Month: January 2006 (Page 1 of 3)

Is There Gold In Those Hills?

January 31, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Fans of Survivor, The Apprentice, and Rock Star: INXS will know the name Mark Burnett. He is one of the most successful television producers in recent times, churning out hit reality series after hit reality series. Now, it seems that Burnett wants to apply his talents to another niche — interactive Web programs.

Burnett has teamed up with AOL to bring the treasure-hunt game show “Gold Rush” to the Internet. Details about the game are sketchy at best, but it will require cryptic puzzles to be solved in real-time. Contestants will be able to have “constant interaction with the showâ€™s central treasure hunt,” according to Burnett, and the prize is nothing to scoff at – $1.6 million in gold will be available in 13 locations across the United States.

I am the Possum, Goo Goo G’Joob

January 31, 2006 / Larry Eisner

We’ve been seeing an amazing surge in grassroots projects lately, and “iamthepossum” seems to be yet another with potential. While the game seems to be in initial phases currently, this is the breakdown:

Alan Reeve, an owner of a LiveJournal, has been having strange dreams, ever since January 13th, when he hung up a dream-catcher that he got as a gift from his grandfather in Atlanta.

Just when Alan’s (Tiffletaff7) dreams started recurring, a player at UnFiction got an instant message from “iamthepossum” asking about Alan. When the player contacted Alan via IM to check out the facts, he responded quite realistically, by being more than a little creeped out, and shooing the players away.

The LiveJournal was last updated on the 20th, with Alan getting a dead possum in his mailbox. He’s taken down the dream-catcher, and apparently the next step is for us to take, as nothing new has been updated at all since that time.

Is the game still active? Is the game only beginning? What is the relationship of “iamthepossum” and Alan? Only time will tell. Be sure to check ARGN for future updates, should new information come out in regards to this game!

Perplex City Lands in America

January 30, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Perplex City will be taking another leap forward in the very near future, as the PXC universe will be on display at the Toy Fair in New York City from February 12-15 (Booth #6160, for those interested on visiting). Mind Candy Design, the creators of the card-based Alternate Reality Game, are currently putting together a media blitz for American audiences — a new press release is heralding the “launch of Perplex City in North America.”

While the cards have been available at select U.S. toy stores for months, Mind Candy CEO Michael Smith promises that they will make it “much easier to get access to our cards in North America, so everyone now has the opportunity to get immersed in Perplex City.â€ With an increase in the number of retailers selling the puzzle cards, the community of 13,000 registered at the Perplex City forums should see a surge of American players in the coming months.

The world of PXC keeps expanding — there is now a player-generated map of Perplex City in the style of Google Maps, and the aforementioned PXC Forums are full of activity. With the upcoming live events in New York and London coming soon, it looks like 2006 will be another big year for Sente and his cast of characters.

Vaporlofts Closes Its Doors

January 30, 2006 / Carie Ward

Sometimes addiction to ARG games is not a good thing. We players always seem to want more stories, more puzzles, and more action, even after the game has finished. Especially after the game has finished, players will attempt to find more secrets hidden away, squeezing every last drop out of the game before they walk away.

So has been the case with Vaporlofts. I am sorry to report that ARGN has received information that the game has come to an end, just the way it was meant to, even though none of us realized it. In a vast departure from previous games, Vaporlofts ended the way things in life tend to do. There were no ending credits, no happy endings, just more questions than answers. Anne never returned from Atlanta and with information going missing, it seems that only Vaporlofts can know why. With the company so good at keeping secrets, we may never know what truly happened to her. All of our leads have gone cold, so it’s time to put this into a cold case file and hope that one day a new lead may turn up.

The Composer & Renata Isle

January 29, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Two weeks ago, selected members of the UnFiction message boards were sent mysterious emails from someone calling themselves “The Composer”. The emails were quickly solved — each email contained part of a coded message — and the game was on. Over the course of eleven short days, players were led to a security site, interacted via Instant Messaging, and were introduced to the story of Renata Isle.

As it turns out, the mystery has been solved, for now. On an in-game site, players have learned that they were part of a pre-game activity for upcoming ARG “Renata Isle”. The explanation promises bigger and better things to come on the “17th of the second,” which is assumed to mean February 17th of this year. There is also a teaser page that provides some basic details for the upcoming game.

From reactions in the discussion thread, this pre-game was quite enjoyable to be a part of. We will check back in on this on the 17th and see what happens with “Renata Isle”.

Elan Lee of 42 Entertainment to Appear on G4TV

January 25, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

ARGN has learned that Elan Lee of 42 Entertainment will be appearing on the G4 Video Game Television network tomorrow (January 26th). He will be interviewed by Kevin Pereira on Attack of the Show, which first airs at 7 pm, with repeats on Friday at 3 am, 9 am and 3 pm (all times EST). Accompanied by Shane Small, the two will discuss EDOC Laundry, among other topics. EDOC, for the uninformed, is a new clothing company offering coded clothes with an Alternate Reality Gaming tie-in.

Elan Lee has been a part of 42 Entertainment since its inception, and was instrumental in developing and producing some of the most popular ARGs of all time, including The Beast, I Love Bees, and Last Call Poker.