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Futures of Entertainment
October 25th, 2007Like many of you I tuned into CSI NY last night to see if the show lived up to the buzz. After watching the show, I think it did. The collaboration between Anthony Zuiker, creator of the CSI franchise, and Sibley Verbeck’s Electric Sheep Company demonstrated the power of cross-platform entertainment. The narrative began in “first life” with a murder that needed to be solved and seamlessly melded into the virtual world of Second Life. Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) created an avatar and went in world to chase the killer. Throughout the episode characters moved in and out of first life and second life. Several scenes in the show played like mini-tutorials for those not familiar with the virtual world platform. The story ended in a cliffhanger and from now until the conclusion which airs in February CSI fans and Second Life residents can affect the story outcome by working to solve the crime in Second Life.
The Electric Sheep Company created a new client for this venture. They assumed thatCSI fans didn’t necessarily knowanything about virtual worlds or Second Life so they created a client that immediately immersed fansin CSI content.?
This collaboration is a proof of concept for cross-platform programming. If it goes well, we’ll see entertainment created across the television, online, mobile and gaming platforms.?
Anthony Zuiker thinks within five years all entertainment will be cross-platform.
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May 4th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Funny coincidence- I was actually at CBS Studio city and watched this episode being filmed. We were guests on site. I have some great pictures of the avatars on set! The reason we were there is becuase a previous episode of CSI:NY has been created around our (DNA) art. Anthony really enjoys discovering ‘new things’ and integrating them into episodes. The cast and crew are a pleasure to work with.