News and Commentary: Sansar Update: Plans For Release Date, Minimum Requirements, Allegation of Content Theft

By Bixyl Shuftan

A few developments about Sansar have come up in recent days. One is an answer from it's developers via Twitter when asked about when it would be ready for release. The answer was, "Plan is this summer, specific date (to be announced)." This is a little different from when in interview last month Ebbe Linden stated they would release Sansar this Summer. Now, they say their plan is to release it this Summer, but can't give a specific date. Another sign that the development of Sansar is seeing more difficulties than anticipated.

Another development was when the developers, also on Twitter, answered a question about Sansar's requirements. What the minimum requirements were, they stated they couldn't say what they would be, but "current recommendation is aligned to Oculus/Vive specs."

Taking a look at oculus.com, there was the following minimum specs:

Graphics Card    NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti / AMD Radeon RX 470 or greater
Alternative Graphics Card    NVIDIA GTX 960 4GB / AMD Radeon R9 290 or greater
CPU    Intel i3-6100 / AMD FX4350 or greater
Memory    8GB+ RAM
Video Output    Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
USB Ports    1x USB 3.0 port, plus 2x USB 2.0 ports
OS    Windows 8.1 or newer

On vive.com, these were the minimum specs posted:

Processor: Intel™ Core™ i5-4590 or AMD FX™ 8350, equivalent or better
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce™ GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon™ RX 480, equivalent or better.
Memory: 4 GB RAM or more
Video output: 1x HDMI 1.4 port, or DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
USB: 1x USB 2.0 port or newer
Operating system: Windows™ 7 SP1, Windows™ 8.1 or later or Windows™ 10

Hamlet Au, who also wrote about the recommendations, summed it up by saying "so basically, if you're not a hardcore PC gamer already, you're probably not ready to jump into Sansar when it Alpha launches ..." In the comments following the article, Ckara Seller commented, "when I did a quick check on upgrading prices to meet specs on Occulus and Vive I was coming up with numbers ranging from $2500 to $5000 depending on how much you need and want. I'd say that most people will need a new system if they are going to meet specs for processor alone. There's the cost of the VR equipment, a powerful graphics card, power supply and the required USB ports. It makes no sense to spend a hefty minimum to upgrade to minimum when you know it's inevitable that minimum will be a dinosaur within months. So my amateur take is that you will need to spend a few thousand to get what you need to carry you for awhile. It's going to hurt your wallet like a bad trip to the dentist. Calling for financial pain is where Sansar is going to begin their introduction to new customers. ... I think this message is so untimely and they all know it. ...."

It's looking less and less like Sansar will be the highly successful product Linden Lab hoped it would be.

Also in the comments was what might be the first accusation of content theft in Sansar. Someone found what he identified as a BonHuit cottage from M and M Creations. If the name seems familiar to longtime Newser readers, it should. M&M Creations, owned by Marcthur and 10 Goosson, was one of the main longtime sponsors of Second Life Newspaper, the predecessor newsletter of the Second Life Newser and has bought some advertising time in the past. In the past, they had an inworld mall and at one time offered building lessons. Sadly real-life troubles have caused them to scale back on their activities. But they do offer some great products.

I messaged Marcthur, and eventually got an answer. The owner of the cottage did buy it from him, and does have permission to use it in Sansar. So apparently there was no content theft after all. This is a reminder though that Linden Lab will need to police it's new grind for real cases of stealing.

Sources: New World Notes, vive.com, oculus.com

Bixyl Shuftan