New World Notes

Top Seven New World Notes Posts from Last Week

• Rod Humble: Linden Lab Already Integrated Oculus Rift with Second Life, Fine Tuning It Now, Videos Coming Soon
• Why WeChat is Wonderful: The Cross-Platform Mobile Chat/Audio/Video/Social Network That'll Change the World
• Downton Abbey meets The Sims 3, Snowflake Day Special Part 2: It Takes Two to Igloo
• Linden Lab Hastily Launches Authorized Linden Dollar Reseller Program to Allow (Highly Regulated) Third Party Selling of L$
• New MMO Marvel Heroes Has Its Fair Share of Problems
• I Keep Coming Across Chinese Hotel Workers Playing MMOs
• Firestorm's New Alt. Cloud Maps Make SL Skies Awesome

Top Seven New World Notes Posts from Last Week

• Did Linden Lab Change Its Terms of Service Around Second Life Currency to Comply With US Treasury Guidelines?
• Dear Internet: If You Must, Harass me for What I'm Doing -- Not for What I Am
• I Avoided Second Life Drama and Met My Real Life Fiance Instead
• Nian Design's Affordable Solution to One of SL's Oldest Avatar Issues
• Virtual Currency Legal Analyst: Linden Lab Has to Comply With New US Treasury Guidelines or Face Criminal Penalties
• Strangelings Virtual Pets Auction for Up to $30 in Real Cash
• Downton Abbey meets The Sims 3, Snowflake Day Special Part 1: A Song of Ice and Fire Alarms

Top Five New World Notes Posts Last Week

My post on the open source artificial life project known as OpenWorm got a nice mention in Boing Boing, where it was picked up by the BBC and also PopSci. Other posts especially worth reading (if you haven't already):

• Linden Lab Looking at the Oculus Rift for Second Life Now: One Insider Weighs Its Pros & Cons
• Google's Eric Schmidt & Jared Cohen Think Virtual Reality Will Become More Commonplace, Online Identity Less Anonymous - They're Half Right
• There's a Lot to Hate About Ultra-Trashy Sci-Fi MMO Scarlet Blade, So Why Don't I Actually Hate It?
• I Largely Left Second Life to Avoid the People of Second Life (Comment of the Week)

Top Five New World Notes Posts from Last Week

• Oculus Rift Integration Coming to Second Life, Linden Lab Staff Confirm
• No, Second Life Isn't Losing Virtual Landowners Because of the Real World Financial Crisis
• Banned Boyfriend AI Makes its Glorious Return to Apple's App Store
• Quantum Mechanics Suggests Reality is a Simulation
• Downton Abbey Meets The Sims 3, Part 9: The Pre-Christmas Special Recap Extravaganza

Top Seven New World Notes Posts from Last Week

• Now With 300K Members, Second Life's Facebook Page is By Far SL's Largest Social Media Presence - And Disproves an Old SL Myth
• Bioshock Infinite's Damsel Dilemma: Hey Girl, If You're So Omnipotent Why Can't You Find Your Own Damn Airship?
• Scientists Testing to See if First Life is Really Second Life
• Watch This Video to See Why Linden Lab Should Spend Millions Getting Second Life to Run Well on the Oculus Rift
• Second Life Runs Pretty Well on a Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2
• Now With 300K Members, Second Life's Facebook Page is By Far SL's Largest Social Media Presence - And Disproves an Old SL Myth
• Double Confirmed: Philip Rosedale's High Fidelity Building "A New Kind of Virtual Reality Platform" - As Are Many Others

Last Week's Top 6 New World Notes You Don't Want to Miss

• Can Second Life Become the Killer App for Oculus Rift? Only If Linden Lab Goes All In
• Watch Philip Rosedale Connect a Smartphone's Accelerometer to Movement in a Virtual World
• Downton Abbey Meets The Sims 3, Part 8: There's Love In The Air (or Something In The Water)
• Cloud Party Picks Former Top Linden Cyn Skyberg to Become World's Community Director
• Logging Into Second Life from China Without a VPN
How Bioshock Infinite's Elizabeth Is Built to Breathe Life Into The Most Mundane Moments

Top Five New World Notes Posts from Last Week

• Confirmed: Philip Rosedale Creating Next Generation Virtual Reality Project, Likely With a 3D Voxel Engine
• BioShock Infinite's Racist Arcade Games Based on Real Games from America's Dark Past That Echo in Its Present
• Cloud Party Adds Mesh-Based, Collaborative Building Blocks Which Sound Super Superior to SL's Prim-Based System
• US Treasury Issues Guidelines on Virtual Currency Regulation Likely Leading to Regulation of Bitcoin -- and Lawyer Headaches for Linden Lab
• Here's Why Bioshock Infinite's Stylized Texturing May Be the Key to its Beauty

Five NWN Posts from Last Week You Should Totally Read

• Award-Winning Indie Game Cart Life Is Not Your Parents' Tycoon Sim
• Downton Abbey Meets The Sims 3, Part 7: Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, and 3 Hotdogs Walk Into a Bar Together...
• 3 Things That Completely Changed My Mind About Neverwinter, The Latest MMO From Cryptic Studios
• According to Apple, Empathy Doesn't Belong in the App Store
• Want to Make the Most of Cashing Out Your L$? Take Gogo's Advice and Place a Sell Order Instead!

Top Five New World Notes Posts from Last Week

• How to Leave Meaningful Marketplace Reviews (Or More Accurately: How to Avoid Looking Like an Ass in One)
• Steep Yourself in the Somber and Haunting World of Indie Adventure Game Kentucky Route Zero
• Second Life Analyst Estimates SL Premium Subscription Accounts Drop to 67,500 -- Down 7,500 Since 2009
• World of Warcraft Now Being Advertised... on Second Life
• PixieViewer Makes OpenSim Grids Accessible Via Browsers

Top 5 New World Notes from Last Week You Need to Read

• I Have Held My Hands Up to Use the Leap 3D Motion Controller and I Declare That It Is Good
• Top Skyrim Mods Being Ripped and Sold in Second Life
• Linden Lab Quietly Offering 50% Discounts to Select Non-Profit & Educational Groups Who've Given Up Their SL Sims
• Downton Abbey Meets The Sims 3, Part 5: Shrew Taming, Taste Testing, and Tomb Raiding
• To Avoid Its A-Hole Problem, Google Glass Needs an Off Mode