Word: virtual
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...version of Sigourney Weaver was battling the monster whose head had just blocked the director's view. On the warehouse floor there was no rain forest, no monster, no Weaver - just a bunch of guys and their computers. But Cameron's camera was allowing him to shoot inside a virtual universe of his own creation. He swooped in over the monster's shoulder and entered the world of Avatar. (See 10 things you need to know for Avatar's opening...
...things that are hard. Cameron first laid out his vision for the technology he would use in the film in a digital manifesto in the early 1990s; he then labored to perfect it over the course of a decade and a half, creating cameras that let him peer into virtual worlds and pushing for the industry's adoption of a digital 3-D format. The result is as if the director has broken through the screen and pulled the viewer by the hand into a new, exotic world...
...also face some competition. Popular virtual world Second Life has let gamers visit reproductions of parts of London for several years. And German cyber-tourism site Twinty, which lets people visit a virtual Berlin and Singapore, is also preparing a London launch. But, unlike Near London, shopping isn't the prime focus of those sites. Instead they're about setting up a cyber-life for your virtual alter ego, or avatar, complete with its own apartment and wardrobe. (See a Techland exclusive: the first look at Avatar's 'Interactive Trailer...
...Nick Gibson, an analyst and virtual-world expert at London's Games Investor Consulting, calls it "an interesting idea." But he cautions that the main driver for online shopping "is price and convenience, rather than the social aspects of it." Most consumers, Gibson says, go online to buy something specific, so it's uncertain if they'll find causal shopping and browsing appealing. (See the top 10 video games...
...come from fees paid by client retailers. But all retailers, clients or not, also pay for clicks to their sites, and Near Global also earns a commission on all items sold. Advertisements will generate additional income. Little wonder that Near Global is talking to a potential partner about doing virtual versions of major U.S. cities, starting with New York. A virtual Tokyo is also high on the to-do list. Soon you might be able to enjoy a shopping spree that takes in Regent Street, 5th Avenue and Ginza from the comfort and relative peace of your own home...