The online virtual world craze is catching on and traditional media wants a part of it. According to a Business Week report, Sony and News Corp. are said to be interested in paying as much as $400 million for Club Penguin, an online virtual world for the 8- to 14-year-old set. 

Traffic to the site -- where kids chat with friends' penguin avatars in icicle-covered cafes -- jumped by more than sevenfold in the past 12 months, bringing its share higher than Second Life's and World of Warcraft's combined.

Joe Laszlo, an analyst with consultancy JupiterResearch, told Business Week that potential acquirers "are thinking virtual worlds are the next big thing, and they want to get in early." And since it can take two years or longer to build a flourishing virtual world, acquisition may be the fastest way in.

Viacom, for example, acquired Neopets, a virtual world for kids, for $150 million back in 2005, and several months ago Viacom's music network MTV launched Virtual MTV, which lets users outfit and race virtual cars, watch celebrity interviews and hang out with other fans.

To learn about marketing within virtual worlds, read Virtual Worlds: Your Place or Theirs?