There’s a bit of press (hype?) making the rounds on something called Neuronet (Link or maybe this Link), a supposed plan for a fiber optic-based, virtual reality-centric network intended to be separate from what we now call the Internet. It would, according to the website, supposedly be “the first network designed from the ground up specifically for the transmission of real-time virtual reality data.” Considering that I’ve argued that the future of online Metaverse-style technology isn’t just 3D but a mashup of both 2D (websites) and 3D (virtual worlds), the exclusion of the current Internet rang alarm bells in my head. This doesn’t make sense to me, so I did a bit of digging.

The obvious first step was to take a look at their site… actually sites. The first thing I noticed is a lack of substance to not just some, but all of the claims. There’s plenty of handwaving, but nothing that I couldn’t make up and post in a fictitious site in a day or two. It is, as the saying goes, a lot of talk with nothing to show (except the pretty website itself).

Let’s examine some of what that talk is: Continue reading →

Nice article on Gamasutra (Link) discussing an Intel team’s attempts to turn Google Earth into a videogame called “Mars Sucks”. This is one of those things that I imagine a lot of people are interested in seeing develop, along with multi-user/player interactivity. The question that comes to my mind is: with all that gaming horsepower in their corporate stable, what is Microsoft intending to do with Virtual Earth (besides billboards)? Sometimes they don’t seem to be following the Metaverse Plan (reLink).

The article includes links to the sourcecode for those interested in replicating their work and perhaps building on it.

And while you’re there, check out another article, “Researchers: Deeper Emotions Keep Gamers Playing” (Link). From that piece:

The research found that games can provide opportunities for achievement, freedom, and even a connection to other players. Those benefits trumped a shallow sense of fun, which doesn’t keep players as interested.

“We think there’s a deeper theory than the fun of playing,” says Richard M. Ryan, a motivational psychologist at the University and lead investigator in the four new studies about gaming.

Sounds similar to something I recently said about virtual worlds (reLink). I suspect that bit of research will get some review.

via Blue’s News

{Image source: Gamasutra}

I’m just now getting to an article over on the Washington Post, “Where Real Money Meets Virtual Reality, The Jury Is Still Out” (Link), that’s worth a read. It’s not an especially good article ; it makes the standard MSM mistakes regarding Second Life and doesn’t do a particularly good job discussing copyright and intellectual property. It does, however, finish strong with some related commentary on issues that Microsoft’s Virtual Earth is facing. From the article:

Microsoft plans to make money by selling advertising billboards in this virtual depiction of urban America.

But the company’s lawyers and advertising executives are still grappling with the question of whether those who own the property depicted in Microsoft’s 3-D images have any control over how their depicted property is used online.

That last part alone is worth the read, especially the example they give. It’ll be fun to see how this plays out.

Happened to surf through Matt Mihaly’s blog and caught an interview with Multiverse co-founder Corey Bridges (Link) that’s very much worth a read. A few excerpts to whet your appetite:

We figured that the best way to lessen the cost of content to developers is to increase the supply. Specifically, we intend to enable 3D modelers to sell their services (and indeed, their pre-created content, if they wish) to indie dev teams.

– Continue reading →

For several months I’d been thinking about videogames that are available for older machines; specifically PIII’s at 700MHz (my mother’s machine). It’s amazing how difficult it is to find older videogames that might be suited for the not-quite-yet-outdated hardware. As it turned out, I had a couple of games that I’d purchased and never really played: American McGee’s Alice (image above) and Sacrifice. They fit the bill, so I took some time to give them another spin, and what I found was that they don’t look at all dated. Alice uses the now open source Quake III engine and is, imo, as engaging as HL2. Sacrifice didn’t appeal to me quite as much, but the visuals are still very compelling; and the gameplay – which took me a while to get into – was obviously given quite a bit of thought.

What makes me write about them now is something I wrote earlier regarding videophones and virtual worlds (reLink):

…the lesson seems to be that they care more about constant connectivity (even primitive texting) than about the kind of connectivity. Relative to surfing the net, virtual world interfaces are actually better in meeting those kinds of wants, meaning that even primitive worlds are sufficient so long as the connectivity and their buddies are there. Assuming Second Life ever gets an integrated browser up and running so that people can socially surf the net, things could change dramatically. Continue reading →