Mobitrends

I started playing at Final Fantasy VII – Crisis Core a week ago and it’s probably the best PSP game I’ve been playing so far. Excellent scenario, awesome graphics, rhythm and gameplay. The 40mins per day in the Metro have never seemed so fast. It’s really a pure RPG where you get immersed into a splendid story with alternate high-energy battles and breathtaking movie phases.

SOLDIER is a group of skilled combat operatives within the Shinra Electric Power Company. The elite within the group-those strong enough to be deemed SOLDIER 1st Class-are respected and idolized by the citizenry. Zack is a young SOLDIER 2nd Class who aspires to become a 1st. He spends his days carrying out assignments under the guidance of his 1st Class mentor, Angeal Hewley.

During an operation in Wutai, a large number of SOLDIER members, led by 1st Class operative Genesis, go missing. The severity of the situation prompts the Shinra Electric Power Company executives to deploy even more SOLDIER operatives in hopes of bringing an end to the war with Wutai-and conducting an investigation into the mass desertion. The ones assigned to the mission are Zack, Angeal, and the 1st Class hero Sephiroth. However, when Angeal goes missing on the Wutai mission, Sephiroth believes it is betrayal.

After returning from the mission, Zack is deployed, along with the Turk leader Tseng, to investigate Banora Village, the past home of Angeal and Genesis.

Google has released today Lively, their own 3d virtual world. I’ve been test driving it and those are my early thoughts:

• It’s a browser plugin which is good – installing a stand-alone software seems more complex to end users and look too much like a game when web3d is clearly *not* a game – this has been one of the major cause of disappointment about SL
• It takes forever to load a room… about 10 mins to have the room completely loaded on a pretty fast DSL2+ line
• No user generated content : Major drawback, you’ve got to think to the content catalog. Google says they hope to bring UGC some time but imho without a decent UGC creator studio (which is on of SL’s greatest achievements) this is going to be just yet another fisher-price web3d experiment
• HMI is really simple, probably too simple, motions seem weird (left goes right ? ) and use of the mouse unnatural. Although I have a MacbokPro with a GeForce, FPS seemed pretty slow.
• Integration with gtalk is clearly a good way to go – that’s exactly what i wanted to show with the SL-Messenger project, virtual world and online communities should be bound together using the usual communication channels.

Overall it’s interesting to see Google go in that area – there is still a lot to do though to turn this test into something useful …

I’m finally getting to use SL in my own company for remote meetings, that’s über-cool ! As we have a proof of concept being worked on based on the SL RC client, the full tech team is now SL compliant. And meetings in SL really are nice . Below in Messenger meeting room with my interns.

It’s kind of an announcement that Linden Labs and IBM made today, they have been working for one year on the OpenGrid Protocol that is supposed to enable an avatar to move from one world to another while keeping its original inventory and look. It seems like it’s the way it should have been since the very start, but every virtual world has until now been an isolated island on the metaverse with no way of communicating with people from other worlds, this is going to change !
Here’s the video made of the first teleport from Second Life to OpenSim.

At the very start of my moving from WaveStorm to VR-Wear, Thomas Lot, a good friend of mine, told me I should read the “4-hour workweek”, and it’s indeed the most interesting personal development book I’ve been reading in a while as it breaks a lot of rules that society and TV have put upon us. For instance, what’s more important to you ? being a millionaire or being able to do what you want when you want the way you want? Choosing either option will totally impact your lifestyle and your business development objectives.

The title is i.m.h.o. a bit exaggerated but Timothy Ferris gives in this book lots of hints to improve your company efficiency while removing yourself from the critical path. One thing I’ve learned over my 5 last years of entrepreneurship is that as the CEO is the human representative of the company, he spends a lot of time socializing and meeting people to develop the business, thus being both representative and operational is a tough task. When you realize that then you’re ready to fully take the best out of this book.

The book also cover niche market identification and development methods with some smart ideas about optimizing your R.O.I. with higher “trading-up” prices and market penetration techniques, higher prices + less clients = same or more money with less hassle…

Finally, my tauren warrior “Bawawaa” reached lvl 40 at WOW – it took me way longer then expected (probably because playing wow is lower priority then family/work which doesn’t leave much time). Anyway i finally got myself a mount – and walking in Azeroth at Tauren-snail speed is now past me. Feeling lighter and faster already!
The more I play the more the camera motion seems annoying especially in combat in hectic environment – I really feel blind from time to time and going in first person mode somehow enhances that but disables from identifying hidden enemies… if anyone has a solution I’d be happy to listen.

I’m not really the fashion & people guy – most of the time I’m just unable to recognize a “star” when I see one and I have “special” taste when it comes to clothing (love my bright orange suit) – anyways i ended up tonight at the Longchamp 60th anniversary party at “Elysee Montmartre” in Paris to witness this fashion crowd getting enthusiastic at famous people moving on the dancefloor. Great atmosphere and so different from the bloggers/entrepreneurs events I’m used too
Thanks Stephanie for letting me in – had great time.

Been dancing a few meters away from Lou Doillon – funky