3D OS
There aren’t many things that make me want a PC, but this is one of them. A 3D operating system, sort of. I’m sure it’s at a rudimentary stage of evolution, but it only makes sense that a 3D OS will replace today’s 2D models just as Doom eclipsed Commando. Check out the gallery.
Note that the free demo features advertising inside your virtual pad; if you pay for the product you can put anything you want on the walls. (Seems the programmers heavily favoured Maxim girls – or is that actually advertising?) I’d like to see how they handle shortcuts – if they’re clever, quick camera moves (as seen in Metal Gear 2), rather than cuts. Also, you can’t help but wonder how a networked world will be represented by the system.
I don’t expect it will happen overnight – as in fact some level of naturalism is needed to lure new users – but eventually such a system, for reasons of efficiency, will become abstract and look less like “real life”. And that, I’d like to know what that will look like: less Star Trek, more Escher, I’m guessing. For example, in a 3D world with no concern for gravity, why wouldn’t the ceiling be used for shortcuts, etc.?
Finally, let me just smugly note some similarities to something I wrote over a year ago for joystick101.
Thanks for the write up! I stumbled across your blog when I was tracking our visitor data.
It’s uncanny how spot on your description of our current (embyonic) stage of development is, as well as the possibilties that extend before us in terms of the sophistication of the 3D OS. Not many people cotton on to this, and assume we’ve reached what we feel is our ultimate goal.
This is our earliest stage (by default), and we have a great del of plans for the future, some of which you brush against in your Game OS 1.0 piece. We’re taking a less overtly “game” oriented approach, but we’re definitely more aligned with that realm than with academia, which has repeatedly (although earnestly) tried and failed to make a viable 3D OS a reality.
Let’s just say we’re watching the connected world with interest – in particular games such as The Sims Online, which have the potential to be more genre defying than most people might realise..
I stopped inside a Mac store today, and let me tell you, I haven’t been this smitten since I discovered breathing.
Hey Nick! Thanks for the comment – I can’t wait to see what you come up with in the future. Like I say, I wish I could experience it, but I’m all mac’d up.
(and I agree with you about the sims online – we’ll see what happens.)
Back to Macs – yeah adam, those stores are like temples, aren’t they? I’m absolutely thrilled with the state of the Mac world right now – the hardware’s fabulous (if expensive), but the software is what really takes the cake. Apple themselves are doing some interesting stuff (FCP, iTunes, iCal etc.), but what really blows me away is some of the small developers. I’m not sure if a bunch of Unix developers have breathed new life into the mac world, or the old-school developers have really gotten fired up by OS X, but there are just so many smart, graceful, beautiful and useful apps out there right now. meteorologist is the latest in a long series to blow me away. Join us, adam…. adam… join us…
What will really cook your noodle…
What if you were not just living in your world, but had to ability to grow it from the ground up.
I would start by living in a generic “apartment” environment (simple and to the point).
On the side I would work on enhancing a new “home” that had my seperate engaging environments.
One could be an office, another a game room, a R&D lab, and as many other rooms as would make me happy.
It would also be nice to have things happen in house not affect another and relate to how much electriy “power (cpu, resources)” I used.
Thank would nice.
Just a rank because I have not used any tool yet.