NCSoft is reminding the gamers City of Heroes' machinima contest deadline is fast approaching, meaning you will want to be finalizing your works by now. Further details on the contest are available in the full article.

 

The online game Second Life shares a lot of things with the real world such as terrorist attacks, protesters, and flash floods. Given that, one more thing they recently added is the NBA Headquarters. David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, gave his take on their HQ in Second Life stating "Bringing the NBA to the virtual world provides us with a new and innovative platform to reach our fans and the millions of residents in Second Life." He added that the "The NBA Headquarters creates an interactive worldwide community where fans can come together, engage with our game, and most importantly, share in their passion for the NBA."

The Electric Sheep Company, a leading creator of 3D virtual world content and solutions, developed the site and filled it with features that will make basketball fans very happy. Second Life residents will gain access to the T-Mobile Arena, broadband video of classic NBA games and highlights, and even a chance to get their picture taken with the NBA's championship trophy in the Toyota Larry O'Brien Trophy Room.

Sibley Verbeck, CEO of The Electric Sheep Company, spoke on their creation and the NBA saying that "NBA is a sports innovator, being the first professional sports league to unveil a comprehensive headquarters in a virtual world." He also noted that "NBA is engaging its fan community at a whole new level, and bringing fans together from around the world."

Features:

• T-Mobile Arena 
• NBA Store
• NBA Jam Session
• Toyota Larry O’Brien Trophy Room
• Cisco Wireless Press Center
• Path of the 50 Greatest NBA Players
• David Stern Avatar
• NBA Orientation Island

All in all, it looks like a solid effort from Stern and The Electric Sheep Company. Now, even Second Life avatars can enjoy the NBA in their world. We are still waiting for the NBA to start having a Second Life league, complete with the Laker Girls though.

  

Dan Miller is one cool dude. Read on, and find out why.

Business journalist H.S. Ayoub recently submitted to Internet Stock blog SeekingAlpha a write-up on his experiences in Linden Lab's Second Life. Obviously the fellow focused more on the business aspects of the metaverse. He covered the recent activities of Cisco Systems, IBM, American Apparel, and Toyota within the virtual world.

What's noteworthy though about his report is his input on government – to be specific, the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress - plans to start taxing transactions taking place within Second Life.  Ayoub takes time to note Dan Miller's view on the subject. Ayoub writes:

While the flurry of activity and monetary spending can attract the attention of businesses, it can also attract the government. The Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress is taking a hard look at the possibility of taxing income derived from virtual online worlds. But the general consensus is against any taxation at this time. The blogging community immediately condemned the committee's announcement last year, and Dan Miller, senior economist on the committee, agrees.

He believes that a realistic attempt at taxing virtual transactions could prove very difficult. It would place too much pressure on virtual administrators, such as Linden Lab, to keep tabs on the millions of transactions and player activities that occur every day. This, Miller believes, could slow down the impressive innovation taking place. It is not surprising to learn that the 64 year-old Miller is an avid World of Warcraft fan, and player!

Great, the great online businesses on Second Life, indirectly defended from taxation by a World of Warcraft player. The amazing teh internetz is. Amazing.

Let's talk about Linden Lab's Second Life. And no, we're not going to talk about tweaks on the game's Terms of Service or even the IRS's plans to tax online game loots. You all know what happens when those things are discussed - headaches, heartaches, whatnots. The day just started for us here and a lot has happened already.

Anyway, did you know that you can purchase a Toyota Scion xD for only one US dollar, albeit virtually? The car manufacturer recently launched the car for the above mentioned price which translates to 300 Linden dollars. If you are an SL resident, all you have to do is go to Scion City and and log into one of the various kiosks located there.

Despite the new marketing strategy, Scion's Interactive Marketing Manager Adrian Si mentioned that this isn't a direct money-making venture for the company. He explained that Toyota is just keeping pace with the changing times:

We developed Scion City to connect with the trendsetters. That's our target demographic - people who do things first. Trendsetters are instrumental in promoting brands. We don't want to necessarily sell them Scions. We want them to get to know our brand, and hopefully consider something in the Toyota family because they like who we are.

Furthermore, the virtual Scions can be customized using real-world accessories. Take for example the car's audio system. SL residents can plug in MP3 CDs as well as their iPod for their listening pleasure. Likewise, an optional feature allows downloading of images and video clips.

Oftentimes, it is the policy of big corporations to execute plans and decisions without consulting and informing its employees. Such is true when big companies including Toyota and Sony entered the virtual world of Second Life. We all know by know that the growing community of Linden Lab's MMO has become profitable for these companies, but still it is always good to know the nitty-gritty of things.

As we've mentioned before, IBM joined the above mentioned rank of companies joining SL. However, unlike the others, the multinational computer corporation has always been open to discussion with its people as Chairman and Chef Executive Sam Palmisano is set to visit Second Life this coming Tuesday. Prior to this is a "town hall" meeting which involves 7,000 workers in China and 250 IBM employees in one of SL's island.

"We always ask the question, 'If you knew 20 years ago what you know about the Web today, what would you do differently?' The Web took decades. This will likely take half that time," maintains Sandy Kearney, IBM's Director of Emerging 3-D Internet and Virtual Business. IBM has always been transparent of its virtual worlds investment of roughly U.S. $10 million over the next 12 months.

Also, IBM claims that as of now, they have been using the virtual environment for meetings and Wimbledon simulations and development, together with telecommunications and aerospace firms, a petroleum company and a major U.K. grocer.

While the past security breach and the looming IRS taxation might be keeping people away from Second Life, it has been, as they all say, business as usual. News agency Reuters just opened its cyber branch, and Toyota and Adidas are already there. And in case you're wondering where and when the parties are at, you might want to mark October 19 on your cyber calendars because Ben Folds is coming.

Yup, the real-life artist is venturing deep into virtual reality to promote his forthcoming album, "supersunnyspeedgraphic, the LP!" At 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT, Second Lifers can join Ben for a live chat and album preview on Sony-BMG's Media Island. Also, A Vision of W Hotels has recently announced the grand opening of an aloft hotel in Second Life. With that, they will be throwing a launch party from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern and at around 8:40 p.m., Ben will once again appear and give partygoers a chance to be the first to hear new tracks from the new album.

Interested parties should register in advance by sending an email to frontdesk@virtualaloft.com using their avatar name. Then all you have to do is wait for their email reply that will contain details on how to get to both events. Ben Folds is mostly known for their melancholic single, "Brick."

Second Life is bound to get more real in the days to come. Recently, Reuters has announced that they'll be opening shop for the said MMO this coming Wednesday. Reuters plans to begin publishing text, photo and video news from the outside world for Second Life members and news of Second Life for real world readers who visit a Reuters news site. Now that's some strategic advertising!

The news company won't be the first to do it as big time companies such as car maker Toyota, music label Sony BMG, computer maker Sun Microsystems, and technology news company Cnet are among the companies already taking part in Second Life. And of course, Adidas and American Apparel sell clothes and accessories for people to dress their avatars. Starwood Hotels has built a virtual version of "aloft," a new hotel chain it plans to open in the real world in 2008.

Reuters isn't planning on dishing out lightweight news as they are already tapping the services of journalists who will report on Second Life financial and cultural stories. Second Life citizens can stay tuned to news by using the Reuters News Center which is actually a mobile device that users can carry inside the virtual environment.

It started with shop signs, hung out by tradesmen in ancient times. From there, it went to print ads, then billboards that multiplied like locusts, blighting the land. From there, it went to radio, aircraft, TV,  blimps, movie theatres, the Web...is there no escaping the relentless, unending hucksterism?

Toyota has become the first company to utilize interactive ads in an MMORPG with its interactive "dynamic billboard advertisement" in Anarchy Online. New technology allows players to interact with these "dynamic billboards" in the game, which proponents claim makes for a "more memorable and interactive advertisement experience."  Toyota's campaign allows players of the free version to walk up to in-game billboards and interact with them to unveil the product. AO publisher Funcom expects this will pave the way for more of the same.

Mitch Davis of Massive, Inc. is delighted, calling it  "a tremendous step forward in terms of giving advertisers what they want- the ability to target the elusive male 18-34 range and allowing them to interact with the products for a more memorable experience.” He goes on to say  “This is just the beginning of interactive ads in games, and we are very pleased to unveil this new technology together with Funcom and Toyota."  Davis was quick to mention that  "...we are not adding this to distract from the game experience itself. Our company always has the best interest of the gamers and the game experience in mind."

Massive Inc., which was recently acquired by Microsoft,  is a pioneer when it comes to in-game ad technology, and is currently advertising network in the gaming industry.

"In Funcom we are always trying to push the envelope in innovation and technology, and this recent move with Funcom, Massive and Toyota is a perfect example,” says Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom. “Our primary goal is always to deliver the best possible entertainment, but to offset the high development costs in today’s gaming landscape we need to look at additional forms of income. What Massive is offering us is exactly that, and we are therefore very pleased to continue working with them to introduce new technologies that give us a competitive edge."