Month: March 2005 (Page 1 of 3)

Rumors: Virgil, King of Code

March 29, 2005 / Steve Peters

Our intrepid researchers at the Alternate Reality Gaming Network have turned up something interesting. Virgil is an erstwhile artist/game designer, as his website, www.virgilkingofcode.com, attests. He’s had quite an interesting history, along with some tragedy that caused him to take a break from games for a while.

But it seems Virgil is finally designing games again, and has begun with a project based on the life of a friend of his, Nisha Roberts. Nisha runs Last Resort Retrieval, a company that tracks down and recovers stolen artwork.

Some further investigation leads us to believe that this is indeed a rabbithole for a new ARG, unrelated to any currently running games. We’ll post updates as further details become available.

EDIT: Some more digging has revealed that this ARG is going by the name “The Art of the Heist.”

ARGs in Historical Perspective

March 29, 2005 / Steve Peters

Adrian Hon, one of the developers behind Perplex City, has somehow found time in his busy schedule to blog about Alternate Reality Gaming and how it fits into the historical scheme of things. His new entry, The Reality Artificers, places ARGs in the context of the long history of storytellers using framing devices to create more believable stories. It’s an incredibly well-researched and interesting read.

“…ARGs are not a new idea – they are simply the newest instance of an idea almost as old as storytelling itself – of storytellers constructing fictional realities, by deliberately mimicking the trusted information sources of media in order to create more realistic and affecting stories…

“…It is clear that storytellers throughout history have repeatedly and independently discovered that increasing the audience’s belief in a story can provide a more affecting and engaging experience. All of these artificers of fictional realities have used the same strategies: ancient Egyptian stories used fake letters; Welles used a fake news broadcast; the BBC used a fake live documentary; and ARGs use a network of fake news and personal websites…”

You can read The Reality Artificers in its entirety at mssv.net.

Still Life Prelude Begins

March 26, 2005 / Steve Peters

It seems that the Extended Reality Game that was announced to accompany Microids’ new adventure game Still Life has begun. A look at the website now reveals a link to Still Life Prelude, which leads to a brief introduction and then to Victoria McPherson’s Liberty 1.3 OS desktop (nicely provided by Lombartech).

There, the player will find tons of hints in the form of emails, to-do lists, links to other in-game sites, and even various crypto tools. From the intro:

“You will be playing Victoria McPherson…..and instead of watching her move through streets and corridors, you will be seeing what she sees every day as she works from her desk, investigating, gathering information and puzzling through clues in a race against time to prevent a killer from striking again. As you and Victoria do this together, you’ll have to deal with the Press, your supervisor, trouble with friends, and a mysterious ally.

“All of this is going to happen on Victoria’s desktop, through journal entries, news reports and email interaction. Remember: You’ll be Victoria’s eyes and hands, so you’ll be opening her journal every morning, responding to her email and piecing together the clues that will bring a killer to justice.”

Additionally, Still Life Prelude is aimed at a global audience, being made available in English, French, Italian and German.

This looks like it could be a lot of fun. Oh, and for those of you familiar with past ARGs, check out the Credits page for some familiar names.

Discussion at Unfiction.

War of the Worlds Latin Revelations

March 24, 2005 / Steve Peters

A few weeks back, we reported on some mysterious posters and graffiti that was showing up around the country, all depicting the latin phrase, “Omnium Finis Imminet.” Word was that these could be the beginnings of a marketing campaign for the upcoming Spielberg adaptation of War of the Worlds, and this even seemed to be confirmed in a New York Times Article. This news caused many in the ARG community to clench various body parts in collective anticipation of another Spielberg-related Alternate Reality Game.

Paramount discounted these reports, however, and it was finally disclosed that these ads were for an upcoming NBC-TV series, Revelations. In addition, the New York Times subsequently published the following retraction:

“An article on Saturday about unusual subway advertisements included an erroneous identification from transit officials for the production whose ad featured a flock of birds with the phrase “Omnium Finis Imminet,” Latin for “The End of All Things Is Near.” It is an NBC television series called “Revelations,” not Steven Spielberg’s film version of “War of the Worlds.”

Well, it just goes to show you that you can’t always believe everything those pesky NYC Transit Officials tell you after all, let alone the New York Times! Alternate Reality Game? Nope. Stealth campaign gone terribly wrong? Absolutely!

“Perplex City” Launches

March 21, 2005 / Steve Peters

After much anticipation, Perplex City launched today via their final advertisement in The Guardian, just as promised:

Cube stolen in Deadly Raid
January 16 2004 [267AC] – Iona Rodie

“from the Academy museum last night in a raid which left one security guard dead. Police cheif, Eoin Morgan, described the theft, which took place during the Annual Acadamy Ball as “highly organised and technologically sophisticated.” Fran Mendling, 42, was killed with a neuro-suppressant device, making it impossible to pinpoint the time of death. Academy spokesperson Valerian Reynolds revealed that security cameras and sensors were offline throughout the Ball. She”

www.perplexcitysentinel.com

We won’t spoil it for you, but be prepared for a nice deep rabbithole to explore. The Perplex City universe awaits!

Discussion at Unfiction
Chat in #syzygy
Primer
Perplex City Wiki

International Attention for ARGs

March 19, 2005 / Steve Peters

The last few weeks has seen a marked increase in press coverage for Perplex City, most notably from sources outside the U.S. and England. PC is doing exceptionally well at gaining the attention of news sources around the world, furthering the visibility of Alternate Reality Games as a whole.

Just since the beginning of March, major articles have appeared at CNET (which was syndicated all over the place), Agent PortÃ¡l (Hungary), La Voz de Galicia (Spain), the Contra Costa Times, and the LibÃ©ration (France). This international coverage makes sense, as Alternate Reality Games are one of the few things that can truly be played by a worldwide audience. For a comprehensive listing of major ARG press coverage over the past few years, see our Press Page.

It was also noted that multiple film crews showed up at Abbey Road Studios this morning, presumably to catch what was going on with the Perplex City event. Couple that with the numerous recent interviews with members of the ARG community, and you can expect to see even more coverage in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Perplex City is proving itself to be the Game To Watch. If you’re new to the genre, we highly recommend it as the one to get involved with. While you may have to wait a few more days for things to really get going, we have a feeling it will definitely be worth the wait.