Rik Riel has a good post on a project that opened last week and launched on Friday, built out by the Electric Sheep Company (3pointD’s sponsors). It’s STA Travel in Second Life, which seeks to do in SL more or less what it does for college students in the real world: point out the most interesting places, and provide a way to get there and an instant community when they arrive. With no lodging requirements at SL destinations, however, STA is instead providing free dorm rooms for people to hang out in — but the really interesting aspect of these is that they’re provided on a shared basis: you can claim and customize a room, furnish it from an in-world menu, and even drop some of your own items there, then save your settings. If you leave, the room reverts to a blank space ready for the next occupant. Come back to any of the many other dorm rooms and you can load your old settings from the service’s memory. The dorm service is in closed beta at the moment, though »STA’s sim nearby« is open for business. The shared room model is an interesting approach to scaling in Second Life, and could be a good way to reduce the resource needed to service a global audience (i.e., one that’s not all online at the same time). It’s hard to see that this scaling solution will scale significantly itself, but it feels like a technique that will have its uses from time to time. No doubt there’s some more technical version of this that’s in common use elsewhere; if so, please enlighten us in the comments thread.
Check out this video of a game called Metazoa Ludens that you and your hamster can play together. The hamsters apparently dig it. (There’s also a PC World story with more details.) It’s a bit like Mice Arena, only perhaps not quite as much fun, since in Metazoa Ludens your avatar isn’t being chased by a giant rodent, as in Mice Arena. Still, it’s an interesting use of 3pointD-related technologies, and it comes from the cool Mixed Reality Lab in Singapore, who also brought us Human Pacman, which is possibly even cooler, and features full-on Rainbows End style “Head Mounted Displays” that show you the playing field in front of you, as below:
Without an announcement on its official blog, Linden Lab, makers of the virtual world of Second Life, seems to have introduced a new capability for its in-world building tools that will allow them to better support established formats, something that SL builders have long found sorely lacking. The new feature should change the landscape for the SL building community by inviting in modelers whose skills have not been applicable before.
The new addition is known as a “sculpted prim” (short for primitive, the word used to denote the basic building block of SL objects), and should make it possible for 3D artists who are used to working in more standard formats to work more easily in Second Life. The scultped prim takes its shape from information encoded into the color channels of a texture. For reasons beyond my technical expertise, this makes it possible to create a more complex, more natural shape than is possible with the current set of SL build tools.
More importantly, it means that SL objects are suddenly a lot more interoperable with objects and shapes from other worlds and modelling programs. According to the Second Life wiki, “We provide an exporter for Maya, and hopefully exporters for 3ds Max, Blender, and ZBrush will be available soon. We also have plans to provide a sculpt editor within the Second Life viewer.” The wiki doesn’t say where this Maya exporter is available, but according to Tao Takashi, it may be in the next preview build of the client, due shortly. (more…)
A group of students from Brown University have launched an open-source museum in the virtual world of Second Life. Known as OSMOSA, the Open-Source Museum of Open-Source Art, the museum is located »in Second Life’s Eson region« and features a mess of artworks that anyone can copy, modify, alter or otherwise contribute to. The museum itself is open to alteration as well, which is a fantastic idea. The modding got under way at the opening party Tuesday night: an already-altered image of Manet’s Olympia (with space helmets added to make it more excellent) came out the other end of the night with some interesting additions and adjustments, as seen below:
Kaneva, the social media virtual world, will be “launching” its economy in May, according to a press release. Members can already use Credits to purchase things like furniture, but a slightly more complex system seems to be going into place, one that attempts to guard against “real-money trade” — the out-of-game cash economy that parallels most virtual economies. Unfortunately, Kaneva seems to be missing an opportunity to make their world a more engaging place.
Kaneva members can already user “credits” to purchase things like furniture within the world, but an upcoming feature will let them purchase credits with real-world cash. No word yet on what the exchange rate will be, or whether it will be fixed or floating.
Members will also receive something called “reward credits.” It’s not entirely clear from the press release whether there are normal credits that are awarded for things like participating in “Stress Tests, special events, and contests,” or whether they’re a separate currency altogether. Their features are interesting: (more…)
Following the news of the new mainframe platform for virtual worlds that IBM is working on, I had the chance to talk to David Gelardi, IBM’s vice president of industry solutions, who is heading up the effort. “This is a brand new way to support the needs of virtual worlds in an environment that begins to look like 3D commerce,” Gelardi said. “Think more in terms of a future state where there is a transaction taking place that is a buying experience of some kind.” The “hybrid environment of immense power and flexibility” that IBM is creating will rely on the Cell’s processing power for rendering, the mainframe for cryptography and its ability to handle the processing needs of a massively multiuser enviroment, and Hoplon’s software for physics and messaging.
“I would argue that the world doesn’t yet understand the promise of [virtual world] technology,” Gelardi said. “We see this technology moving into banking and retail and anything where the consumer is involved in a transaction of commerce that they would today do over the Web, online shopping, online banking. The problem is that rendering is kind of weak. We haven’t figured out how to accelerate that yet, and how to marry that to transactions.” (more…)
The International Herald Tribune breaks the news that IBM is launching a new mainframe platform specifically designed for next-generation virtual worlds and 3D virtual environments. In concert with Brazilian game developer Hoplon, IBM will use the PlayStation3’s ultra-high-powered Cell processor to create a mainframe architecture that will provide the security, scalability and speed that are currently lacking in 3D environments — a lack that is one of the factors keeping them from becoming widely adopted. If it works, it sounds like worldmakers working on IBM’s platform should be able to support concurrencies far above todays’ capabilities, and implement commerce systems far more secure than is currently possible.
The IHT story talks about a server system that will permit higher levels of concurrency at greater levels of rendering and realism. The machines will be priced beginning at hundreds of thousands dollars, according to the story.
While it probably won’t have much impact on the state of virtual worlds right off, IBM’s new infrastructure could make a big difference in the long run, by enabling much greater numbers of concurrent users in next-gen virtual worlds, and by creating more secure possibilities for commerce. Big media and entertainment companies continue to be interested in virtual worlds, but they are also skeptical in many cases because there is no way to support many thousands of audience members at a single event. (more…)
It seems Dutch director Paul Verhoeven (of such classics as Robocop and Showgirls, but also Soldier of Orange) will use the virtual world of Second Life to audition actors for an upcoming film. According to a press release, radio and television spots are advertising an open call for all those interested in auditioning for Black Book 2, the follow-up to Verhoeven’s popular Black Book. Starting today, “Verhoeven will hold virtual auditions in Second Life.” [Lost in the] Magic Forest, a division of Dutch media production company Revolver that issued the press release, produced a machinima spot being broadcast on Dutch television to promote the auditions (as near as I can tell through what seems to be a language barrier). (more…)
Giff Constable of the Electric Sheep Company (aka Second Life resident Forseti Svarog) has published a book of avatar portraiture from the virtual world of Second Life that’s now available not just in a virtual edition but as a real, old-media paper book as well. Out for about a week now, Avatar Expression gathers “56 color photographs revealing personality across a range of beautiful, exotic, humorous and even abstract” avatars. It’s available in its virtual edition for free »in Second Life«, or you can order one for $13.68 (the cost of production) at Lulu.com. A couple of dozen copies of the phyisical book have sold since publication was announced a week ago, Giff says, so hurry and get ‘em while supplies last. Actually, they’re printed on demand, so there’s no hurry, but pick one up anyway; physical documents recording the history of virtual worlds are few and far between.
Dutch bankers ING, which have been building Virtual Holland in the virtual world of Second Life, will also be bringing the Renault Formula 1 racing team their sponsor into the virtual world, according to a press release. Not many details are available at the moment, but it looks like virtual-world services company Rivers Run Red will be doing the heavy lifting. The team’s SL build will “put enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike behind-the-scenes with a championship-winning Formula 1 team. The experience is designed to take them closer to the dedication, technological excellence and teamwork required to achieve Formula 1 success, alongside a number of unique interactive virtual experiences.” (more…)
Just when you thought it was safe to watch lifecaster Justin.tv, or broadcast your own life with Ustream, along comes a virtual life you can not only watch on the Web but take part in controlling, a kind of collaborative stream of avatar consciousness — and one that’s going to be on display in a real-world art gallery from May 23 to June 2. Curated by the excellent Annie Ok of the GHava{SL} Center for the Arts in the virtual world of Second Life, the show will be designed by Electric Sheep Jerry Paffendorf and Christian Westbrook, and will involve Destroy Television, the interactive avatar-bot designed as a research project of the Electric Sheep Company, who streams live images of Second Life to her Web site (although that seems to be dark at the moment). Just what form the exhibit will take has yet to be revealed, but the show will take place simultaneously at the Fuse Gallery in New York (at 93 Second Avenue, between Fifth and Sixth Streets), and in SL at the GHava{SL} Center for the Arts, which is run by Annie’s SL self, Xantherus Halberd. (more…)
In case you missed this (as I did when I was traveling), I chatted with the gang from the excellent VerySpatial.com for one of their podcasts a while back, and it’s now posted on their blog. We recap Virtual Worlds 2007 a bit and explore some other corners of mapping and virtual worlds. It was an interesting chat, and should make an interesting listen.
SAP, the German software giant, is about to open its doors officially in Second Life. Rather than going for an out-and-out island build, they have opted for a more conservative approach, opening a relatively small office on the Second Life developer island of »Silicon City«, owned by The V3 Group, who are sponsoring the ITE’07 event, that starts tomorrow (Friday, 20th April). (more…)
Dutch IT consultant and photographer Erwyn Van Der Meer is working on something called a Flickr Metadata Synchr, “a tool to synchronize relevant metadata added to images stored on Flickr with the original versions of those images stored locally on your hard drive.” Though the project is only at version 0.6.0.0 at the moment, this is a great idea. Erwyn shares some of the thinking behind it in this blog post. I think it’s a great idea. (The one drawback, for now, is that it works only under Vista.) It would be great to have access to the metadata associated with my Flickr photos even while offline, and to be able to work with that and then synch the same data on Flickr without having the enter it all again. Storing that kind of data locally makes it accessible to all kind of other applications, which broadens the range of things I can possibly do with it. (more…)
Unless I’m much mistaken, it looks like Mattel’s new Barbie Girls, to be launched later this month, will be a physical doll that can interact with a virtual world, and should be a very interesting new experiment in that kind of crossover entertainment. BarbieGirls.com is a multi-user isometric browser-based virtual world just launched by Mattel for fans of the company’s Barbie dolls. It’s pretty simple stuff (see screenshot at end of this post), but it looks like it could be tied to the company’s physical dolls in interesting ways. The Barbie Girls concept is due for a broader launch on March April 26. Mattel isn’t saying what that involves, except that “the toy blends fashion doll play, the Internet and music,” according to the L.A. Times. But clues can be found in the Barbie Girls world, where you can visit with friends, shop for clothes, earn B Bucks by playing games, and do many of the other things that are fast becoming standard in virtual worlds. If you’ve been to Habbo Hotel or CyWorld, you know what I’m talking about.
As usual, it’s the shopping that’s interesting. When I tried to buy the rather attractive pair of pedal-pushers pictured above for Walkerette, I was told to “Connect your Barbie Girl to buy this fabulous fashion!” (The “Tell me more” link, however, is blank at the moment.) That indicates to me that the physical Barbie Girls dolls will be interactive with the virtual world on the Web site. That’s a pretty interesting concept, especially if you can buy physical clothes for your Barbie Girl that match the ones she’s wearing in the virtual world. Maybe you get extra B Bucks if your physical Barbie Girl meets up in the real world with her virtual friends. Stuff like that, and more. Very cool. I’m looking forward to hearing more about this. I may even have to get myself a Barbie Girl. Uh-oh.
Walkerette at home
If you can navigate MTV’s Web site, sign up for its new Virtual Pimp My Ride and start pimpin’. The network is giving away a pimped-out 2007 Ford Mustang as part of a show-off challenge in the new gearhead corner of its virtual world. All you have to do is log on (a feat in itself; see below), do your best to pimp out a virtual ride, and send a screenshot to vMTV (at Glinka [at] vlb.there.com) by the morning of April 20th. Members will be able to vote on the best pimped-out cars throughout the week, and the top ten will be shown off on April 26th. The single finalist from this phase of the competition will “get to compete” for a 2007 Mustang, though there’s no indication of what exactly that means. Good luck. (more…)
Virtual-world services company Rivers Run Red will today launch its virtuallife.tv, a television network for Second Life, at the MIPTV digital content market in Cannes. This was originally slated to launch back in November, of course, so we’ll see what this launch consists of. But new details of the service have emerged, so it seems an infrastructure has been built out for the in-world television network, which is now awaiting content, some of which Rivers will try to gather at MIPTV. (NOTE: This is not to be confused with Virtualive.tv, a project of Morpheus Media, which will stream concerts live to Second Life.] (more…)
Coca-Cola set up in Second Life
Coca-Cola is taking its first steps in the virtual world of Second Life with a contest in which SL members will be invited to “imagine a virtual vending machine with limitless possibilities.” In concert with new-media marketing firm crayon and virtual-world services outfit Millions of Us, Coke is running “an open contest for Second Life residents and the general population to design a virtual experience machine through its Virtual Thirst competition. . . . This contest is not a search for the virtual version of a real-life vending machine that distributes bottles and cans, but the mission to create a portable device for Second Life’s ‘in-world’ digital society that unleashes a refreshing and attention-grabbing experience, on demand.” The contest is to be announced today in an in-world press conference with Coca-Cola execs. (more…)
It is an odd coincidence that while Mr Wallace is away in Brazil, I have become aware of a new Linden Labs initiative - Second Life Brazil. Since late 2006 there has been an influx of Brazillians entering Second Life, prompted by coverage on Brazillian TV. However, there has been a language barrier, which the new initiative addresses. Brazillian partners Kaizen Games, a major distributor of online and PC games, and iG, Brasil Telecom’s internet service provider, will be delivering a Portuguese language version of Second Life, allowing many more Brazillians to participate. Their target is to attract some 2 million new residents in the first year.
(more…)
Kudos to CNet writer Dan Terdiman for his scoop of the report that’s been emerging from the Metaverse Roadmap summit we attended last spring. Dan has a nice story up today on a draft version of the report he obtained. It doesn’t seem to be online yet, nor has it been distributed to participants (of which I was one), so I can’t link it for you, but check out Dan’s story, as well as some of last spring’s coverage for an idea of what it contains. I’ll blog it some more once I see it myself. Which will probably be sometime next week, as I have a wedding to go to tomorrow in Rio, though this seemed worth taking a moment to blog. Let me know what you think if you see it before I do.
The BBC News website today reported on a scheme to use Second Life for designing a new Jardin Des Halles, in Paris. Plans have been in the pipeline since 2004 for the development of a garden area sitting atop the Les Halles shopping mall, but the local residents’ association, Accomplir, is not happy with the lack of consultation. They have therefore taken matters into their own hands, and have launched a competition, inviting all would-be garden designers to weave some magic in Second Life. Accomplir will draw up a short-list of the top 5, which will be displayed on an island in Second Life (as yet unidentifed). The winner, to be announced at the end of June, will receive a prize of 275,000 L$. Accomplir will then take the winning entry to Paris Town Hall, in a bid to persuade officials to speed up the laggardly redevelopment process. A full schedule of the competition timescales can be found in the Accomplir press release.
I missed the opening of this art show in the virtual world of Second Life, but it will apparently be up for a while, at the [KODE] Gallery in »SL’s Envy region«. It’s a solo show by Rio-based artist Löis Lancaster (aka Haemetz Mizser in SL), “a figurative digital illustrator in the real world, who is at the same time — and with the same body of work — an expressionist painter in Second Life,” according to SL resident Cobala Koba, who organized the show. Coincidentally, I’m headed for Rio this evening, to attend the wedding of a friend and to try to take a well needed break — although I’m already trying to set up meetings with various SL people there, so we’ll see. I’ll be away for a week, which means there may be some slow posting ahead on 3pointD. However, I’ve left the blog in the capable hands of our three contributors — Glitchy Gumshoe, Chip Poutine and Aleister Kronos — so hopefully they’ll be able to keep you entertained. See you soon.
The Electric Sheep Company (sponsors of this blog) launched a new beta search service for the virtual world of Second Life today, at search.sheeplabs.com, according to Electric Sheep Christian Westbrook. What’s unique (as far as I know) about this service is that it doesn’t rely on users to manually list their products but instead spiders the SL Grid to automatically collect information about items marked “for sale.” (Read more about how it works on the service’s About page.) The service allows avatars to opt out of the system, or to list all items they own, and doesn’t crawl private islands. Results are returned with a teleport link, price, object creator and owner, and description. According to the Sheep, it also puts less load on the system than a single avatar, so it shouldn’t create much lag.
Having someone spider the SL Grid is something I’ve been looking for for a long time, so I’m looking forward to seeing how this works in practice. Having users manually list objects, as the many other SL search services do, is a far from comprehensive solution, but it’s been the best we’ve had until now. If all goes as planned, this should push SL search forward by leaps and bounds. (more…)
On my travels in Second Life I am constantly on the lookout for new, preferably innovative, commercial or educational islands. Often I find places so new they are not yet worth discussing, as the build has barely started, but sometimes I find places that have been around for a while, yet exist in some kind of virtual backwater. One such, and one I find interesting from a business model point of view, is »EduNation«. a private island sim owned by the real life company The Consultants-E. The aim of the island is to provide educators with an opportunity to explore the application of Second Life in education, and education in Second Life. (more…)
David Alexander of the environmentally minded Web site PlanetThoughts.org sends along the news that the Environmental Council of Second Life and virtual garden-supply company »Luna Bliss« are organizing a series of events this April 22 to mark Earth Day in the virtual world of Second Life. A full schedule will apparently be released on the site shortly, but “presentation and display topics include water resources, energy, global warming, tree planting, art, and much more. Fun events, raffles, and more.” Certainly a worthy initiative, so get your avatar’s green thumb on and see how you can contribute.
Preppy French fashioneers Lacoste have put out an open call for models from the virtual world of Second Life. From now until May 2, you can submit a photo and description of your avatar at the Lacoste Web site (warning: contains highly annoying Flash, resizing and unturnoffable music). Internet users will then have the chance to vote for the 100 most beautiful avatars, from which three male and three female avs will be selected by Lacoste to take part in a virtual photo shoot — and share in L$1 million. The winning avs will be featured on the Lacoste site and in a gallery in Second Life, starting May 17. Lacoste is already getting noticed for the program Women’s Wear Daily, while Amanda at PSFK finds the notion “pretty ridiculous and somewhat pointless.” It’s not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but I kind of like the idea. But what I’d really like to see is Lacoste extend their brand itself into Second Life, and let those SL models leak out into print ads in some form. That would be an entirely more interesting experiment.
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