Major Japanese Retailer Uses 3Di's OpenSim Browser Plug-In-- Biggest Consumer Application of OpenSimulator So Far?

What you see above is my avatar in the virtual space of Sanwa Supply, one of the world's largest suppliers of computer accessories and peripherals. The Sanwa 3D Internet Lab was just launched today, developed by Japanese company 3Di. Two important things stand out: It's a virtual retail/commerce space running on OpenSimulator, which probably makes this the largest consumer-facing application of OpenSim thus far. Even more striking: As I noted yesterday, it's a version of OpenSimulator that runs as a web browser plug-in, for Internet Explorer or Firefox. I was able to install and run the IE version with minimal difficulty -- while the installation is all in Japanese, the download/install prompts are pretty familiar. Interaction seems limited to point-and-click avatar interaction, and my own performance was fairly slow. (Not surprising, since I'm in California trying to access a media-rich application in Japan.) Go here to check it out for yourself.

Update, 9/2: Much thanks, by the way, to my invaluable Japanese translator Sanny Yoshikawa for bringing me this news.

Comments

[HALEY Salomon]

nice GREEN shirt!!

[Hamlet Au]

Thanks, though the shirt was thrust upon me. Far as I can tell this has no avatar customizations...