New World Notes

In SL Farming Sim Game, Harvest and Sell Worms for Players of an SL Fishing Sim Game (NWN Partner Post)

Farm Frenzy is a Second Life-based simulation game from Second Ads, a sponsoring partner to this blog, which connects to another Second Ads game in a pretty clever (in my very biased opinion) way: In Farm Frenzy, you cultivate and harvest worms, which can then be sold to people playing Fish Hunt (who after all, need worms for fishing). The more you cultivate your farm, the more experience points you earn, and you can also convert the Gold Tokens you earn from selling worms into Linden Dollars you can spend in SL -- or cash out as real money. So it's a farming sim for people into that kind of game, linked to a fishing sim for fans of those, both connected to a real money trading system. Again, I'm painfully biased, but I will say I'd love to see other SL games of different games linked to each other in this way -- it'll connect disparate SLers together and circulate Linden Dollars across the grid. Anyway, to start playing, you get a Small Worm Farm on the Marketplace here. More resources here on the official landing page.

Award-Winning Indie Game Cart Life Is Not Your Parents' Tycoon Sim

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

I've been waiting at City Hall all day. Waiting for my turn to buy a business permit and a bus pass so I can get on with my life. I didn't make a fuss about it either -- I came in, I took a number (14), and I waited. There's no one else in the entire lobby, but the numbers are passing painfully slow. I pace impatiently. I need to go to the grocery store on my way home (that is, if I want to eat tonight) and I realize I didn't check their hours before coming here. I could run out and try to get my shopping done now, but there's the risk of missing my number and having to come back tomorrow. I'm grateful I don't have to worry about picking a kid up from school, at least.

10, almost my turn. 11, getting closer. 12, the count stops. City hall's closing for the evening. Are you fucking kidding me?

My first day in Cart Life, Richard Hofmeier's IGF award-winning indie game unassumingly called "a retail simulation for Windows," has not gone well...

Strange & Beautiful Second Life Sim Briefly Open to Public

Avatars in Motion has the news of a strange and beautiful Second Life sim called Black Kite that's usually private but is now open to the public for a limited time. I love the house rules:

"The only rules are don't fly over 100 meters and don't go in their house (it's the one with the bed)."

Fair enough! More info and pictures here on Avatars in Motion. Direct teleport SLurl is here.

Open Forum: 97.1% of Second Life Users Now Log In Through Mesh-Enabled Viewers, So What About You?

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

A recent graph by SL resident Kadah Coba paints a very interesting picture of the current rate of mesh adoption in Second Life. As reported by Daniel Voyager last month, mesh viewer adoption is at just over 97% now.

Surprising? Not exactly. But given how vocal many NWN readers were on the issue even one year ago, I'm curious: When did you make the switch, and why?

Downton Abbey Meets The Sims 3, Part 7: Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, and 3 Hotdogs Walk Into a Bar Together...

Iris Ophelia's ongoing effort to simulate Downton Abbey in The Sims 3

It's finally time.

I've planned. I've decorated. I've teased it for weeks. But now, it's here: The most legendary Spooky Day costume party in the history of Sim Downton Abbey.

You know now that I think about it I guess it's sort of the only Spooky Day costume party in the history of Sim Downton Abbey. And maybe it's a little weird to be doing this right before Easter, too.

Well either way, my most recent visit to Sim Downton started with an utterly chilling discovery...

Oculus Rift Creators Tout Second Life as Use Case for Their VR Headset

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I couldn't attend yesterday's GDC presentation by lead developers of the Oculus Rift VR headset, “Running the VR Gauntlet – VR Ready, Are You?”, but a friend who did told me an interesting point came up during the talk: Oculus Product VP Nate Mitchell discussed the range of applications VR will be used in, first citing a violent multiplayer action game like Battlefield, then noting that there's a huge opportunity to integrate VR in a non-violent online world experience like Second Life.

This Blender Plugin for Second Life Shapes Could Revolutionize Machinima (And Revitalize Your Avatar)

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Machinima-makers and hardcore avatar-customizers alike have a new toy to play with... Provided they aren't afraid to roll up their sleeves and dive into Blender to use it. The Avastar plugin (not to be confused with the old virtual world tabloid of the same name) allows you to import a mesh model of your Second Life avatar into Blender, fully rigged and ready to experiment on.

The plugin isn't free, but there are a ton of potential applications that make it well worth the $22 asking price, like...

3 Things That Completely Changed My Mind About Neverwinter, The Latest MMO From Cryptic Studios

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

I wasn't expecting much when I plugged my Neverwinter beta key into the game's website last friday. All I knew was that Cryptic Studios (which was purchased by free-to-play MMO gaming giant Perfect World International) had been working on this game, based on Dungeons & Dragons, for a while. Cryptic has made a name for themselves by taking risks and experimenting with new features, while Perfect World made its name on... Well, let's just say that after awhile most of Perfect World's titles blurred together into one big bland grindfest.

But wouldn't you know it, there are quite a few impressive and appealing surprises in this game that changed my opinion from "might play" to "must play" in a matter of hours. For example...

Virtual Photography Contest for SL's Beloved Neva River Sim

There's now a Neva River virtual photography contest with prizes of up to L$10,000, which is news many NWN readers would probably like to know -- as I noted last week, the sim of Neva Crystall is quite acclaimed as a masterpiece of SL environmental design and building. Go here for all the details.

Get the Inside Story On Some of Second Life's Most Beautiful Spaces With Draxtor Despres' Latest Mixed Reality Videos

Iris Ophelia's ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

One of Second Life's most acclaimed journalists and machinima artists has a new project, and it'll give you some amazing insight into the kinds of people that not only use Second Life, but shape the virtual world around them. The Drax Files: World Builders by Draxtor Despres recently came out with its second episode, featuring the face of SL's 1920's Berlin (and NWN reader) Jo Yardley. Take a look for yourself after the jump.