Bellisseria Third Anniversary

It’s time to celebrate 3 years of the Bellisseria continent

Today on Friday 15th April 2022 marks Bellisseria third anniversary in Second Life since the second generation of Linden Homes were first launched on the grid. The Moles and many Lindens have worked really hard over the past three years to keep growing the Bellisseria continent so that more releases can happen regularly.

Join in with the celebrations here

Bellisseria Fairgrounds – April 2022

Chalet sub continent windmills

When the Bellisseria continent first opened to the public back on 15th April 2019 there was only like 384 regions. Today there are thousands of Linden Home regions spread over many themed sub continents connecting up to former continents. It’s been exciting to keep track of progress since then and even before that back in late August 2018 when the first 80 SSP regions arrived on the grid.

11th April 2019

A few days or so before the big opening the lab added the Linden Homes section on the Second Life Forums. The SSP? thread is still running today with 263 pages full of historical findings. It’s amazing it’s been active since 21st August 2008.

In early April 2019 Patch Linden went live on Relay Rap Radio Talk Show to talk about the new Linden Homes project that the lab have been working on since mid 2018.

Here are were the updates from the radio show….

• The opening “will be announced when it happens”
• Currently “one week past the original roll out date”
• There will be four house styles to choose from. Eventually “there will be six to eight more styles” for Linden Homes – some 512sq and some 1024sq
• The new SSP continent will “grow futher down South then East” where the new water regions are
• It’s recommended to get a new Linden Home quickly as there may be a long wait
• The old Linden homes will be going away and will be shut down. At least a year or two before this happens.

Back in late March 2019 the first part of the SSP continent showed up on the world map. Over the weeks that followed the continent became much bigger. See the comparison maps below 2020 vs 2021 vs 2022. Linden Lab back then said it was to do with a Super Secret Project they are working on.

Bellisseria SSP continent – Late March 2019

SSP Continent – 16th January 2019

The houseboats release opens – 15th May 2019

New area of land – 17th August 2019

The first preview of the new Linden Homes was at the 2019 Home and Garden Expo.

First preview of Linden Homes – Mid March 2019

Welcome to Linden Homes – Mid March 2019

• Top 15 Interesting Places To Visit In Bellisseria – As of November 2021

Lighthouse near the ocean – April 2019

During the past year the Chalet, Fantasy and Newbrooke sub continents have arrived on the grid with new areas to explore, more Linden Homes and a bigger community overall. Work is not completely done yet and further expansion of Bellisseria during the next year or two is highly expected.

Newbrooke sub continent

The lab is due to announce details on Premium Plus by the end of May 2022 and maybe there will be more interest for Linden Homes after that. The next theme reveal may happen at SL19B which happens from mid June 2022. The release will most likely happen before the end of the year if there are no delays.

Campwich Forest

All Hours – April 2019

Fourze – April 2019

Bellisseria growth over the years – (August 2018 to April 2022)

First SSP Regions Arrived – 20th August 2018

Bellisseria Continent Opening Day – 15th April 2019

April 2020 vs April 2021 vs April 2022

Bellisseria Continent – 15th April 2020

Bellisseria Continent – 15th April 2021

Bellisseria Continent – 15th April 2022

I can’t wait to see what the Bellisseria continent will look like in a year from now and even two years from now. It’s going to be triple the size that’s for sure and I will continue to keep track of new developments on my blog. Stay tuned for that.

Feel free to share your best Bellisseria memories from the past three years in comments.

Newbrooke Sub Continent Latest Developments – April Update 2022

Newbrooke Sub Continent – 10th April 2022

As of Sunday 10th April 2022 all of the Newbrooke regions are now visually showing up on the world map in Second Life which is good news. Almost all of the regions now have a orange square around them while the Moles carry out more checks. From Tutti Frutti along to Boomp are empty at the moment including Thimble Pond Farms and Take Five. Work is due to start in these regions within the next week or so.

Newbrooke sub continent is going to grow out even further in the months ahead as there are many cut offs around the region edges. It’s going to be interesting to see where the next batches of regions will be placed. I will blog about it when that happens.

For those that want a houseboat Linden Home I have just seen that houseboats are now being released on the east side of the Chalet sub continent. More releases will happen very soon. I think good progress is being made and the Moles are working very hard to add new areas with more new Linden Homes.

The Bellisseria continent will reach it’s third year on the grid on 15th April 2022. Yay! 🙂

Newbrooke & Chalet sub continents – 10th April 2022

Bellisseria continent progress check as of 10th April 2022

• The north side of the log continent is not finished
• Fantasy sub continent coastal areas are not finished
• Chalet sub continent work is still on going
• Newbrooke sub continent work is still on-going

For the latest discussions check out the Linden Homes section via the Second Life Forums.

35 New Regions Arrive North Of Newbrooke Sub Continent

The new regions are there via ATC Radar

During the past 48 hours or so it appears 35 new regions have arrived just north of the Newbrooke sub continent in Second Life. These new regions are in a ghost mode state at the moment and are not currently showing yet on the Second Life World Map if you use Firestorm etc.

There is a workaround though if you use ATC Radar map service where the region names anyway do actually show up. Also using the Second Life Maps (SLURL map service) the new regions show up if you click on them.

SarahKB7 Koskinen first discovered these new regions around 12pm BST on Friday 1st April 2022. It’s important to stress that this is not a April Fools prank or joke as far as I can tell. In the area I highlighted in red is the main location.

Source: The new regions first discovered by SarahKB7 Koskinen via Second Life Forums

If these 35 new regions show on the Second Life World Map in the next few days or so then this is good news for the expansion of the Newbrooke sub continent. The development will start and the release should be soon after that.

Stay tuned for newer updates soon on my blog.

12 New Regions Added On The East Side Of Newbrooke Sub Continent

Within the past 24 hours 12 new regions have been added on the east side of the Newbrooke sub continent showcasing Modern Linden Homes. The region names are Jazz Band, Funky Blues, Okay Pop, Prince Charming, Fitz Inn, Picnic Grove, Judge Knott, Bullwinkle, Lavenders Blue, Dot Matrix, Hexadecimal, Shields Brook. They are all showing Black for some reason and will update very soon showing the right visuals.

Work is now underway to complete these regions for release very soon. These new regions are open to the public.

Patch Linden has said this week that “Due to the popularity and dwindling availability of the larger parcel variants, you may see the map update soon with a number of new regions being prepared to increase Newbrooke availability to meet demand. We hope that you continue to enjoy the Newbrooke theme!“.

This means that you can expect to see more new regions being added in the coming weeks to the Newbrooke sub continent as demand grows. It’s probably going to be double the size before Easter arrives. There is plenty of room to grow on the west, south and north side of the Newbrooke sub continent.

Jazz Band

Okay Pop

Newbrooke Covenant Update

On Friday 11th March 2022 Patch Linden posted a Newbrooke covenant update including two additional lines (outlined in bold below).

Hi Everyone!

As a follow-up to the conversation some of you may have noticed on the forums, we are further clarifying the covenant with two new additional lines:

* Additions to Newbrooke houses must be in the Newbrooke style (flat roof shipping container homes) and blend in seamlessly with the neighborhood theme.  Garage and room additions are permitted while maintaining architectural consistency with the theme (eg. roof line, colors, trim, etc).
* Newbrooke homes should not be modified architecturally with exterior add-ons, such as roof altering additions or changes that are out of theme.  Items such as roof top gardens, decks, porch and overhang extensions are permitted. 

Additionally, we have been noticing people are rezzing outside of their parcel boundaries more than usual on Newbrooke. While we’re not going to be hypercritical and measure down to the millimeter, we do want to remind you that per the New Linden Homes Covenant, public space outside your parcel lines is just that: space for the public. Please take extra care not to extend objects outside of your parcel in a way that will block, wall off, or “claim” public areas for yourself to the exclusion of other residents. Items such as these could be subject to object returns upon report/discovery.

Current Progress Update

• The Moles are still working on the Chalet sub continent and the Fantasy sub continents adding more Linden Homes and adding the finishing touches due to be completed within the next month or so at best estimates.
• Work has already started on the new 12 added regions on the east side of the Newbrooke sub continent.
• No updates yet on when the north side of the logs home continent will be finished or the west side of the chalet sub continent

What’s Next ?

The Asian theme seems likely to be next Linden Home theme to be announced I think as it’s the only theme from the original old Linden Home continents that has not been duplicated yet in the Bellisseria continent. It may be something different like sci-fi, tinys, ancient, desert, ultimate Retro etc. We might hear something at VWBPE 2022 which is only three weeks away now (31st March to 2nd April 2022).

What do you think the next Linden Home theme should be ?

NEW: Linden Lab will be announcing details about Premium Plus before end of March 2022. Q2 2022 starts 1st April through until 30th June 2022 so I would imagine it will launch in this time window. This may relate to the red theme colour SSP regions.

We will have to wait and see what happens.

Red SSP regions as of 12th March 2022

More development updates will be posted very soon on my blog.

Red SSP Regions Double In Size

Red SSP Regions – 27th February 2022

During the weekend a whole lot of new red SSP regions were added in the SSP development area. The red SSP regions relates to the Modern Linden Home theme (Newbrooke) due to be released very soon. This is the size it gets normally when a release is about to happen. Keep a watch out on the Second Life Forums under the Linden Homes section.

Over the past few months more and more red SSP regions have joined up together. These regions are closed to the public and are used for Linden Home developments.

See the expansion progress below….

15th December 2021

28th January 2022

11th February 2022

27th February 2022

Stay tuned for more updates very soon on my blog.

Modern Regions Development Now underway

Modern Sub Continent – 11th February 2022

The Modern regions arrived on 6th February and since then the Moles have been building new roadways, lake areas and new Modern homes it appears. There is one region separating the chalet sub continent with the Modern sub continent in the far south. There are a lot of red squares at the moment and they are all going through many checks in order to get them ready for release very soon.

I predict the Modern regions will be released and open to the public before the end of February 2022 if you go on previous Linden Home release trends. I would expect the region mass will increase over the next few weeks and it’s possible that the work on the coastlines will start before Easter.

Latest New Developments as of 11th February 2022

• The Newbank region looks like a new community center area or a shopping complex perhaps
• There is a pond lake in the Home Grown region and many bridges in many areas
• SSP3504, SSP3505, SSP3509, SSP3510, SSP3514 and SSP3515 regions have been added to the red SSP regions block

Preview of the Modern Linden Home theme – December 2021

Releases Update

On Wednesday 9th February Patch Linden said this on the Second Life Forums “our release schedule isn’t tied to any event, or time/date for that matter at all typically.   What matters to us is that when it is done and ready, then it will be released“.

Possible community centre in the Newbank region – 11th February 2022

Water lake in Home Grown region – 11th February 2022

Six more regions added in the red SSP block – 11th February 2022

I will blog more about further developments in the next week or so. Stay tuned on my blog for that and please subscribe to stay updated. Thanks 🙂

A Closer View Of The Modern Regions Batch

As reported this week 49 new Modern Linden Home regions arrived on the grid and now they are all being prepared for the big release happening very soon. This week there has been an increase in Mole/Linden activity happening in various regions and on the red SSP regions on the other side of the grid.

It’s very exciting to see this big development happening now. I can’t wait to see if these group of regions below highlighted will grow further outwards or stay the same size in the weeks ahead. The connection bridge with the Chalet sub continent will take place very soon.

On the north side of the Chalet sub continent there is still more work in the pipeline including new coastlines, new Chalet homes, new hangout areas and hopefully plenty of water region connections with the Modern regions batch.

• No dates have been announced yet on the opening or the bridge connection.

The new Modern region names are now visible on the world map when logged into Second Life. Check out all the interesting region names below.

Here is updated overall photo below of the well known and famous Bellisseria continent as of 1pm SLT on Tuesday 8th February 2022. As you can see the start of the Modern regions are already showing up on the map. Yay! 🙂

Stay tuned on my blog for more updates soon and feel free to subscribe on the right hand side. Please spread the word 🙂

Fantasy Sub Continent – Developments Update – January 2022

SSPE2772

Earlier this month I blogged about the newest 12 SSPE regions that have been added in the north east corner of the Fantasy sub continent. Today the Moles are still working on these regions adding more Fantasy Linden Homes, new roadways, new rez zones and new interesting areas to explore. These regions should be finished by the end of February 2022.

I have noticed this week that there are more red squares in multiple regions across the Fantasy sub continent meaning things could be delayed for some time until the issues have been addressed. This is the same with the Chalet sub continent in the far north east where there are loads of red squares.

Now – Fantasy sub continent map as of Friday 28th January 2022

Before – Fantasy sub continent map as of Tuesday 11th January 2022

Start of 2022 on 5th January 2022 where the new SSPE regions arrived to complete the continent

Good progress is being made overall and I think at some point in February most if not all of the Fantasy sub continent hopefully will be finished. I will blog about further developments later next month.

SSP Development Area – January 2022 Update

As of Friday 28th January 2022 there are now 17 red SSP regions compared with six red SSP regions on 15th December 2021. The red theme is highly likely the Modern Linden theme which was announced in early December 2021 at the SL Christmas Expo.

Now – 28th January 2022

Before – 15th December 2021

More updates will be posted on my blog in February 2022.

Linden Lab Looks Back At 2021 & Looks Forward To 2022

On Thursday 23rd December Linden Lab released it’s 2021 – Second Life Year In Review blog post mentioning some of the main highlights of the year. The lab reflects on the key accomplishments for 2021 from the succesful migration to the cloud, performance improvements, new features, new user experience improvements, the release of two different Linden Home themes and more.

2021 Key Highlights

• Improved speed and cadence of updates in performance. Overhauling the new user experience (welcome islands/new user guidebook), various UI and search improvements
• The infrastructure in the Cloud improved throughout 2021
• Chalet and Fantasy Linden Home themes were released. Newbrooke will be available very soon
• Receiving group notices in email
• More time limited themed last names became available through 2021
• Support for multi-factor authentication was introduced this year
• New 360 Snapshot Tool enables 360-degree snapshots
• Over 140 Second Life Marketplace updates and fixes. Like these highlights like “tying Marketplace into the overall single sign-on (SSO) system, adding a “Save For Later” feature in the shopping cart, adding bulk redelivery for merchants, as well as fixing several issues and improving speed and stability”. 
• And more!

There was mentions of Ebbe Altberg who sadly passed away earlier this year and Oz Linden who retired earlier this year. Brad Oberwager (Oberwolf Linden) stepped in as the Executive Chairman following the succesful acquisition of Linden Lab by an investment group run by Randy Waterfield.

Linden Lab mentions the 2022 roadmap in the blog post which sounds pretty interesting. Stay tuned for more Lab Gab episodes and weekly user group office hours which are planned. The annual shopping and larger popular events will be happening next year.

• Avatar “expressiveness” that brings camera-based gestures and movement to your avatar for a whole new level of interaction and connectedness
• Premium Plus – a new upgrade option with added features and extras
• A new mobile viewer to enhance and improve your Second Life experience
• Improved group chat reliability
• Viewer and script performance improvements 
• New user avatar customization and improvements
• Updated mesh optimizer
• Search engine improvements
• Improved materials and terrain
• Adding web marketplace variants
• …and much more!

I think Avatar “expressiveness” sounds like it’s going to be pretty big and i’m sure going to be awesome. Premium Plus is a big one to watch as many have wanted this for some time. The new mobile viewer is still happening so that’s great to hear. The other improvements listed under that will make Second Life sound pretty good during 2022.

Linden Lab mentions the metaverse relating to the big name change announcement from Facebook to Meta recently. From the sounds of things there is “genuine concern about Facebook’s plans in this space”. Let’s see what happens in 2022 and 2023. It’s still early days yet.

Marketing the “Metaverse”
So, perhaps you have heard of this new thing called the metaverse?   Unless you’ve been living under a rock (virtual or otherwise), you probably already know that Facebook recently changed its corporate name to Meta as they work on their own vision and version of a “metaverse.” While we appreciate that this development has super-charged interest in virtual worlds, we also know that there is genuine concern about Facebook’s plans in this space given its spotty reputation on many issues including consumer data privacy and protections.

At Second Life, we’re proud that we don’t monetize, sell, or share consumer data – and we’ve been heartened to see the mainstream media reevaluate our own virtual world amidst the heightened interest in all-things-metaverse including a renewed recognition and celebration of our pioneering contributions to the concepts of virtual economies, cultures, and communities.

What have been your highlights of 2021 in Second Life ? Feel free to share in comments below. Have a great Christmas everyone.

Linden Reveal Region Shut Down For An Update

Just after 10am SLT this morning Patch Linden has posted an update via the Second Life Forums on the current status of the Linden Reveal region which is now showcasing the newest Linden Home theme Modern homes. From the feedback the lab has received during the past 24 hours the lab have decided to shut down the reveal region for an update.

It should not last very long though as the reveal region will be back Really Soon after the Moles have “put some touches on it to make sure our imagination is still reflected in our work”.

From the sounds of things something has gone wrong because I can’t remember this happening in previous year launches. Hopefully the lab/moles will be able to sort this out as soon as possible.

Patch Linden Full Update – Source

We have heard your feedback and we have decided to shut down the reveal region for an update.  It seems that this may not have been representative of our best foot forward approach we have taken with the homes over the past.  So I am here to make sure that everyone knows that we have not changed course, lessened our quality, mindfulness or retracted any of the heart and soul we put in to making these homes, themes and community building areas.  

Proof of the fact that I feel less present is actually due to how busy we are with continuing to do more, which is taking more and more of my time.  I am still present, we all do still participate in everything we can in world within Bellisseria, and we are always trying to find new ways to engage on everything we can, including some great Resident run efforts and projects that I know many are involved in.  

That said, the reveal region will be back Really Soon™ after we’ve put some touches on it to make sure our imagination is still reflected in our work. 
Thank you everyone from the team and I for being involved!  ❤️

I will post more updates when I hear more.