Recently Costa Rica tourist board opened a new presence in Second Life as part of a cross media initiative to promote the remote Cocos Island to become a new natural wonder of the world.
The 2 simulator project is a virtual representation of Cocos Island, a UNESCO protected nature reserve 335 miles off the coast of Costa Rica.
I was commissioned to provide environmental audio design in world and to create the soundtrack. The soundtrack was designed to work with these machinima and animoto promo films, but is also a soundtrack that plays in world as people explore the island virtually.
It’s interesting that more national tourist boards are realising the immersive power of virtual world platforms to convey a number of messages and how the audio part of that experience is key.
This is borne out by Mexico, another country I have provided metaversal soundtrack / sound design services for, have recently substantially extended the length of their presence in Second Life way beyond the initial projected timeframe of the project.
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March 24, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Jim
Great work. I also appreciate your visiting VB’s second Live group.
John Oatsmill
April 22, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Victor
Cocos Island is one of Costa Rica’s Seven Wonders and has been nominated as one of the planet’s best natural wonders.
Costa Rica Seven Wonders
Jacques Cousteau called it the most beautiful island he’d ever seen and pirates often visited it to bury their bounty (the Lima Treasure and the Devonshire Treasure are there—worth millions, still undiscovered).
But its greatest treasure is underwater: perhaps the best place in the world to see large marine animals while diving.
Halfway between Costa Rica and the Galapagos, it’s now under attack by foreign pirates who kill thousands and thousands of sharks solely for. . . shark fins to make. . . shark fin soup.
It’s a real environmental tragedy and barbaric as well but mostly unknown outside of Costa Rica.
Costa Rica Shark Finning