Bringing the real world to (virtual) life, and vice versa

Two bits of news caught my eye today, which act as good pointers to the possibilities from real and virtual worlds.

From the real world, James Bond stuntsman Marcus Shakesheff is releasing animation of his stunts into Second Life for sale. No details yet, but I shall be looking out for these, I am sure there will be a few I need to have in the No 7 salon. Or do each day just for the fun of it.

I picked this up from Massively, who were surprised to find the story had been broken by the South Wales Argus. They’ll be amazed to find how sophisticated South Wales is. As the Torchwood fans will know, it’s no doubt something to do with the tear in the space time continuum beneath Cardiff. Real has been meeting virtual in South Wales for quite some time, as any viewing of Dr Who or Torchwood would reveal.

 What I think is interesting about what Marcus has done is that surely you don’t need to stop at stunts. Personally, I would quite like the animation to run over the hills singing away like the opening scene in the Sound of Music, or perhaps to dash around the No 7 Salon in an homage to Gene Kelly in Singin’ In the Rain.

And Gaia Online are definitely the front edge of things to come from the virtual world, with their online store now stocking items that started out inworld now available shipping to you at home in real life. So, you can now have virtual grunny slippers and real ones, if you really want to. There’s more detail on Kzero, and also there has been some great debate and predictions on New World Notes on which Second Life fashion designers should make the transition to the real world. I’d love to see Nicky Ree designs in the real world, but sadly my real life is not quite so glam as the virtual one, rendering purchases of her designs almost pointless in real life. But a girl can dream!

Tags: Gaia Online, James Bond, Kzero, Marcus Shakesheff, Massively, No 7 Salon, Second Life, South Wales Argus, Torchwood, Virtual Worlds