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UK air date of CSI:NY in Second Life is today
People who remember back to Second Life Insider days will remember the coverage of CSI:NY as it came into Second Life in one of the episodes. There is, hopefully, a conclusion about to be broadcast soon in the US, writers strike permitting.If you are one of the good people who didn't download a copy from somewhere and live in the UK, or somewhere that receives UK TV, Channel 5 is carrying that episode tonight (in about an hour).The UK hasn't been subjected to the media frenzy that CBS launched in the US about Second Life, so don't expect a massive rush to the new sims, but if you see things go really south about 2:30 SL time you'll know why!
Cinemassively: CSI:NY Virtual Experience Mystery Game #4
It looks like Anthony Zuiker and the Electric Sheep Company have made good on their promise to deliver fresh mysteries in the CSI sims of Second Life. Last month's episode revolved around an unidentified man that was murdered by one of three potential suspects. SL's most famous contract killer, Venus, may have been the culprit.This month could get interesting, as Chris Carella, of ESC, blogged that the Venus storyline that aired in October will air again on February 27th. They will be temporarily increasing the amount of CSI sims in anticipation of new signups. In addition, they have a new Valentine's mystery for you to check out, as well as two new mysteries on the 27th.However, I'm really curious as to when the conclusion will air. Was it affected by the Writers Guild strike? Don't leave us hanging, CBS!
Cinemassively: CSI New York Mystery Game #1
When the CSI:NY episode featuring Second Life came out in October, Second Life Insider offered extensive coverage of not only the commercials, but also the mystery games. Now, CBS is releasing their own teaser trailer for one of the mysteries. Having scaled down their islands due to lowered traffic, one wonders if they're trying to milk one last visit out of you.However, with that said, the Machinima is thoroughly entertaining. They offer up snippets of clues to reel you in, as well as highlight a bit of the process. If you haven't checked out the four-sim clusters of CSI:NY goodness, now would be the time!
DS releases for the week of November 19th
What's a gamer to do this week, with both Mario Party DS and Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings on the table? Sometimes, we just have to make the tough decisions ... and it looks like Great Auntie Ethel might not be getting a present this year during the holidays.What, you didn't expect us to choose between the games, did you? Baby Pals CSI: Dark Motives Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings Godzilla Unleashed John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland Mario Party DS Petz: Hamsterz Life 2 Strawberry Shortcake: The Four Seasons Cake
A viral marketing tool to try in SL?
Anyone who has watched the various attempts by big businesses to come into Second Life knows that some of the succeed, some fail. The ones that succeed tend to try things that are a little bit different, building a corporate headquarters and expecting the people to come to you doesn't work. Creating things that mimic your RL clothes lines fall even flatter.But this week I came across a tool for RL marketing a new product that would, and indeed does, work a treat in Second Life. The premise is simple - try our software on a 15 day fully functional trial and then pay to register it. Don't fancy paying? Write a good blog review, send your link and get a free license key. Does this work in SL too? You bet: how many people that are in any way associated with the SLogosphere don't know about CSI:NY coming into SL and the tie to the OnRez viewer? The trick, of course, is working out how to get talked about - look at how quiet we all were about The Office in SL -but free products is always a good notion as long as you have something that will get the good reviews, no?
Optional update to OnRez Second Life Viewer
Metaverse developers, Electric Sheep Company have released an optional update to their custom Second Life viewer, the OnRez viewer, which was developed in conjunction with the recent CSI:NY launch in Second Life. The optional update has two minor ease-of-use tweaks, relating to voice calls and the integrated Web browser, plus a number of bug-fixes including (thankfully) adjustments to the color scheme for improved readability, and the ability to use the search system for two-letter region names. The OnRez Second Life viewer can be downloaded from the usual place.
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.
Omnicom drives a stake into Millions of Us
One of the more recognizable names among metaverse development companies (MDCs) is Reuben Steiger's Millions of Us. Steiger's MoU has done work in Second Life, Gaia Online and Zwinky. Omnicom, reported by Reuters to be the world's largest advertising services company, has bought a stake in the company. A majority stake, or just a share - nobody's saying. Inevitably, the sale is being compared to CBS's investment in rival MDC, Electric Sheep Company - a partnership which is leading to the joint release of a CSI:NY episode revolving around Second Life, and a customized, user-friendly Second Life client. What Omnicom and Millions of Us have planned at this stage is anyone's guess - advertising is where the smart money is, of course. Could MoU be becoming the general virtual worlds arm of Omnicom? Could be.
Shipping this week: finish the wait edition
Well, kiddies, here we are. While a select few have managed to snag a copy early, the vast majority of gamers will be picking up their copy of Halo 3 this week. A good number of those gamers will be standing in line tonight at midnight (including us) to get it as soon as humanly possible. Yes, Halo fans will finally get their sweet, sweet nectar, while the Halo haters will finally get some respite from the terrible beast. We'd love to tell you that this means the end of non-stop Halo coverage on X3F, but don't count on it.But enough Halo 3! After all, it's not the only game coming out this week. Why, just look at all these other fine games: CSI Hard Evidence Hot Wheels Beat That World Series of Poker: Battle Marvel Ultimate Alliance Enhanced: Platinum Hits Seriously though. If you're waiting in line for Halo 3 tonight, make sure that when you finally get to the checkout counter you ask for a copy of Hot Wheels Beat That. Take note of the confounded look on the employee's face when you ask, and treasure it. Remember, it's the little things in life that matter the most.
Last Remnant site now online, unhelpful
Thank goodness for the official Web site for The Last Remnant, we were dying for another Square Enix phrase that left us scratching our heads. Sure, "Fantasy is endless, Fantasy has no limited form" was great but we demand fresh inputs. Now, here's this new contender for the throne: "Encompassing grandeur and elegance." What could that mean? Is "the last remnant" a description of the final chandelier you're trying to sell off of the showroom floor?In case you haven't noticed, we've given an undue amount of time to four words in this official Web site launch post. Well, there's not exactly a whole lot more to say about the site. There's music. There's a kid named Rush. There's Lucius Malfoy. We could get all CSI on it like Xbox 360 Fanboy, but they already did that. So we're writing about words. Sue us, we're only human. Go look at the site. If you find something better to write about it, feel free to discuss below.
Gamestop visits the future and brings back a list
Feel like planning your game purchases for the rest of the year? We can help, with this list of release dates and prices from EB/Gamestop's point-of-sale system. There's some reasonably exciting stuff on there, like Manhunt 2 (August 1st), Dewy's Adventure (September 3rd), and NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams (October 1st), as well as stuff that is slightly less mass-appeal, like Escape from Bug Island and CSI 4: Hard Evidence. There's a large cluster of EA stuff marked as being released on November 1st, but we suspect that date is a placeholder. For that matter, don't take any of these release dates as ironclad.The full list is available for browsing after the break. It's still useful even if you don't plan to go into Gamestop for some reason.
How iTunes saved NBC's 'The Office'
Our old friend Dave pointed us to a Newsday article discussing how iTunes essentially took NBC's The Office off the chopping block, where it was headed last year after disappointing Nielsen ratings, and catapulted it to "the Seinfeld of iTunes." If you're not a Seinfeld fan that might be meaningless to you, but trust me when I say It's the BEST, Jerry! The BEST!* Only recently did The Office cede the top spot to Lost as the single most downloaded program weekly, not to mention nabbing an Emmy (well-deserved, IMO) for Best Comedy. Angela Bromstead, president of NBC Universal, which owns and produces The Office had this to say: "I'm not sure that we'd still have the show on the air." The network had only ordered so many episodes, but when it went on iTunes and really started taking off, that gave us another way to see the true potential other than just Nielsen. It just kind of happened at a great time." Of course Nielsen is getting hip to the power of iTunes + iPod itself these days.Newer shows like 30 Rock and Jericho are also expected to be a big iTunes sellers when/if they hit the iTS, despite their currently poor Nielsen showings and may save their respective fates as well.The article goes on to talk about what doesn't sell well on iTunes. "Nielsen hits such as CSI: Miami or NCIS are no-shows in the top 50. The Simpsons? Nada (which is not on iTunes at all... even though Prison Break is a stalwart). What does any of this mean? Who knows - except, perhaps that serials and guy-oriented shows are the biggest beneficiaries of the iTunes effect." Personally I think iTunes is only part of this revolution. The networks themselves are getting smarter about putting their shows online, on their own websites, which may not be as convenient or trendy as iTunes, but it's certainly a start. With all the timeshifting and placeshifting going on these days anyway, Prime Time Television as we have known it for many years is going away sooner rather than later. iTunes is really only the beginning of the revolution. It's not the be all and end all.Thanks, Dave! *It's purely coincidence that I had not one, but two opportunities to reference Seinfeld today. Life is good.
HDTV launches in Singapore
Finally, HDTV broadcasts are available in Southeast Asia as Singapore began testing OTA transmissions yesterday. It appears there will be about 14 hours of HD content aired each week during the six-month trial, including episodes of Smallville, CSI and The OC, plus the final three World Cup games. With high-definition TVs already in many households in the region, they are very ready for this. All we can say is we hope they include CSI: Miami, as it is the best looking of the series, and that they know how to put on a World Cup presentation.
Survivor, other CBS shows in iTunes (US)
As you may remember, CBS's president of digital media Larry Kramer announced back in February his network's intention to sell downloadable episodes of Survivor - without iTunes. For $1.99US, you got a single episode that expired in 24 hours. He stated that CBS would be moving gradually into this new media frontier.Today, they've taken what I think is a nice step forward. Survivor, Numb3rs and all three CSI's are now in the US iTunes Music Store [iTunes link]. Welcome to the party, CBS!
Intel renames next-gen dual-core chips "Core 2 Duo," unveils quad-core Tukwila
Intel's been busy in the realm of multi-core processors lately, first unveiling their quad-core replacement for the Itanium Montecito, named Tukwila, and today -- taking a page out of MC "2 Legit 2 Quit" Hammer's book -- renaming the next-gen mobile Merom and desktop Conroe dual-core chips "Core 2 Duo." What's more, the company announced that another version of the processor will be released for performance junkies, called, not surprisingly, "Core 2 Extreme." As for Tukwila, the deets on this server-targeted chip came to light thanks thanks to a little digging by Real World Technologies, who found a set of slides that Intel recently presented on the topic at a conference in Asia. According to RWT, Tukwila will run at an estimated 40 gigaflops, sport 6MB of L3 cache for each core, and feature other additions that IT-types will likely be into, including an on-die FB-DIMM memory controller and Common Systems Interconnect (CSI) router. First called "Tanglewood" and scheduled for a 2007 rollout, Tukwila will now be released in 2008 and go head-to-head with other enterprise offerings from Intel and Sun, probably making it an exciting year for those aforementioned IT-types.Read- Core 2 Duo [Thanks, Dave Z.]Read- Tukwila [Via The Register]
HDTV Listings for March 26, 2006
What we're watching: No new Grey's Anatomy? Nooooo. Where will we get our soap operatic exploits of doctors in 720p? Until General Hospital upgrades to HD and ER becomes the show that it was 10 years ago, nowhere would be the appropriate answer. In it's stead we will accept warmed over episodes of CSI (after watching The Evidence, we appreciate this show much more) and Pistons vs. Nets on ESPN. I went to a couple Pistons games this week and after several overpriced beers experienced considerable compression issues and artifacting, real life isn't all it's made out to be.I haven't seen tonight's episode of Rides before, where four teams of designers take a crack at the Chevy HHR, so that will get at least a look as well.Our traditional high-def listings continue below.