Sunday 8 July 2007

Virtual Tokyo & Second Life

A lot of researchers recently have been focusing on exploring the incredible potential urban modelling and Second Life, Linden's internet based virtual world, have to offer when combined. While the debate on whether serious research can be conducted with something such as Second Life rages on, it is already evident with the following piece of news the impact it can have on future work in the area of urban modelling...



According to the gaming site 1UP and a piece of news recently published there (linked here), Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Japanese entertainment chief creative officer and creator of music games Rez & Lumines plus Japanese advertising firm Dentsu will be working on a collaboration project creating a Virtual Tokyo for the open-ended simulation PC game Second Life.

However, what I really find interesting in this is that, as Mizuguchi puts it: "The Tokyo we are trying to create is based on the image of city. How do people in Tokyo perceive the city? How about foreigners? That's what we want to express". In other words the model produced will not be an exact replica but something far more creative...

Mizuguchi also adds: "I hope to make Virtual Tokyo like a museum of Japanese pop culture. My friends abroad have told me often that there's so much material and it's never preserved. This might be the perfect place for it". It goes without saying that it will be interesting to witness the final outcome (and its eventual visualisation) of this project...

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