Yesterday evening a Second Life acquaintaince casually mentioned that they’d just come from a virtual movie theater playing the recently released-to-DVD “War of the Worlds“. This person also mentioned how their spouse was amazed. I’m not entirely sure why. They’d previously seen a pr0n flick in SL. Maybe pr0n is so ubiquitous on the net no one gives it a second thought. In any event, it once again reminded me of the inherent power for a virtual world to distribute content. There are plenty of virtual radio stations, movie theaters, and nightclubs with live streaming music and audience interaction. There are even virtual books which can only be read inside the virtual space. It’s like the virtual world gateway is a form of DRM system.

Well, via Blue’s News comes word of a new racing game that appears to be partially based on leveraging videogames as distribution conduits. From the Mythopoea Games website:

Phoenix Racing will offer three different user options. … ALL users will be able to hear special music from Jamie Hunerdosse, Eric Hand, and other musicians, plus each user will be able add custom music to the game.

DRM software as videogame. Makes sense to me.

I noticed something odd a couple days ago when I logged into Yahoo Email: the addition of “Yahoo Avatars” to my profile {Note: I don’t have Yahoo Messenger, which has had avatars for some time}. Okay. So I figured I’d see what this was about and clicked on the mysteriously grey silhouette that prompted my curiousity (I’ll avoid joking about how I initially thought it might be Big Brother scanning my email). That led to a “create your avatar” page which doesn’t seem to work (since the “Save” isn’t working I’m wondering if I’m supposed to pay someone to let me change my default appearance; or maybe it’s Firefox…). But what really caught my attention was the branding. Heck, there’s even a separate tab all on its own called – what else? – “Branded” stuck up there with “Appearance“, “Apparel” and “My Favorites“. And what brand is being hyped right off the bat? None other than Chrysler Jeep. I guess they weren’t kidding. Good for them.

Now if they can just get the darn thing working. This clean-cut look irritates the hell out of me.

{Update: Holy Crap. As I prepared to log out, I just noticed Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. gear! Just what I wanted! Keep your Shanghai Tang pleated leather and give me a t-shirt with a faux ketchup stain. That’s class. Just how I want to represent myself on the net.}

For anyone who remembers how “Made in Japan” was a running joke in the U.S. during the 70’s, the “Made in China” tag can elicit some mixed feelings. It gives off the “been there, done that” vibe as in “We joked once and then watched as the Japanese taught us a thing or two about quality, so maybe I should keep my mouth shut about China”. On the other hand, for those who aren’t old enough (especially within the design community), the often defensive commentary on China has taken pot shots at their design ability; or rather, supposed lack of it. And even though more than a few older designers are out there reminding the youngsters that Chinese business is only giving the West what it wants, the perception that the West somehow owns style persists.

Well, get ready to eat crow youngsters. BusinessWeek is carrying a slideshow (link) to accompany an article today on Shanghai Tang, and it’s looking like the one-way style street has opened for two-way traffic. Maybe we should give the Chinese 3 of the 4 lanes.

{Image source: BusinessWeek}

ArsTechnica has a longish review of the new XBox 360 (link). Of course I’m most interested in the Marketplace, and so from the article comes this bit of relevant reporting:

First, all of the games are Live aware, so you can send and respond to messages and invitations from every game. The older system had that though, but the fact that this feature is now universal is a nice touch. The real draw here though, is the Marketplace.

In theory the Marketplace is a shopping area you get to through the dashboard that allows you to access all sorts of content.

Microsoft now has a direct window into your living room, and not only that, they have a way to sell you any kind of content they want. Songs? Videos? Movies? It’s all possible.

All in all though, you can’t help but think that the Marketplace is the future of gaming. You can get content for your games, try your hand at some old-school shooters, or demo the latest game before you plunk down your US$60 at the store for it. It’s all here, and it’s easy to get into and use.

That makes two for two.

With all the grumbling about XBox 360 glitches and hardware problems, this review over on G-pinions of the interface and user experience is what I was afraid was being drowned out but is what I’ve been most hoping to see. From the piece:

The whole setup sounded like a gimmicky moneymaker when they first started talking about it – and it is – but it’s so great because everyone wins. I get the best purely arcade experiences I’ve had in a decade, relatively inexpensively, Microsoft gets to make some of their hardware losses back, and independent developers get to share their efforts with the world without the hassles of traditional distribution (and hopefully get a small piece of the pie and be able to make more games).

It’s only one commentary so far, but hopefully there will be more. This one does enthusiatically discuss “Achievements” (the XBox 360 built-in reputation system), but I really want to read more about the Live Marketplace.

via Wonderland