Meez, an avatar service, today announced that it has partnered with AOL's AIM. Now, AIM users can head to the AIM.Meez site and create custom 3D avatars for use on the chat client. The avatar, once installed, will then appear in the users' chat window, and perform actions based on the conversational movements of the user (i.e. typing "hi" will result in a hand wave).
Meez is an advertising supported service, clearly targeted to the youth market. There's no word yet on current advertising partners, but the company envisions a sort of virtual product placement situation (as seen in this completely fictional conversation that bears no resemblance to how Pete or I actually talk):
pete: whazzup? [pete's avatar tilts his head quizzically]
rizzn: nada. just chillin', drinkin' a mountain dew. [rizzn's avatar whips out a Mountain Dew and begins to chug]
pete: true. true.
