perfectly" export multi-resolution models with meshes, textures, UV maps, bones and skinning to the leading 3D modeling tools, including 3D Studio Max and Maya.

In order to accelerate production, QUIDAM includes several other tools, such as a geometric engine to allow artists to search through databases of body parts, clothes and props before automatically merging all parts into “one seamless model.”

“We strongly believe in the development of Virtual Worlds and Massive Multiplayer Online Games. By anticipating the market’s considerable needs, N-Sided has been focusing its work on real-time for years and is now able to claim a leading position by offering a productive and mature solution for avatar creation.” said Pierre Bretagnolle, President of N-Sided.

Online virtual entertainment company Planet Live has announced the soft launch of a “virtual football chat world” Planet Soccer Live.

Developed with digital agency MCM Net, Planet Soccer Live is aimed at 6-14 year-old children and consists of a virtual world where users can explore a football stadium, training ground and other virtual rooms to interact with others, and features football-related single and multiplayer games, a live chat function, and the ability for users to personalise their own football character and custom design their own virtual home.

As in many other virtual worlds aimed at children the real-time chat function consists of users selecting phrases, emotes, questions and responses from a predefined menu. Usernames are also to be monitored on a regular basis.

Sam Fairweather and Jodie Abela, co-founders of Planet Live said: “The vision of Planet Live was to create a world where soccer-passionate kids can be their own soccer star, interact, socialise with other kids, go shopping and play and compete in games. We are really excited to be finally launching such a unique online gaming experience for kids and strongly believe it will be embraced by the worldwide soccer community. Planet Soccer Live is suited for boys and girls of all ages who are passionate about soccer, learning and having fun, and we aim to continually improve and develop the soccer planet with new features and single/multiplayer games for kids and families to enjoy for many years to come”.

You may remember a few days ago we mentioned a new Asian MMO publisher that had made themselves known to us, Enjoymmo. Well, they’ve got in touch with us to inform us of their (many) Christmas-themed events.

In Magic World Online, players will be able to claim their “Christmas package” from any in-game ambassador, allowing them special Christmas-themed equipment. Additionally, a new monster known as the “Naughty Christmas Pig” (?) will be dropping items called the “Refined Stocking” which can be exchanged for presents if enough are collected.

In Chaos Online, players who find any game master will be rewarded with a Christmas suit, and game masters will be asking questions in the chat channels, and players who answer correctly can win prizes.

Finally, in Legend of Golden Plume, players can deliver food materials or find stolen items for Santa to receive Christmas gifts.

OGPlanet has announced their most recent updates to their MMORPGs Cabal Online and La Tale.

Cabal Online has received a revamp to its skill system plus new rewards, with the game’s “Nation War” aspect now allowing players to choose a nation and battleground to wage war with other nations. High level players who excel within the Nation War can also receive new titles which include increased power and abilities.

In La Tale a new location has been launched, Atlantis, and players who reach level 80 can unlock one of eight new character classes, including the “Gunslinger” and “Bard” classes.

This news follows the recent announcement from OGPlanet of the promotions that they're running in their fantasy golf game Albatross 18.

Free-to-play creativity-orientated virtual world for children Shidonni recently announced the launch of an open beta of its premium version, which introduces "an advanced set of creation tools and activities", and we talk to CEO, Ido Marzursky, about the unusual decision to develop a world so heavily based on drawing and creativity.

Can you introduce Shidonni?

Ido Marzusky: Shidonni is a one year old start up based in Israel. It was founded by Nachshon Peled and I; the company is funded by a group of British investors who are very excited about games and virtual worlds.

We have just launched our virtual world for young kids under the same name, Shidonni. When we started out we wanted to focus on a fun experience based on kids' imagination and their endless creativity. We felt then as we do today that a lot of games on the internet are based on templates, ready made items and a very commerce oriented flow. We wanted to offer a different approach which is no less fun and focus on children development, empowerment and education.

Shidonni is based on these values. Based on patented animation models, we bring kids' drawings to life on screen. In Shidonni kids play, care and share animals and worlds that they draw themselves. Each animal moves, eats and talks with the kids that created it.

In this round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section, including positions from Armature Studio, NetDevil, Sony Online Entertainment, Longtail Studios, and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted in each market area this week include:

Massively multiplayer online developer CCP is considering leaving its home country of Iceland, due to the growing economic crisis which has hit the small island country hard.

One of the first global economics to feel the full effects of the global financial crisis, Iceland’s banking sector is left with debts that have risen to as much as $14 billion - 10 times the country’s GDP.

All three of the country’s major banks have had to be nationalized, with inflation now at 17 percent and unemployment in double digits.

As reported by British newspaper The Guardian, restrictions on access to foreign currency have proven disastrous for EVE Online developer CCP, which also runs offices in Atlanta and Shanghai.

Sci-fi themed massively multiplayer online game EVE Online has 300,000 subscribers worldwide –- as much as the actual population of Iceland.

"To make new games, we need foreign investors," said CCP’s Eyjolfur Gudmundsson. "The present currency restrictions are putting us in a straitjacket. We are in talks with the government, but if we can't let capital in, we might be compelled to leave Iceland, even though this would be against our wishes."