When youtube combined videos and the Internet and elevated it to Web 2.0, it made waves. Now, another player is preparing to surf those waves and hopes it won’t wipeout.

Yahoo Live made its debut last Feb 8, 2008. Due to a LOT of traffic, they had to do several downtimes. A good sign, mayhaps.

Now what the $*#&@ is Y! Live?

In a nutshell, it’s youtube on overdose – it allows you to make streaming, LIVE video channels and cater to your viewers or fans. Here’s what the folks at the Y! Live official blog have to say about this new service “How is Y! Live different from other online video sites? That’s simple: it’s live. What you’re watching, right now, is what other people are watching, right now. We wanted to create an experience that takes us back to live television, where things are happening now, in real time.” said Michael Quoc, Yahoo Director for Advanced Products.

For broadcasters: You’ve been posting your stuff to MySpace and YouTube. Now, connect with your fans in real time on Y! Live. There is something intangible about a live performance – an excitement that you can’t replicate in pre-recorded format. Broadcast a performance, interact with your fans with video and chat, embed your broadcast anywhere – it’s all possible on Y! Live.

For gaming, there a lot of potential applications for the service. Streaming tournaments of provincial events for example, or how about a stream of Level Up LIVE 2008? (now, there’s a good tie-up idea!) and perhaps live streaming of Guild Siege, Chip War or Territorial battles for MMORPG games such as Ragnarok, RF Online or Perfect World.

This may be the future of television and “personalized entertainment” as we know it.

Best of luck to Y! Live. I’ll be monitoring developments.