The virtual social sim shows off its substantial upgrade with a new trailer.
Time is a funny thing. We treat decade-old games like octogenarians. We’re curious about the strange time they come from and admire their tenacity for enduring this long. Since Second Life‘s tenth anniversary this summer, Linden Labs has been overhauling the creative social game, adding a fresh coat of paint, Facebook integration, a new shopping experience, and a good bit more.
For reference, Second Life launched about the same time that the original Call of Duty did. While it’s received various graphical updates since then, this most recent facelift should help prepare it for the brave new world of 2013. Along with new lighting and graphical effects, avatars should also load significantly faster, as the trailer demonstrates.
It’s not all just graphical effects, as Linden even did a lot of work on the general user experience as well. Chat’s been improved, shopping’s been simplified, and the new Facebook integration actually makes sense for a game as socially-oriented as Second Life.
Old games like these can get pretty set in their ways, so a new “Welcome Island” will be there to greet incoming players. While the pretty lighthouse island will seem inviting to most people, it’s liable to give Bioshock players flashbacks, so be warned.
The trailer ends suggesting that Oculus Rift support is coming soon, which should make all those flying dongs that much more immersive.
Source: YouTube
