Virtual Career City

The next Belgian sim is Vacature References, a joint effort by Belgian career sites vacatures.com (targeting the Dutch speaking Belgians and the German speaking minority near Eupen, St. Vith and Malmedy in the Ardennes) and references.be (which targets the French speaking Belgians), hence the double name.

Fortunately, this is a proper build. It is well designed, though a little low on texture (actually quite German-White in texturing).

It has several bars and lounges as well as a kind of jobshopping boulevard, a mall where several Job agencies, like Randstad, Accent and Eandis have a small office, but also clients like Logica CMG and Bosch.

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Vacature%20References/128/128/0

Virtual Banking (6): Wirecard unwired

I blogged earlier that Germans are coming to town. Many German cities are immersing lately, like Augsburg and Munich. When I speak of Munich, I speak with respect, it is an impressive project with high levels of texturing.

This is so untrue for German business sims. In the early days of this blog I wrote on German Design, on the sims of Toca Me and BMW New World as being a desing without any texturing. This Wirecard sim is no different, leaving me under the impression that Photoshop isn't available in German.

The Wirecard is a pain in the eye, another German impulse to spread snowblindness. However, it's not all that bad. The design itself is exploring the future, though with a very minimalist approach.

As for strategy Wirecard is taking a different approach than e.g. ABN AMRO (or Barclays or Bank of Scotland... what will it be next week?), ING or Saxo and tries to push their core business, Finance, to SL.

It's time to sit back and observe to see they'll succeed. They've got a chance...

A trivia for this build is that they didn't hire pro's but resourced it internally.

SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wirecard/128/128/0

BMW - Flying a molecule of water

This was first posted on my Slambling blog.

After sorting out some teething problems, BMW have finally got their "energy efficiency" flying machine in full working order - and it's been worth the wait. Unfortunately, you can't just go and grab a copy for yourself. You have to arrange a test flight by contacting the tireless Munich Express (his girlfriend must be getting seriously p*ssed off with him by now!), who will sort you out.

Here's a couple of piccies of the flying machine - I call it that, because I can't think of a better expression, although the term rather conjures up images of the Wright Brothers, rather than a sleek Sc-Fi beast like this. If you look closely, you will see letter "H" on the 2 engine pods, while the pilot's pod is, one hopes, a place where s/he can breathe (so that'll be Oxygen then). Putting this all together, we end up with H2O... so we have a water-powered(?) vehicle, using Hydrogen as the actaul fuel. Nice model, huh?


Yeah... but how does it feel to fly? I'm usually really crap when it comes to operating machinery. This rule applies in RL as well as SL - but SL is particularly challenging. So it was with some trepidation that I took the helm. I found the H2O to be responsive without being to "jinky", and when I put the pedal to the metal, it went like a bat out of Hell. So that's the BMW brand preserved then. :-)

It also sped across the linked sims without a hiccup. I've had awful problems in the past with vehicles attempting to cross sim boundaries - but this little beauty took no notice of such inconveniences. And that meant I was able to get much more out of the flight. It was actually quite thrilling (I lead a quiet life), though next time I will use Mouselook mode - which should be awesome.

Two comparisons flashed through my mind as I was razzing about in this beastie. The first was the German rocket plane the ME-163, in that the H2O is small and incredibly fast; the second was the Schneider Trophy, as my flight involved flying low across the sea and low-lying islands in a single-seat plane with 2 dangly pod things.

German Design

Contrary to the stylish designs of the Dutch, the German design looks like they skipped the chapter on texturing. The designs of BMW and Toca Me are of a blinding white that will doubtlessly invoke instant snowblindness.