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July 9, 2008
Holomove Post-Game Chat Announced
Spring is over, but the "little birds" are still whispering - this time regarding the long-awaited Holomove Post-Game PM Chat! Members of the team behind the game will be gathering in Boston on Friday, July 18th at 4PM ET to chat with players, mere hours before ARGFest officially kicks off. Fear not, for non-ARGFesters will still be able to participate via live audio chat (details to follow).
Stay tuned to the Unforum thread or ARGNet for more details as they are made available.
Editor's note: We had originally announced the wrong date, but we have it correct now. Sorry for the confusion!
Posted by Celina Beach at 4:25 PM | Comments (0)
May 31, 2008
Dharma Needs A Few Gullible Men (and Women)
It should be no surprise to anyone who has been following the show LOST that there would be something special during the season finale. Fans were not disappointed. Close to the end of the episode, a mysterious commercial branded with "Paid for by ABC" aired, advertising a recruiting event for a company called Octagon Global Recruiting. They are looking for A LOT of "volunteers to assist in a range of unpaid positions" - a scrolling list displays diverse opportunities and skills ranging from Physicists, Mathematicians, and Botanical Researchers, to Drivers, Janitors, and Ex-Military. This recruiting event will be taking place in San Diego, July 24-27... wait, what's that, you say? Those dates seem familiar? They should - they're the same dates as the San Diego Comic Con.
The website for Octagon Global Recruiting doesn't currently display much other than a streaming version of the aforementioned commercial. However, there is one other nugget of information to be found, tying Octagon Global to the Dharma Initiative. The two organizations are collaborating and recruiting volunteers willing to "contribute to an important new research project." Interested? Just enter your email to register. So far, no reports have surfaced regarding contact from Octagon, but stay tuned.
Discussion has already started at Unfiction andThe Fuselage
Posted by Celina Beach at 4:22 PM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2008
An Emergen-C at Holomove
It was a busy Wednesday morning for UPS drivers - several UPS Next Day Air packages went out for urgent delivery to unsuspecting ARGers. Despite the UPS Tracking numbers being scratched off, more than likely in an attempt to disguise the package's place of origin, UPS staff had replaced them, and the secret was revealed - the packages had originated from San Francisco. Upon opening, mysterious contents were revealed: an opened and empty packet of Emergen-C (a powdered Vitamin C energy drink) with a picture of 3 multicolored balls joined by white bars on the back resembling a chemical model of... something, and a letter on Department of Energy letterhead, dated January 30, 1985, with sentences redacted in an attempt to protect the innocent (or the guilty) and calling for the resignation of an as-yet-unnamed person. Each letter had different lines blacked out, requiring players to piece together the letter's contents.
Also included was a paper origami crane. As many of you are aware, our good friend and PuzzleMaster, Dave Szulborski, has been seriously ill, and an effort to fold 1000 paper cranes for him is underway, so the appearance of the paper cranes in the packages caused much speculation. Happily, a tip came ARGN's way to let us know it was an homage to Dave, and a way to send their best wishes to him from behind the curtain.
Also receiving a package was Daniel Terdiman at C|Net, who seemed distressed by the open Emergen-C packet, and proceeded to scold the PMs for scaring him. "Does anyone really think sending unmarked packages with cut-open powder packets is a good idea these days?" Granted, this is not the first time the media has freaked out over anthrax scares from trailhead packages.
The C|Net package contained much the same things as the others, with a few differences. This copy of the Department of Energy letter had no blacked out lines. While disappointing - players were still working on compiling the letter contents, only to have it instantly solved for them - it helped answer some questions; the letter is calling for the resignation of Eugene Gough, a researcher at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, because of "philosophical differences." Also included was a sticker with the same multi-colored ball model on the Emergen-C packets that proclaimed "Scientific Anarchy Now" and "Holomove."
Behold, our first in-game site: http://www.holomove.com. In the DoE letter, one of the things mentioned was that Eugene would be better off up at UC Berkeley rather than down in San Diego. Turns out San Diego is the home of Holomove. The first thing found upon investigation of the very pretty Flash-based site is the fact that Dr. Eugene Gough, founder of Holomove, is dead - a tragic accident off the coast of Belize in 2007. The two gentlemen listed with him are Chairman and CEO of Holomove, both of which appeared to have been appointed to their positions shortly after Dr Gough's untimely death. Prior to that, both were at Freyja Capital, a venture capital company. Not suspicious at all, right?
The site's News section also reveals the company developed "patented holographic technology and next generation User Interface (UI)" including "holography, reverse haptics, and sound projections"; and recently launched a $10M "Reach The Future" ad campaign intended to "raise awareness of the groundbreaking holographic technology" developed by Dr. Eugene Gough (www.reachthefuture.com redirects back to Holomove.com, no new site there). The Contact Us and Jobs section also lists several engineering job opportunities (along with an Executive Chef?). Clicking on the job listings redirects to a page with a Recruitment puzzle which must be solved and the solution emailed to careers@holomove.com in order to be considered for any positions. Lastly, a news scroll on the bottom of the page reveals the hiring of Nathan Bozeman as Lead Developer, which leads to the next website: Nathan's blog, CodeWrtN8.
Nate likes to blog - there are over a year's worth of posts, going back to March 2007. He's a fresh-faced young man with a Computer Science degree, some research assistant work under his belt, and a burning desire to "do something important". He quit his research assistant job, traveled the world, and attended a few conferences - MIX and SXSW '08. While at SXSW, he happened to run into a recruiter for a small start-up in San Diego - Holomove. A week later, while going through the "swag pile," he comes across the Holomove recruiter's card, does some investigation of the company, and decides "what the hell" and gives the recruiter a call. He is sent the same Recruitment puzzle linked on the Holomove Jobs section, solves it and sends it in - and finds out that's just the beginning. Seems the company has a puzzle-based hiring criteria that puts both Microsoft *and* Google to shame. Happily for us, he describes
them in detail. He apparently impressed them, as they hired him as their Lead Developer on April 2, and relocated him to San Diego where he began work about 3 weeks ago.
Besides tales of travels and puzzles, Nate has posted about work including several video entries, his Program Manager, Eliza Marks (displaying his obvious attraction to her), and links to his many social networking sites, including MySpace, LinkedIn, Pownce, and Zimbio. He's also posted about some interesting things he's discovered while working at Holomove - during his orientation, he discovered Dr. Gough had died in a scuba accident, and while looking around in Dr. Gough's office (which is kept in the same condition as it was when he was alive and working there), he discovered a very interesting crossword puzzle that is more than what it seems...
On a meta note, some very interesting "real world" people have interacted with him. Lynn Langit (SoCalDevGal) is a real-life Microsoft "Developer Evangelist". I met her last year at the Microsoft Across America Event here in San Diego. She met Nate at MIX in Las Vegas and comments in his blog post about the event. Another mention comes from Brian Goldfarb, another real-life Microsoft employee who currently appears to be working on the Silverlight project. Brian mentioned Nate in a Twitter post, talking about the "bizarre dude from the startup" with a link to Nate's blog.
Discussion is already well underway at Unfiction, and doesn't show any signs of stopping soon. Early spec is that the game is a promotion for a new Microsoft product of some form. There *is* another launch event here in San Diego on May 13th for Windows Server / SQL Server / Visual Studio '08 - and although I personally don't think Holomove has anything to do with it, if Lynn Langit just happens to be there again, I'm definitely going to hit her up for more information!
Posted by Celina Beach at 7:06 PM | Comments (0)
April 4, 2008
Having a Ball with the Joker
On March 26th, a new chapter in the Dark Knight alternate reality game began, as the cell phones that some had received inside a tasty, Joker-commissioned treat -- phones that some figured may never ring again -- sprang to life. A text message read: "Hey clown! Long time, no crime spree! Well, put on your floppy shoes and answer this question: are you ready to get to work?" For those brave enough to text back, answering in the affirmative, the reward was a second text: "Glad to see you're still alive and kicking. I'll be in touch before Poisson D'Avril"
A quick Google reveals "Poisson D'Avril" to be, literally, "April Fish" in French. Poisson D'Avril is also the French equivalent of April Fools. This gave the indication that something Jokerish was about to occur, prior to April Fools!
The phones went active again on March 30th, but this time, with a call from an actual person instead of a text message. The recipients were informed that they were one of 17 "clowns" remaining, and each were given a letter to remember and report to the rest of the "clowns" (for example, "'E' as in Elephant"). Sixteen other letters were given to the remaining clowns, which led to a new web site being discovered -- Clown Travel Agency. The site was simple in design, with only a suitcase adorned with stickers from several worldwide destinations, and an envelope which stated "Departure Date: 4-01".
Two days later, April 1st dawned and players the world over waited anxiously for the promised update, which came later in the day in the form of a new image on the web site of a now-open envelope. Upon clicking the paper inside, a note from the Joker was revealed, which read, "Ready to have a ball? A special bag of fun awaits the first to claim it, but you'd better strike fast, there's no time to spare!" Hmmm... Anyone else notice something about the choice of words there? "Ball", "strike", "spare" - anyone in the mood for some bowling?
Clicking the note revealed a list of cities, twenty-eight in all, from all over the world - the United Kingdom, Brazil, France, Canada, and the United States, matching the stickers on the suitcase. At first, only the first few of the actual addresses were listed, along with instructions such as "Ask for 'Twitchy' at Reception" or a series of numbers that appeared to be a locker combination. Further investigation revealed that the drop sites were, as suspected, bowling alleys, and as the "bags of fun" were acquired, passport-like stamps appeared next to the drop sites on the list. Approximately every hour, a couple more drop sites and instructions were revealed.
Looking over the list to see if I could become involved in this one (I missed out on the cake drop, which was sad -- I love cake!), I noticed there was a drop in Chula Vista, and my friend Google told me there was only one bowling alley there. It was towards the bottom of the list so I knew it would be several hours before the actual address and instructions would be revealed. However, discussion in both the chat channel and the Unforum thread were indicating that the drop sites were being discovered and staked out hours in advance. I found out, at 10:30AM PDT, that several people had already staked out the Chula Vista location, which meant that there was no reason for me to go there - someone else had already beaten me to the drop, even though the actual address and details of the drop were hours away. In the cities where there was only one bowling alley, determining the drop site was fairly easy. For cities with multiple possible drop sites, people were apparently calling bowling alleys and asking about the drops -- if the person answering the phone said "I can't talk about it", they knew that was the location.
Given the popularity of the campaign, the collectibles were highly sought after by fans of the movie and players of the ARG alike. Unfortunately, amid the excitement of the day, reports of what some might consider to be unfair play trickled in. In Phoenix, the swag bag supposedly never made it into the locker, given instead to a friend of an employee of the alley before pickup details were even posted. In Kingston, MA, Unfiction administrator xnbomb reported that several people were in place at an alley, and at the expected time (3PM) the details were released. However, the person that got to the bag first literally grabbed it and ran without letting anyone else see or take pictures of the content. And, in Portland, the bag was apparently either picked up by someone working for a local radio program, or the person who obtained it gave it to the radio program -- who promptly posted it for sale on eBay... for THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS! As of this writing, the eBay listing is still up, but has been dropped to a mere ten thousand dollars, with one bidder - and a note from the sellers that if the items don't sell, they'll drop the ball on the phone until it shatters.
Thankfully, there were many reports from lucky recipients who were in the sharing mood. From those reports, such as this post by dingleberry96 at the Unforums, we can see that the bags contained a bowling ball with a phone number engraved on it, a cell phone similar to the ones found in the cakes, another Joker card, and a note from the Joker imploring the recipient to call the number on the ball from the phone. Calling the number was the indicator that the drop had been picked up, and soon thereafter the location was stamped on the drop list on the web site.
Once all the drops had been acquired, the drop list "burned" and revealed another note from the Joker, instructing the "clowns" to go to www.acmesecuritysystems.com/delos and, using the password "needle", disable an alarm system. Of course I played along, and after some initial difficulty in getting the site to load, I was greeted with a login screen asking for a name, phone number, and email address. Upon submitting, my phone number was called, whereupon I was supposed to say the password. However, before I could, the call was intercepted by none other than Lt. (Soon-to-be Commissioner?) Gordon, informing me that the jig was up -- the poilce had my phone number, my computer's IP address, and basically, ME -- and I could either consider myself Gotham PD's newest recruit or go to jail as a conspirator in a crime organization. Along with the phone call, the Acme Security Page displayed a banner stating that my identity had been captured and logged as evidence. Awesome! I'm now a member of , as Ecks51 so aptly put it, "the few, the corrupt, the Gotham PD"! Of course, two words come to mind - APRIL FOOLS!
So... in a meta sense, was this a way to move the story away from the Joker (bad guy) and more towards Harvey Dent/Commissioner Gordon (good guys?)? The waiting game begins again, as we anticipate the next time that the new Joker/Gordon phones ring again, and wonder about who will be on the other end when they do.
Posted by Celina Beach at 6:48 PM | Comments (1)
July 26, 2007
Why So Serious?
Hey everyone! I have BREAKING NEWS here from Comic-Com!
Purchasing some overpriced "Stargate Atlantis Collector Edition" bottled water, I received a VERY unusual dollar bill in change.
George's face has been obscured and replaced with a... can it be... somewhat JOKER-like face, and the caption below reads "WHYSOSERIOUS".
This, of course, leads us to www.whysoserious.com - could the Joker be looking for recruits?
Join the puzzly goodness at http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/ or online IRC in #unfiction!
Posted by Celina Beach at 7:47 PM | Comments (6)
July 13, 2007
Puzzles Across America: Ravenchase Strikes Again
When we last checked in with Ravenchase Adventures, our lovely and talented Jessica Price had attended an event in Chicago, amid chilly weather conditions. As was reported back in January, the company is set to start the Great America Race, a cross-country puzzle trail and treasure hunt. The race begins tomorrow (July 14th) in Washington DC and, over the course of seven days, visits a number of cities across the continental United States, including Richmond (Virginia), Charlotte (North Carolina), Nashville (Tennessee), Atlanta and Savannah (Georgia) and Panama City (Florida). Things are scheduled to wrap up in New Orleans (Louisiana) on July 21. Participants will be using cars, trains, motorcycles, buses, or boats as necessary to travel between different clues and different cities.
While it may be too late to join the Great America Race, be sure to keep an eye on the site, as they’ll have updates from the race along the way. If you live in one of those cities, maybe you’ll actually see the participants as they race through your town, looking for clues! Even if you’re *not* in one of those towns, Ravenchase Adventures organizes many other public hunts throughout the year. In fact, in September they’re having one in Sunny Sandy Eggo and I totally plan on attending! Anyone want to join me (heaven’s knows I need the help!)?
Other noteworthy events in the upcoming months include "The Great New Amsterdam Subway Chase" on July 29 in New York City and the "Quest for the Lost Golden Garden Gnome" on July 15th in Princeton, New Jersey. The starting time for both of these events is 5 am, so grab a strong coffee and get involved!
Posted by Celina Beach at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2007
It’s A Bird… It’s A Plane… No! It’s Project Osprey!
A voicemail was received on ARGNet’s voicemail (which has now also surfaced on YouTube) from a gentleman who seems to be very disturbed by the recent acts of his company – a project called Osprey that is about to “step way over the line”. It appears to be a “sting operation” of some kind and being use to test “new tech”. Luckily, he manages to direct us to a Tradecraft journal web site before the voicemail is cut short as someone appears to arrive during his call…
Thus begins OVERWATCH, a new interactive fiction project by Djinn Productions, who are also the team behind the on-going project “Autumn Country”. According to David Valley (Djinn Productions' contact for this project), OVERWATCH is still first and foremost a story. Although they will be adding more ARG-like elements than were in Autumn Country, it is not primarily a game – but participants who don’t enjoy or immerse themselves into the ARG element “will only ‘get’ about 50% of the story." By the time it’s over, the PMs expect the story to be told over many types of media, and will be using puzzles and hidden paths to tell not only the story but to expand the character’s backgrounds and various subplots.
Currently, OVERWATCH is in the “Prelude” stage, laying the groundwork form the first story arc. The interactive elements will start to emerge during this first story arc, and hopefully motivate the players into finding out “how” the story is being told. Players can expect episodic updates every five to seven days throughout the Prelude stage, and moving to 10-14 days once the first story arc begins. This first phase is expected to run through August 2007.
For more information, check out the Unfiction thread. To hear the voicemail for yourself, steer your browser to YouTube.
While not a “traditional” ARG, new forms of games and storytelling are always exciting to watch and see what happens and how they unfold – and since this one has just started, it’s easy to get started and get involved!
Posted by Celina Beach at 8:47 PM | Comments (0)