SecondLife
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Virtual Feds scope out 'Second Life' casinos
"Adam Reuters," the adorable virtual persona of real-life reporter Adam Pasick, breaks a story on FBI agents checking up on the virtual gambling in nerd hangout Second Life. Since gambling isn't legal in most of the US, it presumably isn't legal on the internet either, even when it's using "Cuddle Bucks" or whatever the pretend currency in Second Life is. So far, the Feds haven't shut anything down, but stay tuned ... any time now, a whole lot of furries may have to find another place to play the slots.[Via Second Life Insider]
Today's most recursive game video: Third Life
Some of you, the exact number, we're not sure, have a Second Life. Others have a First Life. Today's video pick introduces the Third Life as part of a Kit Kat ad in the Netherlands. Created by UbachsWisbrun/JWT (caution: website resizes your window, plays sound, and otherwise annoys), Kit Kat only loosely ties into the joke. Regardless, the humor scores high with us gamers, and we highly recommend the video.Watch the ad after the break.[Via Adverblog]
Obama goes for the shut-in vote in Second Life
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama continues to revolutionize politics by making an appearance in controversial virtual world Second Life on March 31. A simulated (but still totally dreamy) version of Obama will mimic the motions and posture of the real deal as he chats up a small group of Iowans.This gig wasn't organized by the Obama campaign, but by a "virtual event and promotions" company. Do you think Obama's handlers have any idea that he might be ambushed by e-penises?
Second Life developers say: PS-HOME is very flattering
And for the record, no they didn't ask Sony if they wanted to hook up at a bar that night "IRL" (that's In Real Life for the innocent out there). We've covered the other consoles angles about the announcement of PS-HOME, but until now we neglected to see what Second Life thought of it, since HOME bear a strong resemblance to that... uh... "service".Jeff Luan of Linden Lab (developers of SL) said that "mimicry is the greatest form of flattery for us." For them, yes. Thought the cliché went a little differently, but it's probably just a synonym or something. Luan isn't concerned about HOME taking away any of Second Life's users, since SL is on PC and is targeting an entirely different "market". Absolutely true, but it may create a similar market on consoles that was previously not in existence. Are any of you concerned that the PS-HOME may become something much... hmm... darker, than intended?
GDC 07: Home lets you delete people from your world
At Sony's blogger event tonight, Phil Harrison addressed the issue of parental controls in the world of Home. Home will not only utilize the in-system PlayStation Network parental controls, but will offer you the ability to delete users from your view ... instantly. So if some prick is attacking you with flying dongs, you'll be able to have them disappear from your world at a push of a button. "I wish I could have that in real life," Phil Harrison joked.
PlayStation Home revealed
Good news for the PlayStation camp, full details of Sony's PlayStation Home have been revealed, and it ain't no slacker. Alongside those avatars and achievements we heard about earlier, the "service" seems to be a new-gen Second Life killer, with public hangouts, personal apartments (to show off those fancy prizes you've been racking up in recent frag fests) and voice chat. The seeming-MMO even includes casual games such as pool, bowling and arcade machines embedded into the world, but at any time you can invite a fellow resident to join in on any PlayStation Network-capable game. As for user-generated content, PS Home allows you to hang your own pictures on your apartment walls and share videos with friends. You can of course dress up your avatar in assorted virtual clothings -- for a price -- all while enjoying "dynamic advertising" of some sort. A large scale beta goes live in April, with the full product to be launched this fall. Make sure to hit up the read link for a gallery of the beautiful scenery and idiotic conversations you too can be enjoying in a few months.Update: Added a video after the break with more info on the service. PlayStation Home will be a free download, and will eventually include a virtual cinema for watching movie downloads. You can also share videos and music directly out of your media library. Peep the vid for more info.
Mercedes-Benz gas, brakes and dips into Second Life
Joining Toyota in the continuing trend of setting up shop in Second Life is Germany's own Mercedes-Benz. This Tuesday will see the launch of not just a showroom for the luxury cars, but an entire island. The vehicles themselves aren't ready for a test drive just yet, but a track will be available for when that feature rolls out. Which is a shame, really, as we were already planning our Second Life adventure in ghost riding.Those who stop by for the grand opening can enjoy not only an in-game concert but some free swag as well. Anyone who visits can pick up a free Formula 1 racing suit and helmet, which will quickly be utilized in the red light district in acts that we could not possibly begin to describe here.
Visit the virtual Apple Store in Second Life
Reader Steve Rubel tipped us to the virtual presence of an eerily familiar retail environment inside the Second Life metaverse. In this virtual Apple Store, you can belly up to the Genius Bar, or browse the imaginary products on the not-really-there shelves -- and yes, Laurie, that's a Cube there on the bar. Unlike the physical Apple Stores, though, it is possible to skip the glass elevator and simply fly up to the balcony. This also appears to be a different setup than the "Apple Core" store noted in this Cult Of Mac story from last year.Rubel bets that this little slice of heaven gets the Apple Legal C&D treatment inside of a few days. Until then, you can visit the store via this SLurl (teleports you to the game location), by searching for "Aapl$tore" inside the game engine, or just look around in this Flickr set of images.Thanks Steve!
Get your Second Life live on your cellphone
Are you sneaking away from work early to get your "Second Life" with it in the virtual space? Well, millions do that every day, so it seems strangely natural for someone or something to port the Second Life virtual environment to a mobile somehow. It's been done -- and as a J2ME application that should work on almost any java-enabled cellphone. Killer features here, according to Comverse Technology which created the app, are integrated SMS and instant messaging -- and even streaming of mobile video directly inside the Second Life mobile app. But if that data connection drops out, expect your avatar to wilt over and wait for that nifty EV-DO or HSDPA connection to return in full force.
Toyota selling new Scions for $1 in Second Life
Toyota held simultaneous launches of two new Scion models today. One at the Chicago Auto Show, the other in Second Life. Both the redesigned Scion xB and brand-new xD are being offered for 300 Linden dollars ($1 USD) for use in the virtual world; a nominal fee toward becoming one of Toyota's virtual "trendsetter" promoters. The cars are being sold at kiosks in Toyota's 'Scion City' district of Second Life, where the automaker hopes to also sell unused real estate to young entrepreneurs. The idea is to grow Scion City into a bustling promotional "cultural" mecca.Last year, Toyota invaded Whyville, a virtual playground for tweens. Scions were peddled to under-agers, with the hope of infecting their lustful minds with the brand name; the payoff coming when the young'ns came of age. Toyota sold about 173,000 Scions in 2006 and is expected to challenge General Motors as the top global automobile seller this year.[Thanks, Matt]
Sweden to open virtual embassy in Second Life
Of course, since there isn't an actual Sweden within the world of Second Life, the plans for opening a virtual Swedish embassy (not to be mistaken for the ABBA Club, which is virtually a Swedish embassy) are really part of an effort to increase tourism to the Nordic country. Illustriously dubbed, "The House of Sweden," the polygonal building will is expected to open its digital doors within the next few weeks and is said to modeled on the newly erected embassy in Washington -- not Sweden's considerably more impressive Turning Torso skyscraper (as seen to the right). "It will have answers to questions on all aspects of Sweden," explains the Swedish Institute's Olle Wastberg. Indeed, the virtual embassy will likely serve as an enthusiastic and interactive knowledge hub, hoping to lure Second Life users into visiting Sweden in their first lives. [Via Aeropause]
Tigole doesn't deny the idea of player housing
The good guys over at Curse Gaming have pointed to a Jeff Kaplan interview at MTV.com, in which he talks about comparisons to Second Life, how the Sword of 1,000 Truths didn't make it to the expansion, and the idea of player housing!They caught him on the phone at the BC Launch at Universal CityWalk in LA (where, strangely enough, he's being asked to sign things as "Tigole"), and it seems as though the interviewer doesn't quite have a grasp on online gaming-- Kaplan is asked how Second Life compares to WoW, and as he says, while Second Life is great, it's not really a competitor to what Blizzard has built. There's a huge difference between Blizzard-created content, and the user-created stuff. He also namechecks the Starcraft and Diablo universes (not the first time we've heard those hinted at).But the most interesting part of the article is what Kaplan says about player housing: "I think housing can take 'World of Warcraft' to the next level." That's definitely not a "no" to the idea, and frankly it's much more credit than I ever thought Blizzard would give to creating an in-game customizable area for players. While he does say it's an idea they had in the beginning (the huge inaccessible instance in Stormwind was rumored to be a player housing area at one time), Kaplan also confirms that if they're going ahead with it at all, they won't release anything until they have a "Blizzard-quality feature." So while there's no way we can expect it in the next patch (or even the next expansion), it's very interesting news that the gears appear to be turning over at Blue HQ about player housing.
Get a First Life. Membership is FREE!
Blogger Darren Barefoot has published a clever Second Life parody at Get A First Life dot com. The community boast over 6.5 billion residents (not inflated), free membership, and is the first 3D analog world sans server lag. Linden Labs, creators of Second Life, even sent the site a "Proceed and Permitted" letter (the opposite of a "Cease and Desist"). Nice to see the company appreciates a sense of humor. Now go outside and enjoy the beauty that is First Life.[via Boing Boing]
Macworld coverage in Second Life
There are a lot of ways to cover the keynote, but Mac-Essentials has a neat twist. They're using an island in Second Life shaped like the Apple logo to convene continuous coverage of the event in real time. I visited the island and found a cool mockup of the Apple glass cube store you find in Manhattan, plus a bunch of folks speaking German. Makes sense, as Mac-Essentials.de is a German website! Of course in Second Life, there are folks from all over the world. Even if you don't speak the language, the apfelland is a neat tourist site today! To find it, either search your map for apfelland or go to coordinates 128/128/0.[thanks geezer!]
Second Life abuzz with source code release [update 1]
Linden Lab has released the source code for the Second Life Viewer under the GPLv2 free software license, opening up its virtual world's client to a host of potential new features and improvements. The 'open source' announcement comes amidst a period of scrutiny in which the media has begun to debunk the hype and seriously question Linden Lab's reported SL user base; a recent estimate suggests that Linden Lab has inflated user numbers by more than 2 million.Since the source code release has arrived sooner than anticipated, it's no stretch to suggest Linden Lab is attempting to redirect media buzz. Ploy or not, the open source SL era brings with it an opportunity for an unproven developer to generate some needed exposure.Update: clarified that this is a release of the client (not full game) source code.
Second Life backlash gains momentum
Second Life had a backlash coming. The overhyped virtual reality world with amazing public relations and highbrow academic love is now the focus of an increasing number of reports calling foul to their claim of 2.3 million residents. American Public Radio's Marketplace says it's actually more like 250,000.Clay Shirky, a reporter for Fortune says, "So these aren't terrible numbers, but it's certainly a much more modest success than we've been led to believe by the business stories saying 'there are millions of people using Second Life and it's growing by leaps and bounds.'"Linden Labs refused to comment on the Marketplace piece, which is par for the course at this point. Expect more stories like this in the near future because it's been a long time coming. Although it is good to see Linden Labs beginning to release some actual data to help diminish the backlash.See also: Second Life millionaire pummeled with penises
Comedian Jimmy Carr takes act into Second Life
Irish funnyman Jimmy Carr is set to become the first major comedian to perform stand-up in Second Life. On February 3, as Carr takes the stage in London, his routine will be simultaneously broadcast to a select audience in the virtual world. Will his signature deadpan survive the translation?Carr is giving away tickets to the event through a competition on his MySpace page.[Thanks Joe](Note: the BBC story grossly exaggerates the size of Second Life's user base. See: Analyzing the press' Second Life obsession)
Anti-gold farming bill proposed in South Korea
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism in South Korea has proposed a bill prohibiting the sale or purchase of virtual currency for anyone gaming in the country. According to the Ars Technica article, no limits would be imposed on trading.Never mind how logistics of trying to enforce such a law, a full prohibition on a billion-dollar industry is simply a reaction to a trend which legislators have little understanding of. Even if enacted, virtual consumerism would continue to grow. A bill that taxes virtual economies would be more realistic, but could such a bill be enforced?
Second Life millionaire pummeled with penises
Anshe Chung, the avatar for Second Life millionaire (in real money, not Linden Bucks) Ailin Graef, was giving an interview to CNET at their virtual offices when a griefer sent "animated flying penises" at the building for 15 minutes. After relocating to Chung's own theater, the Prick Assault followed and managed to crash the server.While the perpetrator's intentions are unknown, the article speculates that Chung, who has turned virtual real estate into an extremely profitable venture, has made many enemies in her rise.We don't have any images from the incident, nor do we know the identity of the griefer, but here's an idea. We could put up wanted posters all over Second Life: Have you seen this prick? Report immediately to CNET's Daniel Terdiman . Do not attempt to apprehend this prick, as it is armed and dangerous. It was last seen hanging out at Anshe Chung's theater.[Update 1: SomethingAwful has more on the event, including -- drum roll please -- pictures and video!]
PS3 will see 'user-created experiences' next year, says Harrison
User-created content, which has long been a fixture in the world of PC gaming, has never managed to gain any real traction on consoles, be that due to technological constraints or a lack of online connectivity. With both of those issues out of the way in modern systems, the time is ripe for users to interact and share their creations and experiences. Sony's Phil Harrison gets behind the idea in a revealing interview with MTV's Stephen Totilo, opining* that gaming needs to move away from presenting "closed experiences." If games are to break free (God knows they want to break free), there needs to be a constant flow of communication between Sony and gamers -- more importantly, Harrison insists that said communication flows in both directions (give us money, here's your money). "Next year you're going to see user-created experiences in a number of interesting ways on PlayStation 3," goes the official and spectacularly vague PR line. A Second Life-styled virtual network has oft been rumored, but Harrison fell victim to "line distortion" before Totilo could get any concrete information about it.So, what entails a "user-created experience?" In the worst case, it's a custom wallpaper and a shared photo between friends. In the best case? Oh, it could be anything, from personalized in-game T-shirts to deadly dungeons designed to foil your friends. Be sure to ask us about it next year. * Basis for an awful pun later in the sentence.Read (and be assaulted by Flash) -- Full interview on MTV News
