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Second Life release candidate available, but not announced
Sharp-eyed Gwyneth Llewelyn has spotted that there's a new Second Life release candidate viewer available for download today, through the Amazon S3 service that Linden Lab uses for delivery. The viewer appears to be datestamped 21 November, though it's not yet been announced or linked off the Second Life website yet, though. We're guessing that it got waved-off at the last minute (perhaps because of the holiday, perhaps because of bugs) and may possibly be replaced with a fresher version before a final announcement goes up.
Cinemassively: Media in SL - old vs. new
Whenever an important topic comes up, virtual video journalist, Draxtor Despres, is on the scene. His YouTube page features a variety of coverage, including movie premieres, celebrity appearances, and even a trip to the Second Life Community Convention. They are all part of what is dubbed "the first TV magazine in Second Life", Life 4-U.In his latest episode, Draxtor took a look at how both old and new media are participating in SL. He interviewed podcasters, film makers, online magazines, and blogs, to find out what they think about the situation. Starr Sonic, of SLCN, speculated that real life companies coming in won't be able to commit to making it work, because it requires extensive hand-holding. However, at the end, Marvel Ousley states that once residents cut their teeth on the free news blogs, such as CNN's i-Report, she'll pay them to write for SLNN. That sounds like a winning situation to me!
Ginny Talamasca Day: Cui bono, Second Life?
There's a lot to chew on in this recent post by CNet's Daniel Terdiman. As one of the leading figures in Second Life's huge fashion industry, Ginny Talamasca was a beloved resident. After her recent death, a message was sent to Linden Lab to declare April 17th as 'Ginny Talamasca Day'. LL's response appears to be that it merely controls the architecture and underlying tech of SL, but keeps its hands clear of any of its content, which in this case apparently includes social structures.However, LL did take the time to acknowledge the death of Jesse Malthus, and it could be (and probably will be) argued that Ginny's influence was at least as strong as his. There's a shade of difference in the form of acknowledgment, however -- Jesse's honorarium is the "Best Community Influence" award, not a special day once a year. This will all be fodder for discussion in the upcoming days and weeks, but while Terdiman's post centers on asking whether or not it's LL's responsibility to issue an official proclamation concerning a public event like this, I think it's more reducible than that. The question to ask should be 'who benefits'?[Via news.com]
Cinemassively: Jingles for Pringles Contest
I came across this disturbing Pringles commercial while searching for Second Life Machinima. A pair of lovebirds are on a romantic interlude, surrounded by dancing Pringles cans ... with feet. While it definitely overuses transitions, I find the entire concept of the video to be rather funny.There is apparently a video contest going on for Pringles in the UK. Crispy chip enthusiasts are invited to re-word a Christmas jingle to declare their love for Pringles and make a video about it. It can be up to 2 minutes long, but can only be in mov, .wmv, .asp, .avi, .mpeg, .mpg or .flv formats, and come in at 10mb or less. Contestants have until November 29th to submit their entries. You can find the official rules on their site.[Via YouTube]
Cinemassively: Second Life Cable Network
It's been half of a year since Second Life Insider first covered the Second Life Cable Network. Since that time, they've expanded rapidly, growing into a full blown TV station. Their determination has set them apart from other video programs inside SL. I'll personally never forget them, because Starr Sonic poured glitter in my hair at the Second Life Community Convention. It took two people 20 minutes to pick it all out!SLCN offers a variety of programming for the audience. For the sports fanatics, they have sailing, hockey, SLASCAR racing, and snail racing. They also have weekly talk shows, streaming of live concerts, fashion shows, and on location reporting. In addition, they recently announced a shopping channel that will run 24 hours a day! These channels can be watched on their website or streamed into Second Life.Read on after the jump to find out more about SLCN ...
Drew Carey goes on dates with fiancee inside Second Life
The next time you see a couple being cutesy in SL, it might just be Drew Carey and his fiancee. According to PARADE Magazine, they use Second Life to go on dates when they're in different cities. While I think that they deserve kudos for finding a way to stay close to each other when away, I do take issue with Drew's explanation.You see, he seems to think that SL is a website that is like a virtual world. For those unaware, you would go to the official Second Life website to download a client for the virtual world. Come on, Drew! That's like saying that The Price is Right is a reality tv program that's like a game show. Are you sure you're not meeting up in Habbo Hotel?
Philip Linden talks mission statement
Philip Linden (known as Philip Rosedale in some circles, we hear) today published a piece on Linden Lab's mission statement. If he'd been talking about the stability problems (no improvements today, alas - worse, if anything) or if this talk had been given at Second Life's anniversary (23 June every year, in case you were wondering) this would seem a little less out of place. As it is, it seems to come out of left field, as they say.
Contentious Second Life update next week
Linden Lab have announced a server-side update to the Second Life grid that will take place across two days, specifically Tuesday 27 November, and Wednesday 28 November. The first day will see a core services update, followed by a rolling-restart of the grid simulators the next day. The upgrade is to support an upcoming feature in viewer 1.18.6 - and that's where things get a bit ... sticky.
Dealey Plaza, JFK assassination site, recreated in Second Life
A press release on PRWeb informs us that Dealey Plaza, the scene of the crime for President John F. Kennedy's shooting, has been reconstructed as a virtual environment in Second Life. It was created by Jason Baird of Avatar Promotions in the hopes that people would visit and pose theories to each other as to the reasons for the former president's untimely death, and so that those who aren't able to go to the actual site in person will be able to experience it in some form.But it isn't just the environment itself that has been recreated -- on the anniversary of the shooting, there will be a re-enactment of the assassination. This sounds a bit like one of those interactive history-museum displays. Due to the population limits within the simulation, this event will be invite-only for around 40 people. If anything, it's a novel idea and worth checking out if you already play SL. You can get there by searching for Dealey Plaza Dallas within SL, or from a link on Avatar Promotions' JFK page.
This just in: games are TiVo-licious
Starting tonight, and running every Wednesday through December 19th, you need to make sure your TiVo is pointed to the Discovery Channel at 8 p.m. Eastern/Pacific. For gamers of any stripe, they're covering a gaming retrospective that will be as sweet as popping a Power-up right before stomping King Koopa, and as comforting as the first level of Pong. For those of us with an interest in MMOs, however, we have one episode -- Level Five, premiering on December 19th -- dedicated to our obsession.The final episode of Rise of the Video Game covers the first MUDs from the late 1960s through the latest MMOs today. They'll be discussing everything from Ultima Online through World of Warcraft, and they'll include interviews with both Richard Bartle of MUD fame and Cory Ondrejka from Linden Lab. So make sure you have your popcorn ready and your recorders running: we've got us some game history to uncover.[Via GamePolitics]
Intel to launch in HiPiHi this week
HiPiHi (pronounced High-pee-high, for those of you that are curious) is gearing up towards a launch by pulling in partners. P&G are already on board, and Intel are gearing up to launch the "Intel Experience Center" on 160,000 square metres of HiPiHi land on 22 November (considering that HiPiHi is in China - you can take your pick about which day 22 November actually is). Chinese-based HiPiHi has been both criticized and praised in the media for it's uncanny resemblance to Second Life - from the feel of their website, to their avatars, stock animations, creation tools and business model.
Linden Lab not having a good time - nor are the users
Things settled down considerably after this-morning's breakage on the Second Life grid, but apparently it was too good to last. Statistical data feeds went dark at 4:40PM SLT (US Pacific) today, and at approximately the same time DNS problems screwed up logins, teleports, region crossings, and actually just about everything crossing simulator boundaries. Linden Lab's ops team is trying to get everything fixed, but everything DNS-related has some settling lead-time.
Linden Lab sorry, busy breaking stuff
This morning's Second Life service outage, Linden Lab says, is the result of "essential maintenance". The maintenance wasn't announced ahead of schedule, but apparently only after it broke things. It's hard to fault them for wanting to fix things, but a bit of warning is generally the done thing. In this case, notice of the maintenance work was only given after problems began at 12:10AM SLT (US Pacific), with the actual notice coming 34 minutes later at 12:44AM.
New Second Life release candidate 1.18.5(RC1)
Linden Lab have just released a new release candidate view for Second Life, the second release-candidate in the 1.18.5 series - perhaps confusingly dubbed RC1 (the previous one was actually RC0). This viewer incorporates several fixes to search, restores the teleport function to the context menu for landmarks, allows for-sale to be unchecked from objects that can't (for various reasons) actually be sold, and corrects a few glitches with the user-interface. The viewer is available from the optional downloads page as usual, and we recommend the use of a download manager to grab it faster - without one, you're in for a bit of a wait.
Second Life stability problems continue into the new week
Linden Lab advises this-morning (and we're certainly seeing it reflected in the figures) that while they thought the issue had been resolved on Saturday evening, that it was not, and that the issues that plagued the Second Life grid over the weekend are still ongoing. Additionally, all voice services went dark at 2:06AM SLT (US Pacific).
Is Second Life one of the few, true MMORPGs?
Before the flame war starts (I realize it's inevitable on this one), let me clarify what I mean by "true roleplaying": the game engine and "rules" place have as few restrictions as possible;. While most of the MMOs we play are allegedly roleplaying games, most of them define your role. A great roleplaying game lets you create your own role for yourself and act it out, similar to a character at an improv theatre. "Roleplaying" in most RPGs is sorta like being in Hamlet; you can put your own spin on it, but you're forced to working within the director's vision. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern? Great roles stuck in Hamlet.Games like WoW can be considered "roleplaying," sure. WoW lets you become that burly dwarf that does a mean Gimli impression by gruffly saying, 'Where's the brew, mate?". But you're constrained by game limitations and people's expectations. For instance, if you wanted to role-play a "big bad dwarf that's a coward and wants to hide behind the priest's robes" well, that'd get old after the first instance and most likely ensure you aren't invited again. Yes, I know there's people like Naked Troll guy , but let's be fair, he's an exception in a game that derides people for not having the optimal spec on raids.
Corduroy in a tight situation
Normally I like to do clothing or skin posts about Second Life, but I simply cannot ignore this designer anymore. Every week, I open my feed reader to more delicious stockings, in all different colors and patterns. If it weren't for those knee highs, I'd be weak.Puma Jie, sockmaster of Corduroy, clearly knows what girls want - accessories! As a matter of fact, the evil temptress won't stop coming out with them. Actually, her entire product line, and Flickr gallery, are worth a look at.
Cinemassively: Windlight - Fleef's Second Life Sojourn
With Windlight mania turning the heads of even the harshest SL critics (Sorry, Hugh!), it's safe to say that it will become a staple of Second Life Machinima. FLeeF, aka Frank L. Fox, not only managed to capture the beauty of our new skies, but also provided the score for the film! The song, "From Agnes, Flowers," was written for his mother. All together now: "Awwwwwwwww."Previously known for his hilarious Moviestorm film, Morning Run Amok, FLeeF provides great examples of just about every sky preset available, including a wintery blizzard scene. One notable moment offers comic relief - the blinging snowman towards the end. He also highlights some of SL's great architectural feats, like the Ivory Tower of Primitives. If you've been skeptical about trying Windlight, this video may seal the deal![Via Machinima for Dummies]
Sunday not shaping up well for Second Life either
The new Second Life day is off to a poor start with what looks like another database crash inside Linden Lab's array of database clusters. The crash (if that's exactly what caused it) took place at 1:25AM SLT (US Pacific time), one of the quietest parts of the day with only 32,055 users online. Obviously the problem is not solely load-related.
Linden Lab having a bad day
It's not been a fantastic week for the Second Life service (actually more like ten days). Plagued with network problems, the grid has been experiencing everything from strange behavior to partial blackouts of large numbers of servers at once. Today isn't any better, and actually is looking a whole lot worse.
