New World Notes

Test Driving Firestorm for SL Go on My Android Tablet

SL Go streaming from OnLive* is now available on iOS/Android tablets only via the third party Firestorm viewer, as Iris reported earlier today, so I took my Samsung tablet and my cat out on my balcony to give it a quick spin. So far, pretty smooth -- loads, streams, and plays somewhat faster than the official SL viewer on SL Go, seems to me. On a tablet, all Firestorm's cool/quirky UI features are somewhat difficult to access and tweak with your fingers, but it is possible. I prefer using SL Go on my old Dell laptop, but if you're a power tablet user, it could be worth giving it a try:

Apple Used to Develop & Promote Virtual Reality Apps (But Would Probably Prefer Pretending That They Never Did)

Way back in ancient times (by which I mean 1996), Apple was just another cheesy computer company leaping on the latest tech-buzz bandwagon -- advance to 3:00:

Seriously: "Another multimedia capability that's raising a lot of interest nowadays is virtual reality. And Apple is leading the way with Quicktime VR."

Yet another example (like this 1992 video) illustrating how easy it is for major tech companies to become excited about a new technology -- and how quickly they can drop it.

Oh yeah, if you're wondering how the hell Apple would ever make a video as cheese-ass as this one, there's a very good explanation for that:

Firestorm Replacing Second Life's Official Viewer on SL Go for Android & iOS Tablets

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

OnLive's just announced that by popular demand the third-party Second Life viewer Firestorm is available to users of SL Go on iOS and Android, starting today. Not only that, but Firestorm will be completely replacing the official viewer for SL Go on mobile devices. That means no more vanilla viewer, and given Firestorm's popularity that's not a bad thing.

Firestorm has been one of the most successful third party Second Life viewer for years now, and it became available through SL Go's desktop client for the first time last December. It did not see a mobile launch at the same time, however, because only one viewer could be supported in SL Go's app. Naturally this meant that the official viewer took precedent over the unofficial upstart. But Firestorm is a ridiculously popular viewer. Even in SL Go's narrower ecosystem that remained the case, and it's because of this popularity that Firestorm will be completely replacing the official Second Life viewer for SL Go on Android and iOS. It's another example of OnLive and SL Go listening to their community, coming hot on the heels of their recent decision to accept payment in L$. Of course viewer purists need not worry too much: You'll still have your choice of Firestorm or the official viewer when you log in to SL Go on your desktop or laptop.

You can check out SL Go by OnLive here (if you haven't already). If you're already fan of SL Go on your mobile device but have never dipped your toes into Firestorm on your PC, be sure to check out this video I did highlighting some of my favorite features. (Full disclosure: That video was sponsored by OnLive, though this post is not.)

Watch Ebbe Altberg Speak About Second Life & "SL 2"

Here's video of Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg's avatar speaking to several hundred educators on the future of Second Life and "Second Life 2":

This is a follow-up to a post last Friday, where I initially misread the notes to interpret Altberg as talking about Second Life, when he was actually talking about Second Life 2 -- sorry, "Next Generation Platform". (So I figure you should get all this straight from the avatar horse's mouth.)

Speaking of which, "Next Generation Platform" is a really awkward mouthful, so until they give it an actual name, I'm calling it "NGL".

And gawd, whatever happens to NGL, I really hope they figure out a better way to do voice chat, because it's pretty painful watching what looks like a Team America: World Police marionette.

Top Eight New World Notes Posts from Last Week!

• Explore in Second Life This Weekend: The Shire, Beautifully Textured Tribute to Tolkien's Green Realm
• Give Yourself a Very Unique Makeover With Avatars from Second Life Fashion Brand Tesla
• Linden Lab CEO Hints at Alpha Launch of "Second Life 2"
• Samsung Gear VR Review: Simple, Seductive, Scalable
• Five Skylines Photo Filter Mods to Make Your Simulated Cities Shine
• Twitch is Technically Correct to Ban Second Life for Adult Content Focus & Graphically Nude Avatar Feature
• Artist Spending Year in Second Life Before Killing Account
• Update: Twitch Responds With Their Stance on Streaming Second Life: "Game is Unrated and Often Sexually Explicit"

Explore in Second Life This Weekend: The Shire, Beautifully Textured Tribute to Tolkien's Green Realm

The Shire is a stunning and lushly lovely Second Life sim which, as the name suggests, is a tribute to Tolkien's greenest part of Middle Earth. Here's what it looks like from the longest view:

That tiny white spot in the middle-upper left is me, which should give you an idea of the scope of the place.

Click here to see it on the Second Life web map, or copy/paste this address into your favorite SL viewer: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Shire/143/152/33

As with Tolkien's novels, part of The Shire is devoted to Hobbiton, which is represented by cave-like homes, while other regions evoke other places. (I think the spot where the hobbits and Strider fight a Ring Wraith, which here also does double-duty as a nightclub spot.) The textures are lush and superbly detailed. For instance, the hobbit homes have glass windows which shift as you look inside:

Give Yourself a Very Unique Makeover With Avatars from Second Life Fashion Brand Tesla

 
Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

Virtual fashion designer Tesla Miles has been having a bit of fun with her brand lately. Though she's most well known for creating high-quality mesh clothing and shoes, she's also been producing a series of rather offbeat avatars including a "Thing" style hand that walks on its first two digits, an anthropomorphic pile of poop and her most recent creation, the spray can avatar shown here.

According to Tesla, the spray can avatar works with your existing animations and as demonstrated in the video it shoots a fine particle mist on command. Additionally, if you have the artistic skills to make or otherwise acquire a replacement label, you can slap it directly over the one included for a touch of personalization.

You can pick up the spray can for a rather reasonable L$149 on the Second Life Marketplace, and browse Tesla's full (and cartoonishly NSFW) shop for plenty more unique alternatives to your everyday avatar. She also offers more than a few freebies there, including this itty bitty duck av in time for Easter.

Linden Lab CEO Hints at Alpha Launch of "Second Life 2" This Summer (UPDATED)

UPDATE, 2:15pm: In Comments, Linden spokesman Pete Linden disputes the CEO was hinting at Second Life land discounts in this speech, though the full context is ambivalent. Read the discussion here.

UPDATE 2; 11:20pm: Several trusty readers confirmed Ebbe wasn't talking about Second Life in the below quote, so I've struck it and changed the title accordingly.

Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg spoke to several hundred educators who use Second Life, dropped a number of hints about future policy shifts, and Second Life's successor, and young Daniel Voyager was there furiously taking notes. Assuming they're accurate, the top news items are this: Linden Lab will discount Second Life land fees soon, andSecond Life's successor will Alpha launch this Summer.

Here's the salient quotes for that first item, regarding Second Life:

“Yes we want land to be cheaper... and we don’t want a model where content disappears. The cost of land will come down, but sales tax will go up.”

In other words, land tier will go down, while commissions on SL Marketplace sales and other transactions will go up.

As for Linden Lab's "Next Generation Platform", which is the official name for what SLers have been informally calling SL 2, here's key points around the launch: First phase is this Summer, it's completely compatible with Oculus Rift, it will allow some kind of interoperability with Second Life, and it'll be open to anyone 13 and up:

Samsung Gear VR Review: Simple, Seductive, Scalable

Last week at South by Southwest I got to make various gobsmacked expressions as I was hooked up to a very cool demo of Samsung Gear VR, the new head-mounted VR system from the company (created in collaboration with Oculus VR). The demo itself was a first-person shooter, where you're kind of a floating ball moving through connected corridors, blasting away at zombie robots (yes, really). And to be honest, it was the first time using virtual reality where I really felt a compelling sense of presence and immersion. I've used the Oculus Rift HMD in several demos, and found the "screendoor" effect too distracting. While powered by a Samsung smartphone (the Galaxy Note 4), the Gear VR graphics are a notch or two better than the original Rift. (The Samsung demo people themselves admitted that the next generation Crescent Bay from Oculus is better.) The significant difference is the lack of wires. It's a pretty big letdown to strap on a Rift and realize it's tethered to several cables and your heavy duty laptop/desktop. For VR to really go mass market, wireless seems like the only way to go.

So all that's a big plus in Gear VR's favor. Another advantage is even more compelling:

These Five Cities: Skylines Photo Filter Mods Will Make Your Simulated Cities Shine

Janine "Iris Ophelia" Hawkins' ongoing review of gaming and virtual world style

One of my absolute favorite features about the most recent (and most loathed) SimCity game were the Instagram-tastic filters you could apply to your game in real-time. They made for some great screenshots, but after playing for a few hours (some of us did actually play for a few hours!) they were also pretty good for giving your eyes a break and changing things up. You could look at your city with a new coat of paint, in effect, which is why I was a little bummed to hear that Paradox Interactive's Cities: Skylines had borrowed just about everything that made SimCity appealing, but left its visual filters on the cutting room floor alongside multiplayer regions and horrendous launch issues.

Thankfully, Cities: Skylines is an exceptionally moddable game that sold 250K copies in its first day on the market. It's therefore no surprise that it's already gathered an active community, which means that plenty of other players who have been pining for those filters have put that pining to good use. In amid all the maps and turnstyles and town saves there are currently about 100 color correction mods on the Steam Workshop for Cities: Skylines. Here are five of my favorites: