Sony Pictures HE

I've commented in the past about national groupings of islands in Second Life, but I have clearly not been paying attention recently - or indeed for many months - to the large area of the grid occupied by Italian sims. In a bid to put that right, I first pounced upon Renault Italia, but decided this was such a messy site that I would leave it for another day.

In looking at the map, however, my eye was drawn a couple of sims South, to Sony Pictures HE. When you see it (below) it is obvious why I might be interested!

Some bright spark has griefed the sim - plastering "Sorry the PS3 sucks Go 360" across it. How could I resist a look?

Actually, after crossing a low mountain range to get in, I couldn't find any sign of the above sign. Perhaps, by the time you read this, the SL map will have been refreshed and the sign will have disappeared. I went up to over 2000 ft to see if I could see it (it is hard to miss, I'd think!) - but nothing.

The sim beneath the sign is Italian, despite the name, and is intended to promote Sony's Home Entertainment solutions - the "HE" in the sim name. At one end of the sim you will find a stage with a New York backdrop, intended to get your spidey senses atuned. Walking towards the centre of the sim you cross a number of overlapping circles, over the last of which rotates a big blue DVD disk... Blu Ray... geddit? No? Well, in the High Definition DVD market there is a battle of formats, reminiscent of the VHS vs (Sony) Betamax battle of yesteryear. Sony (surprise!) are prime movers, indeed inventers, of Blu Ray.

Back to the sim... The platform beneath the rotating Blu Ray disk sits over a pond or lake that occupies the centre of the sim. Around the edge of the lake is an intricate set of structures featuring various products in the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment portfolio - games and DVDs. You can click many of these to bring up relevant webpages.

As I have not been keeping close tabs on this part of the grid - or indeed any part, it has grown so large - I don't know if I missed a launch. However, as there still one or two "plywood" objects about and some of the automatic streaming is not working, I assume that the sim is not officially open. Indeed, they also need to sort out that griefer sign!

I can't say I'm overly enthused about the site. It seems straightforward, and no doubt meets the client brief, but from a media company I think I expect more. Next up? The Renault Italia sim.