I think I finally figured out why Hulu is blocked on the PS3. There were rumors that it might have been a Microsoft deal, and Hulu was being pretty silent about it, but no one has ever postulated that perhaps Sony was the one behind it.

Now I could be entirely incorrect here, but it’s fascinating that now PSN carries Naruto: Shippuden, as one of the shows that is being distributed. Obviously for $1.99 per episode. Now this is a little bit different than the other version that Hulu had since this one is actually dubbed with American voice actors instead of subtitled, but this could also be the copyright reasoning behind why Hulu isn’t allowing any shows on the PS3.

Very sneaky, if this hypothetical was true. And I have to admit that the more I think about it, the more it seems like that’s the case. Especially with this new evidence of Funimation releasing this.

Hey, I get the fact that we have to pay for content. But if you’re going to release it for free online, then why selectively block browsers? Let us watch the subtitled and buy the dubbed or none at all. It’s super lame if it’s one or the other while those on other consoles don’t have this issue.

As many VTOR readers know already there was an episode of CSI:NY that prominently featured Second Life in the plot recently (I still haven’t seen it). Some predictions that there might be as many as one million new avatar registrations because of this one TV episode. 440 sims were reserved to be prepared to ramp up to the load. That number has since been slashed to 32 sims, which might still be too many.

I’m sure CBS got some kind of special bulk deal but at $299 a month per sim, the one month charge for 440 sims? $131,600. That’s only the tier fees and doesn’t include the help to man those 440 sims — now many of those people (avatars) out of work.

This is a perfect example of how cost prohibitive and expensive it is to prep for an event that is expected to scale inside Second Life. If you figure 50 people capacity per sim times 440 sims that’s 22,000 maximum capacity across all the sims. CBS had to be hoping those anticipated million new avatars wouldn’t show up at/near the same time. Second Life doesn’t work very well in its current incarnation for mass audiences interacting, but is quite effective well with smaller, more personalized events like what Jeff Batronious is doing with Amazon Web Services.

With not enough people showing up for what arguably was the biggest event in SL history, will this be the last big push to get people inside Second Life? Something tells me the answer is yes. What do you think?

Other more scalable platforms, we’re ready. More than ready.

Besides the fact that the highest level in WoW is 70, the scene is completely implausible and still irresistable. “A true mage speaks his mind.” There’s no way any level 75 character, if there was one, would be duped into thinking Weir was a level 50 character or had ever even played World of Warcraft.

I know, I know, it’s just TV — but funny TV.

If the hounds at MGM wouldn’t come after me for clipping the movie, I’d share it here to watch. Instead, I can only point you to the DVD and say: rent it, buy it, watch it and laugh out loud. The scene is located at 34:00 into the episode and only lasts for a minute or two.

The crew of Stargate Atlantis regularly carry around Tablet PCs and sometimes make other pop culture references so seeing World of Warcraft mentioned by characters isn’t completely out of step. Recently, Second Life was featured as a plotline inside a CSI episode.

Here I am standing at SL Starfleet Headquarters [SLURL] in Second Life. What am I doing here? What is the purpose of this place? Well this is a Star Trek Role Playing Area. In their manual it describes themselves as a counterpart to the real life organization STARFLEET: The International Star Trek Fan Association, Inc. Their website has plenty of information for fans and events.

A really good video report on the Starfleet Sim from thinkerer.org SLQ Rpt. 1 SLQ Rpt. 2 SLQ Rpt. 3

These people have ranks and uniforms and rules to follow in their sims. Seems they welcome outsiders because I never saw or was told to leave. I did find someone else who made some videos and went on a tour. So if you’re interested, you should check out the videos above to learn more about it. I’m not a huge fan of Star Trek so I wasn’t interested in the Role playing but it seems like a great place for fans to meet others. There are plenty of Role playing in Second Life and I think it’s an interesting way of expressing what you really enjoy.

Ok, maybe not “by popularity” exactly, but when I last posted about buying the complete animated Dungeons & Dragons TV series a couple different people commented saying they wanted to have Hank The Ranger’s Energy Bow.

Tonight I was looking through the D&D Animated Series Handbook and saw they had the complete stats for the Energy Bow and snapped the quick picture above with a chuckle.

The handbook also provides stats on Eric The Cavalier’s Griffon Shield, Diana The Acrobat’s Javelin Staff, Presto The Magician’s Hat of Many Spells, Sheila The Thief’s Cloak of Invisibility and Bobby The Barbarian’s Thunder Club. There are stats on Uni but it appears Uni’s only weapon is his (her?) magic horn which does +1 damage. Uri seems to have been the weak one in the party.

We’re done watching the complete first and second season of Sliders and D&D is up next so the next time I mention this, if ever again, I should have watched some/most/all of the series. The original promotional poster indicates that Dungeons & Dragons The Animated Series originally premiered Saturday September 17th, 1983 at 9:30am EST on CBS. Good old CBS, they have had some of my most favorite TV shows ever like the original Twilight Zone.

I also learned in the comments (thanks Zorn) of that post that there are some SL residents actually playing D&D in world. I checked with one of the more seasoned residents Allen Kerensky by sending him an IM (he was offline and hasn’t replied as of this writing) and visited his land (Jingyo 187, 144, 54) where he has a script to roll dice on command in the channel. I’m going to keep following this story along and maybe, possibly, try to get a crack at seeing what the D&D group is up to inside SL. It appears there are at least two different D&D groups: D&D Role Play and Dungeons & Dragons in SL.

The original founder of the D&D Role Play group Fia Firefly’s profile indicates that Fia is “not currently active in SL.” I’ll report back my findings on how active or inactive D&D currently is inside SL when I talk with somebody in one of these groups and learn more. If someone reading is in one of these groups and wants to hit me up in chat in world, please do and fill me in on the details.

From a collector’s standpoint I’m working on tracking down two other TSR boxed games from around the same time period as the animated TV series: Gamma World (science fiction) and Boot Hill (old west). I also enjoyed playing Top Secret (James Bond like spy game).

Ahhh, memories.

Tonight while doing some grocery shopping, I saw they had the entire animated series on DVD for $34.99 USD. It is also available at Amazon (Dungeons & Dragons – The Complete Series, affiiliate) for about the same price and as of this writing has a 4.5 star out of 5 rating. This package included the official Dungeons & Dragons Animated Series Handbook Game Supplement which is 30 pages of character profiles from the series, stats, magic items and an adventure that is a prelude the animated episode “The Dragon’s Graveyard.” This bridges the gap between the game and the animated TV series.

Doesn’t come with any dice, but when our local Wizards of the Coast store went out of business we went there and bought a ton of Role Playing Game stuff for as much as 90% off the regular price.

RPG dice in SL?
Curious, I decided to do a little checking around inside Second Life and see if anybody had created an RPG dice roller. Sure enough Drakon Lameth had a DM/Player RPG dice rolling set for L$65 (affiliate) at SL Exchange (SLX). I had L$707 sitting in my SLX account so I ponied up and bought one.

I received the box, opened and rezzed in world. Pictured above, it’s a single prim base with prim boxes to click and roll the following dice: 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10 and 1d20. The Dungeon Master (DM) is red and the player board is cyan. When players click on the appropriate dice, it echoes back to the channel what player touched the dice and the resulting roll for all nearby to see.

Back to the D&D TV show
I’m starting to feel like I’m going through a TSR collector’s period with a couple of RSS watchlists for games from the late 70s and early 80s. The animated TV series was in the right place at the right time. I have no idea if the show is any good or not and will try to get back to this post or write a follow-up on that later, but I was curious if any fellow virtual world and RPGers are familar with this animated series?

Where were you in 1983? And was D&D on your radar? Be honest now!

I’ve seen a number of requests from the BBC over the past few weeks, but they started spamming the Second Life mentors yesterday. I received an IM from someone called Treacle Moo, saying: “As a Second Life Mentor, I thought you might be in a good position to advise us. I am writing from the documentaries department of the BBC. The BBC is looking for people whose SL is having a dramatic impact on their real lives – particularly SL couples ready to meet up for the first time in RL. If you are in this situation and would be interested, or know anyone else who might, please contact pearl.doherty@bbc.co.uk.”

My advice to Ms Doherty/Moo was short and sweet, that people in SL hate spam, and it isn’t a good way to get what you want. A summary of her reply seemed to be that because she is the BBC and has Linden Lab support for the project, it’s OK to spam. Oh yeah? I abuse reported the spam.

I shouldn’t have given it much more thought, if I hadn’t bumped into a fellow UK player and mentioned it. “Yeah,” she said, “I’ve had multiple spams from her…”.

A short while later, I happened to talk to a well-known creator, and warned him that the BBC might be in contact. “Already muted,” he told me. “She was such a pain, I muted her.” Now, as this is someone who engages in conversations with people who routinely abuse him for not giving them his creations free of charge, I was extremely surprised. Then I learned that not only was the researcher asking for him to participate, but she thought that maybe he would like to nominate a few people too… and she thought multiple IMs might work where one had not.

I don’t know if Linden Lab have approved the spamming of UK residents and mentors alike, but if they did, they should be ashamed of themselves. The TOS ought to apply to everyone without fear or favour, and that includes the BBC and their researchers. I did ask LL’s marketing department but haven’t had an answer to date.

My advice is to ignore, mute and abuse report if they spam.

I was sorely tempted to persuade one of the residents in the further-flung areas of the world to declare undying love and a passionate desire to meet me in real life, so that I could take a trip at the BBC’s expense. Knowing the type of documentary they have in mind, it is bound to make everyone featured look like a bumbling fool, however, and I am not sure it’s worth it.

Besides, Oclee wouldn’t like it….

The Sundance Second Life page indicates that tonight, January 9, at 5pm Second Life time (PST), the Sundance Channel will be showing an independent film called “Four-eyed Monsters” on their Sundance Channel island sim (SLurl):

… and host a live Q&A with the filmmakers, Arin Crumley and Susan Buice. If we hit capacity we will also have overflow spots with many other independently operated theaters and screening rooms in Second Life where you can watch the action. Here are some of the other venues that will feature live feeds of the “Four Eyed Monsters” [official website] screening. We hope to see you there!

SLurls:
The Elbow Room
Crayonville
The Shelter
Dusty’s Rock n’ Country Lounge
Laguna Beach Club
Muse Isle
The Boiled Shrimp
Luxor Stage

Rikomatic notes that this is the first televison channel to experiment showing their programming in world. Back in July I paid to attend an event with the airing of the Major League Baseball All Star Game.

This morning I did a quick search under places for “Sundance.”

And then teleported to the Sundance lobby.

And then checked out the theater and trailer for Four Eyed Monsters. Nice build.

As for whether or not the film is any good? I’ll leave that to the comments area below for those who attend and watch. Not sure I’ll be making the event with all the other festivities, but I’m going to try and check at least some of it out. Any other VTOR readers or authors planning on going?

    There were some other events that NBC did in second life that was interesting. You can read about their jam session on December 20th here and here. They also tried a football event with some games to play at their sports bar last Monday at the same time showing the game on TV. The game wasn’t shown in second life. I can see where a lot of these type of events tied in with a program shown on regular TV can be a good experience for all involved. I am a fan of many shows and would love to spend time with other fans in a virtual world.

Some fans have found a way to bring the concept to Second Life. Elex Dusk has provided a theater outside of his Elbow Room club where he shows old movies. The audience watches it and makes fun of it by comments on the movie as it’s being shown. To make this all work at the same time we all have to buffer the movie. This means to push play on the movie control and wait until you see the movie playing. At this time Elex waits for everyone to be buffered and then he calls “movie sign” which means he is starting the movie again. This allows everyone to watch the movie at the same time and give comments on the same scenes. It works similar to the RHPS movie showings without the props and stage performances. Some of the shows are old movies, old ads or new amateur movies like the star trek movies made by fans. Come on down and make fun of these movies while everyone laughs at some great jokes. This event is usually happening every day at 7:00pm SL Time.