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Philip K. Dick got me through my teenage years. I read all of his novels, many of them multiple times, but among my favorites was always A Scanner Darkly, the twisted tale of a drug-addled officer assigned to spy on some drug-addled layabouts, with mind-addling results. (I also really dug Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, as well as any number of others, on up to and including Valis. Plus, it’s really worth checking out his non-science-fiction fiction, like Confessions of a Crap Artist. But I digress.) Now the DVD of the recent Scanner Darkly movie — a cool, rotoscoped experience starring Keanu Reeves and Woody Harrelson, which is actually pretty good — is getting a release party in the virtual world of Second Life, kicking off next Monday, December 18, from 6:00pm to 10:00pm SL time (from 9:00pm Eastern). Sounds fun, too: “There will be music and a lot of imagery and visual experiences reminiscent of the film or trippy to the point that a Pokemon level seizure isn’t far behind,” according to a flak. (Pokemon seizures in Second Life? I’m so there.) There will also be audio and video clips from the film, and a few surprises. SLurl on over on Monday. And don’t forget to check out the advert in the Second Life Herald sidebar for a cute quip from the movie, heh.

Seems NBC so enjoyed its virtual Christmas tree lighting in Second Life that they’re back for more. Next Wednesday, December 20, the network will bring reggae rockers O.A.R. and funky gospel dude Robert Randolph to the virtual Peacock Room at the top of their Rockefeller Center replica, starting at 6:25pm SL time (9:25pm Eastern). Once again, the event will be produced by the Electric Sheep Company (sponsors of this blog) and replicated across multiple sims (this time NBC1 through NBC10). Nice to see a major media company coming back for a second helping of Second Life. Look for more such initiatives from more such companies in more such worlds in future.

EVE Online gives rise to some of the most interesting economic gameplay in any MMO. EVE fans and those who pay attention to these kinds of things may remember the EVE alliance known as Interstellar Starbase Syndicate Operations, which started selling shares in its in-game outposts (huge, player-built and player-run space stations) to the public almost 18 months ago. Now, ISS is going one step further, and is selling shares in the alliance itself. It’s non-voting stock, but it turns the alliance into something different, something that’s rarely if ever been seen in EVE before: a mega-corporation that’s beholden to its shareholders, a company that will publish financial statements, and whose first order of business will be the maximisation of shareholder value. With its IPO, which is still under way, ISS is seeking to take emergent economic gameplay to another level in EVE, and is making a pretty fascinating step toward a new kind of player-generated content in the game. I just had a chat with ISS principals Count TaSessine and Serenity Steele, who had interesting things to say about both their in-game goals, and about the kinds of gameplay they want to help generate in EVE. Their plan is so ambitious that it almost constitutes a kind of user-generated patch to gameplay. (more…)

IBM, which just launched a business group to pursue opportunities in virtual worlds, will make some of its private islands in the virtual world of Second Life open to the public starting next week (from around 18 December), to showcase some of the company’s early work and experimentation. There aren’t a lot of details on this yet (since the islands aren’t yet public), but some of the things IBM will be showcasing on the islands, according to the company, include the following:

Virtual business, or v-business – exploring how to extend business opportunities into virtual worlds, but also how to apply virtual worlds to business problems and opportunities.

Collaboration and education – focusing on how to extend virtual worlds to help business collaborate both internally and externally in ways that more closely resemble real life, and where we are using these immersive, 3D environments to simplify complex concepts by “showing” them in a visual fashion.

Innovation and experimentation – working with a broad community to push the limits of what is possible with virtual worlds and to build a community to help build out the next generation Web, one that is immersive, interactive and 3D.

It sounds like IBM is shooting high with their virtual worlds ambition. I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve come up with so far, and hearing more about what they’re planning.