First Look: Gaia
// July 30th, 2010 // No Comments » // Cities // Cities
Pink Fizzy Soda Designs in Gaia
With a large flock of seagulls flying above and a nice family of turtles swimming under the transparent patio over the sea, Gaia is seemingly in it’s early stages, but it’s already shaping up nicely. Right now there are only a few shops (most notably Pink Fizzy Soda Designs, also located in Misty Hollow) but we’re sure there will be more in the near future.
Apart from that, there are a number of other attractions located in Gaia. There’s the mesa, the maze, the lake, the forest and the park. All of these places can be reached conveniently from a board near the spawn point that has teleport links to each space, with a link back to the beach. This is a great way to present the key attractions to visitors and should be something all spawn points in Blue Mars should have.
The Maze in Gaia is Quite Large
Another amenity that’s closely located to the spawn point is a blue kiosk that serves as a radio for Gaia. Simply click the play button and you’ll be treated to a stream of wonderfully eclectic music ranging from Country Western, Hip-Hop and Salsa. Listening to the radio helps you while away the time if you’re wandering your way through the large maze or browsing through the fun items in the shops.
All in all, Gaia looks like it could be an even more fun place in the future once it becomes more established and we look forward to that day.
Bowling Night!
// July 29th, 2010 // No Comments » // Events // Events
Bowling with Friends is Awesome!
For those of you who weren’t able to make it to bowling tonight in Beach City, we missed you. Overall, it was well attended and everyone had a lot of fun and lots of laughs. I didn’t do so hot (I bowled a 68, yikes!) but it was still entertaining.
If you were planning on attending and weren’t able to make it, there’s going to be another bowling event on this coming Saturday, 7/31 at 4PM PDT. And for those who aren’t in to bowling, there will also be a pool party prior to the bowling get together at 2PM PDT.
Hope to see you there!
Resource: Shops Directory
// July 29th, 2010 // No Comments » // Showcase // Showcase
Just a quick tip here. For those looking to find all the places to shop at, or if you’re launching a new store and would like to get the word out, check out this thread on the official Blue Mars forum. There’s already a lot of information there, so it’s a great resource that will grow with time.
We look forward to this list growing exponentially as the Blue Mars community continues to grow and develop even more depth!
Tharsis Estates: Haven for Newcomers
// July 28th, 2010 // No Comments » // Cities // Cities
Map by Main Entrance to Tharsis Estates
Tharsis Estates is a wonderful place for people who are unfamiliar with Blue Mars (and particularly people from Second Life) due to it’s helpful signage and resources. Though still in early stages, Tharthis Estates shows promise to becoming one of the best communities for newbies and experienced users alike, and here’s why: Continue Reading
Signs of Things to Come
// February 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // News, Updates // News, Updates
The Long Awaited Roadmap Is Finally Here
Since nearly the beginning of the Blue Mars beta, developers and users alike have been asking for a roadmap to better gauge the underlying direction and development process of Blue Mars. Community director Glenn Sanders answered the much requested information today in a post on the official Blue Mars blog. In it, he highlights many features that have been asked for quite vocally, such as improved avatar movement, enhanced camera movement and controls, clickable hyperlinks in the Chat box, new and improved avatar meshes, Avatar attachments and animation rigs, and the ability to import custom avatar shapes and skins, as well as many other features which can be perused through here.
While the latest post lightly refers to this list as a roadmap, it isn’t exactly a proper roadmap. The main elephant in the room is the exclusion of any kind of tentative dates as to when these features might make it to the end users, as well as the exclusion of any kind of priorities list. Depending on where one stands in the Blue Mars universe one could assumed that a few key features will come before the others, though there is nothing whatsoever to give even a hint (users could be more interested in avatar customization as well as camera controls and chat functions, whereas developers could be more keen on the new mesh features and SDK installer).
This is not to say that this list isn’t welcome (it’s very welcome) just that it could use some clarifying points and more detailed information as to how this roadmap will be implemented. Also, this is hardly the last word on this matter, and it’s totally possible for there to be another update on the roadmap that gives more concrete information in the near future.
Caledonia: Latest Step in Storied Community
// January 5th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Cities // Cities
A Great Place to Live and Visit
White sand beaches, a boardwalk, a village square, quiet country cottages; all these and more are what one would expect from a lazy beach town in which to vacation in. The cozy village setting is just perfect for mid-afternoon strolls and curling up in a window seat to read that novel everyone’s been talking about. Seagulls caw in the distance, and the majestic mountains make an impressive backdrop to this idyllic locale. Where do you book you next flight to, you ask? Nowhere of course, because all this is contained in Caledonia, one of the latest cities to spring up in Blue Mars.
Caledonia is an idyllic, quiet country village, and while it is new, it already has a rich history. If the village square and charming postcard neighborhoods get old, there are plenty of pathways to explore that snake all over the continent; there’s even a small desert for those of you who get sick of all the greenery.
Welcome to Caledonia!
Even though Caledonia is new to Blue Mars, it isn’t entirely new per se. Caledonia springs from the prolific and established community of Caledon in Second Life. Headed up by Desmond Shang, this community is more like a small nation, with it’s own history, traditions and government. The land mass of Caledon in Second Life is impressive, being around 40 sims that are all devoted to the same vision. What’s even more impressive is that Caledonia’s land mass is about a third larger than Caledon. With around 800 regular members of this fascinating community, there’s a very real presence and passion attached to this project which was started around four years ago. The citizenry of Caledon has been noted for being a rather creative lot, and they have spent countless hours creating, expanding and cultivating the Independent State of Caledon. Continue Reading
A Short Note
// January 5th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // News, Updates // News, Updates
Dear readers,
Blue-News.com was started in order to chronicle happenings and activities within the Blue Mars universe. The past month and a half was a difficult time for all of us here at Blue-News (Job loss, major computer problems, health issues), but thankfully things have quickly turned around and we are excited about this new year to come. We sincerely apologize for the long silence during the last half of November and the whole month of December and look forward to interacting with you in the near future!
Sincerely,
The Blue-News Team
Let Your Voice Be Heard
// November 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // Rumors // Rumors
Are you tired of the current camera system used in Blue Mars? Do you have an opinion about what should stay and what should go? Do you think there are no problems with it and would like it to stay as is?
If any of these questions strike a chord with you, head on over to this thread on the forums, cast your vote and let your voice be heard and seen by AR staff.
Happy Halloween!
// October 30th, 2009 // No Comments » // Updates // Updates
Zombies Greet Any and All Who Have the Patch!
Blue-News would like to wish you all a safe and happy Halloween, whether you’re out trick or treating, at a party, or in Blue Mars being attacked by the zombies!
In order to enjoy this last minute surprise, you’ll need to download a small patch to take part in the festivities. You’ll be greeted by the zombie bots in a darker, murkier environment than the usual welcome area. Some of the pumpkins float up and down, while some of the obelisks fall over and right themselves.
Atmosphere: Something Sometimes Lacking in Blue Mars
We did notice on a pumpkin or two that the stem was untextured, but we’re willing to look past that since the update is just for fun and a welcome change from the drab and boring welcome area we’ve all grown accustomed to.
First Look: Soswaewon Garden
// October 30th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Cities // Cities
Soswaewon Garden
Soswaewon Garden is another new “city” in Blue Mars, yet it’s not exactly a city. Apart from the masses of trees in the surrounding landscape, Soswaewon isn’t exactly a garden either; there aren’t any flowers or ornamental shrubs; the garden landscaping is somewhat lackluster (no gardening going on here!). If anything, it most resembles a Japanese garden, though there aren’t any of the typical garden furniture or garden statues associated with those types of gardens.
Soswaewon is more like a museum for sculptures, an art gallery of sorts, but there are no paintings here, just a sculpture or two and some architecture. The garden sculptures are all loosely grouped in the arrival area, and the architecture is in a somewhat typical traditional Asian style. Of course, the artwork on display isn’t traditional at all; it would better classify as abstract art, maybe even modern art.
One thing about Soswaewon Garden is that the garden design is a little difficult for the uninitiated to navigate; the landscaping definitely needs work in order to enable an easier and smoother way of viewing the artists work. However, considering the short amount of time the space was created in (six weeks) and the creators themselves (students unfamiliar with the Blue Mars workflow) it’s actually an early testament to the power and accessibility of the Blue Mars platform.
First Look: Gridrock City
// October 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // Cities // Cities
View of Gridrock City from Mountains
Gridrock City has been accessible for about a week now, giving everyone a fair chance to explore and have fun checking out the various places around the Gridrock City valley. While it’s in an early stage, it’s still a good place to check out with many easy to remember landmarks to help guid friends to your secret meeting place.
The theme of Gridrock City is based on a colony created by descendants of Nikola Tesla. Though you won’t see any stray bolts of raw electricity anywhere in the city, it still has an interesting, science-y feel about it, and the tower above the city proper resembles a Tesla coil.
Blue Mars Down for Several Hours, Update Coming
// October 19th, 2009 // No Comments » // News // News
As we expected, the next patch will be released tomorrow. The news was announced in the forums earlier this morning explaining that Blue Mars would be down for several hours in preparation for tomorrows major update. All that has been said is that “new content and new features” are coming, so we can’t confirm everything we’ve been expecting.
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