Blue Mars beta

That's such a lousy term.
You mean... like in the real world? Don't forget, that "relatively small set" of users is tens of thousands of users strong, and most of them wouldn't have gotten started if they had to jump through hoops to get started.

But that's completely unrelated to the issue of building. You don't need to be a builder or have build rights to be a griefer. Rob Pike trashed net.suicide using his "Elizabeth Bimmler" alt just by posting messages.

Yes, but virtual worlds are supposed to be more creative than the real world, right?



I don't know if that's true. If you want to sell things currently, you pretty much _do_ have to jump through several hoops to get started - although you're right, a business approval process is a much bigger hoop.

Thats excellent news, I was a bit worried about going to the bank lolz

What do you mean, "I dont know if that's true"?

Why not delineate the actions one must take to start a business in SL.

The only HOOP one has to jump through is attaining a bank account that can work with SL/Paypal to get money into SL for you to afford your startup....And if you only need 512m2, then the amount is very little. Even less if you only need a few prims and get a spot in a mall or themed sim.

What are the "several hoops" you are talking about?

I was thinking about this baby when i win lotto this weekend...Checkout:

1. CPU: Intel QX9770 - $1,600
   
2. RAM: 2 x 2GB Mushkin DDR3 XP3-14400 - $550
   
3. Motherboard: Foxconn Blackops X48 - $450
   
4. GPU: 2 x 4870x2 - $1320
   
5. PSU: Corsair HX1000 - $320
   
6. Case: Lian-Li PC-X2000 - $580
   
7. Optical Drive: Pioneer BDR-202BK - $390
   
8. Storage: 2 x 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor - $700
   
9. Cooling: Frozen SS Vapour Phase Change - $1,100
   
10. OS: Vista Home Premium 64bit OEM - $130
    
11. Monitor: Dell UltraSharp™ 3008WFP 30" - $2,000
    
12. Mouse: Razer Lachesis - $63
    
13. Keyboard: Razer Tarantula Gaming Keyboard or Optimus Maximus - $95 or $1,900
    
14. Sound Card : Auzentech X-Fi Prelude - $230
    
15. Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 - $320
    

Total: $9,848 or $11,653 (with Optimus Maximus)

I dont know what the hell all that means but it sounds like non lag!

A monster like that and it's only pushin 4GB ram, and using Vista Premium instead of Ultimate? personally I'd also swap for nVidia graphics/physics (which means a different motherboard too, probably X5 and throw in at least an extra system drive so the other two could use RAID... the audio is insane unless you're using it for your home entertainment center, or semi-pro audio editing... but then it has a 30in monitor so uhm, sure why not.

PS that thing is really just a modders wet dream though. all possibility and focus of purpose.

Optimus Maximus is a keyboard with a computer controlled OLED display on each key so you can reprogram your keytops in real time.

It looks like someone put together a list of the most expensive components they could to build the most ostentatious, overpriced underperforming system possible.

Can you play SL on a key?

What does it transform into?

Given my experience with gimmicky computer hardware, I'd say it likely transforms into landfill within a year.

Repeating an image from a post above by Five Denver........

Proof that addictive virtual reality existed long before computers!!

I am fortunate because I finally outgrew that stage. Forgot the names of half the junk I bought overtime. There was the box that hooked to a tv and had a 14 day schedule built in that would operate your VCR(remember VCR? ). It was subscription based, Radio Shack sold it and I think the service latest a year or so. On a related note, Media Center Edition lasted on my computer about a year before I overwrote it with plain ol XP Pro. I have happily been using SageTV ever since then.

But then again, look at the things that did catch on and are still going. Remember the first cell phones(called mobile phones at the time even though they weighed 20 lbs or so)? They took up the whole center console of a car. Of course then I was never really very prescient. I remember laughing at WTBS and cable TV when it first came out. Who in the heck will pay for something that you can get for free? Boy, was I ever wrong! But then again who would have ever thought that bottled tap water would ever end up being a multi billion dollar industry?

First impressions from Blue Mars:

The graphics are simply awesome. I took a spin around the Taki level. The water and waterfalls and the mist they generate are very realistic, the sounds effects are spot on, as is the underwater foam and ripples.

Walking through jungle or forest is amazing. Leaves randomly fall from the trees as they would in RL, and you hear the sounds that walking through grass or undergrowth would make, and branches do move as you walk through them, and swish back into place.

Under the sea, the shoals of fish, the turtles and the manta are all incredibly detailed. The coral is realistic, the water gets muddy when you approach a river that empties into the sea. Birds fly overhead, and move randomly from the trees to the clefts in the cliffside and perch for a while, then they might take off and circle at varying heights.

Looking to the horizon at start up you can see all the distant mountains. However, only as you approach them does the foliage or any other objects 'rezz'. So, terrain is seen instantly, and its texturing, but objects on the terrain rezz when you approach, but far enough ahead that you don't notice. You don't notice at all when on foot, only when you fly (send your camera up) above the forest canopy that you can see in the distance that it is rezzing further and further away as you fly towards it.

There was a girl on the beach. She was extremely detailed. All ten fingers and toes, and perfectly shaped hands and feet. If this is the basic avatar, then wow!

Time of day is adjustable, and so is the weather, any kind of weather you like.

Movement in BM is similar to SL, ie use the Arrow keys to move forwards and back, but the left/right arrow keys move linearly left/right, not turning left/right. To get circular motion you hold down the right mouse button and move the mouse (unlike SL which uses the Alt+ key combos).

All terrain creation tools are built in, and land sizes vary from [512mx512m] to [16384m x 16384m], http://doc.crymod.com/SandboxManual/Newmap.html

I also got these further clarifications from AR:

http://rock-vacirca.blogspot.com/2009/04/further-info-for-blue-mars.html

I can now clarify the position on flying. In Blue Mars the avatar does not fly, natively, but the camera does. So it is similar to flying in SL while in Mouselook mode, but to other avatars your avatar does not move. When your camera arrives at an interesting location you can move your avatar there instantly with a key combo (Cntrl-G).

If you want flying avatars in your city you can, but by scripting. This has an immediate benefit. In SL flying is either on or off, but in BM it can be on for all, off for all, or on for some. So you could have a regular city, where no-one flies, except Superman!

As the Sandbox only shows one level (city) at a time I was not able to test out teleporting, that will have to wait for the full BM beta in June.

Rock

*is waiting to sign the NDA and get the SDK next week*

Virtual Worlds. Angels. Heads of pins. Pie.

ooh that reminds i have to send my application back to BlueMars...my bad!
Will be interesting to see the cost structure.

BM girls are prettier than SL girls then do you think? GRrrrrrr

The connection between the Bible and virtual reality may be closer than one would expect.

that was wrong... funny... but wrong

Any feedback from this place yet?

Vi

Not from the beta, that doesn't start till June, but images from the Sandbox are beginning to circulate. I downloaded the Sandbox 2 SDK (which appartently is almost identical to the Blue Mars SDK, which is enhanced for the avatar generation.

I must say, I have never seen graphics quite as awesome.

There is a collection of screenshots from various Sandboxes at Rock's Blue Mars forum, http://life-on-mars.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=gallery&action=display&thread=8

One of the things that impresses me the most are the water effects. When the waves swell onto a beach (you don't need to script this, it does this naturally), and then swell out again, the rocks on the beach are left wet and dripping. Just amazing.

THAP

I have seen the awsome Blue Mars videos of the forest and waterfalls but when I watched another BM video, of the avatar going in and out of shops, the environment graphics didn't look any better than SL, epecially now I've been spoiled (briefly) by SL with shadows!

Is BM going to replace SL somehow or it will be just for professional content creators ?