Thanks for everyone who helped out during E3

Hi SL Residents -

Whew, back from the E3 whirlwind so wanted to chime in with a show report and thanks for everyone who helped out.

Being part of the nVidia booth was a blast - as one of eleven showcase products, we had a nice kiosk with some great signage. Our basic demo consisted of discussing the open-ended, expressive and creative aspects of Second Life starting with avatar customization and building up to being able to change the world on a large scale as part of the play experience.

Many people were blown away by the fact we were showing off 100% player content in a live environment. Contrasting this with the typical E3 demo where developers are focused on showcasing static artwork in a controlled environment, we got major kudos. Actually, I should say you guys got major kudos since folks were commenting on your magnificent creations, the themed communities, etc.

Philip's panel Wednesday morning went very well - it was on the future of online worlds and Philip made the case for player-driven spaces becoming increasingly important in the very near future. Second Life also got mentioned by panelists in some other sessions so it's nice to see awareness increasing.

In addition to a presence on the show floor, we shared a meeting room with our physics software partner Havok. Various journalists stopped in to see SL for the first time or just catch up with the latest developments. Hopefully we'll be able to turn these meetings into some more good press for Second Life.

Overall I'd say the show was a success - we had the chance to meet several SL beta testers, demo to some gaming industry bigwigs and introduce a bunch of people to Second Life. It was also helpful to start cementing our relationship with nVidia. Hopefully we'll able to find some special deals for you guys

As we approach a commercial launch we're all going to be working hard to tell folks about SL. Your help and support in spreading the "SL virus" will be so important in getting the best folks into the community.

So thanks again for all your help....

Does this include the people that got booted so we dont make the game look, how it is?

Ok who let Goeth out of his cage again - HEADS WILL ROLL!

Thanks Hunter, I'm sure 8145 of us are glad it went well for LL.

And I'm 1 of those 8145

A good friend of mine is part of a radio show called "Tech Radio" They've had runs on a local station here in DC, on XM radio, and also on C/Net. He does their E3 report every year and I told him while he was there that he had to check out SL. Tech Radio is currently only running on Live365 so this isn't a big deal or anything, but they're hoping to get back on the air soon.

He told me was very underwhelmed by E3 this year... too many movie tie ins and sequels and little innovation. He said the only thing that truly impressed him was SL. Here's his write up from their website (http://www.techradioshow.com)

E3 Report - Second Life - Linden Lab
Posted by Ken
Second Life – Our Boxes Are Better than Yours

A friend of mine that does the graphics for this site had mentioned to me to go by the NVIDIA booth if I had time and check out a game for him. So during my break after Bethesda Softworks, I did just that. I went to the NVIDIA booth and tried to get around all the fan boys trading in their cards to get t-shirts. Or was it their t-shirt cards to get more t-shirts? I got confused as I didn’t have the time to play that game this year. Anyway, I dug into the center of the booth around the bigger named games, and found these two guys standing there flying around in this virtual world while seemingly everyone else was interested in watching things go boom. So I approached them, introduced myself, and they seemed surprised that I had even heard about them at all. Of course I explained that a friend of mine that does graphics modeling told me about them, and it made complete sense to them. So they gave me a tour of Second Life.

So what is Second Life? I don’t think I can give it any justice in words. Imagine the ability to create any object you want and put it in that world, create your house, make it look whatever way you want in a true three-dimensional fashion, not ala The Sims, but where you put the skin on it, even create your own skins, upload it, put it on, and go. There are different islands and areas that take on different styles; one may be oriental, another may be completely futuristic, each with completely different lighting, building styles, and more. You’re only limited by your imagination. There's real physics in the game; create a table with two legs and it won’t stand up. You have a 3D model construction set in your pocket in the game while you’re playing instead of some pre-set amount of items that someone else has made for you. You can buy other items that someone else has made, as that is part of the game, but isn’t it nice to be unique?

Are there any pictures of E3?

Chip, your friend must not have seen Half-Life 2 then .

I actually ran past the NVidia booth on my way from one appointment to the next, but totally missed that SL was there . Then again, I didn't really have any free time at all, but it would have been fun to stop by. Oh well, hope you had a good show.

I'm not sure if he checked out HL2 or not, but even if he did I still see his point. After a while, no matter how good it looks, an FPS is still an FPS. An RTS is still an RTS. Been there, done that... 500 times ;P I can't wait to see Half Life 2 and Doom 3 because I'm enamored of 3d engines, but it's not likely I'll play either of them all the way through. He did say that he was really blown away by Sim Half Doom Tycoon 12, hehe.