SecondLife
Latest
Second Life CTO resigns to seek third life
Second Life's Chief Technology Officer Cory Ondrejka is leaving the company to "pursue new professional challenges." The New York Times reports that Ondrejka, who basically oversaw the code which makes Second Life, will leave his No. 4 position at developer Linden Labs by the end of the year.Linden Labs CEO Philip Rosedale says the needs of the company are changing and Ondrejka doesn't seem to be part of those needs. Second Life, according to the NYT, is suffering from hackers and other intertube related issues. Ondrejka was the man behind SL users retaining intellectual property rights to their virtual creations, which created the thriving e-commerce developer Linden Labs currently enjoys with the virtual world.
QuickTime exploit in the wild, demoed on Second Life
As reported, the RTSP vulnerability in QuickTime was accompanied by working exploit code, accelerating the process of malefactors and miscreants turning it into actual malicious payloads. Symantec & other outlets have since reported that the QuickTime exploit has been seen in the wild; the exploit causes Windows clients to download a secondary malware package.Meanwhile, security researchers Charlie Miller and Dino Dai Zovi (he of the CanSecWest hacking prize) leveraged the QuickTime vulnerability to demonstrate an attack within the Second Life virtual environment. Since SL uses QuickTime to play video in-game, any player wandering within activation distance of the 'evil movie' can be pwned. Miller and Dai Zovi's demo causes the victim to gesticulate, shout "I've been hacked!" and -- most disturbingly -- send 12 Linden dollars to the attackers' SL account.The Second Life exploit starts to veer disturbingly towards Snow Crash territory. I don't want to spoil Neal Stephenson's brilliant breakthrough novel for those who haven't read it, so go read it. For the rest of us, doesn't the idea of a 'virus video' that attacks anyone who watches it seem awfully familiar?[via Mac OS Ken]
Vodafone "InsideOut" connects phones to Second Life
Vodafone customers now have access to a new service called "InsideOut" that allows interaction between characters in the vast virtual world Second Life and real, actual phones (you know, like in the real world) operated by Voda. Both voice calls and text messages can be ferried in and out of the game, with SMSes running a cool L$300 (which we think is somewhere around $1) and voice calls running L$300 per minute. Calls and messages placed to Second Life, though, are billed at the same rate as they would be to a traditional German phone (it seems Voda's pool of InsideOut numbers are based in of Deutschland at the moment). Through the end of November, InsideOut's still operating in a beta mode so it's all free to try out, but keep in mind that Voda's customer support won't be able to bail you out -- cue Matrix reference -- if you're having trouble getting to a hardline.
Second Life featured in tonight's 'The Office'
When virtual worlds hit mainstream culture, they hit hard. First, it was a recent episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, featuring a fictional game called "Another YOUniverse" (we know, we know). Then, it was last night's CSI: New York, which had a criminal investigation taking part inside Second Life.Now, it's NBC's The Office, featuring video games prominently in an episode for the second time as the annoying beet farmer / paper salesman Dwight K. Schrute explores Second Life amidst the other office hijinks.While we're still a tad burnt out from previous bursts of Second Life hype, we're curious to see how The Office cast members interact with the world. The episode airs tonight at 9/8c on NBC. [Via SL Insider]
Your Second Life as a CSI
Reuters has reported that there will be a collaboration between the popular CBS show CSI and the game Second Life. There will be two episodes of the series (airing October 24th and November 6th) that prompt viewers to continue the investigation themselves by jumping into a virtual world designed around CSI:NY. This isn't the first time that Second Life has been linked with a TV crime series, but this occasion casts a more positive light on the game.The news came from the creator of CSI , Anthony Zuiker, at the Virtual Worlds Conference and Expo. TechCrunch has since updated the facts, adding that a link from the CBS website will give three options for CSI fans to participate in. The first option for viewers is a series of forensic puzzles to solve. The second involves players visiting a crime scene in Second Life and then attempting to solve a murder. This second option is called "Murder by Zuiker", and Zuiker himself will judge participants solutions to the mystery and award in-game prizes to the top entrants. The last option will be to follow up on the TV episode's murder case as a crime scene investigator, with all their famous gadgetry at your disposal. Also noted in the TechCrunch article is that the airing of the episode coincides with the launching of an independant client for Second Life, OnRez, by the Electric Sheep Company. This is the first independant viewer that has been given the official nod by Second Life creator Linden Labs. Secondlifeinsider.com also has a ton of posts on CSI in Second Life, and the new client, so visit them for some detailed information and on-going coverage.
Dennis Kucinich opens up shop in Second Life
We don't typically get political here on Joystiq, but there's something we've just got to say: Dennis Kucinich is exactly like Billy Joel. (And no, it's not just that he married someone far more attractive than himself.) If you get a group sitting around a table and one mentions that he likes Billy Joel, slowly the whole table will start to open up, going from "Yeah, 'River of Dreams' was pretty good" to "Actually, I celebrate the guy's entire canon." That's what Kucinich is like for Democrats: They secretly love him, but you know they're going to go for the safe pick like Clinton or Obama. Or, to continue our earlier analogy, Bob Dylan.Perhaps that's why Dennis Kucinich opening up shop in the real world's digital consolation prize, Second Life, makes so much sense. Perhaps avatars will be able to express their true feelings, letting Kucinich supporters really fly their flags. Who knows? Maybe it could translate to him opening up a gap, getting the nomination and taking the presidency. ... Well, president of Second Life. But you've got to start somewhere.
HBO acquires Second Life documentary
Cable channel HBO has picked up the documentary Molotov's Dispatches in Search of the Creator: a Second Life Odyssey for airing sometime in 2008. The seven webisodes from Douglas Gayeton, totaling 35 minutes in length, showcase the virtual world of Second Life from the perspective of an in-game avatar.The documentary is still available on Molotov Alva's website. As Animation Magazine notes, the video could be eligible for submission to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for Best Animated Short (or perhaps Best Documentary). In the setting of machinima, however, who gets credit for the animation: Gayeton, SL creators Linden Labs, the residents featured in the film? Regardless, Molotov represents a major step in the field of machinima. [Via SL Insider]
Give Second Life players what they deserve
... free Gamecubes. Second Lifer KeikoYanai Yue has created an object that should help people have fun while they're pretending they aren't playing a game: a Gamecube launcher that can litter the buggy landscape with flying Nintendo lunchboxes. We don't know if we're happy that the Wii's predecessor is gaining new life as a projectile, or insulted that somebody wants to fire them out of a cannon. Mostly we're just a little giggly.We like thinking about the silly part of Second Life that creates funny Gamecube launchers and looks like Kirby interacting with all of the businesses and libraries that have set up shop ingame, doing Very Important Work. They're all gathering together to create a world that makes no damn sense.
Affleck and Damon MMO group goes game news hunting
Before you idly start chatting up your group in your favorite MMO from now on, you may want to check and make sure you're not on the record with Virtual World Productions, a new organization that has charged its 30 reporters with collecting news from, well, virtual worlds like World of Warcraft and Second Life. And no, it's not what you're thinking.Curiously, the group is headed by Live Planet, a venture by pals Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. So, we can safely expect a really great initial outing followed by some poor choices, an eventual artistic renaissance and a widely-publicized yet ill-fated romance with Jennifer Lopez.
Second Life sex program lawsuit
A sex program for virtual world Second Life has forced its owner to hire real-world lawyers to hunt down the identity of a person who has been allegedly reselling his work. Kevin Alderman, who created the sex program and owns Eros LLC, makes realistic genitalia and creates sexual moves for Second Life citizens. He's been doing it for about four years now. An avatar named "Volkov Catteneo" stole the code Alderman created and has been reselling it. When Alderman confronted the avatar, the person behind it said, "What are you going to do? Sue me?" And that's exactly what Alderman is trying to do.Linden Labs, who owns Second Life, says they are unaware of any other real-world litigation going on between customers of the game. The key to this suit is that items created by users in the game are "owned" by them, along with the copyright. Although this suit involves the titillating concept of sex, it's your run-of-the-mill copyright infringement and theft story. Alderman's suit does not specify damages but his lawyers are currently subpoenaing PayPal records and putting together the virtual paper trail of theft. Fred von Lohman, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, locks it up saying, "This seems like a relatively straightforward case. It sounds like there is a real copyright issue."
Second Life "walkie talkie walks" project connects real / virtual worlds
Multimedia artist Sander Veenhof looks to be doing his part to bridge the gap between Second Life and the real world with his latest project, which is set to offer simultaneous walking tours between avatars in the virtual world and folks out in the open. To get things going, a person with an Internet-connected cellphone simply dials up a virtual walkie talkie in the game, and the two then set out on a journey through their respective environs, chatting it up along the way. This being an art project, the two will also be required to participate in some photo assignments documenting their trek, which then get posted on a website. While anyone in Second Life can participate, only those attending the Conflux Festival in New York City can take part in the real-world component, where the event is set to kick off on September 13th.[Via textually.org]
Wiimote brings a new level of depth to Second Life training
The idea of using the simulated world of Second Life as a training and educational hub isn't new -- in fact, it's even promoted on the official website. It looks like those Second Life simulations are about to get a lot more hands-on, however, thanks to the Wii remote ... which, it seems, really can do anything. According to some, training in Second Life has thus far been somewhat limited. Sure, you can recreate nearly any physical environment, but what happens when you need to get a little more hands-on? Second Life can help, for example, a new worker for Orkin learn how to inspect a house, but what happens when virtual training requires the new employee to pick up a tool? Enter the Wii remote. Training on tools from screwdrivers to scalpels will now be much easier, and all without anyone getting dirty. The implications are so far-reaching that MIT research fellow David E. Stone calls the Wiimote "one of the most significant technology breakthroughs in the history of computer science." Wow, and we thought we were fans!Stone's firm has been hired by Orkin and others to help create more fully-realized training simulations using Second Life and the Wii controller, and a consortium of European universities are even considering his services in the creation of a virtual cancer lab. Can the Wiimote help cure cancer? It looks like that could be a possibility. [Thanks to Christopher and hvnlysoldr!]
Tetsuya Mizuguchi to build Virtual Tokyo in Second Life
Like everyone else, we're pretty sick of all the Second Life coverage; it seems like buying real estate in the massively multiplayer non-game is the modern, big-business equivalent of setting up a website for your dad's repair shop. Still, it's one thing when Mercedes sets up a virtual dealership, and a very different matter when Lumines and Rez's Tetsuya Mizuguchi decides to build a re-imagined Tokyo for the denizens of Linden Labs' mammoth world.What makes Mizuguchi's Tokyo different than other architectural projects in Second Life is his intent in building the city. 1UP reports that rather than building an exact replica of the Japanese city, Mizuguchi wants to fashion his facsimile based on the perceptions of both locals and visitors. Speaking to 1UP, he states his hope that the project, which is a collaboration between himself and advertising firm Dentsu, can become a "museum of Japanese pop culture." We might need to dust off our Second Life avatars just to check it out when it launches.
Could this Prime Minister hopeful beat you at Halo?
No, probably not. But he is, according to an Associated Press report, prone to gaming. The tech nut in question is David Miliband, the new foreign secretary of Britain. Last year, he was the first British Cabinet minister to post a blog, but perhaps most exciting is this line from the report: "A technology buff, he also has an avatar in Second Life."OK, fine, so it's not exactly a six-digit Gamerscore. But do you really want a world leader complaining about a guildie ninja looting his shoulders when he's supposed to be on a plane to the G8 summit? No, of course you don't. We think this is one case where it's OK for someone to remain a newb.[Via GamePolitics]
Alliance: The Silent War possibly shelved due to Second Life
Windward Mark Interactive's first next-gen offering may have been shelved due to their recent acquisition from Linden Lab, makers of Second Life. Last month, Linden Lab acquired Windward Mark for their graphic technologies, reportedly to assist in a graphical overhaul for Second Life. Asi Land, Windward Mark Interactive's president, says even he is unsure of the future of Alliance: The Silent War. "We'll see how it plays with our new roles here at Linden ... we're very much still in love with the project," said Mr. Land. Too early to count it out completely but at the same time, don't hold your breath. It's a shame too, because the technologies acquired by Linden Lab are quite impressive. For example Nimble, their 3D cloud system, is quite spectacular, although its inclusion in a shooter would likely lead to players staring at the clouds more than shooting people in the face. Nevertheless, we hope Windward's new home allows them to continue the project through to completion.[Via PS3 Forums]
User-created WMDs do massive damage in Second Life beta test
Virtual world pioneer Randy Farmer loves to mess around with MMO games. As a beta tester for Second Life, Farmer was responsible for one of the first legendary events in the game: the Jessie Massacre. Out of curiosity, he created a weapon of mass destruction and unleashed it on a community of former WWII gamers. The resulting mayhem made him the target of more than a few nasty looks, but to the rest of the community he was thought of as a hero. Using the SL creation tools, Farmer constructed tiny, almost invisible objects and programmed them to explode into dozens of fragments, flying out at maximum velocity and doing loads of damage. Afterwards the fragments teleport themselves to a random location and start the carnage again. The only way to stop them was for Farmer to shout "STOP!".As you can guess, chaos ensued when the WMD was unleashed in the town of Jessie. Farmer quickly decided his completely scientific beta testing experiment was a success and went to disarm the grenades. Then he ran into a small problem: he couldn't find the little invisible buggers. With help from Linden labs he managed to remove the bombs, but the legend of the Jesse Massacre lives on.[Via GameSetWatch]
Play Final Fantasy VII in Second Life
Diehard Final Fantasy VII fans have recreated Midgar in virtual world Second Life. To make things even sweeter, they've even created an RPG sim in SL so that residents can fight and upgrade their way to notoriety. Weapons and materia (gems used for magic in the FFVII universe) can be bought for Linden bucks, which converts to real world money at a rate of approximately US $1 for every 270 Linden dollars.According to New World Notes writer Onder Skall, the game has around 300 players. Our experience with the world proved it to be expansive; upon teleporting to the start of the sim, we stepped out of the overlooking portal room and had an exhilirating view of the massive city on our equally massive fall.As to whether or not the game has the blessing of IP owner Square Enix, not even the creators are sure. While they do the developer a service by providing a high quality sim that promotes the Final Fantasy brand to great success, they are making money (however little it may be) off of the brand. SL users can click here to go to Midgar directly. [Via Second Life Insider]
Second Life gathers no moss in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone has a sprawling article about Second Life that focuses on its creator, Philip Rosedale, and it's pretty eye-opening. Rosedale equates Second Life to Burning Man, rants and raves about virtual reality, and says, "Once we have enough computing power, we can remake the world using simulation."It's pretty obvious that without Rosedale's fanaticism for the project, Second Life never would have been born, but reading this article makes him seem a bit driven to the point of megalomania. Kushner compares Rosedale's "Rig" that he built to start the virtual experience a "Lawnmower Man-like contraption," and you probably remember how crazy that guy got.Give the article a spin and find out a little bit behind the man who built Second Life, the problems they face, and where it'll all go from here.
Kit Kat: Your break from recursive MMOs [update 1]
If you thought First Life was a brave new frontier on the uncharted expanses of video game comedy, wait until you see this European Kit Kat ad. I don't want to ruin the ending, but let's just say that Second Life citizens like to play computer MMOs too. What? The picture above gave away the punchline? Oh well. Have a Kit Kat.Other Second Life jokes we're waiting to see: Fourth Life: What do citizens of Third Life do when they're bored? The hilarity never ends! Not to be confused with Forth Life, which is in your newspaper's comics. Pi Life: Your life as a series of random, never-ending, non-repeating events. Alternatively, your life trapped in a circle. Alternatively, your life in a universe filled with pie. Half Life: Second Life, but with more guns. And crates. One Second Life: A game that only lasts one-sixtieth of a minute. Googol Life: A really long life. Not to be confused with Google Life, which is the life of a web addict. Zero Life: What the average Second Life player has. *rim shot* [Update: How foolish of us. It turns out we posted this video last month. But was this a mistake, or a subtle reinforcement of the video's statement? Alright, it was a mistake.]
Orange County Choppers builds Intel a Xeon-powered bike
Frankly we're a little surprised that anyone at Intel even watches a show about motorcycle building (don't they spend all their time in clean rooms trying to one up AMD?), but apparently the world's largest chipmaker has so much love for Discovery Channel's (and now TLC's) American Chopper that it commissioned Team OCC to assemble perhaps the highest tech bike in the world. This 250-horsepower workstation on wheels -- unveiled simultaneously in meatspace and Second Life in honor of the Xeon 5300 series release -- probably sports more digital kit than Sturgis or Laconia have ever seen, including either a quad or octo core chipset (sources don't make it clear), removable UMPC that doubles as a virtual dashboard, rear-facing cameras to replace the mirrors, full audio and video capabilities, GPS of course, and what sounds like a 3G data connection. The two-part build will air on July 12th and 19th, when you can probably expect to see Pauls Jr. and Sr. get into a shouting match over which OS to install on the chopper, as well as Mikey trying to play The Sims while barreling down the Taconic at 90 MPH.[Via The Raw Feed and CIOL]
