Month: November 2006 (Page 1 of 3)

Playing Lawn Games for Life

November 30, 2006 / Carie Ward

What do you get when you combine a cross-country trip with a scavenger hunt, old family stories and a variety of puzzles? The answer is Lawn Games for Life, a new ARG that is running now through the middle of December.

Lawn Games for Life is part of the inheritance that Anna Ravelo has left her favorite niece, Taylor Garcia. The game is a quest to discover an even bigger heirloom: The Fountain of Truth. The Fountain is the â€œmost precious, valuable, and treasured possessionâ€ of the family â€“ and possibly the world.

Taylor, as substitute PM for the late Aunt Anna, has been assigning trials for her extended family members for the past week. Each trial reveals more information about Annaâ€™s past brings us one step closer to finding The Fountain of Truth. The trials also award points to the family who can solve them ahead of their cousins, creating a spirit of competition amidst the cooperative play.

Lawn Games for Life is scheduled to end December 22nd when a live finale will be held in St. Augustine, Florida. Interested players should visit the Trials page to solve puzzles on behalf of their extended family members (who often gather on the LGFL discussion board). There is also a guide designed to help newcomers to the four families get up to speed with puzzle walkthroughs and links to Challenge Pieces won in previous trials.

Trailhead: http://www.lawngamesforlife.com
Discussion at Unfiction: http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17510
Guide: http://www.wonderweasels.org/lawngames/guide.html

Exploring Our Future on a Lost Planet

November 29, 2006 / Carie Ward

As any gamer can tell you, game trailers are more than just an opportunity to feast your senses on the latest pre-recorded gameplay designed to tempt you into buying the game when it is finally released. For the keen-eyed gamer, hints of deeper game mythology can often be coaxed out of these trailers, adding to the overall experience of the game.

It was just this type of dedicated gamer who first noticed that there were strange things in the trailers for Lost Planet, a new Xbox 360 game designed by Capcom and scheduled for release in January. Those that watched the first trailers on the Xbox Live Marketplace saw â€œ111â€ and â€œneovenusconstruction.comâ€ flash toward the end, leading them to rush off in search of the next I Love Bees.

These intrepid explorers have been rewarded with the discovery of several slick-looking websites that all share the goal of colonizing new planets (including, in the future, EDN 3 – where Lost Planet is set). While the in-game sites seem to be setting up background stories at present, there are numerous hints that more is still to come, making this an ideal point to join the game. In fact, it has been hinted on the Capcom boards that players have all the information needed to advance the game, so things could start to happen very quickly if they can discover what clues they are missing. Maybe you could be the one to stumble upon that one little bit of information that can blow the game wide open, so what are you waiting for? Be a hero to gamers everywhere and discover the secret.

Trailhead: http://neovenusconstruction.com
List of in-game sites: http://awiser.googlepages.com/home
Discussion at Unfiction: http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17446

OpAphid Becomes “Official LonelyGirl15 ARG”

November 28, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Just when you thought the LonelyGirl15 phenomenon had settled down, in walks Cassie. Cassie, an 18 year old YouTube contributor from, um, “right there above you,” first caught the eye of LG15 fans in mid-September when she was mentioned in one of the LonelyGirl15 videos. From there, it’s a little hard to explain, what with the public skepticism about whether “Cassie Is Watching” (the first video in the Cassie series can be found here) was officially tied in with LG15. Weeks passed by with no official confirmation on whether Cassie, Bree and Daniel (the latter two being the main characters of the LG15 videos) were all part of the same story, which left fans wondering whether Cassie was another creation by the makers of LG15 or some sort of story hijacking attempt.

Then, on October 21, things took a turn for the… even more strange and confusing. Somehow, a YouTube user named OpAphid became intertwined into the LG15/CIW universe. Again, followers of events had to wonder if this was another attempt to derail the “official” LG15 experience. Fortunately, exactly one month later, the public got some well-deserved answers from the LG15 creation team — OpAphid had become the “Official LG15 Alternate Reality Game,” according to a post on the LG15 forums. Days later, the LG15 creators acknowledged that OpAphid “was a 100% fan created ARG” and that they “liked it so much that [they] decided to contact the creator and make it the official LG15 ARG.”

ARG Netcast, Episode 6

November 26, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

If half a dozen netcasts are as sweet as half a dozen donuts, then feast your ears on the sixth ARG Netcast. Sean C. Stacey, Brooke Thompson and Jonathan Waite are joined this week by Carie Ward, ARGNet staff writer and webmaster of wonderweasels.org. Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through FeedBurner or via iTunes.

Game News

Ny Takma wrapped up this past week. The puppetmasters have spoken — find out what we think about the endgame.
Sammeeeees players are hot on the trail of the 4th and 5th Spoocheeeee disc pieces, and konamouse offers a Top Ten list. Does this ARG have the personal touch mastered?
OpAphid becomes the “Official LonelyGirl15 Alternate Reality Game, according to the official LG15 forums. Is this ARG 2.0?
Deus City rolls on. There’s a basic plot time line and cast of characters at the Unfiction forums.
tCotSA (The Committee of the Sedulous Amalgamation) shows signs of life with new snail mailings to various players. ARG or puzzle trail?
Lawn Games For Life is a new ARG. Brooke and Carie have the skinny on this emerging campaign, including info about the PM herself.
NeoVenus Construction may or may not be an ARG related to Capcom’s Lost Planet. Slick web sites, more information to follow this week.

Project MU Archives Book Released

November 26, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Once upon a time, there was Metacortechs, a Matrix-themed alternate reality game that ran from August to November 2003. The game was good, and the players enjoyed it. Some players enjoyed it so much that in 2004 they wrote a comprehensive archival book, which can still be found at Metaurchins.org. And one day, those dedicated souls took that online book and had it made into a full-color, 218 page print version. That day just so happened to be this past Wednesday, marking three years since the end of the Project MU ARG.

While online guides, wikis and trails for ARGs is commonplace, books related to specific ARGs are rare. And while we don’t have a physical copy of the book in the office (yet), we’ve seen the electronic version of the print copy, and it looks good. Darn good. Plus, at $39.99 (â‚¬32.19), the book authors are donating all proceeds to unFiction, the ARG player resource. You can find and purchase the MU Archives Book through its online store on Lulu.com.

Top Ten Reasons I Love Sammeeeees

November 25, 2006 / Letter to the Editor

Every so often, we at ARGNet are fortunate enough to get a reader submission for an article. Today, we’re happy to be able to share konamouse’s Top Ten Reasons She Loves Sammeeeees:

10. Characters are well played both on video and via their emails. Psyche!
9. Play the game, get a T-shirt.
8. Thursday night trivia game always leads to a video.
7. Ima Spoocheeeee sends smoocheeeees to distract Mr Alan Johnson.
6. Puzzles that don’t make you feel dumb.
5. Great soundtrack.
4. Online sÃ©ance and a singing nun in the shower.
3. You can’t help but smile when you say “Spoocheeeee”, “Sammeeeees” and “hoopsssssthoo”.
2. Higg’s is so sexy when he’s all fired up.
1. We have our own cool slogan: SAVE THE FIVE, SAVE THE WORLD

Often we chat in #sammeeeees about why we are enjoying this ARG. This is an ARG with a great story; great characters; and puzzles that are not overly complicated. Maybe its the responsiveness of the PMs in addressing our concerns. When we got upset at the idea of players having to choose sides, the PMs made sure we knew that we should stay on one side and that there would be an in-game method to avoid the evil Mr. Alan Johnson from getting inappropriate information. When we voiced our concerns about having to pick someone to hold the Spoocheeeee disc pieces they had a character provide us with an idea on how to do it in a fair manner. And when a potential gamejacker showed up, the PMs used the most appropriate character to deliver a message that kept us from falling for it.