Spring into Action in Blue Mars!

Don't miss the action in Blue Mars! This week brought us animations to swim and to fly, and we started a campaign to help our neighbors. We had a selection of new designs and builds, and we'll wrap up the week with a Spring Fling Dance and Fashion Show.

The disaster in Japan has left many of our friends struggling to set their lives back in order. To show our support, we've added a link to a site that is collecting donations to the Red Cross, UNICEF, and other aid organizations. Also, we have a shirt created for our members to call attention to the situation and encourage members to donate. For your free shirt, contact JosieBlues in the PC client. Alternately, you can retweet our tsunami message left on Twitter with BlueMarsOnline. Our hearts and thoughts are with all of those who have been affected.

On a lighter note, DavyRocket has created some animations that will allow members in our PC client to swim and fly as alternatives to walking and running. Watch the video demonstration by Aniline at this link: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=204167496279211&comments

Animations are available in Misty Hollow in Davy's mall. You may also want to visit Fashion Esplanade for Estelle's latest tops for men and women, and be sure to see the new TownHouse in Beach City by hirasawatei. Screenshots of the latest in Blue Mars are available at Flickr. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bluemarsflickr/)

Be sure to join us Friday, March 25, for our Spring Fling Dance and Fashion Show. The festivities begin at 4pm PDT, but we'll be there early and late for those with time change challenges. In addition to the usual dances to the music of 106themix, we'll offer the following BLU$ prize opportunities:

• Most colorful facepaint
• Best floral facepaint
• Most original facepaint
• Best male spring fashion
• Best female spring fashion

Participants can use posing animations created by DavyRocket to model their outfits for us. Everyone will receive a complimentary copy of these animations as well as some new spring hair and our Blue Mars Cares tees. Those modeling for us will earn some designer beads; carved shell for the guys and glowing red for the ladies.

Please select your music favorites for this event by making requests close to time for the dance. The request line is here: http://www.106themix.com/onairinfo/playlist.php You're allowed three requests per 40 min.

Spring into action with us in Blue Mars!

Blue Mars Mobile 1.2 Release

The latest version of Blue Mars Mobile is now integrated with Twitter! Link your avatar and Twitter account (just enter your username on the My Account page of the app) and tweets will appear above your avatar when in 3D view. Plus, certain keyword and phrases in tweets will trigger animations…see how avatars react!

Get the Blue Mars Mobile app on the App Store, available now for free: http://bit.ly/bmmob11

Lucky Leprechaun Dance Today!

No matter where you are, be Irish for one more day! Join us for the Lucky Leprechaun Dance. We'll be offering BLU$ prizes for the Best Celtic/Irish Costume and for the Best Leprechaun Face paint. In addition to that we have prizes for all!

• Green beer by DavyRocket
• Lucky shamrocks with four-leaf clovers guaranteed by SMZ-Greenie
• Kick up your heels to an Irish Jig animation too, also by DavyRocket

And who knows? There could be more! For sure there will be fun, music, and dancing as we welcome our new members and mingle with the staff and volunteers.

We expect a bit of confusion over the time change, so you'll find the vols there early and staying a bit late. Party time is 4pm PDT. That's 7pm EDT in the US, and as far as we can figure that's 11pm GMT, 11pm UK, and midnight in Central Europe.

Music provided by http://106themix.com. See our ad there! Also, close to party time, be sure to request up to three of your favorites from this link: http://www.106themix.com/onairinfo/playlist.php

See you at the party for a lucky kiss and a dance!

Josie

Upgrade to Blue Mars Mobile is Now Live!

Hurray! Blue Mars Mobile 1.1 is now live! Thousands of fashions, accessories, and other virtual items created by the Blue Mars development community are available for in-app purchase. Users also have access to several free items which were provided by developers.

Other new features include in-app avatar creation and customization, an improved voting system to rate avatars, and multiple ways to search for items and other users. Additionally, account information is now fully integrated so that users who sign up via the app can use the same username and password to access the PC version. According to Kazuyuki Hashimoto, Avatar-Reality President and Co-founder, "Users now have an app where they can not only create, customize, and shop for their avatars in beautiful 3D detail, but also enjoy a constant stream of new creations from the development community. For developers, this is a huge opportunity to grow their businesses and brands, and to reach a new audience."

The Blue Mars app can be downloaded or upgraded from the App Store. For more information on becoming a developer for the Blue Mars Platform, visit www.bluemars.com

Blue Mars Version 0.87 Now Live!

The lastest version of the Blue Mars PC Client was released Friday night. Version 0.87 contains some great new additions to help new members become acquainted with the Blue Mars interface and to help all members communicate and customize more easily.

Members are now introduced to Blue Mars with a mini tutorial on the basics of walking and talking as they enter the Welcome Area. Interactive signs point them to areas of interest such as the Dance Floor, Stage area, and the new Reversi game! Yes, we now have a two-person interactive game in the Welcome Area. Players choose a color and take turns playing to entrap markers of the opposing color. White chips in a line, when trapped by blue chips at each end, will reverse to blue. The object of the game is to dominate the board with your own color.

Another great new feature is the Twitter link built in to the UI. Members now have the ability to tweet information and pictures directly from the client. Here's how:

• Click the little birdie icon (Twitter icon)
• Write your message in the pop up box
• Submit the tweet

Easy enough! The first time you tweet, you will be asked for permission to post on your Twitter page. After that, you can tweet automatically. You can also post pictures to twitpic.com, and share those on Facebook and other social channels.

What else is new?

• Seven new shapes in the face designer
• Bug fixes to the profile display
• Improved lighting in the Point of Sale display

We're moving forward in Blue Mars!

Sneak Peek of the New Blue Mars Mobile App

When we launched Blue Mars Mobile last month, we mentioned plans for future updates in our blog post and press release. We are excited to share that the latest version of our iOS app, which is now with Apple for approval, is loaded with new features. A couple of note: In-App purchase of fashions, accessories and other items (see screenshot for example) as well as the ability to create and customize avatars directly in the app. The timing couldn’t be better: With Apple’s announcement this morning of plans to ship 40MM iPads this year, we have a tremendous opportunity to expand the Blue Mars community and for our developers to grow their businesses and brands. Stay tuned for more news updates in the coming days. Until then, see you on Mars!