New World Notes

Meet Avatar Reality's Jim Sink in Blue Mars Today @ 5pm

Today at 5pm Pacific, Avatar Reality CEO Jim Sink is going to be in the Blue Mars Welcome Area (Blink teleport page here) to talk about future developments in the CryEngine-powered 3D world. If you haven't downloaded or updated the Blue Mars client lately (or at all), you should probably start right now, to allow time for installation. Disclosure: I'm occasionally a consultant for Avatar Reality, so I'm biased, but as a veteran of Microsoft's Xbox division, I think Jim has a great vision for where 3D worlds need to go in the next few years. But join in the Q&A and decide for yourself! Image from the Blue Mars Online Flickr stream.

Live Music Launches in Blue Mars, Here's the Video!

Via Metaverse TV, here's a clip from last night's inaugural live music performance in Blue Mars (where I sometimes consult.) While I'm profoundly biased, I thought the show went fairly well (for a first time thing), with a modest house of about 25. And even if you aren't impressed by the visuals, do give a listen to Anekretia, who rocks hard. My hope is to quickly see more performer and audience animations, lighting systems and visual effects, an in-world tipping system, and all the things we've come to expect from metaverse-based live shows. But as it's written in the haiku of Kobayashi Issa (or maybe this was Lemmy of Motörhead), Oh snail / climb the Mountain of Rock / but slowly, slowly!

New Blue Mars Viewer & SDK Update Available Now

Blue Mars has a new update for the viewer and the software development kit. You can download the viewer at the homepage, or if you already have the viewer, get the update patch here. Most of the new additions are for developers (read the release notes here), but there's some pretty cool new features for users, like the new Places browser that lets you sort Mars locations by recent updates, and cities you've already downloaded. Also, personal homes you can edit. More details on the Blue Mars blog. Disclosure: I'm an occasional consultant for Blue Mars, but not this month -- however, Iris Ophelia is still ruling the Mars blog, covering gorgeous housewares and beautiful hair and cutely freckled skins and suchlike.

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Blue Mars' "Try On" Feature for Fashion Shopping

Iris has advice on using Blue Mars' "Try On" feature, which allows you to see what an item of clothing looks like on your avatar before you buy it. Speaking of which, this month I'm taking a break from helping develop the Blue Mars blog as a consultant, but Iris is there throughout December, blogging up a fashion storm.

Blue World Notes: Why Your Blue Mars Avatar Looks at You

(Cross-posted from the Blue Mars blog, which I develop as a consultant)

When a virtual world veteran visits Blue Mars for the very first time, she usually notices a surprising and sometimes eerie thing: Her avatar seems to look right at her. This happens not just when the user's camera is positioned right in front of the avatar, but even when the avatar is facing away. It will sometimes just turn around and seem to look right at you -- as if to say, "Don't you wish you were here instead of me?" (At least that's what I imagine my Hamlet Au avatar thinking, when he turns back to stare at me.) As it happens, this is an intentional design decision by Avatar Reality developer Koji Nagashima, who's created 3D characters as a senior developer for videogames like God of War 1/2 and the movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which brought the first photorealistic 3D characters to the big screen.

"I think direction of eyes is very important point to make the avatar 'alive'," Koji tells me. However, unlike a movie or single-player game, the challenge is somewhat different, when you want to convey that in a multi-user virtual world:

Blue Mars Black Friday Fashion Specials Today

Several Blue Mars developers have special Black Friday discounts on items like skins, sweaters, and secret items, available all through today. If you're looking for other avatar enhancements, here's a zombie apocalypse-inspired look modeled by Iris Ophelia, and an adorable, face-ripping polar bear avatar modeled by, well, me. Full disclosure: Iris and I consult for Blue Mars developer Avatar Reality. Fuller disclosure: I like my polar bear avatar so much, I may ditch the white suit.

Blue Mars Custom Makeup Tips (For This Weekend's Contest)

Speaking of Iris Ophelia getting stylish in other worlds, she also has all the tips you need for customizing your makeup in Blue Mars (where she and I consult.) It's also a great guide to consult for the Blue Mars custom make-up contest, which has 5 days left!

Blue Mars Education Event: Meet IDIA Staff and Get a Tour of Their Immersive Learning City Today at 2:00 PM Pacific

Today at 2pm Pacific, IDIA director John Fillwalk and his staff will be in Blue Mars (where I proudly consult) to talk about their massive immersive education site which recently launched in Blue Mars, featuring historical site recreations and sculptures that have been recreated by laser scanning the originals. For educators especially, I think it's a cool opportunity to learn and talk about 3D spaces as an pedagogical tool. IDIA, a lab with Ball State University, has also done several cool projects in SL, including this sim which hosts an AM Radio interactive art installation, so I'm sure John will have insights on working in both platforms. His Blue Mars avatar name is conveniently named "John Fillwalk", and he sports a black blazer and anime-flavored hair. I'll be there too, at least for awhile. Meet us at 2pm -- just go to the IDIA Lab city in Blue Mars (Blink teleport page here) and find us waiting for you then near the first spawn point. And if you haven't created a Blue Mars account yet, remember there's a special sign-up bonus of 1000 free BLU$ this month.

Blue Mars Sign-Up Special: Create an Account by November 29, Get 1,000 Free BLU$!

Blue Mars, the virtual world where I consult, has a special offer from now until November 29: Go here to create a free account, and you'll get a 1,000 BLU$ sign-up bonus. Once you've done that, tell the good folks at Avatar Reality by following the Blue Mars Twitter account, or Plurk account, or Facebook page and sending a Tweet, Plurk, or Facebook message to the respective account with your Blue Mars UserID. (For example, in Twitter: "@bluemarsonline I just joined Blue Mars, my UserID is [your UserID]".) Then after you log into Blue Mars for the first time, you'll get 1,000 BLU$ credited to your account. Doing this will also get you updates on the Blue Mars cloud deployment coming soon, and access to events I'll be talking about here, starting with an education event happening tomorrow.