New World Notes

NEO-Japan Now Open: Twice-Yearly Tribute to Great Japanese Content Creators in Second Life Inspired by Anime & Cyberpunk

Click here to teleport to NEO-Japan, a twice-yearly shopping and explorational event featuring some of the best Japanese SL content creators inspired by sci-fi anime and cyberpunk classics ranging from Blade Runner to the Second Life-based city Insilico. Here's the official homepage of the event, which is a bit difficult to navigate but has copious inspirational images and links. While the event showcases content by Japan artists, my Japanese language correspondent Sanny Yoshikawa tells me attendance is about 80% international and includes English translation -- and is always packed with visitors from around the world. Indeed I just stopped by and even on a weekday afternoon, the landing point is fairly bustling with avatars.

The extravaganza kicked off last Saturday and runs until April 18; the adventure starts here.

Tomorrow, Noon-2pm PT: Talk 3D Audio With Philip Rosedale, Brianna Wu, Jane McGonigal & Other Game Industry Luminaries in Both Club House & High Fidelity

Two related events to set your schedule for tomorrow via High Fidelity's e-mail list:

 [Discussing 3D audio with] High Fidelity's CEO Philip Rosedale, Brianna Wu, Jane McGonigal, Dean Takahashi, Nicole Lazzaro, James Powell, and others in the gaming industry.. We'll be live in Clubhouse from 12-1p Pacific, and then head over to High Fidelity's Spatial Audio demo space [pictured above] from 1-2p Pacific. Come and share your POV, bring questions, or just drop-in to listen.

High Fidelity's Ashleigh Harris tells me their 3D space has a maximum capacity of 90 people, so try and get there early. I'm hoping to attend as well! 

This Thursday at 3pm PT: Stream Sinespace from a Web Browser to Discuss Building Truly Massive Virtual Worlds With Adam Frisby & Adam Goodrich of Procedural Worlds

Update 3/11: Time has been changed to 3pm PT based on this announcement.

This coming Thursday at 4pm PT, Sinespace is hosting an in-world fireside chat with co-founder Adam Frisby and Adam Goodrich, founder of Procedural Worlds, creator of the powerful Unity terrain tool Gaia, which can be used in Sinespace to build massive, highly detailed worlds -- see video below. 

Sinespace (a proud media partner to New World Notes!) is holding the event on their World Stream technology, which enables you to stream the 3D virtual world from a Chrome browser on any computer, even low-end laptops. I’ll post the link right before the scheduled time, which you can just click to enter the virtual world. If you want a reminder, follow me on Twitter or join the Sinespace Discord.

There will be a Q&A session during the chat, so get your questions about creating and scaling huge virtual worlds ready. After that, the team is planning to take a tour of Archipelago, the new Sinespace vehicle sim region that’s 20 square miles large and built, in part, with Gaia.

Up to now, by the way, World Streaming has only been available in Breakroom, Sinespace’s virtual world for live events and conferences. So this Thursday‘s event is the first open invitation to try out this technology directly in Sinespace.

This Weekend in Sinespace: Fashion, Fun & Poker on the Creative Community’s New Discovery Island

Starting tomorrow (February 27) at 9am PT, the community of Sinespace (a media partner to this blog) are unveiling Discovery Island with a grand opening festival. Hosted by Mimi Marie, it’s a weekend of fun events (schedule below) featuring many of the best creators and designers working on the platform, and prize giveaways worth up to 10,000 in Gold.

To join the festivities, simply launch Sinespace, search Discovery Island in Explore, and teleport to the action. 

Mimi tells me she plans to host regular events on the island:

10+ Years Later, NPR Science Friday's Fan Community in Second Life Keeps Listening to Live Broadcasts -- Here's How to Join Them

If you enjoyed Science Friday's recent great story on the life and death and rebirth of the NPR show's SL fan listening community, the good news is that you, dear reader, can still join them too: Click here to join Science Friday: The Next Generation.

After a decade plus of existence, the group still boasts 85 SLers and is led by Beragon Betts (who's also on Twitter by the same name). 

Every Friday at 11am STL / Pacific time, the group gathers in-world to collectively listen and comment to the live Science Friday broadcast.

"Anyone can join who is well-behaved," Betts tells me. Well-behaved being key, because as you'll hear from the Science Friday segment, the group has occasionally been inundated by anti-science trolls. But maybe that's less of a problem, seeing as lately the anti-science trolls are more active on social media, than Second Life. 

Betts advice for new members:

Black Friday Sales in Second Life: All Dutchie Adult Items 20% Off!

Update, 11/30: Black Friday offer now over!

If you're planning your virtual world shopping trips for this Friday, famed SL housewares brand Dutchie (who we're honored to call a sponsoring partner here at New World Notes) will have a Black Friday sale -- 20% off all Adult-rated items. 

 This is actually Dutchie's very first Black Friday sale in SL. "I know a lot of people have less money to spend this year," Dutchie tells me, "so this might give people a chance to buy that adult toy they have had their eye on for a long time. Starting Friday the 27th everything in my adult department inworld is 20% off, even the newest designs, and the sale will last until Sunday."

All sales at her in-world store -- click here to start browsing, and to be first in line with the Friday sales start!

Buy at FaMESHed Starting This Sunday: Vintage Rocking Chair By Dutchie With 20 Bento Animations, 9 Wood/Paint Options, Low Land Impact

This gorgeously detailed rocking chair from famed SL brand Dutchie Design (who we're honored to call a sponsoring partner of New World Notes) is available to purchase this Sunday at the legendary FaMESHed shopping extravaganza that launches this Sunday (November 1st). It's integrated with the latest in Bento animations, including -- I love this, because it's particularly challenging to animate every finger -- knitting and doing needlepoint, and comes with many wood/color options. Available in Classic and Mid-century modern styles, they sell for L$398 each or you can buy both together for L$598. Here's all the official details:

Tomorrow in SL: Acclaimed Artists Bryn Oh, Cica Ghost & Mr. Wainwright Live Build a Sculpture In This Plaza, With Music from Skye Galaxy & Others

This looks like an amazing SL event from metaverse art patron Chuck Clip: Beloved artists Bryn Oh, Cica Ghost, and Mr. Wainwright will live build a massive "exquisite corpse" sculpture in this plaza of Clip's Sinful Retreat sim:

It is one artwork, which is sure to be perfectly strange, to reflect the overall intent of the sim itself. That sculpture, which even I have not seen, is complete, and will be unveiled for all of us during the event piece by piece. In addition to all the beautiful new art, Mariposa Upshaw and Tayzia Abattoir, two veteran curators, agreed to do a rotating exhibit of old Second Life works of art. These will change out roughly every month. With the collections at their disposal, it could take years for them to display every piece they possess. 

Famed SL/RL musician Skye Galaxy and others will also perform -- first show starts at Noon PT.

Click here to attend. More info on Clip's blog.

STÖMOL, Feature-Length Cyberpunk Machinima Shot Entirely in Second Life, Has Its World Premiere on New World Notes This Thursday!

STÖMOL! You've seen the trailer, you've read interviews with its lead creator Huckleberry Hax and co-star Caitlin Tobias. (Or if not, watch below.) You've also noticed Chris Nolan's Tenet has now been indefinitely postponed and are looking for a substitute brainy science fiction thriller to watch.

Starting this Thursday at 3:10pm SLT/Pacific, bring your popcorn and watch STÖMOL as it makes it world premiere here on New World Notes. Click play right then and join us in the watch party in Comments or in YouTube live!

After which, STÖMOL is going wide, premiering in SL at Town Hall Island, a four region amphitheater that can fit up to 200. Get all the details from Huckleberry Hax's blog.

Visit This Weekend in SL: Japonica, an Exploration, Gaming, and Shopping Experience Beloved by Second Life's Japanese Community

Japonica is an annual event/sim-wide experience in Second Life that SLers not based in Japan might miss, but it's well worth a visit, NWN translator Sanny Yoshikawa tips me. 

"This is one of the biggest events in the Japanese SL community," she tells me. "The market finishes soon, but their interactive horror story events will start from August. It is usually like a haunted mansion with a story."

These are the items in the market available until the end of this weekend, beautiful Japanese-themed fashion, housewares, Bento-powered poses (as here on the right), many of them available for just L$1, or other small prices.

Along with shopping and the horror game, Sanny tells me the sim, which changes every year, has incredible enviornments and builds evoking Japan. 

Click here to visit and start exploring.