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Richer Worlds: A Look at Blue Mars

Archive video now posted. Also, check out our blog entry of follow-up questions to this episode.

Where are virtual worlds headed? Is there a place in the market for a ‘richly rendered’ 3D environment? How are new virtual worlds combining game mechanics and development pipelines with the social benefits of an online space?

Jim Sink joins us for a discussion of their forthcoming Blue Mars virtual world, now available in closed developer Beta. We’ll ask Jim about the value proposition for Blue Mars: who will it appeal to? Will a ‘richly rendered’ world (using the Crysis rendering engine) preclude casual users, or those with lower bandwidth access or slower machines? How can content creators become involved in developing for Blue Mars?

We’ll also discuss the business model and future economy of Blue Mars and dig a little deeper into learn a little about some of the partners with whom Avatar Reality is working.

The following preview video was released over the past week of the Blue Mars platform:

The Lab at Six
We’ll be opening this episode of Metanomics with special guest Catherine Smith (Catherine Linden) who will bring us up to date on plans for this year’s birthday celebrations for Second Life (SL6B). This annual gathering is often a launch pad for new announcements, and a chance to reflect on where Second Life has been and where it’s going. Catherine will highlight some of the events planned around this year’s SL6B.

You can find a transcript of this event on Slideshare.

Guest Biographies

Jim Sink

Jim Sink is Vice President of Business Development at Avatar Reality, the company behind the Blue Mars virtual world.

Jim Sink began his career in the interactive entertainment industry at Foundation9 designing games for Sega, Hudson, Nokia, and Eidos. Following his work as a game designer, Jim managed business development and partner acquisition at Microsoft’s Xbox Live service. Jim joined Avatar Reality in 2008 to lead their business development efforts.

About Blue Mars and Avatar Reality:

From the Avatar Reality Web site:
Avatar Reality was founded in December of 2006 by interactive entertainment visionaries Henk Rogers and Kazuyuki Hashimoto to create a next-generation virtual world platform dedicated to bringing people together on a massive global scale. Their creation, Blue Mars, offers revolutionary levels of interactivity, fidelity, and scale. Unlike legacy 3D virtual worlds, the Blue Mars platform scales to support thousands of simultaneous users per region along with state of the art graphics, gameplay, and social engagement.

Blue Mars is a free to play massively multiplayer virtual world featuring stunning graphics, realistic characters, and endless social bonding activities. The Blue Mars virtual world is made up of an expanding set of independently operated cities that feature unique themes, activities, and attractions such as shopping, avatar customization, unique personal spaces, and games like dancing, racing, and golf. Cites on Blue Mars are tied together with a unified login system, persistent global Avatar ID, and platform wide participation based reward system that encourages users to explore, play, and make new friends.

Catherine Smith

Catherine Smith (Catherine Linden in Second Life) is the Director of Marketing and Communications at Linden Lab.

Catherine has over 10 years of experience in creative online marketing and has worked on a variety of different types of entertainment products, from Turner Broadcasting’s Cartoon Network to Linden Lab’s Second Life. Catherine plays a leading role in crafting communication and marketing strategies at Linden Lab, where she has worked since 2003.