Press Release

Brett Atwood, web editor at Linden Lab, recently unveiled Showcase, a new feature in the virtual world which will serve as a guide to the 3D Second Life environment.
“Showcase will allow users to find some of the highest quality places inside the virtual world,” Atwood said.
The Showcase feature categorizes high quality virtual locations of Second Life, a 3D virtual community where users are represented by avatars. Showcase categories include: arts and culture, education and non-profit, fashion, hot-spots, music, photos and machinima, and tutorials.
In a Linden Lab press release Atwood said the company believes Showcase will make it easier for users to find the best content and communities that may have been difficult to find until now.
There are approximately 20 million long-term downloads of the Second Life program, Atwood said. Although, 78,000 is the highest number of concurrent users recorded.
Showcase will feature the best user-created 3D videos, referred to as Machinima in the virtual world, and over 240 professional training videos in the Tutorial section.
The virtual world allows for the creation of a variety of virtual spaces including online museums, forums for press releases, night clubs, and virtual universities. Some professors are using Second Life to enhance online teaching and universities are creating virtual campuses to engage prospective students.
Second Life is growing in more than 100 countries and residents are continually creating new virtual spaces. Over 70 percent of users are outside the United States.