Category: News-Opinion

Oculus VR: of debuts and acquisitions

Posted on by Inara Pey
The Oculus Crescent Bay prototype showing the Samsung Gear-type head harness with motion tracking sensors on the back and the integrated headphones
The Oculus Crescent Bay prototype showing the Samsung Gear-type head harness with motion tracking sensors on the back and the integrated headphones

As is to be expected, Oculus VR are attending the International Consumer Electronics Show 2015, which is once again being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, through until January 9th, 2015, where the latest headset prototype  – Crescent Bay  – is undergoing its “public debut”, and the company’s CEO, Brendan Iribe took time out to discuss the prototype and more with Techcrunch’s Darrell Etherington.

“Crescent Bay is a huge leap from Oculus Rift DK2,” Iribe informs Etherington at the start of their 6-minute discussion. “And it increases all the different parts, whether it’s resolution, precision, the positional tracking, the latency, the optics themselves, everything really takes a big jump, and it really finally delivers what we’ve been talking about for a long time, this pursuit of presence. It finally delivers on that presence that we feel is good enough for consumers.”

So, does that mean he’s revising his comment at November’s Web summit conference about the consumer version of the headset being “many months” away?

Oculus is again a major presence at the International CES in Las Vegas
Oculus is again a major presence at the International CES in Las Vegas

Well, probably not. While no outright statement on time frames is given, it’s fair to say the the company is still putting a consumer release as some way down the road.

For one thing, the next immediate target is getting an audio SDK to developers to allow them to get to grips with the capabilities of Crescent Bay’s 3D immersive audio system. However, it’s liable to be another “few months” before that happens. For another, while the company feel they are now “close” to having a headset that is, technology-wise, to being consumer-ready, Iribe also notes the audio is at a “minimum” the company requires of a consumer product, and also that no decision on what they’ll actually be shipping as a consumer product as yet been made: it might be “just” the headset, or it might be the headset and an input system / device.

When speaking to Peter Rubin at the Web Summit in Dublin in November (linked to above), Iribe made it clear that input had become a “big focus” for the company, which they were “R&Ding”. He restates part of this to Etherington, which suggests they may still be leaning towards headset + input system / device, although he also noted that the company is not yet ready to discuss matters of input in public.

In terms of a suitable software library being available in time for any launch so – another consideration in determining when to launch the consumer product – Iribe indicates the company is “very happy” with the progress that is being made, suggesting this is less of a concern as they gradually move towards a consumer release.

Continue reading “Oculus VR: of debuts and acquisitions” →

CapEx and Skill Gaming: activities still frozen, but some progress

Posted on by Inara Pey
Capital Exchange has seen activity in its stock market simulation game frozen since the November 1st enforcement of the Lab's Skill Gaming Policy
Capital Exchange has seen activity in its stock market simulation game frozen since the November 1st enforcement of the Lab’s Skill Gaming Policy

Saturday November 1st brought with it a full enforcement of the the Lab’s updated Skill Gaming Policy, as the last had previously notified would be the case.

As I reported at the time, an immediate casualty of the enforcement was Skip Oceanlane’s Capital Exchange (CapEx). Although described as a fictional stock market simulation game which does not offer any opportunity for direct real-world investment or profit, CapEx does operate on what amounts to a “pay to play basis” through the trading of L$-valued “securities” in the SL-based companies listed with the exchange, and thus appeared to fall under the remit of the Skill Gaming Policy.

This being the case, Skip had placed an application for CapEx to become a Skill Gaming activity with the Lab in July 2014, just after the announcement of the new policy. However, by November 1st, the application had yet to be approved, prompting CapEx to suspend market activities (although ATMs remain open for L$ withdrawals) pending further feedback from the Lab on the matter.

Following this, on November 11th, 2014, Skip indicated that the Lab’s attorney was in contact with his attorney on the matter, and further questions had been asked. By December 4th, both parties were still working on the matter, and on December 12th, Skip provided a further update, indicating that there are three issues of concern that require resolution in order for progress to be made. In the post, Skip comments in part:

I’m not going to get into detail of what those 3 issues are, but I’ll restate what my attorney told me.

One issue is easy, another issue is not so easy, and one issue is difficult that will require a detailed response. After talking with my attorney, it was decided that we would meet again after he sends me information requested by the Linden Lab attorney. I am going to come up with a detailed response to each area of concern, and my attorney’s law firm will put it into “Legalese” as a response to Linden Lab.

It had been hoped these responses would be put to the Lab prior to the Christmas break, but whether this was achieved or not is unclear, as there have been no further updates. However, at the time the last blog post appears, Skip was hopeful a resolution could be reached in early 2015, which the Lab also appears to be keen to achieve.

This doesn’t automatically mean that CapEx will be able to resume trading; it is still unclear as to which way the Lab’s final decision will lean. But as Skip does note, at least progress is being made, and both sides are working to resolve matters such that informed decisions can be reached.

Related Links

Lab runs New Year photo competition L$19,000 prize pool

Posted on by Inara Pey

2015 NY compOnce again the Lab is running a New Year’s photo competition. Running now through until the deadline for submissions at 10:00 SLT on Saturday, January 10th, 2015. The blog post announcing the competition reads in part:

We want to know how you celebrate the coming of the New Year in our New Year Snapshot Contest. If it’s a whole new look for your avatar, or an in-world party to celebrate — share your snapshots.

On offer are four Linden dollar prizes:

  • Grand Prize – 10,000 Linden Dollars (estimated value at US$40.00).
  • First Prize – 5,000 Linden Dollars (estimated value at US$20.00).
  • Second Prize – 3,000 Linden Dollars (estimated value at $12.00).
  • Third Prize– 1,000 Linden Dollars (estimated value at $4.00).

Winners will be decided on the basis of popular vote.

In a move that should keep people happy, the competition doesn’t require posting anything to Facebook. Rather it sees the return of of uploading entries via the forum post itself, under the Entries tab, and then clicking on the New Entry button (you must be signed-in to the forums for the button to work.

The competition blog post also includes word on the seasonal gift all residents can claim by visiting the Portal Park and finding the red gift box - a charming gingerbread cake by Vitae Mole
The competition blog post also includes word on the seasonal gift all residents can claim by visiting the Portal Parks and finding the red gift box – a charming gingerbread cake by Vitae Mole

Competition entries are limited to one per account,  and there are, inevitably, some contest rules to go with the competition, which should be read and followed. For some, one of the most intriguing rule might be the fact that, “Canadian residents will be required to answer an additional mathematical question in order to claim their prizes.”

This, I’ve been given to understand by a Canadian friend, appears to be in connection with the Promotional Contest Provision of the Canadian Competition Act, which states that the “selection of participants or distribution of prizes is not made on a random basis” (and selection by popular vote in this competition is a random basis for distributing the prizes).  To avoid this, it’s common for Canadian competitions to include a math-based “skill test” to demonstrate a measure of skill has been involved – hence the requirement with the Lab’s contest!

So, Canadian or otherwise, should you opt to enter – good luck!

A look at the Lab’s new promo videos

Posted on by Inara Pey

secondlifeUpdate: December 26th: Seems I may have been a little hasty in critiquing the Welcome to Second Life video. Both of the new videos are intended as part of an e-mail campaign, and so additional context will be given. 

Tuesday, December 23rd saw the Lab issue two new promotional videos on You Tube (although interestingly, at the time of writing, one one appears on the WhatIs page of the official SL website). I missed both when released – so thank you to Whirly Fizzle for sending a G+ notification of both, which showed-up on my Nexus tablet.

There has often been strong criticism of past SL promotional videos produced by the Lab, some if which have seemed a tad confusing, while others have perhaps given a bit of a false impression about the platform. In the past I’ve droned on about the Lab doing more to work with established machinima makers to put together promotional material; in fact I did so as recently as January, thanks to Strawberry Singh raising awareness of a very slick promo video for an in-world brand.

So what are the latest videos like?

Well, pretty good, actually. The first one I caught is called Create in Second Life, and it’s a very good demonstration of just that – content creation in Second Life. It comes with the descriptive tag of Second Life is a powerful platform for creativity. Everything in Second Life – interactive 3D objects, unique experiences, global communities, and more – is created by people just like you.

It runs for bang-on one minute (with 52 seconds of actual footage). The editing is fast-paced without being confusing, and the various sequences provide a pretty good glimpse at various elements of content creation within the platform.  There is a lot showcased in the film, including Cica Ghost’s Little Town and the famous Dwarfins, together with Chouchou, to name the three I instantly recognised. What’s more, footage from The Drax Files: world Makers series is used (notably clips from segment #23, featuring Loz Hyde).

All told, it is a snappy, tightly-produced video that showcases SL very well.

The second (for me in terms of viewing order) is entitled Welcome to Second Life. It runs to slightly longer – 1:07 minutes, with 1:04 comprising footage. It also includes a more detailed description:

Second Life is an online 3D virtual world imagined and designed by you. From the moment you enter Second Life, you’ll discover a universe brimming with people and possibilities.

Create and customize your own digital 3D persona, also known as your avatar. Be a fashion diva, a business-savvy entrepreneur, or a robot or all three. Changing identities is quick and easy, so if you tire of your avatars outfit or body, shop for a new one in Second Life or from your web browser. Then switch it in seconds.

Every minute, Residents assemble buildings, design new fashion lines and launch clubs and businesses. There’s always more to see and do.

However, as much as I like it, it does cause something of a niggle; the video supposedly takes one through engaging in Second Life in “five easy steps”. However, actually joining SL by creating an account is completely missed. Instead, the video  gives the visual impression that all someone has to do is download the viewer and start from there (i.e. any sign-up process is inclusive to the viewer, when in fact it is a separate step), the second step being to “login to Second Life”.

A persona niggle for me with the second video is it does gloss over the need to have an SL account before downloading the viewer
A personal niggle for me in the “Welcome to Second Life” video, which is otherwise pretty good overall, is it does gloss over the need to have an SL account before a new user downloads the viewer and attempts to log-in.

This may sound nit-picky, given it is a promotional, rather than instructional, video. While I don’t expect a promo video to get bogged-down in all the steps required to sign-up, at the same time I can’t help but feel that failing to even point to the Join Now options on the web page could result in people following the steps as outlined by the video only to find themselves facing the viewer log-in screen and screaming a frustrated, “HOW?!”

Beyond this, however, the video is again slick, well-edited and does show off SL’s better features – and it is certainly good to see attention drawn to the likes of the Destination Guide to help people with their engagement in the platform, and to aspects of help and support, as well as to the broader community as represented through the website and forums.

Having said that, both videos do offer a bright, positive look at SL, with Create in Second Life really carrying the banner very well.

Lab issues Experience Keys release candidate viewer

Posted on by Inara Pey
The cornfield (game play area iuses a much darker and more atmospheric windlight)
The Cornfield: the Lab’s Experience Keys demonstrator (game play area uses a much darker and more atmospheric windlight)

On Wednesday, December 17th, the Lab issued a release candidate version of the Experience Keys viewer. Alongside  the promotion comes a new blog post promoting the availability of the viewer and the Experience Keys / Tools beta programme.

For those not previously aware of Experience Keys, the blog post provides some explanation:

Experience Keys are a powerful feature that allows creators to build more seamless and immersive experiences in Second Life. Without this feature, you need to grant individual permissions to every single scripted object included in an inworld experience, and that can mean a lot of dialog boxes interrupting the fun! Experience Keys make it possible for creators to build experiences that ask your permission just once. In other words, you can opt-in to the entire experience, rather than having to grant individual permissions to every single scripted object included in it.

I provided an overview of Experiences, Experience Keys and the the viewer-side updates when the Experience Keys viewer first appeared as a project viewer. While there have been some updates since then, the core of that article should still be valid where the viewer is concerned, and finding actual Experiences is now a lot easier given they are now listed in the Destination Guide. You can also try-out the Lab’s own Experience Tools activity, the Cornfield via the LR Portal Park1 (and it looks like another one might be opening soon!).

As to the viewer, this essentially gives you all the tools you need in order to track and manage those activities you opt to participate in or those you opt to turn down – again, the key thing with Experiences is that you retain overall control; if you don’t want to participate in something, you can decide not to opt-in. So, for example, is a region has an Experience associated with it, but you’d rather just explore, you can decide not to join the Experience when prompted, but do so at a later time. There’s also a Search option (with its own Maturity setting) that allows you to locate Experiences from within the viewer.

The Search tab on the new Experience floater - part of the Experience Keys project viewer
The Experience Keys RC viewer provides you with the tools you need to manage the Experiences you decide to participate in, or decide not to join. (the Allowed / Blocked tabs, above right), while the Search tab makes it easy to locate in-world Experiences (click for full-size)

As well as the tools for those wishing to find and participate in Experiences in SL, the viewer also includes tools and options which allow those wanting to build their own experiences – but you’ll need to refer to my preview article for more information on that.

You can, of course, still participate in those Experiences which are already available in-world with any viewer – you just won’t get the same richness of information and options that the Experience Keys RC viewer provides.

An Experience dialogue box. On the left, as it appears in an Experience Keys enabled viewer, with options to display the Experience Profile (by clicking the Experience name link) and to accept / refuse the Experience and to block the Experience (so you'll never see a prompts anywhere for it again) or to block just the current inviter. On the right, how the same dialogue appears in a viewer that is non Experience Keys enabled - you can only opt to accpt or refuse the invitation
You can use a “regular” viewer to join Experiences in-world, but you don’t get the same richness of information and options as presented by the Experience Keys RC viewer. Information displayed by the latter is shown above left, compared to a “non-Experience Keys” updated viewer on the right. While the “non” viewer still gives you basic information on the Experience you might be about to enter, the RC viewer provides a lot more – including a link you can use to display additional information on the Experience, which may additionally help you decide if you want to join in or not

Also, when you leave a region in which an experience is running, you needn’t worry about anything untoward happening to you – all permissions, etc., associated with the Experience are revoked when you leave.

As the official blog post notes, Experience Keys are, from a creation standpoint, still in beta, but the signs are the first set of capabilities will be rolled out in the very near future, hopefully not too long after the Christmas / New Year break. After that, and depending on uptake / feedback, etc., it is likely the system will be enhanced and extended.

One thing to note with Experience Keys and Tools, is that while the emphasis is primarily on game-base activities, they offer a lot of potential in other areas as well – guided tours, store demos, and more. All of which will potentially make the capability a very flexible addition to Second Life.

There will be more to come on Experience Keys and Tools, but in the meantime, and like the official blog, I’ll leave you with Torley’s explanatory video.

Related Links

Lab update on missing inventory

Posted on by Inara Pey

On Tuesday, December 16th, the Lab issued a brief statement on the matter of missing inventory which has been affecting some SL users since Wednesday, December 10th.

News on problems first arose via a forum post as people started noticing animations from Akeyo and Vista (among others) being replaced by “IP replacement” placeholders – which usual indicate removal as a result of a DMCA action. Some of those affected additionally indicated that they had also received an e-mail on the matter from the Lab – although others apparently did not.

How widespread the issue actually has been, is hard to judge; the forum thread itself involves a relatively few people, although this is obviously no accurate barometer of the overall impact and certainly not any form of mitigation for those who had been affected. Matters were further confused as a result of some support tickets raised on the matter being responded to as being a “resident to resident” issue, and therefore outside of LL’s remit.

By Sunday, December 14th, a number of SL users were pressing both the Lab (through their official community account) and Ebbe Altberg for comment, prompting him to reply:

missing-inv-3Ebbe Altberg's Tweets on the issue

Ebbe Altberg’s Tweets on the issue

Quite what went wrong isn’t clear, other than it apparently being a possible fault within an internal process. Even so, it appears to have caused a few headaches for the Lab in terms of sorting out. On Tuesday, December 16th, Ebbe further Tweeted:

Only this turned out to be a little premature, as a blog post was subsequently issued indicating that the Lab was still working to fix the matter:

Due to a recent internal error, some Residents may have noticed a few items were recently replaced within their inventories. We are working to reverse the process and hope to have the original items restored quickly.

If you believe that your items were affected, please keep an eye on your inventory – you should see the original items restored soon.

In addition to restoring the original items as quickly as possible, we are also taking steps to resolve the issue that caused the error so that we can avoid repeating it in the future. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

As this article is being written, some people are still indicating that they have yet to see inventory items reinstated. An important point to not here is that if you have been impacted by the situation, do not delete the “IP replacement” placeholders in your inventory; if you do, you may adversely affect the return of your items by the Lab.

Per my comment above, precisely what went wrong is unclear. However, mistakes can and do happen, and generally  without malice aforethought. But that said, given there was something of a serious mistake made, one in part exacerbated by a degree of confusion in communications from the Lab (vis e-mails sent to those affected and support tickets being closed), one hopes that the lessons learned in both correcting the matter and as a result of reviewing how the problem first arose will be taken to heart.