Elder Scrolls Online boxes continue to vacate store shelves originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 15 Jan 2015 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

World of Warcraft to relocate Oceanic servers to Aussie data center originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 23 Oct 2014 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Warlords of Draenor now trademarked in the US and Europe originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 05 Nov 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading EB Expo 2013 - The EBX-Perience!

EB Expo 2013 - The EBX-Perience! originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Oct 2013 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading EB Expo 2013 - Psykopig's video impressions

EB Expo 2013 - Psykopig's video impressions originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Oct 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Not So Massively: LoL comes to Australia, D3 bans botters, and Star Citizen's 24-hour livestream

Not So Massively: LoL comes to Australia, D3 bans botters, and Star Citizen's 24-hour livestream originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 01 Jul 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading EB Games Expo 2012: Guild Wars 2 interview

EB Games Expo 2012: Guild Wars 2 interview originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 07 Oct 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: EB Games Expo Sydney 2012

Continue reading EB Games Expo 2012: The people have a voice!

EB Games Expo 2012: The people have a voice! originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 07 Oct 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading EB Games Expo 2012: Hello from Sydney!

EB Games Expo 2012: Hello from Sydney! originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 06 Oct 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Star Wars: The Old Republic to launch in the Asia Pacific region on March 1st originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

SWTOR invites Australia and New Zealand into testing originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

SWTOR launch day questions answered originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 24 Sep 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading RIFT opened!

RIFT opened! originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Infiltrate and destroy: Global Agenda Q&A runs a gauntlet of player queries

Infiltrate and destroy: Global Agenda Q&A runs a gauntlet of player queries originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 05 Feb 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

QVS to distribute RIFT in Australia originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Aussies denied APB originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Nothing is certain but death and taxes"; a rather sardonic and bleak proverb, quoted and paraphrased by a number of famous figures over the years. The earliest on record was Daniel Defoe, in The Political History of the Devil in 1726.

Well, this week the death part doesn't concern us so much as the taxes.

Many Americans have spent this month scrambling to get their taxes filed, and for many of the rest of us our own turn comes due in just a couple of months. With that in mind, I thought I'd talk about the taxation status of virtual assets.

Continue reading The Virtual Whirl: Death and taxes

The Virtual Whirl: Death and taxes originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 01 May 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Telstra BigPond (a major Australian Internet Service Provider, with an approximate 50% market-share) has had one of the most popular corporate presences in the virtual environment of Second Life, even including a customer service center staffed eleven hours per day, five days per week. In a nation with expensively metered bandwidth, BigPond even refrained from metering a portion of the data sent to its customers from Second Life. All of this for what has basically been an experiment.

That, however, appears to be coming to a close. BigPond intends to shutter its Second Life presence on 16 December.

Continue reading Telstra BigPond to shutter Second Life presence in December

Telstra BigPond to shutter Second Life presence in December originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

'I cannot read the fiery letters,' said Frodo in a quavering voice.

'No,' said Gandalf, 'but I can. The letters are English, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Lawyers, which I will not utter here. But this in the Common Tongue is what is said, close enough:

'You agree to review and adhere to the guidelines on using "Second Life," "SL," "Linden," the Eye-in-Hand logo, and Linden Lab's other trademarks, service marks, trade names, logos, domain names, taglines, and trade dress..'

He paused, and then said slowly in a deep voice: 'These are the Master Rules, the Terms of Service that rule all accounts.'

Continue reading A video guide to the Second Life Terms of Service

A video guide to the Second Life Terms of Service originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Back at the end of January, after we spent months investigating, talking to the Australian Classification Board, and both State and Federal Australian Attorneys General offices, it became clear that an apparent discrepancy in Australian games ratings was no discrepancy.

MMOGs were being sold on store shelves in Australia without the mandatory classification required by law. The whole thing was a tangle of confusing and contradictory information and statements from publishers, developers, industry associations, retailers and government departments. The government departments involved ultimately passed the buck back and forth between State and Federal jurisdictions, until their press-offices simply refused to talk.

Now, at last, the government seems to have gotten its message straight. In the wake of the coverage most MMOGs applied for and received a rating. Even Blizzard's World of Warcraft (a bit of a johnny-come-lately) has a proper rating this month and only Funcom's Age of Conan and Mythic's Warhammer Online seem to be holdouts, as far as we can tell.

Continue reading MMOGs rated in Australia. Warcraft a bit late, no sign of Conan, Warhammer

MMOGs rated in Australia. Warcraft a bit late, no sign of Conan, Warhammer originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Breaking: North American Aion servers to be located on east coast

Breaking: North American Aion servers to be located on east coast originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Cities XL announces delay, new October 8 and 9 European launches

Cities XL announces delay, new October 8 and 9 European launches originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Namco Bandai to distribute Cities XL in United Kingdom originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Australian Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, has promised to extend Australia's proposed network-level content filtering regime to block games, online games, downloadable games, and websites that sell or allow download of games that are deemed not to be suitable for a 15-year-old audience. This, despite research by the IEAA (the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia) that the average age of Australian Gamers is 30.

Even though Australian Federal and State laws say otherwise, some MMO titles exceeding that classification are already sold on Australian store shelves, by simply bypassing compulsory classification. Australian Federal and State authorities refuse to respond to any enquiries about the topic.

The matter becomes even more confusing and complex, however, as it introduces a new, defacto classifications body to the mix.

Continue reading Australian network filtering promises to reach out to block games, online games and more

Australian network filtering promises to reach out to block games, online games and more originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After issuing some apparently definitive statements about the requirement for MMOGs to be classified for sale in Australia, the department responsible seems to have thrown up its collective hands in confusion and is apparently unable to determine whether MMOGs should or should not be classified.

While the government held firm for a while that MMOGs were no different to other games for the purposes of the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act of 1995, and that the position upheld by the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) was incorrect, that message changed earlier this week, when the message wavered and the department then suggested that publishers and retailers (and us) should seek advice elsewhere.

Continue reading Aus government confused on MMOG ratings requirements

Aus government confused on MMOG ratings requirements originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One of the defining characteristics that is often remarked on about Second Life users is their generosity. Not that they're necessarily a soft-touch, but they're kind in often unexpected ways and tend to be strong supporters and organizers of charity efforts.

Fires are still burning out of control in the state of Victoria, in South-Eastern Australia. Thousands have lost their homes. Some areas are inaccessible for searchers, but a little under 200 people are known to be dead so far, and thousands have lost everything, and are in need of food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.

A number of Second Life users and content-creators are pitching in to raise funds for the relief effort.

Continue reading Second Lifers raise funds for Australian fire victims

Second Lifers raise funds for Australian fire victims originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Since we broke the story on the unlawful sales of unrated MMOGs in Australia last week, there has been a fair bit of coverage, from Australian newspapers to assorted gaming blogs. Much of what you've probably read since the original story covered here and later in the Sydney Morning Herald haven't really had much in the way of new information, and like a game of Telephone, the tale has grown somewhat in the telling.

So, here we're going to set it out for you, so you can get the information straight.

Firstly, Australia has not suddenly banned MMOGs, nor has any law related to their classification or sale been abruptly changed. The regulations have been in place since at least 1995, and there's nothing new in that regard.

Continue reading Australia takes no action on unrated computer games

Australia takes no action on unrated computer games originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Life used to be so simple. You'd walk into a store, present your purchase, pay for it and walk on out again. The laws and regulations that govern both you and the seller were the same. With mail-order, phone order and digital downloads, that is no longer the case.

You see in a simple transaction, like the purchase of an MMOG, there are actually two distinct actions taking place, a purchase and a sale. The act of selling is governed by the regulations that the seller is subject to in their jurisdiction. The purchase is under the jurisdiction of the buyer.

It's funny, really MMOGs like Funcom's Age of Conan on Australian shelves may trigger all sorts of fines (especially if the title is ultimately refused classification), but sales of the same title to Australians via Steam could well be immune to all the ratings fuss.

Simply put, the enforcement act that governs the sales of rated and unrated material in Australia applies almost entirely to selling (not to buying) and the act of the sale for most digital downloads is taking place out of range of those regulations.

Continue reading Gaming the ratings game

Gaming the ratings game originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One of the hitches in game-ratings in Australia is that there are no "R18+" or "X18+" ratings for games as there are for films. Games that would fall into these categories are refused classification. Because of this, no video games can be traded or sold in Australia that have content that is not appropriate for a 15-year-old. Without a formal classification (and compliant labeling) for a game, it is a criminal offense under Australian State and Territory laws for it to be sold, hired or demonstrated.

The problem here is that comparatively few MMOG titles sold on Australia's retail shelves ever carry a rating and labeling as the Classification Act requires. Could publishers, distributors and retailers of these unrated MMOGs suddenly wake up to find themselves in a legal hole hundreds of thousands of sales deep?

Continue reading MMOs defy classification in Australia

MMOs defy classification in Australia originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Australia's School of the Air programs have been among the most lauded distance education schemes for more than 50 years. In response to a scattered population in a less than hospitable environment and with a lack of nearby population centers and facilities, the School of the Air provided education for isolated children. The original School of the Air was opened in 1951, but had been broadcasting school lessons from the Royal Flying Doctor Service for some years prior to that. The School of the Air programs still operate today, as there are students living more than 800 kilometres (more than 500 miles) away from the nearest school.

Originally the system used pedal-powered radios, but more recently bi-directional broadband satellite communications, video conferencing and electronic whiteboards have brought students closer. The system has been an unqualified success for more than half a century.

Why is it then, that as soon as the notion of avatars and collaborative virtual environments is brought up for education, that the educational establishments seem to shy away? Does virtual learning have to be dreadful before anyone is willing to seriously fund it?

Continue reading Does virtual learning have to be dreadful?

Does virtual learning have to be dreadful? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

	Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

WAR beta reaches down under originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gamers are not social misfits after all! originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Well, sort of -- it is hard to be precise in the scant space that a headline provides. University of Southern Queensland (Australia) has a patent in the pipe at the moment that covers the extraction and avatar expression of avatar emotions -- at least if we're reading this right.

The idea is that the system is supposed to work out emotional content based on input text or voice, generate an overall emotion plot in a multidimensional coordinate system, and then express that emotion through your avatar. Essentially your avatar is animated and expressive according to your detected mood in order to communicate the non-verbal cues normally associated with that mood.

Will you see this in (say) Second Life, for example? Probably not. The Second Life Terms of Service grant an "a non-exclusive, worldwide, fully paid-up, transferable, irrevocable, royalty-free and perpetual License, under any and all patent rights you may have" to Linden Lab and all Second Life users as a part of pushing content in or through the virtual world.

That scares the pants off of enough IP-lawyers right there, so it isn't very likely we'll see this show up in Linden Lab's virtual domain.

USQ patenting avatar emotional body-language originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cinemassively: Our Brilliant Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 08 Jun 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's one of those little Melbourne bars, not so much wider than the bar that runs much of the length of it, with some seating near the front for the smokers (who are nearly out in the cold, literally), and a smaller lounge area in the back with a tiny little stage.

It's poorly lit (too dark for clean photography), and the cramped space is moderately crowded. The focus is, strangely, two men, and their laptops. Their laptop screens are projected against the walls, and strange ambient music is circulating through the room. This is a living performance in Second Life created solely for an audience in the physical world.

Continue reading Mixed reality Melbourne: Seventeen Unsung Songs

Mixed reality Melbourne: Seventeen Unsung Songs originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 06 Jun 2008 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Warhammer Online is headed to the land down under originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 16 May 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Doctor Helen Farley (Lecturer in Studies in Religion and Esotericism) and Doctor Rick Strelan (Senior Lecturer in Studies in Religion) were awarded a $30,000AUD Strategic Teaching and Learning Grant by the University of Queensland (Australia) in October of last year to construct an island in Second Life for Studies in Religion.

Dr Farley has already had practice teaching meditation via Second Life, and used it successfully for student work thus far. The new University of Queensland island will be attached to the New Media Consortium region, which has over 250 educational institutions involved.

Continue reading $30,000AUD for studies in religion

$30,000AUD for studies in religion originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 08 May 2008 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Running until the 26th, the 2008 Merovingi Fashion Awards are on now. If that name seems familiar it may well be because Gabriel Merovingi (Sebastian Oxide in SL) and Australian based Merovingi Group ran them last year, as well. This year the show is fund-raising for Doctors Without Borders, and the National Cancer Society.

The prizes for the category winners this year include L$ and Apple hardware.

Continue reading Merovingi 2008 Fashion Awards now running

Merovingi 2008 Fashion Awards now running originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Nexon

Mabinogi in open beta in March; Euros and Ozzies left out originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

PotBS officially launches in Australia and New Zealand -- free cockatoo! originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.