Mahjong Paradise

It seems like a while since I featured a Japanese sim, so I thought I'd bring you this quickie: Mahjong Paradise. The sim actually exists to provide a 3D immersive social environment for the Japanese social network site: Hakopara Online. The site has its own Second Life webpage that contains a slideshow - probably not so different from slideset below.

There is not a lot to tell you about the company, as I can't make head nor tail of the information available - it being all in Japanese. But I like the sim. The use of shadows and other 3D texturing techniques gives this place a real sense of depth. That said, I actually think they've slightly overdone it - as it borders on the hyperreal. The sim is themed on Mahjong, but aside from a beachfront game I saw little sign of it being played. There are other diversions, including a fairground "crane grab" - if you want to get hold of some freebies you will have to work at it.

It's a nice place to walk around, with a lot of fine detailing in the build. I've not really got anything further to add - aside from the obligatory picture show: