Downloader: Fugly Friday: Cybertown

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Fugly Friday: Cybertown

Do you tire of your humdrum, meatspace world? Does Sony's PlayStation Home look too real? Are there too many flying penises in Second Life for your taste? Well, strap on your hippie goggles and head over to Cybertown, where VRML never really went out of style, it just got better textures.

I remember stumbling into Cybertown around the turn of this century and being plenty impressed. Back then, before Shockwave got all 3D and around the time of RealPlayer G2's enhanced multimedia capabilities, this was neat stuff. Now, sadly, CyberTown is pretty much a Cyber-GhostTown.

No one but the resident chat bot appeared while I was online, and the markets, parks and cities were devoid of anything but a futuristic, bleak landscape. Pretty much what Caprica looked like after the Cylons were done bombing it to oblivion. Except with references to RealPlayer G2 (I kid you not).

Now, of course, even without any human meatbags occupying the place, it is rather sad. The graphics haven't improved in years, despite the new owners' insistence upon pending upgrades. The Blaxxun plug-in (not Mac or Linux compatible) is an older version as well, which doesn't say much for those upgrades. Adding insult to injury, the site owners now charge $5 a month for the privilege of walking through this virtual ghost town. Does it get sadder? Yeah, it kind of does. Check the gallery.

Gallery: Cybertown