No more heroes censored!

I just realised that America and Asia got uncensored versions of my favourite wii game so far No More Heroes. Seeing the video on youtube makes me want these versions :D




GUTTED

Hmmm morality on the internet?

Every few months there are booms of movie genres that get released i.e. superhero, meteor hitting earth, etc but recently there has been a rise in movies that use the Internet to broadcast murder and other crimes. The sad thing about these movies is that the websites seem to be incredibly popular!

The condemned had 10 prisoners fight to the death - it received 40 million subscribers, a journalist stated that she was angry for at the producer of the show, but now she is sad for mankind. So the movie industries views of people are that they like violence, always have and always will.

Untraceable is a newer film in which a person is hooked up to a device that there more people that access the site, the faster the victim dies, this is streamed live online.

In old times it was a passtime to watch death at the arena, people would cheer and enjoy the bloodlust, I feel that people still enjoy violence (boxing, UFC, etc) and if any of these films came to pass - there would be a market

Putting the "real" in virtual reality

Introduction

Virtual world have existed for well over a decade with the boom of the Internet, creating limitless possibilities for alternate and better existences. These realities however are still virtual (real in many ways but not the same as the physical world), some spend most of their time on the Internet, making this virtual environment more important than their physical environment. Are these virtual environments real? In a physical sense, no, but people's perceptions of what is real can deliver some strange results. I can go on all day about different areas of peoples lives that the virtual world affects, but for now i'll stick the topics of careers and love.

Money, sex and power are the three-legged stool of modern culture¹.

Why do so many people trust in these fantasy worlds?

On the Internet, people have freedom to behave as they wish without fear of retribution, due to the anonymity of the web, this is where the worst in human beings come out. Forums, Chat Rooms and Discussion Groups are the most widely used resource on the web, developed for collaboration between enthusiasts on a set topic.

This freedom allows people to be relieved of their social status, regardless of who they are in the real world - in the virtual they can have a voice. Online you can be who you want to be, and talk to almost anyone. This leads to relationships forming, friendships and love interests. These relationships are formed more quickly because in the virtual world people are willing to be more personal, more sudden than in reality².

Finding love online is easier than ever, there are now hundreds of different dating sites and social networking sites that can be used as dating tools. People find it easier to communicate online and it is easier to ignore someone if you do not like them3.

The relationships that are developed online are more appealing to people they get what they want out of it, cyber-sex for example that may lead to a real-world relationship. Everything on the Internet is just the manipulation of data, but to a person, their imagination creates their ideal world using the visions they get from this data showing on screen.

It is when people discover these freedoms, they start to enjoy the power they have, becoming tempted, obsessed and addicted to having their way. Real life no longer satisfies them, they resort to being online more often and believing more that they are this person they want to be, beliving they are flawless and righteous.

The annonymity of the web also have positive and negative influences, again you will say what you are afraid to say in the physical environment, but alas this is not alwasy a good thing. Adultery online is not something new - some people in marriges or long term relationships still seek other people to share their passions or secrets unjudged by those around them².

All these factors create more realism to relationships developed in the virtua world. Money and sex are two of the most important aspects of the modern world, the more a person has of these two factors the happier theyare with life.

The virtual world does have people who seek a partner and a serious relationship (be it friendship or love), a kind that can only be found by scouring the globe far and wide. If the web provides these things easily, people become immersed and no longer look for love and/or friendship in their local area.

The 3D online world is the final step in making the virtual world real. With people interacting with people and objects as they would in real life, the illusion of reality becomes more warped. It is clear how the virtual worlds can affect different people. Second Life is a virtual world that had no objective and no endgame, people just live there. The linden dollar ($LD) is the currency of second life and it can be exchanged into US dollars, this allows people to gain an income from this virtual world.

There are many ways to make money online, ebay, amazon, cafepress and even second life⁴. Online buisinesses provide the most sporadic of services. Many advantages of online businesses is that you may not have to pay taxes or legally list it as a buisiness, depending on your country. Also you can sell just about anyhting

Conclusion

The Internet has provided the modern world with the ability to interact and communicate cheaply and efficiently, it will not be long before these virtual environments become more influencing to person's behaviour.

Is it a question of morality when pixels can harm a human being? When you are behind a monitor, how do your actions affect others in and out of the virtual world? If your wife catched you having cyber-sex, will she not feel betrayed? People have become more desensitized, making them seek greater thrills and dramas in the virtual world, thrills they would normally be ashamed of in the real world.

The virtual world is perceived as real in a personal sense, but how does this affect the persons business life. People quit their jobs to spend more time online, some completely immerse their business in the online world. Words like addiction spring to mind again, questioning the objectives of the virtual realities people create.

Reference:

1. Messenger K, Money, Sex and Power, [accessed 28 Mar 2008]
   
2. Singer H, Virtual Relationships, Logging onto love, [accessed 28 Mar 2008]
3. Snyder B, Finding Love Online, [accessed 19 Apr 2008]
4. Channel 4, Second Lives, [accessed 19 Apr 2008]
   

Virtual Architecture

Virtual architecture is one of the many advantages of 20^th/21^st century technology and advances in computer systems. Virtual architecture was born in 1982 when the first version of Auto-CAD¹ (Auto computer aided design) was released.

The power of the virtual world

Auto-CAD is used in a large number of fields (product design to civil engineering) and it allows the user to create a virtual product. The evolution of 3D engines and advanced programming has allowed virtual architecture to be precise, this allows blueprints and plans to be created and edited very quickly (similar to word processors vs. typewriters).

An advantage of the computer interface and process is the ability to run a sim (virtual simulation) of how your product can react with the real environment with materials used². Architecture is also a mathematical science and computers understand numbers best, limitations and rules can be applied³.

Second Life is also a popular for designing buildings (and cities) very quickly and cheaply. Though it does not have the same power as auto-cad, it is much faster for creating the design of a building as opposed to its structure. The SL virtual structures will also hold less detail than CAD or physical designs due constraints on the area and the number of primitives (objects) used to create said structure. A fine example of this is the virtual London hospital in the healthlands area of Second Life. The physics engine of SL currently cannot replicate environments the same way as auto-cad but in the future the havoc engine will create opportunities for second life architecture.

The unrealistic sense of the SL modeller has its strengths. Structures impossible in architecture can take shape in the virtual world. Imagination is more important that knowledge⁴ in second life.

These processes are usually used to create real world buildings; they can be used as a grounding for developing real world projects and are usually the starting point for any architect.

The dark side of virtual architecture

The problem with this system is that it is not perfected; humans have learned to build houses and developed the art of architecture from the beginning of our existence.

“a computer does not help you do your job better – it helps you to do what you do faster”⁵

As most projects go, theory and virtual simulations are not enough to create a perfectly working model, modifications, trial and error and overhauls are a part of project lifecycles and sometimes the computer can cause more problems than it can solve i.e. if the overhauls are extensive hand drawn plans may be better as more thought is put in to their development.

The computer is not perfect, neither is the human, computers do what humans tell it to do, I believe that virtual architecture will evolve in the future but for the time being, virtual developments should stay mostly in the virtual world. People rely on spellcheckers/calculators more than ever, how long will it be before we rely on computers to tell us our mistakes (or what computers think are mistakes) in architecture?

Reference:

1. Auto-CAD, Auto-CAD Wikipedia article, [accessed 02 Mar 2008].

2. Advance Concrete, Advance Concrete Plugin, [accessed 03 Mar 2008]

3. Mario Salvadori, “Can there be any relation to mathematics and architecture”, [accessed 02 Mar 2008]

4. Albert Einstein, “Albert Einstein quotes”, [02 Mar 2008]

5. Tom Caira, “Professional and Ethical Issues in computing” Lecture Notes, University of the West of Scotland, 2006