June 2015 – Page 6 – Ciaran Laval

June 9, 2015

Second Life Premium Members Can Get Their SL12B Avatar Early At Premium Meetup

Second Life’s twelfth night, or birthday if you prefer, is fast approaching. The SL12B community Celebration, will run between June 21st-28th. Linden Lab are playing their part in the celebrations and will be releasing a commemorative avatar to celebrate the anniversary.

This is a long standing tradition and in recent years we were gifted a bear avatar for SL10B and a robot avatar for SL11B.

Premium Members of Second Life will get the chance to get early access to this year’s birthday avatar, according to a blog post from Xiola Linden : Premium Members:Get Early Access to the SL12B Commemorative Avatar at a Tiki-tastic Party!

Splish Splash – it’s a Tiki Beach Bash!

Premium members – this one is just for you, so be sure to save the date! We’ve lit the tiki torches and brushed up on our fruity drink-mixing skills to host a casual gathering with the added bonus of early access to our Official Second Life 12th Birthday commemorative avatar.

That’s right – come to the SL12B Premium Meetup on Thursday June 11th from 10:30 to 11:30 AM SLT, hang out with us, and be one of the first to glimpse and grab the celebratory 12th anniversary avatar. The nature of this particular avatar required us to select a remote island for our gathering as well as implement a strict quarantine on the subject, so you’re going to have to drop by our tropical jungle destination to find out what it is.

Ah but what about those Premium Members who want the avatar but can’t make the meetup? Do not worry, you can still get the avatar early.

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June 8, 2015

In The Bleak Midwinter At Galanthus – The Ice Keep of Niphus

Galanthus – The Ice Keep of Niphus is listed in the Castles & Ruins section of the Second Life destination guide and comes with a story :

Winter came with draught and suffering. Lords of the north had very little choice but to retreat. So did the lord of Galanthus. A land so fertile and green. People so brave and loyal. Will so strong. But…. Winter came to Galanthus as much as it came to all.

Lord of Galanthus retreated to his ice keep of Niphus with the remaining people of his lordship.

There he hoped to return one day stronger.

Built 2000 years before his time the mighty keep of Niphus is beautiful but old. İts tunnels are deep and mysterious. The ancient arena is still with blood and the few remaining knights still honour their lord with their lance in tournaments.

The sim describes itself as Semi-RP, which the handily provided notecard informs me means that the sim is an RP sim, but has very few rules.

The sim is the second episode of the legacy, the first, Galanthus, was created by Ozgur Portilo and his partner, Mina Pelazzi, a few years ago. The same couple have created this second episode too.

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June 6, 2015

Visiting Skyeridge Parkway Mountain Retreat But Still Looking For The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine

The Nature and Parks section of The Destination Guide is always makes for interesting viewing and it was there that I found Skyeridge Parkway Mountain Retreat. The location is inspired by The Blue Ridge mountains in the United States Of America and provides some extremely scenic views.

There’s a road winding around the sim that climbs to the higher reaches, or if prefer rail travel there’s a rail carriage that runs alongside the road.

There’s also a social side to the region with a bar that has a flashing sign advertising Jazz, although I do not know if Jazz is actually performed here.

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June 5, 2015

The Arcade Is Open Until June 30th But Be Patient If You Want To Participate

The Arcade in Second Life is a build that would be a sight to behold were it simply a build to view and walk through. The people behind The Arcade describe it as :

Set in a seaside build that evokes the whimsical feel of the penny arcades of early 1900’s Coney Island and Brighton Pier, The Arcade strives to present a nostalgic atmosphere that welcomes an audience seeking great gacha prizes, and continues to be a favorite destination for photographers and enthusiasts of vintage architecture.

However there’s more to it than just being a spectacular build, it’s an Arcade that plans to hold events in June, September and December. As we’re now a few days into June that means there’s an event on now. We’re not talking any old events here, we’re talking Gacha, which is extremely popular in Second Life. This is demonstrated by the fact that the two regions are often full and hard to enter, but I’ll come to that later.

The Arcade has been a big part of Second Life going back to 2012, and it’s time to give some credit to those behind it :

The Arcade was founded in September of 2012 by Second Life residents, Octagons Yazimoto, Katharine McGinnis, Emery Milneaux and Umberto Giano. Currently, the quarterly gacha event features 100 of the grid’s best designers and builders, each whom offer a collection of high-quality prizes sold at random from gacha machines within The Arcade’s build.

There’s no doubting that The Arcade delivers what it claims to be. The place is atmospheric, you do like to be beside the seaside when visiting. Linden Lab are on the ball regarding this location too as it gets a mention in their latest blog post regarding Highlights From The Destination Guide. That blog post is worth a read too as there are some other extremely interesting looking venues mentioned. Linden Lab are doing a really good job with promoting The Destination Guide.

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June 5, 2015

Desura Faces Uncertain Future As Bad Juju Games File For Bankruptcy

Desura, the digital distribution platform for gamers which Linden Lab sold to Bad Juju Games in November faces an uncertain future according to an article in Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

An article by Alice O’Connor, Digital Disturbance: Desura Owner Files For Bankruptcy, explains :

Following troubles and discontent with developers being paid late by Desura, the digital distribution store’s owner Bad Juju Games have filed for bankruptcy. A member of Bad Juju confirmed the bankruptcy filing with us today, but the company haven’t made a statement yet or said anything about what’ll happen with people owed money or games folks have bought or whether the store will continue, or… anything. More will follow, I’m sure.

The late payments issue had come to a head late in May and they were initially been blamed on issues such as not having an automated payment system. Desura released a statement to try and calm developers worst fears down. In the statement they said :

The second rumor, that we are going out of business, is also false. We are in fact exploring some very exciting new avenues in terms of partnerships and growth opportunities. The payout issues are not an indication that we don’t have the funds to pay. Bringing in the changes to the payout system, as well as new contracts being lowered to a $250 threshold will both help prevent this from being a recurring problem in the future.

What has happened to those partnerships and exciting avenues of growth is unclear.

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