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There has been an awful lot of media attention in the last few months about the ‘virtual reality simulator’ Second Life. Mainly articles about how people have made or spent ‘real world’ money in a virtual environment.

This is a far cry from the reports of Mr. Zhu who was killed in real life when he ’stole’ a virtual sword and sold it.

The same article linked above mentions that in 2003, the Internet Games section on eBay saw over £5m in transactions. Not all of this was for virtual assets, but there is no doubt that there are people daft enough to spend real money in a virtual economy.

As a World of Warcraft player, I’ve received in-game mail offering me virtual currency for my real-world cash. Some regard this practice of ‘gold farming’ cheating, others justify it by saying that because they work, they don’t get to spend as much time in-game as other people, and therefore need the virtual cash to spend on in game equipment just to keep up with their peers.

But what is the appeal of Second Life?

Part of the appeal would be the fact that you can create almost anything - from in-world art and clothing, to minigames. you can then sell these items on to other players for virtual money. However, in order to get the virtual money, you need to put in your real money.

Like a fruit machine, you get a sniff of some of the prizes for putting your money in, and you feel compelled to put more in. It can become an addiction.

I’m not saying that World of Warcrack is any different - I know people who are addicted to that game, and you do pay a £9 a month subscription to the online service. However, I believe that what you get for your money is far superior to any other online game. £9 a month is the equivalent of buying a new PC game every three months, which was average for me before I started playing the game. However, since buying the game, I’ve not bought a single PC game, and I’ve not been tempted to.

I’ve played Second Life, and in comparison, it is light-years behind WoW. It is slow, glitchy, and the avatars walk like the bizzare offspring of Kryten and Robocop. It is possible to walk and even fly(!) through the environment (and possible to fall through the world too). This is partly the problem in that the virtual environment is all user-created, wheras the Blizzard Empire employs hundreds of professional programmers to ensure that the floor is as solid as it can be.

SL is advertised as a life simulator (not disimilar to The Sims), and the appeal of adding your own user-created content to what is effectively an open-source world is appealing. However it is also time-consuming, and unless you have a super-powerful PC, it is slow…

However, like a rabid murloc, the media have jumped on the SL bandwagon, building it up and overhyping it. This leading to more people trying it, and the game world getting more cluttered and disorganised. The appeal of making money by ‘playing games’ is obvious, but the truth of the matter is, that aside from these few people who have made and spent a fortune in the game, the rest of the populace have not been as successful. But the end result is no matter how successful these virtual entrepreneurs have been, the only winner is the creator of the game, who has achieved more publicity than they ever thought possible, and are now actively encouraging real-world businesses to advertise in game. How much longer before SL becomes the equivalent of a 3D MySpace?

It could also be the fact that it doesn’t yet have a Mac Client that puts me off SL :p

Had a fantastic Aikido session last night. I’m glad I went, seeing as I’d had a very bad day at work and was tempted to go home and curl up with a pizza.

Ran through two hands from front, but the first hour was simply positioning - taking Uke to the point of throw, but not beyond. Starting slowly, and then building up speed, but never actually throwing Uke.

Far too often, Aikidoka concentrate too much on the actual throw, seeing how far Uke will fly, or how hard they can put them in the mat, or even just how well they can pin them so they don’t get up. Sometimes, as long as Uke gets to the ground, Tori is satisfied that the technique has worked. I am guilty as charged.

In a sense, the technique has ‘worked’ - Tori has successfully disabled Uke. However, that does not mean that the technique is correct.

Yesterday’s session forced us to make sure that Uke was actually at the point of throw - to the point that if you were to simply carry on the movement, Uke would fall. In effect, to the point were the finish is effortless and Uke actually throws themselves.

Five techniques - Irminage, Kaitennage, Tenchinage, Ikkyo and Shihonage. Techniques that we’ve all been ‘doing’ since yellow belt, but with a difference: by not actually applying the finish, we were more concerned with the actual technique.

The second hour was a repeat of the first, but with the finish added, and the technique performed at the correct speed. As we had concentrated keeping our posture straight, bending our knees and not our back, everyones technique was improved. I noticed my posture a lot more, and my actual technique had improved tenfold. I was able to feel Uke’s posture go and control him better as a result.

Of course, in a street situation, I would perhaps be not so concious of it - and the aim of practice is surely that: to make the technique so natural that you don’t break your posture.

Yesterday, I had the chance to test drive the new Audi TT 3.2 litre V6 Quattro. I have been looking at the TT for the past few years, and was intending to order the old design 3.2 Quattro Roadster, but then Audi announced a new design.

I was planning to see what I thought of the new design and order based on that. If I liked the new design, I would wait for it to be released, if I didn’t, I would order straight away. However this did not go according to plan, Audi actually stopped taking orders on the old design shortly before the new one was released. Then I saw the first pictures…

I thought it looked ugly, I couldn’t believe that Audi had taken a very nice looking car and turned it into something that hideous. The picture, adorning the front of a motoring magazine, turned out to be one of the original concept designs, and not the final model. However, the final model still featured the imposing grille. The same grille that has been worked into the design across the Audi range.

However, in the flesh, the grille isn’t as imposing as it appears on pictures.

The final car also features softer lines than the concept, giving more of a nod to the smooth shape of the original. However, with the sharper features, the new TT is a much more imposing beast on the road. From the Peugeot-like ‘cat eye’ headlights, to the square lights in the rear cluster - the new TT is more of an agressive looking vehicle.

So how does it drive?

Well, the car is pretty low, not as low as the Lotus Elise, but it still struck me how low it was as I fell into the driver’s seat. It is perhaps a little lower than the Nissan 350Z (which is probably the closest direct competitor to the TT). However, the electronically adjustable seats (optional) make it very easy to find an optimum driving position.

The flat-bottomed ‘racing’ steering wheel takes a little bit of getting used to, feeling the corners as it ran through my hands was a little strange. The leather steering wheel is comfortably chunky, and extremely light. In fact the car as a whole feels extremely light. Breathing on the accelerator is enough to make the car jump, and the key is smoothness. Less forgiving than my present car, the bite is very high.

The first 30 mph are hardly noticable, the V6 extremely quiet and smooth. It is very easy to break the speed limit in this car, and you have to be extremely cautious. Having said that, the power in 1st gear is rather disappointing. The car does not ‘launch’ off the blocks, and it is only when you shift up to 2nd that you really get the feeling you’re in a sports car. 3rd is where the fun starts though… putting your foot down in 3rd launches you up to 60mph and forces you back into your seat. 4th and 5th have adequate power to take you above and beyond 70mph, while 6th, even though it is a fuel-saving cruising gear still has enough grunt to escape hazards, or push you past that slow-moving car on a duel-carriageway or motorway.

Audi has made much of the retractable spoiler. The previous model was unstable at the rear at high speeds, and necessitated a spoiler being attached to the rear. The spoiler broke the smooth lines of the car. So with the new design, the spoiler has been incorporated into the design from the start. The retractable spoiler means that at slow speeds, or while the vehicle is parked, its smooth appearance is maintained. While at higher speeds, the rear-end stability is assured. The spoiler is programmed to deploy at 74mph, which on UK roads means that it can never legally be extended automatically… However, the spoiler can be extended manually by a switch behind the gearstick. Depolying the spoiler has no real effect at the slower speeds, and I believe it will only automatically extend after a period of driving at higher speeds. I did accelerate to 80mph at one stretch (naughty…) but it did not extend immediately, and I slowed down as I approached traffic shortly after hitting 80. However, again, the engine was still pretty quiet.

The manual gearbox is extremely good - the gear changes feeling natural, even with large block-changes such as 6th to 3rd. Despite the bite being a little higher than I liked, it is not so high that you don’t get used to it after an hour.

The interior is smart, very reminiscent of its predecessor - however, instead of the small circles being replicated from the fuel cap to the interior air vents, the new design draws from the rectangular exterior openings for the foglamps, and the bottom of the front grille. The same design is present on the top of the gearstick. The dials are pretty much unchanged, still red displays, and a nice TT logo on the Tachometer. Onboard trip computer is pretty much as you’d expect: average speed, current & average fuel consumption, time spent driving, range…

The cabin is larger than the original TT, with a slightly larger boot space, but still not as large as the 350Z. You could fit one large suitcase in there, but a golf bag would only be possible if the rear seats are dropped. The rear bench is split, however, making it more practical than my current vehicle.

The biggest disappointment was the sound system. This particular model was fitted with the BOSE sound system (an optional extra, at over an extra £1000). Given the BOSE name, and the extra expense, the bass response was very poor. Even the salesman agreed that it was not worth the extra expense. Also, the radio cover hasn’t made the transition to the new model. I liked the old one, a smart brushed metal cover emblazoned with TT that covered the radio when not in use.

Overall, a great car, and a worthy successor to the original. Would I order one? certainally… although I’m still going to hold out for the roadster, which is to be released in the UK in March (ordering available from December).

Pics below: I didn’t have much time, as I wanted to be driving for as long as possible, and with the low winter sun, the shots are a little overexposed. Click on the thumbnails for larger images.