Wagner James Au / New World Notes
Author, strategist, virtual world reporter
recent posts
- Welcome to New World Notes’ 2006-2025 Archive!
- Virtual World Usage Stats from S&P Global Market Intelligence — Plus VRChat & Second Life Specifics!
- Top Five Posts Including: Huge Rec Room Layoff & Meta Boots Neal Stephenson Off Facebook (Briefly)
- Four Glorious Second Life Sims to Explore — After Watching Sabina Valeska’s Machinima Tributes to Them!
- Virtual World Usage Stats from S&P Global Market Intelligence — Plus VRChat & Second Life Specifics!
about
Category: New World Gaming
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Tiny Glade is an upcoming game with a free new demo on Steam, and it's a perfect counterpoint to the prompt-based creation depicted in Readyverse yesterday. Watch above! There's quite a lot of procedural/automated graphics happening in the background, but unlike prompts, Tiny Glade puts the emphasis on user choice and creativity. The goal with…
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Hypersonic Laboratories is a new startup which just got funding to build HELIX, an upcoming multiplayer role-playing sandbox platform for user-generated content (UGC). I got an early peek at what they’re building, and the ambition is pretty impressive. As David Chiu, Hypersonic’s head of business, put it to me: “Think of it as Garry’s Mod…
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Now on Kickstarter: Can You See Me Now, a crowdfunder to update a groundbreaking mixed reality game of the same name for the modern era of iOS and Android. Launched in the early 2000s, it helped inspire the creation of Pokémon Go, but Can You See Me Now is much more accessible: "It's hide-and-seek with…
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To go by social media froth, the rise of AI technology like Large Language Models is soon going to utterly Change Games Forever, leading to waves of roiling layoffs of game industry employees. Why pay game writers, one common argument goes, when we can just get ChatGPT to churn out reams of NPC game dialog?…
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With Life by You soon to go into early access on Stem and Epic, we're seeing publisher Paradox Interactive put out more walkthrough videos for Sims-meets-Second Life-meets-Garry's Mod sandbox simulation lead developed by Rod Humble. This one focuses on avatar customization, and notably, it's by YouTuber Nini's Planet, who generally shoots Sims 4 videos. Also…
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Right: User-made agit-prop poster for the Helldivers 2 protest Pretty interesting Polygon story on the successful user community-led uprising against Sony's policy changes to Helldivers 2. The multiplayer game is reminiscent of Paul Verhoeven's version of Starship Troopers, satirizing war movies heavy on propaganda while also succeeding as an enjoyable war movie in its own…
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Just got word that Life by You, The Sims-meets-Second Life-meets-Garry's Mod sandbox simulation lead developed by Rod Humble, is now available for wishlisting in the run-up for its June 2024 early access launch: Wishlist on Steam here. Wishlist on the Epic Store here. Video on the announcement from Rod above. Humble, as longtime readers know,…
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The Crush House, an upcoming indie game on Steam, is one of those "I can't believe no one's thought of this before, but I'm glad a quirky creator got the idea first before a bloated AAA publisher did" titles. The creator in this case is digital artist Nicole He, and the idea is basically: A…
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In case you missed it, the "cozy MMO" Palia was published to Steam recently. though so far, the reviews are decidedly Mixed. My first thought is Steam's largely hardcore gamer user base doesn't like an MMO with a decided dearth of face-punching. But then again, Steam players gave Overwhelmingly Positive reviews to the seriously cozy…
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One more recap from 2023 before yearly recaps get totally stale: My Steam playlist from last year. Most games I personally enjoy in my off-hours are rarely metaverse platforms/virtual worlds/MMOs, because while playing anything in that broad category, I inevitably come across an interaction or experience that makes me think, "Hmm, I should write about…
Wagner James Au / New World Notes 