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Leica's CL gives an iconic design the modern tech it deserves
Up until recently, Leica built lovely, expensive cameras that no-one ever called "state-of-the-art." The TL2, however, recently marked a change in direction. Not only was it relatively cheap for a Leica at $1,950, but it was endowed with modern features like 4K video. It's pushing that idea further with the CL, its new $2,795 flagship 24.2-megapixel APS-C mirrorless that looks and feels more like an old-school Leica, thanks to a new body and manual dials. At the same time, it's got the tech you'd expect in a modern camera, including an all-new electronic viewfinder.
Eerie comparisons between MMOs and real life surface
We all joke about how unrealistic MMOs are to our mundane, tax-filled lives, but Redcentric did a little digging to compare how virtual worlds and the real one stack up in various ways. Some of the results proved astounding. With World of Warcraft, Redcentric noted that the population in both the game and the US military have about the same percentage of males (84% to 83%), while EVE Online's male population (96%) is more similar to that of the astronaut crowd (90%). The agency also noted how Second Life has 10 real-world embassies in it and that a previous ban of real-money trading in the game caused a very real financial crisis for a bank that wiped out $750,000. So how do these three titles compare to real-world cities in regards to population? World of Warcraft at its peak was close to Moscow's population (11.5 million), while Second Life almost hit the levels of San Fransisco (825K) and EVE Online barely surpassed Edinburgh's 495,000.
Second Life CEO Rod Humble leaves Linden Lab
Rod Humble, CEO of Linden Lab for the past three years, officially announced via Facebook that he has left the company. Humble has worked on both The Sims and EverQuest, pretty much exactly the two games that you would think could be mashed together into Second Life. Linden Lab has not issued a statement about Humble's replacement at this time. In a statement on the move, Humble wished his former coworkers and customers the best of fortunes, stating that he was moving on to form a startup company to make "art, entertainment, and unusual things." Whether or not this will be another startup in the online gaming space or something entirely different remains to be seen.
Some Assembly Required: Virtual world roundup for 2014 and beyond
Just over two years ago there was a great disturbance, as if millions (or so) of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. Yes, something terrible had happened: a beloved virtual world was destroyed. And that left a number of sandbox refugees looking for a new place to call home. At that time, Some Assembly Required offered a roundup of the then available virtual worlds that could possibly offer accommodation, depending on what qualities players most desired in their games. But as things are wont to, they changed; a lot can happen in the MMOverse in 24 months, from additional features in existing games to new games to the loss of more worlds. So it's time to update this list of virtual worlds to reflect 2014 and beyond. Take a look and see what titles or titles-to-be have the sandbox features that best make a game a home for you.
Colbert cracks ancient Second Life joke, picks on NSA
I guess we'll forgive Stephen Colbert for not realizing that the Second-Life-users-don't-have-a-first-life joke is older than he is. Mainly because the rest of his segment on Linden Labs' virtual world and its NSA-powered avatars is pretty funny. Colbert follows up Comedy Central colleague Jon Stewart's riff on the NSA in World of Warcraft with a segment heavy on Second Life secret agents. Kotaku has the full story as well as a video embed.
NSA spies infiltrate MMOs to weed out terrorism
News of our government spying on us is not actually news at this point, but recent reports suggest that governments are also spying on us in our online games. The reason? Suspected terrorism, of course! Former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden, ProPublica, The Guardian, and The New York Times report today that American and British intelligence agencies have infiltrated Second Life, World of Warcraft, and Xbox Live to weed out militants that may use the games to communicate, move money, or plot attacks under fake identities. So that noob in your PUG last night who just wouldn't heal the tank may have been a CIA agent getting paid ungodly amounts of money to level his Priest at the taxpayers' expense. Most interestingly, Blizzard denies any knowledge of such activities: "We are unaware of any surveillance taking place," said a spokesman for Blizzard Entertainment. "If it was, it would have been done without our knowledge or permission." [Source: ProPublica press release]
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding November 17 - 30, 2013
One thing gamers can definitely be thankful for this year is crowdfunding! Thanks to this phenomenon, we have many more options opening to us than ever before. And there are definitely some good gaming prospects on the horizon, even if news about all but one is seeming a bit scarce lately. While it's true that a few funded projects tossed out a news morsel or two, two new campaigns replaced two unsuccessful ones (neither The Zodiac Project nor Omuni Online made their goals), newcomer The Mandate already made its goal, and another hopeful -- Ever, Jane -- has secured three-quarters of its goal with only a couple of days left, the majority of the spotlight has been stolen the upcoming space sim Star Citizen, which continues to blast the crowdfunding record to smithereens. If you missed any of the news, you can catch up on it all right here in Make My MMO.
Second Life's Linden Lab expands with digital distribution service
Second Life's Linden Lab has announced this week that it has acquired the digital distribution service Desura. What's Desura? Think of it as a lesser-known version of Steam, yet without the DRM headaches and more focused on player mods. So, not really like Steam. Linden Lab's CEO, Rod Humble, is optimistic about Desura's offering to the 14-year-old virtual world company: "This acquisition gives us a global platform for serving creative developers of all kinds, and we're looking forward to growing both Desura's global community of gamers and its fantastic portfolio of thousands of games, mods, and other content. Our aim is to invest and support the Desura team in making it the most open and developer-friendly platform in the world."
Second Life readies for 10th anniversary, celebrates a million active users per month
Second Life hasn't gotten much respect in MMO circles since the genre went mainstream (yes, yes, get a first life, aren't you clever!). Still, Linden Lab's virtual world is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary on June 23rd, and it boasts user numbers that most MMOs can only dream about. An anniversary infographic says that Second Life has amassed 36 million registered users as well as more than 400,000 new accounts per month. Oh, and don't forget "a million monthly active users," according to Linden CEO Rod Humble. Those users typically rack up 1.2 million virtual goods transactions per day and have accounted for $3.2 billion worth of transactions over the life of the game. You can find more nifty stats like those on the the graphic after the break.
Female avatars are likely to be more exposed than their male counterparts
You really needed to be told this, right? You may not have been sure whether a lady-type avatar was more likely to be closer to naked than a manly-type avatar. If you were dying to know and really had no idea, there's an actual study now to get you all informed. Anna M. Lomanowska and Matthieu J. Guitton went into Second Life and examined 404 (192 male and 212 female) avatars of the humanoid-but-not-furry type. They found that 57% of lady-type avatars had less than half of their skin covered, compared to only 10% of masculine-type avatars being similarly exposed. Lomanowska and Guitton were not privy to the actual sex of the folks controlling the avatars. Do you feel enlightened?
Linden Lab preps four releases for November
The boys and girls of Linden Lab are expanding their operation. Rapidly expanding, as it turns out. The Second Life studio announced that it has not one, not two, not three, but four titles scheduled for release in November. We've already heard about the first, which is the Minecraft-wannabe Patterns, but the others are just now being revealed. The second is the iPad-only (for now) Creatorverse, which allows users to draw shapes, have them interact via physics, and then share them on the cloud. The final two are Dio, a room creator, and Versu, a storytelling toolset. Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble affirmed that Second Life will remain important to the studio, but it will need to make room for all of the new children coming into the family.
Linden Lab reveals its next game, Patterns
Where does a company like Linden Lab go after Second Life? Obviously any other titles from the studio need to be creative and offer players a wide realm of personalized options... but Second Life is so open that it's difficult to follow up with something that's any more open to player creativity. Nevertheless, the company is certainly aiming for that with its upcoming new title, Patterns. And while the game looks at a glance like Minecraft with triangles, there's more to the concept than that. As explained in the trailer, Patterns is focused on an experience not dissimilar to Minecraft but with a heavier focus on creativity. The game will sport a real-time physics engine as demonstrated in the trailer, giving objects physical properties that come into play as they enter the world. While the game is still in very early development, you can get a sense of what's in the future by glancing at the trailer just past the break.
Iran blocks Guild Wars, World of Warcraft
Reports are coming in that Iran is moving to block access to several MMOs, including World of Warcraft and Guild Wars. This comes following a conference by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance earlier this month. At the conference, the Islamic Revolution Game Designers Community was formed and decided to ban games that promote superstition, mythology, violence, and revealing clothing. Following the decision, the government started cracking down on various services and MMOs, such as Battle.net's library and ArenaNet's Guild Wars series. Other games targeted include RuneScape, Second Life, Dofus, Evony, and Entropia Universe. It's unclear to what extent the government is attempting to enforce these bans, and Iranian players are looking into workaround solutions to access their MMOs. It's interesting to note that Blizzard does not authorize downloads of its products or services in Iran.
Sony Xperia SL shows up in Indonesian POSTEL database
The Xperia S is a mere six months old. Yet, rumor has it that Sony is already prepping a refresh, dubbed the Xperia SL. The handset surfaced at the Indonesian POSTEL site (which appears to be something akin to the FCC), bearing the model number LT26ii. That seemingly random collection of letters and numbers actually reinforces the suspicion that the SL will replace the S, which goes by LT26i -- for those fascinated by nondescript naming systems. What else can we tell you about the device? Well... a whole lot of nothing unfortunately. Chances are it will be mostly a minor spec bump -- perhaps a quad-core CPU and a better camera. For now, though, you'll just have to wait and play the guessing game with the rest of us.
Second Life used to teach relaxation techniques
Who says Second Life's best days are behind it? Not Medical News Today, which reports that the long-running virtual world from Linden Lab has been successfully used to teach relaxation techniques. Massachusetts General Hospital researchers recently conducted a study that concluded that online worlds like Second Life can be useful in "teaching a mind/body approach that includes the relaxation response." The study found that by doing away with the limitations of face-to-face meetings (and easing the minds of participants who are uncomfortable in real-world group settings), virtual worlds can foster more relaxing and healthy experiences. The study featured 24 individuals who were divided into three groups and subjected to eight weeks of online sessions in Second Life. Researchers found that participants "showed reductions in depression- and anxiety-related symptoms," though it's also important to note that participants had prior experiences with virtual worlds.
Linden Lab's Second Life 'extremely profitable,' company looking to expand
Second Life has dropped out of the limelight in recent years, but if a new piece at GamesIndustry.biz is on the mark, the long-running virtual world may be primed for something of a renaissance. Former Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon vacated the throne in June 2010, and veteran developer Rod Humble took over at the beginning of 2011. Since then, the EverQuest and The Sims veteran has been working hard to bring a bit of structure to Second Life's virtual sprawl, and in the process, reinvigorate what was one of the first MMORPG media darlings. "I was taken aback by just how big Second Life was," Humble says. "To be honest, it had fallen off my radar until I got the call offering me the position. And I looked at their numbers; this is a world that has got 1 million people logging in every month, generating well in excess of $75 million a year -- it's extremely profitable." Humble spent much of 2011 refining the product, and everything from the sign-up process to the UI to world transportation received some attention. The result was a 40 percent uptick in new users, and now Humble is bent on expanding Linden Lab's offerings beyond Second Life. "Linden Lab has been very successful with one innovative product, but I want to stretch the company out again, to make it a really exciting place where people can't wait to find out about the next unusual title we're going to release," he said.
MV Guide: February 6-12, 2012
MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!
Previously on MV TV: Week of January 30, 2012
Welcome to Previously on MV TV! Our livestreaming schedule has picked up a lot over the past few weeks, and our readers have busy lives, so we know it's impossible to watch every single streaming event live. Fortunately for you, we save all of our streams all for posterity on Massively's Twitch TV channel, so you can view them at your leisure. Even better, we've got a roundup of a few of last week's MV TV highlights from the livestream team. Follow along after the jump for the best of the best!
Free for All: Old Second Life documentary still highlights truths
So I was working on this week's Free for All last night when a buddy of mine asked me if I had seen a certain older Second Life documentary. I didn't think I had before, but it turns out that my usual record of consuming everything MMO still stands, and it was fun to re-watch the older documentary again for several reasons. One of the most important things I noticed about the film was just how universal to MMO gaming the documentary was. The issues it brought up are still issues, the problems with virtual worlds are still problems, and the fact that any technology older than six months looks laughable on film is still true. It was also encouraging to see how well Second Life has aged since 2007, but it's slightly depressing to see just how horrible MMO documentaries can be at showing the entire picture.
MV Guide: January 30-February 5, 2012
MV Guide is a weekly rundown of the MMO gaming events planned on Massively TV. Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule!
