The last April Fool's Day saw us posting a fake press release in which Microsoft announced “HOMEless,” a laggy online 2D community-based service that will enable Xbox Live Gold members to create their own 8-bit avatar and explore a virtual community of Xbox Live Silver users. We even designed a logo for it that was a mix of the PlayStation Home and Xbox Live logos.

Although we are sure Microsoft won't use such a name, it seems our Fool's Day joke may turn out to be true.

Daniel Schiappa, general manager of strategy for Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division, the unit responsible for Xbox and Zune, told attendees at a virtual worlds conference in Austin that “by next year, you’ll probably know more about why I’m up here.”

Austin360.com reports that later Schiappa hinted in an interview that Microsoft is considering launching some sort of virtual world offering that would span across its gaming, PC and mobile device offerings.

Schiappa said that most likely, any foray by Microsoft into the world of avatars or social networking would begin with PCs, then move across Xbox and finally into its mobile phone business.

News-Source: teamxbox