Month: October 2006 (Page 1 of 2)

Chat tonight with John Little, puppetmaster for Waiting for AV

October 31, 2006 / Brooke Thompson

Waiting for AV came to a frustrating end last night, leaving players wondering just what had happened and if their efforts to complete the game’s ritual were successful. This morning, players woke to learn that while they did manage to complete the final ritual, doing so resulted in the death of Shamash, a player-turned-character.

Not without criticism after starting with graphic imagery and then struggling to adapt to the players, the game generated a small, tight-knit group of players who waited patiently through moments in a game that seemed as if it might end at any moment. While the end-game didn’t bust the climactic scale, the players report that they enjoyed the time that they spent together and are pleased to see such a small independent effort come to a successful conclusion.

John Little, puppetmaster of the effort, has updated the Altus Veritas website with a thank you to his players, and will be participating in a Puppetmaster Chat this evening at 9pm EDT/8pm CDT in #av on irc.chat-solutions.org.

Find out more information at Altus Veritas and the unforums. For those that would like to participate in the chat, you can use the ARGNet chat applet or connect through your favorite IRC client.

ARG Netcast, Episode 2

October 29, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Episode 2 of the ARG Netcast features Sean C. Stacey of unfiction, Brooke Thompson of Giant Mice and Jonathan Waite of ARGNet. You can now find the netcast on iTunes, by the way — search for ARGNet and subscribe!

Game News and Topics of Discussion

As we reported earlier this week, Perplex City gets more VC funding. Also, is the ARG portion of Season One over? As well, will a new writer (Mathilde Madden) bring a different view point to the Mind Candy team?
AV and Cassie Is Watching move forward with new content. How can players of CiW keep track of what is and what isn’t in-game?
Win a copy of Cathy’s Book! Listen to the netcast to find out how!
Konamouse at the unforums pitches in with a helpful Story So Far thread related to Sammeeees.
The 4400 fan-created ARG goes thud, according to the puppetmaster. Why do games go under, sometimes needlessly?

New Venture Capital For Perplex City, and the “Earth Link Locked Down”

October 27, 2006 / Brooke Thompson

Mind Candy, the team behind Perplex City, has announced that they have secured an additional $7 million in funding from Accel Partners, Index Ventures, and NewMedia Spark. The funding shows confidence in the growing company and their ability to build and develop new forms of entertainment such as Alternate Reality Games and comes in advance of a major expansion in 2007.

The announcement brings with it great news for all of us involved in that seemingly never-ending hunt for the missing cube. No, the link between Earth and Perplex City is still locked down, Earlywine is still the Council Leader, and the Cube has not yet been found — this news is even more exciting. There is more Perplex City on the way! It is official. The second season of the popular game will be driving us mad sometime in early 2007. They also promise that there are loads of new Perplex City products in development including books, video games, and mobile content.

The UK-based company is also expanding beyond Perplex City and is currently working on a new puzzle brand that will be aimed at a younger demographic. With the creativity and level of depth shown with the universe surrounding Perplex City, we can only assume that children everywhere will have their imaginations ignited and their minds broadened â€“ much to the alarmed delight of their parents and teachers.

Congrats go out to the team! We canâ€™t wait to see what you have in store. Oh, and FYI, faithful readers — we have an inside track into why the story is where it currently is, and perhaps some preview secrets into Season Two, so we’re hoping to get some exclusive information out sooner than later. As always, stay tuned!

Live Games Network To Launch “The Prague Files”

October 24, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Live Games Network, which we were pointed to thanks to a tip from c|net’s Daniel Terdiman, is a recently-founded company that “produces and directs games that let players live a fictional adventure for set period of time,” according to their web site. Their first campaign, titled The Prague Files, is set to launch on December 4th of this year, and will last for fourteen days. It looks like it will be a mysterious spy-themed game, based on the video preview you can find on the LGN site, and will require “a cell phone, an email address and web access” to play. There is a contest element, promising prizes such as XBox 360 and PSP game packs, as well as a one week trip to Prague for the winner and a friend, but the contest is limited to U.S. residents (except Maryland, Vermont and New Jersey). Oh, and it’s subscription based — according to the rules of the game, “once you have paid the subscription fee, there will be no refunds for any reason, including, but not limited to, lack of participation in the Contest.”

So, why do we care? Well, if this delivers what it appears to promise, this may be the type of interactive experience many of you might enjoy. If it has a story arc, coupled with interactive features and puzzles, in a real-time environment, then that might mean it’s an ARG, even though the site doesn’t refer to the game as such. The Training link on the page refers to a game, DeltaOneZero, which was concluded in December of 2003, that was described as “one of Australia’s first cross-media, web based gaming experiences.” However, with the subscription model (which requires a credit card for payment, incidentally) intact, will it reach as large an audience as it could without the pay-to-play aspect? And will a worldwide audience embrace a contest that can only be won by an American participant which is being put on by a relatively unknown upstart company? I guess we’ll find out in 41 days.

Regenesis Extended Reality Wins Gemini Award

October 24, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Congratulations are in order for Canadian production Xenophile Media as they captured the 2006 Gemini Award for Best Cross Platform Project at last week’s ceremonies in Toronto, Canada. Their ARG, the ReGenesis Extended Reality, won for the first time in the prize category, awarded to the “interactive project that best â€œenhances the users’ enjoyment of the television program/series through such platforms as mobile, the Web and other portable devicesâ€,” according to a press release. ReGenesis is a Canadian bio-lab drama available in Canada and in syndication worldwide.

Shaftesbury Films, who produce the television series, has been forward-thinking in its attempts to connect to its audience, partnering with Xenophile to manage the alternate reality gaming model which has delivered real-time content that is directly related to the weekly series for both of the show’s seasons. In the second season’s Extended Reality, players were treated to hours of video clips which broadened the overall storyline of the show, and the show reciprocated (in a fine bit of pre-filmed trickery) by acknowledging the efforts of the players as they attempted to aid the scientists working at NorBAC labs in Ontario.

You can watch the Gemini awards gala will be broadcast on Canadian network Global on November 4th at 6:30 pm PST / 9:30 pm EST. The Gemini Industry Awards, which were awarded over a three night span, will be broadcast on Rogers Television in the Toronto area, so if you want to see the Xenophile folks accepting their awards, you’ll want to tune in on for the second of the three nights, dubbed the “Gemini Lifestyle, Childrenâ€™s and Youth,” which will be shown at 6:00 pm EST on November 17th.

ARG Netcast, Episode 1

October 23, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Editor’s note: While we are still figuring out the logistical nature of netcasting, you can subscribe to the netcast by saving/dragging this link into your podcast/netcast program, including iTunes.

We’re happy to introduce the first in what will be a continuing series of netcasts featuring ARGNet staff and special guests. The ARG Netcast will be a weekly (we hope) look into the world of alternate reality gaming, in audio format. Episode 1 is up and features Brooke Thompson, Sean C. Stacey and myself talking about a number of different topics:

We dish on the games in our What’s Hot List!

EDOC featured on CSI:NY
Cathy’s Book gets a brief look — will it stand up test of time?
Cassie is Watching, dead trail or official tie-in with Lonelygirl15?
The End: we argue about the name but like the original language used in the game
Sammeeees launches creatively, uses free resources well
AV brings the gore, but is there more?
Perplex City keeps on going and going and going… where’s it leading? And where’s the cube?