3pointD.com

It took place this week on Monday afternoon, apparently because of the Christmas schedule, but it looks like NBC, which has already held a couple of events in the virtual world of Second Life, is now trying out Sunday Night Football in the virtual world. The Christmas game between the Cowboys and the Eagles was not simulcast in SL but instead accompanied by a “guess the play” game (run from a heads-up display) that rewarded virtual armchair quarterbacks with prizes of Linden dollars at halftime and at the end of the game. The event, a beta test, according to the Electric Sheep Company (sponsors of this blog), was held at NBC’s virtual sports bar in the »Second City 3« sim, and was attended by about a dozen people, I’m told by one sports fan, who didn’t seem to mind watching the game on TV while they carried on in high Second Life style within the virtual world. No word yet on whether the event constituted a success for NBC, but I’m betting it worked well enough that we can look forward to more such Sunday night games in SL — which clearly has greater potential than the lame offerings that used to be known as “interactive television.”