Second Life Going to the Big Screen?

By Geoff Duncan Published December 18, 2008

Second Life Going to the Big Screen? — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The entertainment publication Variety reports that Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski may be working to bring the Second Life virtual world to the big screen…although perhaps not in a way that would please Linden Labs. According to the paper, Verbinski and Universal have acquired the rights to a 2007 Wall Street Journal article detailing the case of a 53 year-old, married man who spent as much as 20 hours a day in Second Life, where he played the role of a buffed-out entrepreneur…with his own virtual relationship.

Verbinski apparently plans to direct the film; Steven Knight (screenwriter for Eastern Promises and Dirty Pretty Things) will write the screenplay. The film is expected to focus on immersive role-playing in virtual worlds and the negative impacts on the real lives of players.

Recommended Videos

Verbinski is currently working on the upcoming film adaption of the video game Bioshock.

Geoff Duncan

Former Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Emerging Tech

Remember Samsung’s Ballie home robot? It may finally be inching closer to reality

Leaked app wireframes give the strongest hint yet that Samsung's Ballie home robot, first shown at CES 2020, might still be headed toward an actual release.

Samsung Ballie robot in a room next to a dog feeder.

Samsung's rolling home robot has been the industry's longest-running "will it ever actually ship" joke, and I'll admit I'd mostly given up on it. Now, there's finally a glimmer of hope.

Samsung first unveiled Ballie as a concept at CES 2020. Then, it showed it as a significantly upgraded version four years later. However, the company never confirmed a release date or committed to releasing it at all.

Smart Home

The US foreign-made robot crackdown is coming for future Roombas too

Future Roombas face new US sales hurdles, but existing models are unaffected

The FCC has already made it much harder for foreign drone makers such as DJI to bring new products into the US. Now, the same crackdown is reaching a machine far more likely to be moving around your living room.

The US government recently added foreign-made advanced robotic devices to the FCC’s Covered List. The announcement appeared focused on humanoids, robot dogs, and industrial machines, but an FCC spokesperson has confirmed to The Verge that robot vacuum cleaners are covered too.

Branded Content

The GOKO M6 Robotic Lawn Mower Brings Industrial Robotics to Modern Lawn Care

7 reasons this AI-driven powerhouse makes hands-free yard work smarter than ever

Robotic lawn mowers can save homeowners hours of manual yard work, but not every model is designed for challenging properties. While many perform well on flat lawns, larger yards with uneven terrain, steep slopes, and multiple mowing zones require a mower built for more demanding conditions.

Developed by GOKO, the consumer robotics brand of Robot++, the GOKO M6 is an industrial-grade 4WD AI-powered robotic lawn mower that brings more than a decade of industrial robotics expertise to residential lawn care. It combines AI-powered four-wheel drive, advanced navigation technologies, and AI QuadVision obstacle detection to tackle complex landscapes with less manual intervention.