Tateru-Nino
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Portions of Twinity virtual world taken offline
Twinity users are experiencing a bit of lawyerly inconvenience according to virtual world blogger Tateru Nino. Portions of the Metaversum GmbH sim have been taken offline for unspecified reasons, and Nino speculates that "someone's team of undead zombie lawyers woke up and started asserting intellectual property rights and licensing restrictions." The Twinity project makes use of both Google Maps and 3-D data to recreate cities like Singapore, London, Miami, and New York, but patrons will need to put their online party plans on hold for the time being. Twinity's dev team posted a cryptic explanation, along with its intent to "try to reactivate the cities in the future."
Duran Duran and Second Life, isn't that bizarre?
According to Tateru Nino at Dwell On It, Duran Duran had promised its presence in the world of Second Life back in 2006. Second Life residents were hungry like a wolf for more information, but the band was lost in a crowd. At long last, the band announced yesterday the launch of Duran Duran Universe, a new zone in Linden Lab's virtual world. Although there may be no dancing on the sand, community manager Crissy Welinder posted the official announcement to the Duran Duran website: "Duran Duran Universe is packed full of wonderful artistic treasures, interactive features, innovative multimedia and exciting events and games." Every part of the Second Life zone has been carefully selected by members of the band, and they hope it is one continuous party. For more information about Duran Duran Universe, don't twist through a dusty land, just visit the band's official website.
Rumor: Microsoft making a play for Linden Lab
If most of the horrific violence that happens in the ocean takes place unseen beneath the waves, then the same goes for the massive acquisitions that happen unseen behind boardroom doors. Yesterday, Tateru Nino posted a rumor on her blog that several Linden Lab employees were saying that Microsoft was making a bid to purchase the company: "Funny as that might seem on the face of it, a small number of Linden Lab staff are today spreading the story that Linden Lab is now entertaining offers for sale, and that Microsoft has actually presented one." TechEye.net seconded the rumor, noting that as the Linden Lab UK office closed down this week, an employee tweeted: "A little birdie told me that Microsoft may have silently offered to buy Linden Lab this week." Linden Lab runs the popular virtual world Second Life, which has seen its share of troubles lately. So far, Linden Lab is neither confirming nor denying the rumor.
Massively's top 5 original features for 2009
Not only are we here at Massively passionate about covering the news, but we also deliver on unique and original content. We're out in the trenches interviewing developers, talking about our favorite games, getting inside our games and meeting the community, and giving you our perspectives on the MMO industry. Sometimes you agree with us, sometimes you don't, but we'll keep writing as long as you guys lend us your support and keep reading. This year was a real breakout year for our original content as we had a bunch of our features rock the traffic charts higher than our news. So, in the spirit of a banner year, it's time to run down the list and name our top five features for 2009. Once again, we're presenting the article in gallery-vision (TM), so be sure to jump on in by clicking the link below or clicking the first image in the gallery below that. If you wish to comment, drop back by this post (not the gallery) and leave your comment in the white comment box below. Massively's top news stories of 2009>> %Gallery-81266%
Blue Mars beta and launch dates disclosed
When it comes to virtual worlds, Massively's main focus to date has clearly been on Second Life, but we're also interested in some of the other choices that are becoming available to residents in virtual spaces. Blue Mars from Avatar Reality is one that's caught our eye -- it's a sci-fi themed virtual world, set on a terraformed Mars in the year 2177 AD. The potential is there to have some stunning visuals, as Blue Mars is built on CryEngine2, best known for giving Crysis its look. The official Avatar Reality site lists a beta release for the end of 2008, but they've told Eurogamer that Blue Mars enters beta in January 2009. "The first-time developer expects this to last for around three months, before the full game launches in April," Eurogamer's Rob Purchese reports.
Meet the Team: Tateru Nino
Once a week our writers will give you a glimpse into their lives, to let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more Meet the Team. What do you do for Massively.com? I'm a general writer, though I act as the team specialist for collaborative virtual worlds (particularly Second Life), and legal analysis. I help brainstorm and do some proofreading, and examine the philosophy of MMOs and virtual environments. What's your favorite MMO?I spend more time with Second Life than anything else -- but NCsoft's CoX and Turbine's LotRO tie for first place for my MMO gaming time.%Gallery-33889%
Cinemassively: Gibson Island in Second Life
Earth Primbee, Cypress Rosewood, and the Gibson Guitar company created a video to let Second Life residents know that they're ready to rock. Tateru Nino recently wrote about Gibson's entry into the virtual world that will take place today on their island. While most companies are fleeing SL in droves, it seems as if Gibson didn't get the memo, as they roll out a 12-hour premiere and showcase their guitars. It's nice to see a company that doesn't get intimidated by a little negative backlash!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them. Please note that due to the high volume of Second Life submissions, we would prefer submissions from other platforms.
WRUP: Business as usual edition
Is it just us or are people settling into their habits lately? Age of Conan is a standby for a lot of folks since release, while WoW remains a constant favorite among MMO players. EVE may have seen a little boost in the ratings lately thanks to all the buzz around the expansion (ditto for DDO), but there hasn't really big a big shakeup in the MMO game in quite a while, seems like. Nevertheless, it's Friday, so it's time to ask you, dear reader: What aRe yoU Playing?Massively's own James Egan is one of those diving back into EVE Online, presumably to blast some nubs out of the sky. I continue to be fascinated by World of Warcraft -- my Hunter is continuing the climb to 70, even if it's slow going lately. And Tateru Nino still hangs out in Second Life and City of Heroes.So things are pretty business as usual this weekend -- would it be wrong to start asking for an MMO release that actually shakes things up? Have you recently broken ground on a new and exciting MMO, or are you standing by your old standbys this weekend? What are you up to?
Cinemassively: Rouge en Bulle
As far as this blogger knows, the only time you could previously ride in a bubble was with the Starax wand, at a hefty price of 16,000L. Now that the wands have been off the market for over a year, Jacek Antonelli has made considerable improvements on bubbles. Not only are these bad boys pilotable, but they also have a built-in group chat system!Our very own Tateru Nino suggested this Second Life machinima by the unstoppable Codebastard Redgrave. Codie was asked to film the Bubble Ride Party at Cuddlefish Junction on March 15th. Blending different Windlight settings, she composed their adventure as if it were in a surreal version of reality.[Thanks, Tateru!]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Philip Rosedale on transparency
After being literally stunned silent over Tateru's blog entry about Philip Rosedale stepping down, I've decided not to post a machinima today. Instead, I found a video of Philip at the Davos convention. He was asked the Davos Question, which involved what he would do to make the world a better place in 2008.Given today's announcement, you may be surprised to hear that his answer was transparency. Considering that there is no blog entry yet on the Official Second Life Blog, I can tell they're already starting off 2008 with a bang! Does this news come as a surprise to you?
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Dream of Mirror Online's cel-shaded look works for it
Our own Tateru Nino has been covering Dream of Mirror Online pretty well (both with a nice hands-on and coverage of the problems with EU players), and now Keen (of Keen and Graev) has written up a few of his own impressions of the game as well. He doesn't go nearly as in-depth as Tateru's hands-on (just mentions that there are a few "kill x boars pigs" quests), but he does talk about how the cel-shading and stylization of the graphics is a real boost for the game, both in terms of playability (the low system requirements are great for pulling in casual players) and in terms of feel. Both Tateru and Keen felt that the world was really alive with characters and story.My original concern with the game was that the gameplay would end up "as cutesy as the graphics are," but according to what we've heard, it's actually pretty in-depth. Anyone else given the world of DOMO a try?
[UPDATED] Was Cory Linden fired, or did he quit?
var digg_url = 'http://www.digg.com/tech_news/Cory_Linden_Linden_Lab_2_man_gone_fired_or_quit'; I've been hearing rumors about one of Second Life's dear leaders, Cory Linden (aka Cory Ondrejka), Linden Lab's CTO. Apparently he didn't see eye to eye with Philip Linden (aka Philip Rosedale), LL's CEO, about the engineering direction. Either way, he quit, or Philip fired him. Care to clarify, Linden Lab?Tateru Nino recently did a piece on Philip's mission statement blog entry. It seemed to come out of nowhere and maybe this has something to do with it. We'll keep you updated as we know more![8:47pm EST] I have obtained a copy of Philip's email that he sent to his employees, which you can read after the jump ...
Second Life Insider still ranks, even though it's technically dead
As of 12:30 AM, Saturday, December 8th, 2007, secondlifeinsider.com is ranked the #6 Top Second Life Blog on Sweet Second Life, behind luminaries Torley Linden's personal blog, Codebastard Redgrave's personal blog, Brutal Honesty, the Mean Girls Guide to SL, and at #1, The Official Linden Blog. And all this, despite the fact that the Second Life Insider has had no new content since Massively began!Honestly, I'm both pleased and puzzled by this. Sure, there's a metric f#$*-tonne of content in the archives, but the fact that Massively is nowhere on that 88-item-strong list probably means something. For all intents and purposes, Massively is the New Second Life Insider. We've just changed facades; the content is the same. So where's the Massively love? I'm going to just assume that because we cover MMOs of all stripes, we don't qualify as an SL-only blog. Sigh.In related news, both Our Tateru and Our Eloise's personal blogs are on that list as well, so go check 'em out!
What Rase Kenzo means for virtual property
Our own Tateru Nino has been covering the Second Life case of Rase Kenzo very closely, but with the settlement yesterday, it seems the ruling might have effects on the concepts of virtual worlds at large. At issue is whether or not an avatar named Rase Kenzo could use an exploit to duplicate items created by Second Lifers-- does copyright and intellectual property matter when the items you're talking about are virtual? As Tateru herself noted, yes-- virtual theft matters.And Raph Koster agrees. He points to the Rase Kenzo settlement as all the precendent any court would need to consider virtual goods "merchandise" in every sense of the word, with all the normal protections and inherent properties included.Now, the Second Life items had some properties that most other virtual world items do not-- they were actually coded and created by the creators, and while you do hit a button to create, say, an Epic in WoW or a ship in EVE, the item you create wasn't actually created by you. So the intellectual property laws probably won't cross over-- whether you virtually "crafted" an item or not, you don't have a lot of claim on it when the design didn't come out of your head.But we are another step closer to putting a real (and real-world) value on virtual items. This case took place in Second Life, but like many things in the Lindens' world, odds are it will have repercussions in lots of different virtual worlds.
Massively's Tateru Nino interviewed
Tateru Nino, formerly writing for Second Life Insider, has been a Second Life resident since August of 2005. She is known for her compassionate work as a Mentor (in the days when that was still an available vocation), which made her so popular a personage that a Cult grew up around her!SLOz, an Australian site devoted to Second Life, has put up its interview with Tateru, and it's a good one. Those of you new to SL can glean a lot of information about it by reading this, and a fair amount of insight into one of Massively's stable of bloggers. Give it a read and send Tat a nice comment!
