Continue reading Spacetime Studios' Cinco Barnes talks Dark Legends design

Spacetime Studios' Cinco Barnes talks Dark Legends design originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 25 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading The Firing Line: American aircraft and a real-life shooter

The Firing Line: American aircraft and a real-life shooter originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Wurm Online's studio changes its moniker originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading MMObility: The rise of the browser

MMObility: The rise of the browser originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading MMObility: Survival on a desert island

MMObility: Survival on a desert island originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading MMObility: Battle of the browsers

MMObility: Battle of the browsers originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Vendetta Online to be ported to the Android OS originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Jun 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google takes a long sideways look at gaming originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's always enlightening to hear from Frank Ambrose at Linden Lab. His posts about Second Life architecture, when they appear, are generally packed with information about upcoming plans, pending architecture changes and more. Clear, to the point and generally very few signs of spin (although a bit of distressing a tendency to type 'LAG' in all-caps). Overall, it's what we like to see more of.

In a similar vein, there's a notice from Liana Linden about some late-January upgrades to the Google appliances that handle much of Second Life's search infrastructure. There's a few additional benefits in the wings there, to be sure, and well laid-out.

Continue reading Second Life search upgrades in late January

Second Life search upgrades in late January originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Champions Online's user interface and its Google connection originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Shaking the stigma of "Free-to-Play"

Shaking the stigma of "Free-to-Play" originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

At the end of 2008, Google's Lively closed down. However in the comparatively few weeks since the announcement of the impending shutdown, Lively has been rebuilt from relative scratch by a Chinese company, and the new service, called newlively went live around the same time that the original service shuttered.

If you look at newlively's Web-site, you'll likely be struck by the haunting familiarity of it. That's hardly surprising. That appears to be Lively's original HTML code, just slightly tweaked for the new domain name. Newlively's creator claims to have recreated the models from the original. We've not tried the new service ourselves -- being just a bit a bit nervous about third-party downloads of debatable antecedence.

Nevertheless, the service is operational, and virtual worlds writer, artist and composer, Dizzy Banjo has some more information about this unexpected recreation of Google's virtual environment service.

Lively is dead. Long live newlively? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 03 Jan 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google's Lively presents us with an interesting scenario. It was literally a checklist of what critics have been saying that virtual environments such as Linden Lab's Second Life absolutely must have in order to make it.

A simplified user-interface, embedded in the Web-browser, content designed by professionals rather than (mostly) amateurs, a 'room' (or contained space) model rather than a widespread world. While it was touted as having no requirement for a separate downloadable client, that wasn't actually true -- it did actually have one, though it was relatively painless to download and install.

In short, it was the perceived holy grail of virtual environment 'must-haves' for success, as so frequently touted in media articles which lauded its simplicity and accessibility. Also, in short, Lively was a failure -- a spectacular one. Spectacular, but not without educational value.

Continue reading The death of Lively and some lessons about complexity

The death of Lively and some lessons about complexity originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One of the good things about Google is that they try stuff. They can afford to try out projects, and don't stick with what isn't working. Well, it appears that their Lively virtual environment chat-rooms haven't worked out. Google will be shuttering the Lively service on 31 December 2008, less than six months after launching.

Lively's Web-site -- launched to the public on July 9 this year -- will remain up, and the images of the rooms preserved, but the rooms themselves will no longer be active. This seems to also end Google's plans to leverage Lively as a games-platform. It isn't clear at this point what it means for Google's partner, X-Ray Kid Studios who has been working on Lively for the last two years, and was increasingly positioned as Google's games division.

Continue reading End of life for Google's Lively

End of life for Google's Lively originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

From Chiba, Japan, AP reports on Sony and Microsoft's upcoming avatar-based offerings at the annual Tokyo Game Show. Associated Press goes to great lengths to avoid spooking what they seem to feel are a parochial and hidebound audience with gems like, 'In the so-called "metaverse" in cyberspace, players manipulate digital images called "avatars" that represent themselves, engaging in relationships, social gatherings and businesses.'

Of course, the notion of graphical avatars as a part of a wide variety of Internet services has persisted for most of the last two decades, but even the sense of this is backwards.To the casual and uninformed observer it might appear that the user manipulates this (ahem) 'digital image' to perform actions, but this is substantively not the case. The user moves or takes action through the virtual environment in relation to spaces and to other users, and the avatar represents the action to others.

It's just that sort of long-arm punditry that seems to make AP compare Sony's Home and Microsoft's Avatar service with Linden Lab's Second Life, despite Sony and Microsoft's respective services having about as much in common with Second Life, as they have with Mortal Kombat. 'The real-time interactive computer-graphic worlds are similar to Linden Lab's "Second Life,"' writes the AP correspondent, in a wondrously surreal moment.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Continue reading Sony's Home and Microsoft's Avatar draw unwarranted comparisons at TGS

Sony's Home and Microsoft's Avatar draw unwarranted comparisons at TGS originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kevin Hanna, creative director of Google's Lively, said at AGDC that he hopes that Lively will become an online gaming platform that will challenge the status quo in a game industry he says is currently dominated by a "corporate mentality" that is "sucking the life out of what should be the most creative and innovative medium out there."

He said that game developers and publishers seem eager to be "first to be second." That is, they have no interest in creating anything genuinely new. They just want to capitalize on ideas that have already been proven. His hope is that Lively will lower the barrier to entry so would-be developers ("passionate startups and kids in college") can experiment with new ideas with less risk.

So far, the aspects of Google's vision for Lively as a game development platform that we've seen have looked like a greatly scaled back, poor man's version of MetaPlace; just the tools for creating simple arcade-like games, without any of the loftier purpose. But Hanna's comments suggest that at least some folks on the Lively team have grander ambitions after all.

Online gaming on Google's Lively to take on "corporate mentality" originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab certainly showed signs of fear when Google's Lively kicked off its public beta. Now we're seeing signs more akin to terror, panic or desperation. 'Who wouldn't be concerned when Google comes after their business?' said new Linden Lab CEO Mark Kingdon to Bloomberg.

Given recent changes and marketing pushes, you can see Linden Lab's management showing a sheen of sweat. Curiously, it seems that Google isn't after Linden Lab's business -- Lively's certainly no competitor to the business that Linden Lab has. However, what Google represents seems to be a threat to the business that Linden Lab wants to have.

This week saw the hiring of Frank Ambrose (AOL's head of technology for infrastructure and network services for a decade) as Senior VP of global technology. While Ambrose has more tech knowledge than the average suit in his position, his primary competencies seem to be negotiations, coordination, contracts and costs -- which all marries up nicely with Linden Lab making a push into corporate, government and military sales, and hiring additional staff to do just that. We're not sure what they're going to be selling, exactly, but virtual environment meeting spaces are probably right at the top of the list.

	Are you a part of the most widely-known collaborative virtual environment or keeping a close eye on it? Massively's Second Life coverage keeps you in the loop.

Continue reading Linden Lab sets terror-alert level to 'Google'

Linden Lab sets terror-alert level to 'Google' originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cinemassively: The Future of Virtual Worlds originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

While the announcement of the Google Lively public beta may have taken many by surprise, apparently it did not take Linden Lab unawares -- their Second Life messages were already lined up and ready to go.

Indeed considering that information about Lively's launch was available to a number of people who were close to Linden Lab, either as partners or ex-staffers, it seems silly to suggest that Linden Lab might not have known Lively's public beta launch date, unless those contacts were aflame with considerable, searing resentment.

Wheezing, clanking and dripping oil from dark and unnameable apertures, one of Linden Lab's most neglected subsystems -- the marketing machine -- arose from it's years-long slumber and went about it's ponderous, mechanical business.

Continue reading Peering Inside: A media campaign

Peering Inside: A media campaign originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Linden Lab's newly-minted CEO, Mark Kingdon, has posted another communique to Second Life users, and it isn't hard to see a certain fear in the phrasing and timing.

'The possibilities of Virtual Worlds have attracted a slew of entrepreneurs and even some Internet giants,' writes Kingdon in his second paragraph, 'Some are offering a simple, visually appealing chat solution. Others are more ambitious. Second Life offers something no ones else does - an astoundingly rich array of user-created content and a large, diverse and ever-expanding virtual economy.'

And it isn't hard to see which Internet giant and what visually appealing chat solution he might be referring to, especially considering the timing of the statement.

Continue reading Kingdon feels the fear

Kingdon feels the fear originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Massively crew has spent a little more time hammering away at Google's new virtual artifice, Lively. By now, you've probably seen all sorts of news reports calling it a rival and competitor to Linden Lab's virtual world, Second Life. Technically, that's what we call bollocks.

Describing Lively as a rival to Second Life is like calling a conference center a rival to a library. They're just not servicing the same needs, and the comparison is fundamentally nonsensical. Lively is tightly focused, and fails to intrude on the bulk of virtual worlds space.

So, what's the deal with Lively? Let's take a look ...

Continue reading Look Lively!

Look Lively! originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Open to the public just today, it seems hard to believe that Google's new Lively service is the much-vaunted virtual world product Project Snowcrash aka MyWorld that has been in secret beta-testing for some time.

Lively is a series of web-embeddable virtual spaces (think Metaplace) that function as a series of otherwise disconnected chatrooms (think IMVU or Twinity). You download the browser plugin for Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer (both Windows only, sorry folks), sign in with your google account, create a room or join one and you're ready to go. Just make sure you've signed into the Lively website at least once -- otherwise you'll have the Joining Room message forever.

A selection of 'hip' human and furry avatars are available, along with an assortment of clothing. There is no user-created content at this time. We'll have some more impressions for you once we've given this a once-over around the office, so stay tuned.

Google's Lively: Live public beta originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Corr Linden today posted the announcement of a Google Calendar on the official Linden Blog today. The posting remained up long enough to hit the public feeds and the Web newswires, and to start attracting user comments before the post was yanked from the site.

It was up long enough for the post (though not the comments) to be cached and copied nearly everywhere, so here's the link to the calendar if you missed it. At present it only seems to contain Linden staff in-world office hours.

We've no idea at this stage why the post was yanked. It doesn't seem to contain any secrets, sinister or otherwise. You can add the calendar to your Google Calendar account by adding PublicEvents@lindenlab.com.

Linden public events calendar announced ... then pulled originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cory Ondrejka, co-founder of the virtual world of Second Life and ex-CTO of Linden Lab has switched roles. No, it's not actually another virtual world, but we're mentioning it anyway, because we know you all love Ondrejka, or love to hate him. Either way.

Ondrejka's moving in with EMI (one of the 'big four' record companies) as their senior vice-president of Digital Strategy. 'It's time to take everything I learned about innovation, community, intangible items, markets, economics, and technology building Second Life and apply it to a much larger arena,' said Ondrejka today, 'There are a million and one difficult problems to solve, but I'm absolutely thrilled about my new role.'

Continue reading Second Life's genius cuddles up with music giant

Second Life's genius cuddles up with music giant originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

No, you've not missed an announcement of an upcoming IPO. We're just looking at what it would mean if you did. There's been talk for years about Linden Lab taking the company through IPO (Initial Public Offering) and going public.

Given the vision and history of the company, and the overall direction of the business, an IPO would more or less signal an epic failure to deliver.

Continue reading Peering Inside: Linden Lab IPO = Epic Fail

Peering Inside: Linden Lab IPO = Epic Fail originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Daily Grind: Is Second Life the internet of the future? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Parallel Kingdom is a mobile MMO played in the real world originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading The Second Life Philip Linden/Gavin Newsom Fireside Chat, part 2

The Second Life Philip Linden/Gavin Newsom Fireside Chat, part 2 originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

My 2008 MMO hopes and wishes originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Top 10 MIA MMOs of 2007 - part 2

Top 10 MIA MMOs of 2007 - part 2 originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 16 Dec 2007 09:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Matt Stone at ASU Web Devil (Arizona State University's online newspaper) has gotten a hold of some internal emails between ASU officials that indicate that they are testing a secret project (referred to as Myworld or sometimes Snow Crash), among strong suggestions that it's for Google and that it's in beta with a small number of students right now.

ASU is something of a poster-child for Google (who even have an office on one of the ASU campuses), and has been an early tester for assorted Google applications.

Continue reading ASU testing Snow Crash for Google?

ASU testing Snow Crash for Google? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Building a better Search tool in Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Google almost certainly creating multi-user virtual world

Google almost certainly creating multi-user virtual world originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 04 Nov 2007 10:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.