The Euclideon People are Back

About three years ago we started to hear of a company that said they could do amazing things with 3D imaging and rendering, unlimited detail with high frame rates. Well, we have yet to see anything but videos. And now we have another video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AvCxa9Y9NU

May be we will see something other than a video in 2015.

I also wonder if High Fidelity’s use of voxels is along the same line and if some of this tech might make it into SL2. 

Odd Timing

WGBH-TV Massachusetts has a site named Forum Network. It appears to be a mostly donation supported site. They are listing John Lester, Pathfinder Linden, as Linden Lab’s customer market development for education and healthcare.

Well, that was some time ago. John is now in-world as Pathfinder Lester and no longer at Linden Lab, AFAIK. But, he has an interesting background that you can read about here: WGBH Forum Network.

As to why this popped in Google Alerts today… after being years out of date… just really odd timing.

Cannibalization Conundrum

Hamlet and Ciaran have written articles on Blizzard Entertainment canceling Titan, an MMO game 7 years in development. The TL:DR story is they were afraid the new game would pull players away from World of Warcraft (WoW) Blizzard’s cash cow.

Not necessarily Hamlet or Ciaran, but some people think Linden Lab should forget about the new virtual world they are building. They think dividing up the customers will spell the end of SL1 and possibly SL2 also. I don’t.

We are losing users. If things are left as is, Second Life will likely die and Linden Lab will fade. It may take a long time. But the trend is set. I see nothing that will for sure turn it around. But, the Lindens are working at doing that. They may succeed. They may not.

The downward trend may be slowing. But, for now it is still downward.

So, if Linden Lab is to continue they have to do something. Second Life is one of the rare creative spaces going. It is about the only space that provides a creative space for adults that ranges from PG to XXX.

The legacy software that Second Life runs on now has been holding it back. The self-imposed limitation of remaining compatible with existing content hamstrings development. While the market/users may demand that compatibility, it does hold development back. Creating a new space without the limits we have been complaining about for years and the coming arrival of Head Mounted Displays will make it one of the more exciting virtual worlds going. Without the limits we may see SL2 growing. The Oculus Rift and other HMD units may provide rapid growth. That SL2 will use user created content makes it much more likely to succeed that a Titans WoW know-off just because it will be so much cheaper to run.

Pros are moving to Unreal and Unity. They will have HMD tech too. But, those platforms are a lot for the hobbyists and novice modelers to take on. Building for Unreal, Unity, Cry, and other platforms requires optimized modeling. This is something it takes time to learn. I think the learning space will be SL2 where one can get away with building something that is not optimized and still sell it and make a bit of money. As a designer’s skills advance their products will become more optimized and more popular. SL1 will have, and likely SL2, a platform to offer for prototyping games and for novice modelers to learn in that no one else supplies.

Second Life has an active customer base that spends money. Not many other virtual worlds allow the novice modeler to make a living from virtual world sales, at least not at a level comparable to SL1.

We can’t know if SL1 will die when SL2 opens or if they will both die or both flourish. If one succeeds and one fails Linden Lab survives. If half the people leave SL1 and never visit it again but go to SL2, I think that is highly unlikely, their money and efforts are still being spent with Linden Lab. So, the Lab survives as they don’t really lose any customers.

But, it is all speculation.

SL2 Mobile

Will SL2 be on mobile devices? We may have a clue. See Senior Engineer, Mobile.

One of the job requirements: Previous experience as a lead engineer on a mobile game.

Gear VR

1. D. Ward has an article up on Hypergrid Business about Samsung’s Gear VR. See it here: Gear VR. He makes lots of interesting points. He also does not see the Gear VR is competition for Oculus Rift.

The Gear VR is very much like the Oculus DK1. The head motion that DK2 adds is not a part of Gear VR.

Porn & VR

All new technologies are used for sex at some point. It has pretty much been that way all through recorded history. So too, people are seeing the Oculus Rift type 3D as a new way to present sexual material and experiences. See: SLUniverse thread. See the article inspiring the thread: The future of porn: Virtual reality glasses at XBiz. See a funny NSFW video: Liveleak.

WOW Skins

They have a gorgeous collection of skins. It is worth a trip to their store just to see the promotional art.

Orage Closing Sale

From Purry’s Blog via iHearts I learn that Orage Creations is having a closing sale, after 6 years in SL, all her gorgeous creations are at 50% off …until October 2^nd. If you are in the market for an evening gown, this is the place.