Galonge and the effect of web2.0

Not a big post, this one... In fact, it's really just an excuse to show you some of my travel snaps. The subject is the strange, mythical sim of Galonge. However, before I wheel out my snaps, I think some context is in order - hence the title of this post.

As regular readers are surely aware, I use Flickr for storing the many snaps I take on my virtual travels. A day or so ago, I got a new follower, hidenori glushenko, and so I checked out his profile in order that I could add him in return, and check out his pictures. In the course of this, I found the Galonge group on Flickr - and saw a familiar name: Ravenelle Zugzwang, real life wife of everybody's favourite Linden, Torley. Following my 2.0 route, I got a link to this post on Ravenelle's blog - and stared, in awe, at the photo of 2 huge, elongated giraffe-like creatures, reminding me strongly of Dali's painting of the Temptation of St Anthony, which features elephants with grossly out-sized giraffe legs. I got the SLURL from Flickr and hurried along as soon as I could.

Galonge, like the Flickr group, is Japanese in origin. It is described as: "a mysterious unknown civilization in Second Life. (like ancient Egypt or Roma or any old civilization)" - which is fair enough, though the architecture reminded me more of native American Hopi design. I have no idea what the funding model might be for this sim - or the rationale for its existence... and I don't really care. There's a few shops, but nothing that would make tier. There's also some unusual freebies... like your very own Sun god! I just thought that, as it was a really nice sim that caught my eye, I would tell you about it.

Oh.. and finally - here's the snaps!
My thought on this is: While the 2.0 chase was more convoluted than it needed to be, how would I have fared in a 1.0 web?

Sick

My thanks for the tip about this sim go to Garth Goode - another bald, bearded and bespectacled traveller in Second Life, and his blog: SLWTF. I was thinking of constructing a mildly humorous title for this post, playing with the name of the sim. But finally I thought the name of the sim was bizarre and obscure enough on its own: Sick.

This is a fantastic place. I have no idea what the aim of the sim is - and I don't really care. It is one the most impressive and immersive sims I've visited in some time. In terms of its look and ambience, the place owes a massive debt to Bladerunner - Ridley Scott's dystopic masterpiece based on Philip K. Dick's 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep'. While in terms of comparable Second Life locations, the one that sprang most readily to mind was Kowloon, a site I wrote about here.

When you arrive you will find yourself in a neon-lit urban canyon. It is nighttime (don't mess with the settings!), and the rain is pouring down. In the distance are great towers of light rise up into the leaden skies, but at ground-level things are in a state of dismal decay. I spent only a short time here, and have yet to sample all the 'delights' that Garth uncovered. However, I will be going back very soon!

The sim is the work of Japanese owner, mk curtiz. If your knowledge of Japanese is better than mine, you might be able to get the whole story from the sim's rather cool website. I was able to discern that it is set in the year 2054 - and that it seems at least part of the function of the site is to provide a rich shoot-em-up gaming environment. At least, that's what these videos seem to suggest.

Whatever the purpose of the sim (well - a pair actually - Sick2 is next door), you've got no excuse for not getting your virtual ass down there for a lookaround. If you want some encouragement, here's a few measly pictures:

Archidemo and Nippaku100

Last Sunday I got an email from Hidenori Watanave, Associate Professor of Tokyo Metropolitan University, letting me know that he and a student team from the University have developed a 3D image database in Second Life dedicated to Oscar Niemeyer and his work. The database is an "official art project" as part of the centenary of the first exchange between Japan and Brazil. Niemeyer, who reached his own personal centenary last year, is best known as the inspired architect behind muich of the construction of Brasilia.

According to the Archidemo blog, the current construction is just a first build, with much more to come. Nevertheless, I recommend you pop along to the Nippaku100 sim and have a look. Click on the cubes as they float past, and click on the pictures too - to bring up weblinks. It's a clever and imaginative piece of work - as hopefully my pictures below will show:




If you want more on Archidemo, take a look at my post from January this year.

Asahi Broadcasting Corporation

This blog is largely given over to looking at non-residential builds in Second Life - they could be corporate, education, not-for-profit or whatever. But how do I find them? Well, in truth, I find as the number of islands grows, the more time-consuming and tedious the job of finding suitable sims becomes. Now, even regular readers may be forgiven for forgetting one of the tricks of the Ambling Rambler's trade: if you see initials on the Map, then check out the sim. So many organisations use acronyms and initialisms that it is worth investigating if you see them. And so it proved with today's site. In fact, it is a cluster of 4 sims - but the one that caught my eye was the enticingly entitled: ABC.

The list of possibilites was extensive, even after noting the neighbouring sim is called TV. In fact, the 4 sims belong to Asahi Broadcasting Corporation. This was easily ascertained, since it is plastered on the underside of the blimp that circles the TV sim. Originally founded as a radio station in Osaka, Japan, in 1951, ABC now broadcasts both radio and TV to around 20 million people. And that about taps out my knowledge of the company.

The 2 principal sims (ABC and TV) are rather splendid - at least to someone who likes both rich immersive textures and well-made Japanese sims. To be fair, not a great deal happens on the sims, given the amount of real estate available. ABC features a nicely made office block (though there is limited access to the interior) and a set of teleports to locations around the block where you can acquire a variety of free branded vehicles. Though the ads have the number "100" emblazoned on them, I did not seem to be charged for the pleasure. I can recommed the wheeled vehicle, but I found the aeroplane a nightmare! Most striking about this sim though, is the near photo quality of the textures.

The TV sim is rather more exotic. A large ... what?... (hmmm... words... what words to describe it?...) blue, fluroescent sci-fi ziggurat dominates the sim. Within this, somewhere, is a splendidly realised theatre. You reach this via a nifty teleport, which bears a small amount of explanation. To use it - simply walk on to the square plate of the device. You will be instantly boxed in by blue walls. Now use Right-Click and select "Sit" to operate the teleport. All this is explained in Japanese, with pictures, but there's no harm in explaining it. Also around the sim are 3 blue "studios" - I won't explain these, mainly because I can't - plus it might spoil your own discovery. Finally there's a sandbox and freebie station, where you can acquire a cartoony avatar. At least, I think that's what it is - I've not unpacked it yet.

The other 2 sims are still basically empty, so I won't bother describing them yet. Using my yardstick that the more pictures I take, the more I like a place, I can safely assert that I like this place (14 pictures). Oh, I'm not saying it's cutting edge - or that it engages with the virtual world community - or that it does a great job for ABC. But I really like the build. Kind of reminds me of Electric Sheep builds of yore. Oh, and if you can tell me about the builders responsible, then I'd like to hear that. In the meantime why not have a look?

Mitsubishi Corporation

How odd? When I visited this sim last night, it was part of a cluster that was surrounded by ocean. Skipping back today, to pick up a landmark and check a couple of things, I find it has moved - and is now nestled up in one large conglomerate of sims built by Japanese builders, MeltingDots. I'm guessing this is a temporary measure while they reposition on the grid - or something - since otherwise they are making one large, indigestible land mass, mashing together the islands of their various clients. I hope, by the time you read this, that these Mitsubishi Corporation sims will be back in splendid isolation.

As their website informs us: "Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) is Japan's largest general trading company (sogo shosha) with over 200 bases of operations in approximately 80 countries worldwide. Together with its over 500 group companies, MC employs a multinational workforce of approximately 54,000 people. " Its origins are in shipping, when the first Mitsubishi company was founded in 1873. It added coal-mining some 8 years later, using the coal to power its ships. From there it further diversified into logistics, shipbuilding, finance, and vehicle manufacture. In fact, it seemed to have interests in just about every commercial marketplace. Continued diversification led to the founding of the Mitsubishi Corporation in 1950.

As a large and successful corporation, it is good to see it taking "corporate citizenship" seriously. One of its main contributions is support for the Global Coral Reef Conservation Project, with research bases in Seychelles, Okinawa and Midway. It is this Project that forms the foundation for a 6-sim presence in Second Life. Most of these are 'low prim' ocean sims, but a couple of them provide the substance of the build - a couple of tropical islands and a coral reef.

Newcomers should start on the MitsubishiCorporation sim, which has a nicely executed orientation zone, constructed as a series of interconnected huts, built on stilts out over the sea bed. After completing this you are led, via a park area, to a faintly Polynesian beach house, where you can discover some facts about coral. Emerging from the beach house you then arrive at the beach itself. Here you can help yourself to free scuba diving gear before heading out into the sea. Just offshore will reach the coral reef, replete with clown fish and other piscine inhabitants.

Beyond the reef you come to the second island, which also features a beach house, where you will find links and a gallery of information about the Conservation Project. While the 2 islands seem to be largely complete, the remainder of the site is still somewhat bare. I assume the intention is to extend the coral reef into the empty sims, as it is still quite small at the moment.

This is an attractive and diverting site - though I hope it will grow in coming months, as it is a little spartan at the moment.

It also shows off another possible meme in Second Life - the use of the virtual world to promote your 'corporate citizenship' credentials. I mentioned another such site a few weeks ago, and I'm sure there are others that I have simply missed or mis-filed.

Anyway, more of that another day - time for some piccies, I think:

Spanish Horror Hits Japan: REC

"While covering the night shift at a small-town fire department, an ambitious young television reporter (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman follow the crew on a call to rescue an elderly woman(Matt Frew) trapped in her apartment. Upon their arrival at the scene, the calm midnight air is pierced by the sound of horrific screams, and the television report takes an unexpectedly dark turn." That is the basic premise of the Spanish horror flick, 'REC' - if you want something a bit more visual here's a YouTube flick. The movie has a Blair Witch-y handicam look.

The REC sim, recommended to me by my chum (and ace photographer) Lem, is actually a Japanese construction, presumably built to help promote the film's release in Japan. At one point in your wanderings thru the sim, you will pick up a link to the Japanese promotional website. I don't know how the film has fared - or indeed if it has been released. If I am interpreting the website correctly, it looks like it may not actually open in RL cinemas in Japan until the 14th of June.

As for the sim itself, you never really get to see it. Instead, on arrival you will find yourself in a dimly lit, blood-stained room. Help yourself to the movie camera, wear it (it is a HUD) and follow the arrows. This will place you inside the lobby of the apartment block - also dimly lit and dripping with unpleasantnesses. From here, find your way around. The HUD gives you a scene-by-scene view of your progress (unless you opt for mouselook mode), as you explore the stairwell and various rooms, clicking on the sparkly points of light. I suspect there was more to the sim than the areas I saw - but I was impressed with both the look&feel, and the clever use of the hud. Being easily suggestible, I would have been happier operating my avatar by remote control, with me hiding behind the sofa. I took a few snaps to - of course - to give you a flavour:

The sim is well worth a visit, to sample the ambiance - though whether anything truly horrific happens I don't know. As a wuss with a dodgy ticker, it was enough to give me The Willies though.

VWCE2008M

OK, come on, 'fess up... what am I missing? I was minding my own business, out for a late night stroll among the islands of SL, and stumbled upon VWCE2008M. Now, if you know my modus operandi, you will see immediately why I went for a squint at this sim. If not, let me explain: one of the small and distinctly dodgy tools I use in deciding to check out a site is whether the name seems to consist of initials. If it does, it is likely to be non-residential and generally of relevance to this blog. So.....

I can tell you that the name is shorthand for VW 2008 Conference and Expo, that the sim is Japanese, and that IBM (Japan?) have a pavillion here (with a couple of freebies). At which point I hit a metaphorical (if not virtual) brick wall. Oh... apart from: there's a whole ruck of "VWCE08" groups in Second Life. A little light googling has not turned up what I expected to find, namely: a Virtual Worlds conference, hosted in Japan, with sponsorship by IBM and Sun, amongst others. Meanwhile, the sim itself is in a fairly early stage of development, which would suggest that the conference is a few months away - but it lacks any links to websites, or other obvious clues.

There's a couple of rudimentary stands so far - including one for "Lamity", which I understand to be a Japanese cellphone-based game world.

Here's a piccy or two... if you know more, then do tell:


Oh... and of course, I have to wonder why I was able to simply blunder in here in the first place.

UPDATE May 10th: See comments. My thanks to Ak Yip, who has nailed this one for me.

Pioneer Pioneering in Second Life

Japanese home electronics company, Pioneer, was the destination for today's promenade. I recall that VeeJay covered this site a while back, but I didn't get around to visiting it at the time, forgot about it, and only (re-)discovered it by accident, while browsing the map for somewhere interesting to go. Actually, I am not sure that this sim gets into the "interesting" category - as we shall see...

The Pioneer Corporation has been producing home entertainment products since 1938, and is perhaps best known for its speakers and hi-fi systems. In recent times it has embraced digital technologies, such as Blu Ray DVD and HD TVs. The island in Second Life is primarily aimed at promoting lines that are unique to the Japanese marketplace, such as the 'Kuro' home cinema system - or 'systems', as there are 4 such systems in the range. You will also find a stand for their Pure Malt speakers(!) - whose cabinets are made from 50-year old whiskey barrels. These have been sold in Japan for years, but have been available internationally for about a year now.

The principal feature is a roadway that twists and turns around the island, and that is intended to pull the site together and provide it with some sort of coherence. You can rez a car if you want to drive round the island (and/or race your mates) - but I don't feel the roadway helped much.

You arrive at a reception building, where you can take a short tour of the Pioneer museum - in effect, a less-than-thrilling tour through the history of the company. After this, you can make your way outside to avail yourself of the charms of the 'Pioneer Resort Island'. The largest building is the 2-floor, cylindrical tower promoting their audio-visual treats, in the form of the Kuro range and Pure Malt speakers, mentioned earlier. You can rez a tour balloon, but this is neither comprehensive in locations visited, nor informative in any language. If you choose to walk, there are some show-houses, where you can see the Kuro home cinema in situ. Apart from that. there's a couple of camping areas - one in the Blu Ray dance arena, and one on the beach itself. Freebies are available in the form of T-shirts and Kuro home cinema packs.

Here's a selection of pictures for you to peruse:

Is this site any good? To be diplomatic, I think it is rather 'disappointing'. It has limited content, the interactivity is dull and lifeless, and the whole place feels rather disjointed. It is very much like most company promotional sims - and like most such sims, is unlikely to show any return on the investment. Incidentally, I gather from the comments on the Mindblizzard post, that the site was not even promoted in Japan.

So to conclude: despite the title of this post, this is far from being a pioneering build.

Edo

Edo, as any Japanophile will know, is the old name for the city of Tokyo. Founded in the mid-15th century, when Edo Castle (now part of the Imperial Palace) was built, the original name lasted until 1868. And just to add a little more spice, it also gave its name to the Edo Period, which lasted from 1603 to 1868, and equated to the lifespan of the Edo or Tokugawa Shogunate.

To many this represents a great Golden Age of Japanese Art and Culture. Indeed, most of the Japanese artworks, bladed weaponry and literature we know in the West come from this period, including the work of one my favourite artists, Utagawa Hiroshige.

Edo (and environs) has now been recreated in Second Life, across 12 sims. The purpose is to provide a commercial and residential rental area for Japanese residents of Second Life, and there is certainly nothing unusual in that. What is unusual however, is the attention to detail and the sheer size of the site. With the exception of an anachronistic tower on the Shinagawa sim, everything seems to be in keeping with Edo Period. I also recognised a few of the temple buildings in the Asakusa sims from my own trip to Japan last year. At the heart of the sim cluster is the castle itself, spanning more than 4 sims.

But I don't plan to tell you any more. I have a HUGE number of pictures that I would urge you to flick thru - then I would urge you to go along for a look - and just sink yourself into the detail.

Japanese Camera Manufacturers' Meme Thing

It's been a while since I mentioned a meme running through the virtual world - but I think I now have one worth covering - Japanese camera manufacturers. The first to get an airing was Nikon, a sim I have not yet visited, but that has been covered by VeeJay at Mindblizzard.

One on its own does not grab my interest, but tonight on my travels I spotted two more. First I noticed a 3-sim island belonging to Konica-Minolta. However, it is still closed, and I have no idea when it is due to open. So no pictures or report, I'm afraid.

Finally I found Fujifilm. Now this is another closed sim, but the sim next door - dumbonet(I kid you not) - which appears to bear no relation, is open. So I was able to skip in there, fly up to a decent altitude and simply pootle, unchallenged, across the border into fujifilm. Access is still difficult once inside, but from what I could glean, the sim is mainly taken up with a Fujifilm Museum,. There also seems to be a number of photo stagesets dotted around the edge, where you will be able to pose among 2D and 3D backdrops. Here's a few pics to be going on with:

ADK Anime World

I was actually intending to post about the Liverpool Hope University sim, which I mentioned yesterday. However, when I got there I was rather disappointed with what was on offer. It is clearly very much a 'work in progress' and not really in a fit state to receive visitors. Or at least, not the sort of visitor who is likely to offer a critique of the place in his/her blog. Furthermore, some not so innocent soul appears to have infected the place with not one but two (or maybe more) of those sim-busting particle-spawning things - that no doubt have some wacky technical name.

Cutting to the chase, I gave up on that and went back to peruse the map. Being a sucker for initials, my attention was grabbed by the relatively close ADK sim, so I popped in for a lookabout. This turns out to be a(nother) Japanese sim. It belongs to ADK (Asatsu DK), and from the little I can glean, has been open since around November, 2007. You can get a good description at Katana Extreme. Now, ADK is not a big name in our household - although oddly enough, AFK, is. But a bit of internet rummaging reveals that ADK is Japan's third-largest full service advertising agency and the tenth largest marketing organisation in the world. Wikipedia tells us: "It owns a variety of interests and companies, including the production studio NAS, the animation studio Eiken, the publishing house Nihon Bungeisha Publishing, the film and print processing enterprise Taiyo Seihan, the production studios Sun Artist Studio, Supervision Inc., television commercial production house Prime Pictures, and creative services company Tokyo Ad Party. ADK is also involved in producing and providing its services to numerous anime series..."

The sim is broadly divided into 3 areas: the Business Center; the NAS open air movie theatre and the Haunted House (or "mansion of demon-man Bem"). The movie theatre seems to be showing Dragonaut, but there is no streaming video. The mansion contains a ghost train, which takes you for a spooky ride, at the end of which you can grab some freebie character avatars and a t-shirt. There's also a photo studio where you can have your picture taken with the stars of the show.

Here's my piccies of my jaunt:

Mahjong Paradise

It seems like a while since I featured a Japanese sim, so I thought I'd bring you this quickie: Mahjong Paradise. The sim actually exists to provide a 3D immersive social environment for the Japanese social network site: Hakopara Online. The site has its own Second Life webpage that contains a slideshow - probably not so different from slideset below.

There is not a lot to tell you about the company, as I can't make head nor tail of the information available - it being all in Japanese. But I like the sim. The use of shadows and other 3D texturing techniques gives this place a real sense of depth. That said, I actually think they've slightly overdone it - as it borders on the hyperreal. The sim is themed on Mahjong, but aside from a beachfront game I saw little sign of it being played. There are other diversions, including a fairground "crane grab" - if you want to get hold of some freebies you will have to work at it.

It's a nice place to walk around, with a lot of fine detailing in the build. I've not really got anything further to add - aside from the obligatory picture show:

Archidemo Competition Winner

At the end of January I told you about the strange NikkeiBP sim in Second Life, and its relationship with the Archidemo blog and Tokyo Metropolitan University. The other day I received a mail from Hidenori Watanave, to tell me that the result of their Digital Design Competition had been announced. The theme of the competition was: 'Life Media Museum in 21st century'.

The overall winner, scooping a prize of 1million Yen, was THE MUSEUM OF THE GLOBE, by
Cawa Ishimiz (SL name: Ichiro Furse and Atorieten) and Tsutomu Teramoto(SL name: TERRA Zehetbauer and Atorieten).

You can find out more - and read the full list of winners - here. Or view the slideshow here.

Yamato - But Not That Yamato

Back in November I posted an entry about a Japanese sim that featured a brilliant reproduction of the battleship, Yamato. However, I have been aware for some time that this was not the only Yamato sim in Second Life, and tonight I made a second foray to one I first visited a few months ago, but decided not to write about: Yamato Isle.

Why didn't I write about it then? Well, to be honest, I thought it didn't warrant it. It was a confused melee and didn't strike me as terribly interesting.

So why have I opted to write about it now? Two reasons really: first, it is one of the lesser known IBM sims, so that gives it some kind of cachet; and second, it was open and I was bored of looking for something more interesting. The island, as the name implies, belongs to IBM Japan - and seems to be their "innovations and creations" lab. Around half the island is open to visitors, while you can also get a reasonable view of the half that is closed.

Given that its role is to offer a haven for developing 3D ideas, it is surprising that it is open to the public. In truth, there is not that much to see here, as it is all rather fractured, though it seems to have more coherence now than when I first visited, towards the tail end of last year. It has a few usable spaces, such as an auditorium - but I don't know if this is in use. The island seems to be managed for IBM by Bananamanh777 Swot (aka Bananamanh777 Spook).

I'm not sure that it's worth making a special trip to see, unless you are some kind of nerdy IBM sim completist - in which case, it is essential to tick this off your list. But then again... you've probably been here already. Anyway, here's a few snaps for you to peruse:




See what I mean? All sorts of bits in development. Of course, if you want the proper, public sim you can always toddle along to IBM Japan. I went there a while back, too - and for this post made a return visit. It still looks very unfinished to me - but you can take a ride-a-cow (or Mooving Cow) tour of the sim!

Pachinko with Anshinchodoma

This evening's post features another new island in Second Life, this time from Japan. The island, which goes by the rather unwieldy name of Japan Anshinchodama, apparently opened to the general public on 1st February, or so I gleaned from the Anshinchodama website. I also gleaned that Anshichodama is probably a company that runs pachinko parlours - and may be part of J-Net. Trying to unravel what the companies do and how they are related is far beyond my abilities to determine. As for pachinko, this resembles a cross between a slot machine and pinball and is an amazingly popular pasttime in Japan - even though it seems to involve carrying around industrial quantities of ball bearings.

The island in Second Life is modelled as a pachinko machine. In fact, the place is full of them - of various sizes. The largest is the island itself, but perhaps the most fun is the next size down - which is more (ahem) avatar sized. In fact, you can become the ball (how Zen, huh?) and watch yourself being bounced around the machine. If you are fortunate enough to be caught in one of the hoppers, then you stand to win a prize - but you can check that out for yourselves. The smallest machines are "life sized" and allegedly you can camp at them to earn a few L$. For freebies, there were several T-shirts available. I availed myself of a Choda Man T-shirt. Choda Man seems to be the company logo - a little like the Pillsbury Doughboy or Bibendum(better known as the Michelin Man), but made of pachinko ball bearings instead. In any event, he features widely on the island - as you can see from the pictures below.

As usual, if you know more about this island, then please let me know.

Archidemo and NikkeiBP

I've been gazing, clueless, at my screen for some time now, wondering what to say about this. As I start to write, I still have no real idea how this will end up, but here goes...

A couple of days ago I got an email from Hidenori Watanave, Associate professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University and CEO of Photon. In the mail he wrote:

We have developed "Archidemo" Project in Second Life. "Archidemo" is experimental demonstration and research for the possibility of the architecture and environmental design in Metaverse.

In "Archidemo", the field crossing collaboration was achieved. Trial of inworld (virtual space) photograph exhibition by photographer and metaverse-architect's collaborations, installation of media art, scientific visualization, trial of Realization of world of S-F novel, chatbot space, and so on.

There was also a link to the Archidemo blog. Intrigued, I went to have a look at the blog and found a couple of movies and a SLURL to the NikkeiBP sim, where the Archidemo is housed. Google informs me that NikkeiBP is (or may be) Nikkei Business Publications, a book and magazine publisher, based in Tokyo and specialising in the business and technology fields. Quite what the company has to do with a series of art installations in Second Life is a mystery that currently remains unfathomed.

I went to have a look at the sim and - as you may gather from my strange collection of photos - found it a somewhat baffling experience. There are several installations here, most of which involve high-definition real world photographs mashed with Second Life objects and scripts, to create a dizzying and often disorientating visual experience. Giant photos and image cubes slip and slide around inside giant spaces, at times sliding through one another, at others times shimmying around the space. It is not long before you lose all sense of direction and orientation. In another installation you are teleported to a skybox in which a collection of cassette tapes and vinyl records move ceaselessly - and on which you can hitch a ride. Elsewhere there is a column of perpetually rising, rotating red squares. I can't claim to have any insight into the purpose of the build - but it is fascinating, and if you fancy a bit of brain befuddling, why not pop along for a look. It appears to be in a state of continual development, and there are some areas closed to visitors. But there is more than enough there to give you a virtual nosebleed!

Here's a few stills - but you may get a better flavour from the videos. Though really, the only way to get a handle on the place is to go and look for yourself:

Microsoft Japan

It seems like ages since I posted an entry about a Japanese commercial sim in Second Life, so this seems a good point to address that. Last night was something of a mixed bag, rambling-wise. Most places were shut, and those that were open were not much to get excited about - for example: Daz, the 3D software company, has a gaggle of sims, but nothing I felt enthused enough to write about. I was about to give up when my eye spotted the unmistakable Windows logo plastered across a sim, and thought I'd give it a go.

The sim turned out to belong to Microsoft Japan. It is still under construction, though probably not a long way from completion. I am not all that clear what their aim is for the sim. It is all very straightforward - or appears to be. There's an auditorium, a partners area and a woodland calling itself the Communication Area. Windows Vista - its name, its logo and its UI - seems to be everywhere. Indeed, I helped myself to a free cappuccino that has the logo embossed in the froth! There are a few buildings still being constructed - and a large palace thing, replete with red carpets and chandeliers, whose purpose can only be guessed at. For travel around the sim you can opt for monorail or small boat. Given a few bugs with the former, I would suggest you stick with the latter. Here's some snaps:

I said I wasn't clear about the aim of the sim - perhaps an odd statement. In part I am used to high tech companies in SL having a quite sophisticated grasp on the use of virtual worlds. This sim feels much more basic - and slightly bereft of ideas. The big palace for example - why? and why so big? Just to fill a corner of the sim? A lot of the textures - particularly the use of the logo - are well executed, if a little repetitive. Perhaps this is just the company trying out different looks to see what they like best. In other parts of the sim, however, there has been some careless overlaying of prims, which leads to jiggly texturing as 2 set of textures battle it out for the same few pixels!

Even so.., despite all this... I found it more interesting than Daz, though.

Show Me Shiomi

Another short post for you tonight, and another one strictly for Japanese Sim Collectors. This is the island of Shiomi, owned by Japanese v-learning company, SF3. I don't know whether "shiomi" is a genuine Japanese word or is, instead, a play on words, as in the title of this piece. That would certainly be appropriate for a v-learning centre. A bit of Googling does show "Shiomi" as a surname, and also there's a couple of stations by that name - one in Hokkaido, the other Tokyo - while Shiomi Dake is the name of a mountain in Honshu. Perhaps some kind soul from SF3 will tell me what it means!

The sim itself is split into 3 small islands, the largest of which is dominated by a large, shiny and rather well made learning demonstration centre. Despite its size it only has a ground and first floor. Each floor is divided so as to provide a large assembly hall, complete with streaming video (just a Nike ad at the moment), and 3 or more smaller rooms or seating areas. It is furnished largely with seating and tables from well-known Second Life designers, Scope Cleaver and Maximillian Milos. Of the remaining islands, one is largely bare, save for a few palm trees, while the second offers a more relaxed meeting area, with background music and open vistas. For the more adventurous there is a skydiving ride too. And that's about it.

Here are my snaps:


The layout does appear to be designed to allow groups of varying sizes to use the various meeting areas simultaneously without overlapping chat. It is nicely made, if unexciting. However, it does look like it would be capable of addressing its objective of providing a virtual learning environment. I could not determine, though, whether any v-learning sessions have already taken place, nor whether any are planned.

Al Joins Fuji Staff

A short one tonight, since I'm a bit pressed for time. In the same general area as last night's Toshiba island I came across Fuji Staff. At first I assumed it was an island intended for the staff of photographic company, Fuji. While exploring the sim I came across a solitary web link, which told me rather less than I had hoped. However, Google came to my aid, and informed me that Fuji Staff is, in fact, a recruitment agency (d'oh!) - and one of many that have entered Second Life this year.

The sim itself is fairly basic, being split into 3 small islands. The first is aimed at social networking, with a bar, a dancefloor and a hot tub/foot spa thing. A large modern office building occupies the second island, with 2 floors of relatively formal seating. The third island has a cafe and a lot of characters based on the letter "F" - and which seem to relate to this webpage, referring to FujiCa! Point - whatever that may be.

I took a few snaps - more to show I'd been there, than anything else:


The build is OK, but nothing spectacular. Most of the textures feel somewhat flat and dull, though the foot-spa was better, with more detailing present. In terms of the overall layout, I thought it had been thought through - with a good social area. The general absence of weblinks or events was more worrying - but maybe this will come in time. Would I recommend a trip there? Well.... only if you are a Japanese companies "completist" like me! Mark you, I did notice that I seemed to have build rights (which can't be right!) so if you are seeking a quiet sandbox, this could be the place for you. But be quick - I doubt such rights will exist for long.

Toshiba Image Festival

Scant pickings tonight, as I surveyed the broad Western oceans in search of something bloggable. At least, that was until I spotted Toshiba. Now it may not always be the case that an island belongs to the company whose name it bears, but this one does. The sim belongs to the Toshiba Corporation, the giant Japanese electronics firm,and appears to be associated with a marketing initiative called A New Digital Odyssey. I take it the prime reason for this is to promote Toshiba's range of HD products, including DVD recorders and TVs, including the Regza, featured in this site.

As part of the initiative the company has commissioned a set of CGI animated movies, depicting an enormous, sky-borne sailing ship, that goes by the name of (ta-daaah!) A New Digital Odyssey. At the beginning of October the company extended their campaign by opening an island in Second Life, though aside from this post I have not come across any decent references to it. The centrepiece of the build is, not surprisingly, a 190-metre recreation of A New Digital Odyssey. As in the CGI movies it is accompanied by flying pink elephants, and overall looks quite stunning. At ground level there are several buildings - some in the form of delicate towers and spires, others are modern, faintly militaristic, metal shells. There's also some wildlife down there - cute giant frog-like critters.

You can pick a free jet skateboard thingy and zoot across from the arrival point to the ship. This is actively encouraged. given that large pinky arrows point you in that direction. Once on the ship you can avail yourself of a rubber rescue raft, should you so choose, before proceeding below deck, where you will find the Image Festival. As part of the Regza promotion, you can view CGI movies from a number of different film makers. There are still some "coming soon..." but there are enough screens to keep you interested. Here's my photos:

The sailing boat:


The view from terra firma:


Frogs, pink elephants and a movie:


Maybe I blinked and missed it, but I found no information on the island at all; no URLs, no notecards, nada. Not exactly a great way to promote your products! I was also expecting to find out more about the festival - but it seems this boils down to the selection of (admittedly interesting) movies already onboard the ship. It seems to me that Toshiba have rather mucked this up. I love the ship (at least from a distance) and the various critters and buildings - they all show an almost classical Japanese anime combination of fantasy and whimsy that can make you go "Wow!" and smile at the same time.

But as a company promotional build it does not really make the grade, for the simple reason that it tells you next-to-nothing about the products being promoted! Also, there seems to be something of a disconnect between the various marketing channels, the web and SL, which seem to be blissfully unaware of each other - and this is compounded by evidently poor communication about the sim to the outside world. All these things could be addressed, but it is a shame to see an interesting and amusing build going to waste.