A very real future for virtual worlds

Second Life has long been seen as the bell-wether for the growing interest in virtual spaces. Here, founder Philip Rosedale talks to the BBC News website about the past and future of the parallel world he is helping to create.

These are interesting times for Second Life. In the four short years it has existed, it has seen media coverage go from hysterical to hectoring. It has been hailed as both a harbinger of the next big thing and a brake on the burgeoning development of virtual worlds.

Speculation about its future has intensified as news emerged that chief technology officer Cory Ondrejka, who helped design and build Second Life, has left the company.

But said Philip Rosedale, one of the founders of Linden Lab which oversees the running of Second Life, the departure will not dent the vision all the original engineers had for their creation.

"Cory is a fantastic guy, he's fantastically capable and we will miss him a lot," said Mr Rosedale.

More from the BBC

Conan video game delivers fists of fun - review

The legend of Conan the barbarian, the many-muscled pulp novel creation of Robert E. Howard, has been delivered in full gory glory with "Conan" the video game, a fantastic release thick with violence and gorgeous graphics.

The Conan character is perhaps remembered best from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, where the protagonist broke loose and took vengeance on anyone who dared stand in his way. You'll get that same bloody retribution feel here, but with better dialogue and a fuller story line.

This "Conan" ($59.99;€41 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) battles several big boss enslavers and their monstrous minions. His efforts are done to aid A'Kanna, a female warrior trying to avenge the destruction of her homeland by the evil wizard Graven.

As I grabbed the Sony PS3 controller and dove into this drama I quickly realized one important thing — nearly every character in this game is angry and doing grave bodily harm. And I mean everyone.

It all comes together seamlessly. The character's movements are fairly free-ranging, yet the angles are easy enough on the eyes as to not make you dizzy. There's no dual-thumb twiddling necessary like first-person shooter games where you must manage your X and Y axis constantly while trying to navigate the game map and avoid harm. In "Conan," the screen swivels around nicely and you get a third-person perspective as you storm through various combat scenes.

Once engaged, Conan delivers crushing fist, foot and weapon blows. He can block and parry attacks, and snatch up better weapons from his vanquished victims for future killing combo moves.

Sprinkled throughout the journey are various hidden treasures, some tucked away in large jars and chests, that rejuvenate Conan's strength and give him enough experience to buy and master new death blows. The "elbow stun" and "fast strike finisher" were my favorites, the latter sending foes flying upward with a slice from my blade.

This title is not for the faint of heart, or thin of skin. Blood is let at every turn. Enslaved women wearing nothing from the waist up and not a whole lot below are chained to fortress walls. When freed, some of them exclaim to Conan "My clothes! Where are my clothes?" I was a bit offended by that aspect, and had difficulty simply chalking it up to the world of male gaming fantasy.

Overall, it's probably the best, most engaging game I've played all year. Even the cut scenes are works of art. "Conan" shows what game developers can deliver if they truly commit to a project and pay attention to details necessary to bring an iconic figure like Conan to life.

Horned hats off to THQ Inc., Havok, Nihilistic Software and all of the gaming brains behind this title.

Four out of four stars.

Source: International Herald Tribune

1 trillion calculations a second - Intel say no need for hand controllers on games systems

Advances in chip design are prompting companies to take advantage of the potential power. But the necessary new markets and software are lagging

During the last technology boom, Dan Reed, a longtime supercomputer researcher and tech policy expert, stayed put in a professorship at the University of Illinois and managed its National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), even as the fabled lab hatched Netscape and helped set off the explosive growth of the Internet. During the dot-com bust that followed, Reed hunkered down in another faculty job at the University of North Carolina.

Now the computer industry is poised for a second transformation, in which supercomputing technology is trickling down to corporate data centers and desktop PCs, supplying them with unprecedented power. This time, Reed isn't missing out. On Dec. 3, he became the latest high-profile hire in a stable of supercomputer scientists that Microsoft (MSFT) is assembling in Redmond, Wash., to study how technology that has been the province of top-flight universities, government research labs, and a few huge corporations can transform everyday computing. "We have an opportunity to rethink issues at a deep level," says Reed, 50. "I said if the surf was up again, I was going to grab my board."

BYE-BYE JOYSTICKS
The waves look inviting for others, too. Inspired by advances in chip design that will likely keep the performance of today's already powerful computers arcing steadily upward for years, tech companies are devising new scenarios in entertainment, engineering, product design, and medicine to take advantage of the potential power. IBM (IBM), the developer of the world's most powerful supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, also supplies processors for graphics-intensive video game consoles from Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Sony's PlayStation 3 features an IBM chip called the Cell that's also used in huge supercomputers that can easily fill a basketball court.

Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, the two biggest suppliers of computer chips, have managed to cram four so-called processing cores onto their products. That's the equivalent of strapping four PCs together and jamming them into the space of a large envelope—and not much thicker. But the chipmakers don't expect to stop there. They plan to have dozens of processors on silicon chips within a decade. Marshalling all that power could open doors to new ways of interacting with machines.

Intel has talked to console video game makers about using chips that can perform in excess of 1 trillion calculations per second (BusinessWeek.com, 2/12/07) in future products that use cameras to track body motion to control the action, instead of using buttons or joysticks. "We imagine some future generation of [Nintendo's] Wii won't have hand controllers," says Justin Rattner, Intel's chief technology officer. "You just set up the cameras around the room and wave your hand like you're playing tennis." Intel missed out on supplying chips for the current generation of game systems, and is trying to gain a foothold there.

A DEARTH OF NEW MARKETS
But what may dash the dreams of Intel and other hardware makers is a lack of inexpensive, off-the-shelf software to bring supercomputing to the masses. For now, these sophisticated machines require equally sophisticated and, in many cases, custom-developed programs tended to by highly paid engineers. That's why Microsoft is building a brain trust and handing out funds to schools doing work in the field. The software giant is underwriting grants to universities to study how supercomputer-style programming can be applied to personal machines. The company also is building data centers to serve up its new Live online software that a few years ago would have been more at home in a research lab.

Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard on Nov. 13 delivered a new class of mini-supercomputer, designed for small engineering and biotech companies, that costs around $50,000. Callaway Golf is an early HP customer. And IBM, Google, and Yahoo! have launched initiatives in "cloud computing", harnessing supercomputing power for new Web-delivered software for applications like modeling risk in financial portfolios, generating computer graphics, or understanding conversational typed or spoken queries.

Sony: PS3 "infinitely more fun" than the Nintendo Wii

Sony CEO confident that the console will "come into its own"

Sony Corporation CEO Howard Stringer has said in an interview that he believes PlayStation 3 games are "infinitely more fun" than those on Nintendo's Wii.

That follows an upturn in the console's recent sales fortunes, and a better situation on like-for-like sales when compared to the Wii - although Nintendo has admitted it is unable to manufacture enough hardware units to meet demand.

But Stringer told the Guardian: "We've some catching up to do, but at least we have the opportunity to connect the PS3 with the PlayStation Portable and beyond."

"I'm happy the Wii seems to be running a bit short of hardware," Stringer went on to say. "The PlayStation 3 will come into its own because its [high-end games] are infinitely more fun, demanding and exciting."

And looking to the future, he admitted to feeling more confident. "I'm glad that the last few weeks have generated excitement about PlayStation 3," he said. "Everyone's stopped talking about it the way they were six months ago."

Sales of the PS3 in the US tripled after Thanksgiving, and are still performing much better into the Christmas period than before the price cut.

Gamez comment - Better than the Wii - That's why they had to cut the price!

Source: Games Industry

Square Enix wins Final Fantasy movie copying case

Music video stole heavily from Advent Children

Square Enix has won its legal battle with Korean entertainment company Fantom for plagiarising the company's Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children animated movie.

According to a judge, Fantom had "illegally used 80 per cent of the storyline, setting, characters and their style of dress" for a music video by singer Ivy.

"Square Enix will continue to take decisive action against any infringements upon the company's intellectual property, recognising that this property is one of our most crucial resources," said Yasuhiko Hasegawa, general counsel of Square Enix, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

"This judgement by the Seoul Central District Court is stringent in comparison to other copyright infringement cases in South Korea, and we appreciate that the maliciousness of this infringement has been recognised in a public forum," he added.

Fantom Entertainment has been fined USD 10,900, with additional fines each of USD 6500 for Lee Han-woo, director of the company, and Hong Jeong-ho, director of the music video.

Square Enix says its Final Fantasy franchise has sold more than 75 million copies over its 20 year history.

Source: Games Industry

Shellshock video game sequel on Playstation 3 and XBox 360

UK dev has big plans for PS3, 360 titles in 2008

After completing 12 PSP titles, Rebellion has told GamesIndustry.biz that it's now fully focused on home consoles, with a sequel to Eidos' Shellshock the first PS3 and 360 title from the UK studio.

The developer has finished 2007 with a portfolio of high-profile PSP licenses including The Simpsons Game, Star War Battlefront and Alien Vs Predator, but is now confident of shifting to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 formats.

"Next year we'll have our first next-gen project out – Shellshock 2 with Eidos," confirmed CEO Jason Kingsley, speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz at last week's Game Connection event.

"It's very much a mature product, it's a bit like Jacob's Ladder or Apocalypse Now in movie terms. It's troubling – deliberately so – it's meant to be challenging the nature of war, the horror and why people do these horrific things to each other.

"It'll be our first next-gen title, which is slightly nervewracking, but it's looking absolutely lovely," he said.

As well as working on Shellshock, Rebellion is hoping to push forward with titles based on its own original IP, which include Rogue Trooper, Sniper Elite and the properties of its 2000AD comic book business.

"This year we've done a lot of other people's licenses but next year we'll have much more of a balance of licenses and some original product. The year after it's very likely we'll have a slew of original, home-brand IPs," revealed Kingsley.

"For example, the Rogue Trooper rights for next-gen have come back to us so we're looking at and planning what we can do with that brand, because it was successful and we're very proud of it, so we'd like to do more with it."

And as Rebellion expands its other publishing outlets – the company has a successful horror and sci-fi book imprint called Abaddon Books – Kingsley admits there are more opportunities for cross media licensing.

"There's always that possibility of TV, film licensing and videogames with these ideas. It's much easier to launch a new idea as a comic book or a book than it is to do a game," he said. "It's quicker and with games you can sometimes lose the enthusiasm."

While not completely abandoning the idea of more PSP work, Kingsley believes following the now-established home consoles will prove to be the best direction for not only the business, but for its 280 staff as well.

"Chances are we'll have fewer games out next year because they'll be bigger titles. We're not going to be doing much more in the way of PSP stuff unless it comes with a big next-gen title," he said.

"The issue for us is that our staff very much want to work on next-gen and so it makes sense to make deals where they can work on the next big thing. We've been preparing for this transition since the last one.

"While we were not involved in the first wave of games I think a lot of games have suffered from being released too early. Progress has been really good in all of our studios. We need scale and we've always wanted to have five titles in development at any one time," he added.