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July 3, 2008

Get off your Computer and Get a (War) Job

GamePro Magazine's August 2008 issue is offering a 10-page preview of Resistance 2. The GamePro website offered a sneak peek at the preview, leading to the trailhead for the rumored Resistance 2 ARG. Phew. Following so far?

One of the WWII-era advertisements directed me to visit GetaWarJob.com, a recruiting website for the American military. A business card on the website told me to dial 866-931-9417 to hear a rousing speech urging me to enlist. And without even realizing what I was doing, I found myself enlisting for military service on the registration page. Fine upstanding citizen that I am, I expressed an interest in "Law Enforcement", one of the many military fields available. The recruiter got back to me fairly quickly verifying my interest in an honorable career of government service.

Underlying this military fervor is a trifling concern. It seems a deadly strain of influenza is ravaging Europe. "La Grippe" made the Great War fairly uncomfortable for its soldiers...somehow, I can't imagine it being any easier the second time around. Although as long as I eat my vegetables, avoid immoral behavior, and floss daily, I'm sure I'll be fine. And the discovery of oddly familiar alien skulls deepens my sense of foreboding. Indeed, an encrypted message within the advertisement asks "How far will they go Project Abraham", leading to ProjectAbraham.com. The morse code at the end of the video at the "Project Abraham" site leads to a page showing a group of soldiers.

When ARGNet last asked 42 Entertainment to confirm rumors that they were developing an alternate reality game for Resistance 2, they offered no comment. The privacy policy reveals that this campaign is sponsored by Sony Computer Entertainment America, Resistance 2's publisher. Whether or not 42 Entertainment are behind this project, the interface looks slick, the audio and recordings have a nice vintage feel, and the propaganda posters will take you back a few decades. It remains to be seen whether this game will be as "viral" as the flu, but initial indicators look promising.

Click Here for the thread at UnFiction
Click Here for the sneak peek of the preview of GamePro Magazine

Update: Some of you might be wondering why the woman in the ProjectAbraham video (let's call her "Cassie") looks so familiar. Although this has not been confirmed by official sources, "Cassie" bears a striking resemblance to Katee Sackhoff, an actress you may know better as Kara "Starbuck" Thrace from Battlestar Galactica (or as the voice of Female Marine #3 from Halo 3 for you diehard Halo fans). The resemblance is uncanny, really.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)

May 28, 2008

Attention Whedon-ites! The Dollhouse Welcomes You with Virally Goodness

Over at Furious Nads, The One True b!X (founder of Can't Stop the Serenity) reported receiving an email from Adelle DeWitt, a character in Joss Whedon's upcoming drama, Dollhouse. The email reads "Take Southlandlabs.com offline for now, whilst we redesign." The domain Adelle used for the email, AdelleDeWitt.com, currently displays a single login page. And whilst Southlandlabs.com was offline when the email was sent, it is now up with an image of the lab from the TV show trailer, the message "soon. but not yet" in the source code. A comment on the Future on Fox blog from "Kimi Lassek" revealed the username/password combination to access Adelle's email: adelle/wipe. Odd, as Kimi seems to be missing.

The Future on Fox blog also posted a link to the adelledewitt.com domain, implying this may be an official ARG for the upcoming show. Last season, Fox experimented with alternate reality games alongside Millions of Us with the Enitech ARG for The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It looks like they were satisfied with the results if this is any indication.

Click here for the discussion at UnFiction.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 11:00 PM | Comments (4)

May 22, 2008

Be on the Lookout for the Red Seal

Over the past few days, a wide variety of people have been finding mysterious envelopes in the mail. Identified only by a customized stamp with a red seal labeled "tb", the envelope contains one of four different letters, each encoded in a different ancient language. In addition, each letter includes a rather striking red seal with an ink blot encircled by superimposed characters.

J.C. Hutchins, a prominent podcaster, novelist and author of the 7th Son trilogy, notified ARGNet and UnFiction of his discovery, linking to a detailed post about the package including pictures of the contents on Flickr and a video describing the unwrapping process that's definitely worth viewing. Jeffrey R. DeRego, a frequent contributor to Escape Pod and author of the Union Dues series, also reported receiving an envelope.

Sightings of the envelope have not been restricted to prominent podcasters, however. Baierman at the pop culture blog YesButNoButYes reported receiving the strange mail, and later discovered an oddly similar banner on Gizmodo that led to chishio.jp, which includes all four messages. Vic Holtreman at Screen Rant received an envelope as did Rod Washington at Cactus Pix, an independent digital production company. More recipients are likely to surface as long as they can figure out what to make of their envelopes--so if you read blogs dealing with podcasting, movies, or science fiction, stay on the lookout for mentions of mysterious packages bearing red seals. Who knows...you might even have one waiting for you in your mailbox.

Currently, there is a lot of speculation regarding what this project is about, but not much is known (although it's worth noting that both J.C. Hutchins and Rod Washington have denied any involvement in the project). However, the graphic stylings of the letters and website are quite striking, so this trail is worth checking out despite the scarcity of information at the moment.

Click Here for the thread at UnFiction.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 9:03 PM | Comments (0)

May 6, 2008

Velvet Assassin Sent Us Alternate Reality Gaming Gold

If the number of alternate reality games centering around video games are any indication, video game publishers "get" ARGs. Activision promoted the release of GUN with "Last Call Poker". Sony promoted Uncharted with "Sullivan Stories". And perhaps most famously, Bungie Entertainment promoted the release of Halo 2 with "I Love Bees", and followed that up with "Iris" for Halo 3.

While you're waiting for the rumored ARG for Resistance: Fall of Man, check out Gamecock Media Group's new alternate reality game promoting Velvet Assassin, a stealth action game coming soon to XBox360s and PCs. And I'm not just saying that because they sent us a bar of fake Nazi gold.

That's right, ARGNet received a bar of gold from the Deutsche Reichsbank over the weekend, along with two stickers leading to Follow-the-Dream.com, which redirects to ViolettesDream.com. In addition, there was a note written in German with a Post-It note telling players to "Help me stop them -- Follow-the-Dream". Since it sometimes takes a few extra days for mail to reach Canada, the folks at Destructoid and Unfiction have already translated the letter. One of the commenters on Destructoid notes that "If RedRabbit's translation is right, you just got a Nigerian scam email in videogame PR form."

It appears that Dan Corrigan, field operation assessor for an insurance company, is digging into the past, involving artifacts from World War II in particular. And somehow, this relates to a vast conspiracy to cause economic markets to plummet, inflating the price of gold. The man behind the Violette's Dream website is intent to stop the nefarious plot, and somehow Violette Summer, the protagonist of the Velvet Assassin game, is posthumously involved in everything.

So far, Violette's Dream is shaping out to be your standard alternate reality game (if there is such a thing) with stegged images, ciphers, blogs, and even a Twitter account. However, a recent presentation at EIEIO 2008 implies Gamecock might be going a bit further with this project. Replay Studios Creative Director Sascha Jungnickel mentioned at EIEIO that players would be able to use the game's "morphine" mode mechanic to overdose and uncover hidden clues leading players to find hidden Nazi gold in real life. So while many alternate reality games end with the release of the game, it appears Velvet Assassin might continue the ARG, using the game as a vehicle to tell the story.

Click here to check out the discussion at Unfiction
Click here for the trailhead

Posted by Michael Andersen at 5:46 PM | Comments (1)

April 23, 2008

Beyond the Rave: Humans vs Vampires

Filmmaker Lance Weiler, who recently promoted the VOD release of his film Head Trauma alongside an alternate reality game called Hope is Missing, was kind enough to talk with me about his current project, Beyond the Rave. For the first time in almost 30 years, Hammer Films is releasing a feature-length horror movie, and Lance and his company, Seize the Media, are producing a companion alternate reality game in conjunction with Hammer and MySpace.

The feature will be released in twenty installments on MySpace, with new episodes every Monday and Wednesday. The plot revolves around a British soldier trying to find his girlfriend who was taken by a group of vampiric, night-time ravers. According to Weiler, the game aspect is broken down into two paths, with hints and clues strewn across the videos and MySpace: "Find the Wraith," based around the movie's vampire-centric plot, and "Humans vs Vampires," a combat-based system that allows players to hunt down weapons and trophies, and battle to increase their collection.

In stark contrast to "Hope is Missing," where the gameplay led players through a variety of websites such as MySpace, XBox Live, Twitter, Stage 6, and Opera, "Beyond the Rave" is much more centralized. Lance claims this allows the developers to take advantage of the MySpace Developer's Platform in order to receive finite information on gameplay that helps the team optimize the experience, and suggests we'll be seeing a lot of innovative uses of the underlying API.

Bringing alternate reality games to social networking sites has exposed the genre to new audiences, with over three hundred players discussing the game so far on the MySpace forums and over 14,000 users listing the main page for the experience as a friend. Due to mature content, access to the videos and the game is restricted to anyone 18 or older.

Lance notes that bringing alternate reality games to social networks can also help bring people together. On their own, social networking sites let you set up a page, deal with your friends, and occasionally meet a new person randomly. "What's cool about an ARG is the ability to work through things together, and to become friends." Since Beyond the Rave has multiple levels of interactivity, players can choose the level of involvement that suits their interests, whether that involves leaning back and enjoying the first new movie from Hammer Films in decades, or progressing through the videos frame-by-frame to isolate subliminal clues leading to websites that can provide weapons helpful in battling for supremacy.

For those of you looking for prizes, you can answer twenty questions about the episodes on Faustino's profile for a chance to win "a truly vampiric top prize" or one of forty goody bags.

Click Here to visit the Beyond the Rave page on MySpace.
Click Here to check out the MySpace forums for the game.
Click Here to join the chat channel for Beyond the Rave.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 5:50 PM | Comments (0)

April 21, 2008

Alternate Reality Gaming Meets the Adult Entertainment Industry with Kronos480BC

WARNING: SOME LINKS IN THIS ARTICLE MAY NOT BE SAFE FOR WORK

Earlier this month, Sean Stacey over at Despoiler received a tip about a new alternate reality game, Kronos480BC. The game is part of a campaign created by the public relations firm Black and Blue Media, presumably to promote the summer release of The Four, an adult feature film by Ninn Worx SR.

Given the rather explicit nature of the product Kronos480BC is promoting, it is surprising to note that the alternate reality game itself is anything but. As the game's disclaimer explains, "[a]lthough the story line and rewards in Kronos480BC are not explicit in nature, the product itself is." The disclaimer elaborates that players above the age of 18 are eligible to play for rewards such as postcards, magnets, stickers, and free ring tones. Although the game seems light on puzzles at the moment, there is an extensive backstory in place going back several years.

The story of Kronos480BC revolves around the search for an ancient necklace. Agamemnon Cronides claims the necklace, dating back to 480BC, is a family heirloom. He has enlisted the aid of Roberta "Bobbie" Hope, an archaeologist with the Hope Ranch Foundation, to find it.

Over the past year at ARGNet, I've covered campaigns promoting a fairly diverse range of products including books, television shows, movies, beer, and even heavy machinery. So I can't really say that I'm surprised to find an alternate reality game promoting pornography. But I can say that I am impressed with their treatment of the campaign so far. While the subject matter relates to the plot of the upcoming film, the production staff made a conscious decision to eschew attracting players through titillation, prefering to rely on the strength of the story.

Click Here for the UnFiction discussion thread.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 7:32 AM | Comments (0)

April 16, 2008

RUMOR: An ARG for Resistance 2?

Last week, the staff at Kombo posted a rumor attributed to "inside sources" that 42 Entertainment is developing an alternate reality game for Resistance 2, the sequel to the Playstation 3 title Resistance: Fall of Man. Although 42 Entertainment offered no comment on the rumor, the company has a solid track record of developing alternate reality games for sequels, including campaigns for The Dark Knight and Halo 2.

According to the article at Kombo, the casting call intimates "Cassie" will be central to the campaign. The release states:

[CASSIE] is a 23-30 years old female lead and face of the campaign. Cassie was recruited by the military to do psychological testing on the soldiers. We see the project and its volunteers through her eyes as she struggles to make decisions that not only affect their lives, but the future of mankind. She embodies the moral dilemma of the story. Scene takes place in a Military setting of the 1950's. It is an all-male world. She has a 'Mitzi Gaynor' quality, intelligent, well spoken, compelling and empathetic. She has a PH D in psychology.

The original game, Resistance: Fall of Man, followed Sgt. Nathan Hale as he faces an army of aliens called Chimera in the 1950s. This alternate history sets an intriguing stage for an alternate reality game, presumably allowing players to reach back to the past to interact. Its alternate history status also makes it easier for me to disassociate the name Nathan Hale from that of the Revolutionary soldier famous for saying "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country".

The article claims the alternate reality game will run for twelve weeks. And while an official release date has not been announced for Resistance 2, it is rumored to have a November 2008 release date, so keep your eyes peeled for this potential game over the summer.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 12:22 AM

March 25, 2008

We Tell Stories: Six Stories, Six Authors, Six Weeks, and then Six to Start

Last Tuesday, the UK branch of Penguin Books launched We Tell Stories, a series of six stories based on classic novels. Each story is written by a different author and is retold through a different medium. Last week, Charles Cumming retold John Buchan's classic tale The Thirty-nine Steps by walking visitors through the tale on Google Maps. Cumming's rendition, "The 21 Steps", provided a novel look at the book's plot as well as the features of Google Maps.

Over the next four days, Toby Litt will retell M.R. James' Haunted Dolls' House and Other Ghost Stories in "Slice". This week's story plays out through Slice's blog, as well as her parents' blog.

The story also includes a Flickr account, a MySpace page, two twitter accounts, and an email address. Amusingly enough, clicking on the email address automatically fills out the email for you with the following.

Subject: I've come to save you from the boredom

Dear Slice,

My life is now totally worthless without you in it because...

While these stories are well constructed so far, the real purpose they serve is to whet the viewer's appetites for the original texts. I know I'll be heading over to my local library to check out a few of these tales -- but if I lived in the UK, I would enter the weekly Author Prize Drawings -- you can also win the Penguin Complete Classics Collection, valued at over £13,000.

Underpinning the six stories is a seventh tale. Clicking on the white rabbit on the bottom left corner of the main page leads to Treacle and Ink, a blog written by Alice. This underlying story fits within the alternate reality gaming framework, and has already led chelec on a hunt through St Pancras Station. You can read about that experience here or check her bliptv account for videos.

Click Here to check out the stories
Click Here for the thread at unfiction

Posted by Michael Andersen at 7:41 PM | Comments (0)

March 24, 2008

Aporia Agathon Sends a Mask: It Fit Jim Carrey Better

I got a package in the mail today with a mask inside, and like any sane, rational individual, my first reaction to receiving a mysterious tribal mask in the mail was to attempt to put it on. Sadly, my id didn't go on an uncontrollable rampage, and my skin is most decidedly not green. However, I did receive a few more clues about Aporia Cross-Media Entertainment's upcoming alternate reality game, codenamed the Aporia Agathon project.

Shortly after Aporia CME launched a puzzle trail for LagTV, the show's hosts released a video on YouTube asking for players to post YouTube videos about the Aporia Agathon Project. Along with a few others, I submitted a video. Yesterday, I received a rather large package in the mail containing a Philippine "dragon mask" and a letter from the puppetmasters. The letter noted that "[t]his game's development began in mid to late July of 2007 with a large portion of the development time dedicated to creating a back story as a basis for our narrative. We are trying to take familiar elements of stories and create a unique approach for our audience to enjoy." The letter finished with the poem We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

If you're kicking yourself for not submitting a video, it's not too late -- according to ACME's blog, there is still time to enter, and while you may not receive a mask, "the message of appreciation will remain the same." If you're interested in receiving an innocuous mailing around the time of the game's launch, you can submit your contact information to Aporia's submission form. So keep your eyes peeled for completely normal looking mail, submit a video with your guesses, and be on the lookout for easter eggs. S...er, that is, the Aporia Agathon Project, is coming this summer.

Click Here for a Flickr pool of the package.
Click Here to view the Aporia CME video challenge

Posted by Michael Andersen at 5:36 PM | Comments (0)

March 5, 2008

The Lost Ring: Taking the Blindfold Off

It's been three days since Find the Lost Ring launched with a fanfare of posters and yarn. Since that time, players and puppetmasters alike have been busily fulfilling the prophetic messages written on vintage Olympic postcards. The game traces a story fraught with mystery and intrigue across the globe in so many languages, you'll be glad you studied Esperanto in university. You did study Esperanto, didn't you?

If you've been reading ARGNet recently, you might be able to guess one of the developers behind the curtain. However, it's now official. According to the Lost Ring development team,

The Lost Ring is a global alternate reality adventure created in partnership between McDonald's, AKQA and Jane McGonigal. Designed in collaboration with the IOC, The Lost Ring invites players from across the globe to join forces online and in the real world, as they investigate forgotten mysteries and urban legends of the ancient games. The Lost Ring recognizes McDonald's historic sponsorship of the Olympic Games, and brings the spirit of the Games to people around the world.

Jane McGonigal adds that she is "so thrilled to be collaborating with these organizations to create what we hope will be the most global ARG, ever. This is really a dream project for me - we are bringing together the two kinds of games, ARGs and the Olympics, that have the power to engage and unite people all over the world." So far, the game is succeeding admirably, with characters interacting with players in English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, and Esperanto.

If your curiosity is piqued, a brief review of what's happened so far is waiting for you after the jump.

March 3, 2008 -- Find her...
Monday morning, the website findthelostring.com went live, introducing our protagonist Ariadne. She woke up blindfolded in a corn maze outside of Johannesburg with no memory, Olympic-calibur athletic skills, and a tattoo bearing the words "trovu la ringon perditan" -- Esperanto for "find the lost ring." With the help of Kai, she set out to find what is happening to her.

March 4, 2008?? -- Find the others...
Over the next few hours, players discovered others suffering similar plights. Awakening in a maze blindfolded with no memories and a mysterious tattoo. Diego describes his situation in Spanish, while Markus speaks German. Noriko speaks Japanese, Mei-Hui speaks Chinese, and Lucie speaks French.

Larissa, who speaks Portuguese, doesn't bear the rather striking tattoo, but these events sound all too familiar as she relates her experiences with Renata, who appeared four years ago in similar circumstances before disappearing. Don't worry about all of the languages, however -- a dedicated cadre of translators stand prepared to decipher whatever comes their way.

March 5, 2008?? -- Find him...
Earlier today, an advertisement on the UK Olympic website led the curious to Historian Eli Hunt's website, The Lost Games. He speaks of a secret sport played in the Ancient Olympics that involves blindfolding the athletes. He also describes the agonothetai, six ancient Game Keepers tied closely to the Olympics.

March 11, 2008?? -- Find the secret...
On March 11, Jane McGonigal is delivering the keynote address at SXSW. This wouldn't be the first conference presentation dropping hints for the game, so perhaps more will be revealed there.

Click Here to join the discussion at Unfiction.
Click Here to visit the Lost Ring wiki.
Click Here for more Lost Ring themed lolcats.

Image courtesy of Geoff May (and Jersey)

Posted by Michael Andersen at 9:52 PM | Comments (6)

February 12, 2008

Chew on This: More LonelyGirl15 Product Placement

On Valentine's Day, Steven Gould's novel Jumper will grace the silver screens. However, if you look carefully you can already find signs of the film. Hayden Christensen can be seen "jumping" into a Hewlett Packard advertisement starring Serena Williams. And now, the movie is jumping into LonelyGirl15.

LG15 Studios are no strangers to product placement. Last March, the 158th installment of the series was sponsored by Ice Breakers Sours Gum. Similar product placement followed in June with the introduction of Neutrogena into the story. However, the introduction of a Jumper-themed subplot seems to be taking product placement a step further, as followers of the series meet Jack, a "Jumper" who interacts with series regular Taylor.

The integration of stories from other universes is not a new concept, as Perplex City linked up with the BBC's game Frozen Indigo Angel to promote Radio 1's Big Weekend music festival. However, 20th Century Fox's innovative advertising push for the film serves as a reminder that new media content creators have options in funding projects.

Image courtesy of danielbeast of the lonelygirl15 forums, via The Guardian.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 9:02 AM | Comments (1)

February 11, 2008

ACME Puzzle Trail Offers Hints at Future Project

Aporia Cross-Media Entertainment is busily plugging away on their upcoming alternate reality game, the Aporia Agathon Project. That doesn't stop the team from engaging in the occasional side project, however.

On today's show at lagtv.com, the fine folks at ACME are launching an XBox-themed puzzle trail with a twist. In addition to a prize from lagtv for one lucky player, the puzzle trail will introduce a character or two from the Aporia Agathon Project, and provide a few hints of what's to come in the game. LagTV offers live, interactive video gaming news, focusing on the X-Box console.

The ACME blog claims some of the puzzles will be "a tribute to another xbox related ARG", so fans of the short-lived Our Colony campaign may be in for a treat. Although I guess it's possible they're referring to that other XBox-related ARG.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 7:12 PM | Comments (1)

February 10, 2008

World Without Oil Nominated for SXSW Web Award

You may have noticed from the banner at our main site that ARGNet is an Official Media Sponsor of Screenburn 2008. As part of SXSW Interactive's series of conferences taking place in Austin, Texas March 7 - March 11, ScreenBurn is bringing in an impressive cast of panelists. Notable speakers include Rachel Clarke (Behind the Buzz), Keith Clarkson (Xenophile Media), Dan Hon (Six to Start), Rebecca Newton (Mind Candy), and Kevin Slavin (area/code). Jane McGonigal (Avant Game) will be presenting the final SXSW Interactive Keynote on March 11th, the final day of the conference.

A few more familiar faces are bound to show up, as World Without Oil, the alternate reality game with a heart of gold, is a finalist for the SXSW Web Awards in the Activism category. The 'serious game' attracted a lot of attention for drawing upon the powers of collective intelligence to address peak oil concerns. Numerous ARGNet staffers past and present worked on this project (Dee Cook, Michelle Senderhauf, Marie Lamb, and Krystyn Wells), so our collective fingers are crossed for the team.

Mind Candy, who were at one time a major player in the ARG genre with Perplex City, is also nominated in the Games category for Moshi Monsters.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 7:46 PM | Comments (1)

January 31, 2008

Artifice and Intelligence - A Short Story

This week on Escape Pod, a science fiction short story podcast, Tim Pratt presents Artifice and Intelligence, an entertaining look at the emergence of artificial intelligences that might remind former I Love Bees players of another human / AI duo. Pratt is a Hugo Award winner for his short story Impossible Dreams.
I won't spoil the ending, but readers of this site will be very interested in the final twist. Thanks to our pal Steve Peters at Mysdirection for the great find.

Click Here to listen to "Artifice and Intelligence" by Tim Pratt at Escape Pod.
Click Here to read the text version at Strange Horizons

Posted by Michael Andersen at 9:18 PM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2008

Harvard Business Review: ARG Business is Good Business

The Harvard Business Review has spoken: alternate reality gaming may very well be the future of business. As part of its annual "Top 20 Breakthrough Ideas" issue, the magazine addressed the potential of alternate reality gaming to reshape the business world.

The article, written by Jane McGonigal, addresses the benefits of capitalizing on collective intelligence in the workplace. No stranger to forecasting the future, Jane predicts that

eventually, games will become the go-to tools for launching internal initiatives, or they will rally global teams of outside “expert players” to engage in business forecasting. Ultimately, ARGs will involve customers in inventing new products and services or in testing companies’ market assumptions.

In the article, Jane pulls on her experience behind the scenes with World Without Oil to demonstrate the potential of the genre. During the alternate reality game, players faced with a peak oil crisis sent in over a thousand blog posts, videos, podcasts and other submissions chronicling the potential effects and evaluating potential alternative strategies during an oil crisis.

So it's time to clean up your resumes, spruce up your cover letters, and add a section for ARG experience -- because the new media literacy you develop with every passing cipher you solve and each domain registration you pull up might help land your dream job someday.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 9:22 PM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2008

ACME Creates an ARG: Not Just an Anvil Company Anymore

Aporia Cross-Media Entertainment has released the trailer for their new alternate reality game code-named "Aporia Agathon", scheduled to run for a year, starting in the summer of 2008.

Aporia CME, formerly known as Naked Rabbit Studios, developed Ny Takma, a science fiction themed alternate reality game running from September to November of 2006. The team has not been idle in the intervening months, and promise a unique user interface that will, according to Jason Chrest, use "an existing medium that just has not yet been used within the ARG/CF genre."

Through a tip posted at Despoiler, Jason elaborates that the game will pull from genres ranging "from world history, to sci-fi, to conspiracy, drama, and more." The text of the message also includes a hidden message revealing a bit more about the mysterious interface under development.

The trailer, set to the soothing sound of Cecil Grant's classic hit "I Wonder", introduces the character "GC" as he composes a letter to his dearest love. A series of flashbacks depict his escape from an unknown pursuer by train.

Stay tuned to ARGNet for updates on this and other games.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 7:40 PM | Comments (0)

January 12, 2008

Nowheremen - It's Dangerous to Run a Wiki

Back in August when I wrote about 401WTF, the extended experience for Ashton Kutcher's new reality television show "Room 401", I predicted the rather simplistic game might expand into something more. It turns out my prediction was correct, as the Wonderland blog reports the impending launch of Nowheremen.net, "a new community-based social entertainment experience that utilizes the full Web 2.0 medium of platforms to reveal the story behind the mysterious disappearance of a brilliant computer science student, Derek Border." Apparently, the final clue from the Room 401 experience led players to itkeepsgoing.com. The first 300 players to send their contact information to the website received the next clue in the mail which led to the Nowheremen website, an article about Derek Francis Border's disappearance.

One of the complaints I had with the game was its general lack of purpose, as the puzzle trail lacked a cohesive plot to tie the various puzzles together. It looks like I'll have to eat those words, as Derek Francis Border (derekfb) was the creator of the wiki and responsible for posting the show's episodes on YouTube. Both the ARG and web series revolve around tracking him down.

The timing of this game is rather fortuitous, as an extended experience designed to compliment and coexist with a cable reality televison show guides participants directly to an online web series with relatively high production values, premiering during the WGA strike. It remains to be seen whether this is one of the first of many collaborative efforts by workers displaced in the industry shakeup, or a network-based effort to expand into new media. Whatever the case, the first episode goes live January 22nd, so catch up on the plot and keep your eyes peeled.

Click Here for the discussion at UnFiction
Click Here for the wiki

Image courtesy of CSchmitt7166

Posted by Michael Andersen at 2:00 PM | Comments (2)

January 10, 2008

Rolling Out a Few New Projects: Six to Start and the Channel 4 New Media Lineup

Mind Candy may have pulled the plug on Perplex City, but the Hon brothers are back to work at a new company, Six to Start Limited, returning to work on alternate reality gaming. According to Adrian, the name "Six to Start" refers to the classic board games that required players to roll a six before commencing play. Adrian and Dan will be joining forces with James Wallis, the former director of Hogshead Publishing, a hobby-games publisher that you might recognize as one of the expert judges for Let's Change the Game.

One of the first projects for Six to Start is code-named "The Ministry", an ARG taking place within a fictional social network. The game is part of Channel 4's effort to provide engaging educational content to 14-19 year olds. According to a Channel 4 press release, "The Ministry" will be

an online networked game exploring how online privacy and identity apply to real world situations. The game will challenge players to discover how much trust matters online: when you might not know who you're dealing with, and when information posted online remains persistent and public. Players will network, collaborate and challenge each other from within a fictional social network, using identity as a weapon, and privacy as armor.

In addition to "The Ministry", Channel 4 will be sponsoring an ARG project by Oil Productions code-named "Route" that focuses on cartography, geography, and genetics, and numerous other cross media experiences. These alternate reality games are part of a larger push by the station to provide educational content to teens through a variety of serious games and new media productions. Alice Taylor, the commissioner for the projects at Channel 4, may be familiar to video game fans through her blog or her work at Kotaku.

Six to Start is currently looking for an experienced Alternate Reality Games producer to round out their staff, although with an application deadline at the end of January, you'd better hurry if you're interested. As a reminder for our bilingual readers, Jane McGonigal is also looking for a "jr. puppet master" for an upcoming project. In the meantime, I'll be waiting patiently for a lucky roll of the die to start up one of these exciting new projects.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 8:28 PM | Comments (0)

January 2, 2008

Tinkering in the "Secret Office": Another Jane McGonigal Project

In a recent post on Avant Game, Jane McGonigal mentioned she is hard at work on a super secret project that will funnel " happiness hacking, collaboration superpowers, amplified individuals, and collective intelligence gaming", using "a lot of new high-tech toys and tricks". While Jane didn't elaborate further on the project, numerous job postings online by Jane and another, as-yet-unidentified team member searching for a bilingual community-organizer-slash-puppetmaster indicate we may find Jane's "secret project" is an alternate reality game that will run for around six months, starting in February.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 1:58 PM | Comments (2)

December 29, 2007

39 Clues: Tidings of Good Cheer for a Former Scholastic Book Club Addict

A recent New York Times article announced a new and exciting venture by Scholastic, Inc, the largest publisher and distributor of children's books and related products to home and school.

Starting in September of 2008, Scholastic will publish "39 Clues", a cross-media experience centered around ten books released over the course of 24 months. Scholastic is pulling some of the top childrens authors published under the brand, including Rick Riordan, Gordan Korman, Peter Lerangis, and Jude Watson.

According to the article in the Times, the plot of "39 Clues" will revolve around Amy and Dan Cahill, two adolescent members of the world's most powerful clan, as they compete against other branches of their family to collect 39 clues that lead to ultimate power.

Tracy van Straaten, Scholastic's VP of Publicity for the Children's Book Publishing division, notes that Scholastic's Lab for Informal Learning is collaborating on the project with "a company that has ARG experience, as well as game designers" in creating this project. This collaboration may include work with GMD Studios, the company that has worked on such games as Art of the Heist and Who is Benjamin Stove, and are currently presenting their project, Eldritch Errors. The experience will extend beyond the books through a website including character blogs, puzzles and mini-games, as well as maps and treasure hunts. Each book will come with six collectible cards that will provide further clues.

Although the project is still months away, both Kotaku and Ian Bogost at Watercooler Games have expressed skepticism regarding the project due to Scholastic's decision to retain all rights to the intellectual property. Scholastic responded to the criticism, noting that the decision to retain all rights stems from the project's development through the Scholastic Lab for Informal Learning.

39 Clues has the potential to introduce a younger generation to the world of alternate reality gaming, and Scholastic has the resources to pull it off, especially if the company leverages the resources available through the Scholastic Book Club, their distribution channel in schools worldwide. The bar for transmedia novels has been set rather high by New York Times bestseller Cathy's Book.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 12:47 PM | Comments (5)

November 26, 2007

All Things Must Come to a Close: The End of a Few ARGs

They say that news often comes in threes, and recent events in the world of alternate reality gaming proves that the old adage still has teeth. Over the past few days, both Deus City and Red Monday came to a close, and it appears as though Chain Factor may be wrapping up soon as well.

After more than a year of gameplay, Deus City concluded last Tuesday with the release of a thirteen-part story detailing the end of the Time Communications project. Adam Brackin (the real person, not the in-game character) intends to release his dissertation based on the game, and anticipates its publication in late-spring, promising "pretty charts and graphs" from behind the curtain. ARGNet has reported extensively on Deus City in the past. The PM Chat has not been scheduled yet.

The alternate reality game Red Monday came to a close this morning with the release of the first "podiobook" in a five-part mini-series produced by StarKnight Productions. Although only the first chapter is free, the podiobook's creator J. Marcus Xavier has promised that the faithful followers of the Red Monday ARG will be able to listen to the mini-series for free.

The game generated mild controversy through its launch at the Podcast and New Media Expo in Ontario, California where the podiobook's creator J. Marcus Xavier passed out red envelopes marked "CLASSIFIED" that referred to the website Red-Monday.com. Following several complaints that the promotion was disturbing convention-goers, the head of the expo Tim Bourguin ejected Xavier from the premises. Bourguin later went on to refer to the launch as the "perfect example of marketing gone bad."

The Numb3rs alternate reality game Chain Factor also appears to be nearing its conclusion, with all but three KeyCodes and four ShutdownKeys discovered. Participants in the ARG element of the game are working to shut down the system, hopefully saving me from untold hours of casual gameplay. Consider yourself warned: the Chain Factor flash game remains unspeakably addictive.

In the wake of this cavalcade of completion, you may find yourself searching for a new game, such as the newest chapter in the Dark Knight ARG. Something that may interest you is Mur Lafferty's podiobook Playing For Keeps,which has grabbed my attention lately, and not just because I can't get enough of Mur's revisionist look at super powered society. Mur encourages listeners to expand on her superhero-strewn universe by contributing to "Stories of the Third Wave", utilizing story expansion mechanisms the aspiring PM might want to consider.

Once again...
Click Here to check out Deus City
Click Here to check out Red Monday
Click Here to check out Chain Factor
Click Here to check out the Dark Knight ARG
Click Here to check out Playing for Keeps

Posted by Michael Andersen at 7:16 PM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2007

Numb3rs Chain Factor: We Probably Should Have Seen This Coming

Last Friday's episode of Numb3rs (as reported here at ARGNet) sparked discussion at UnFiction. And while the show received generally positive reactions for a positive depiction of the community and a thorough look at the puzzle solving aspects, many were disappointed that the episode downplayed the narrative elements of alternate reality gaming.

Apparently, people spoke too soon, as ARGNet's own Brooke Thompson received an email from Spectre, one of the characters from last week's Numb3rs, leading to Chain Factor. Spectre mentioned in the show his plans of developing Chain Factor to rival "Primacy"--if you haven't yet seen the episode, I won't spoil you more. At first glance, the website appears to be a casual puzzle game created by a slightly megalomaniacal game developer. The puzzle game has hidden 36 keys "hidden in plain sight among the visual trash of today's marketing-mad culture". These keys unlock special powers that can be used in the Chain Factor gameplay. Some of these keys have been discovered as banner ads on Viacom websites such as CBS Sportsline and StarTrek.com.

The admittedly addictive puzzle game has a few bugs in the system. Players have noted that error codes strongly resembling internal memos crop up from time to time indicating the future placement of media. The memos suggest keys will be transmitted via text messaging, television promotions, and out-of-home advertising in California and Minnesota. These production notes indicate that a story may be forthcoming.

The Numb3rs episode defined alternate reality as "a treasure hunt played out in the real world using actual media". Following that logic, Chain Factor may be a quest to unlock a series of clues hidden throughout the world around us. However, it appears as though the creators of this game are gradually and subtly revealing a narrative to support the treasure hunt. We may get to see Spectre's plans for an alternate reality game that is all-encompassing...or at least all-encompassing within the Viacom umbrella.

Television shows are releasing supplemental extended realities and alternate reality games more and more frequently. This may prove invaluable to shows looking to keep their audiences engaged during the WGA strike. Who knows which program will be next? Stay tuned to ARGNet for more updates.

Click Here to play Chain Factor.
Click Here for the discussion at UnFiction.
Click Here for the Chain Factor Wiki.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 10:51 PM | Comments (0)

November 9, 2007

Numb3rs on Alternate Reality Games: Amita ARGs, and Extreme Deaddrops

The Writer's Guild of America may be on strike, but you'll need to wait a few more weeks for hordes of drama-starved television addicts to flock to alternate reality games for succor. While you wait, tune in to CBS tonight at 10pm EST for Numb3rs. Tonight's episode of the hit series, entitled Primacy, will feature alternate reality gaming. According to SpoilerFix.com:

When a man that worked for the Department of Justice dies from falling off a roof, the team follows a trail to an online game called Primacy, which has an "Alternate Reality" (or real life) side as well. They question a 67-year-old female game player about being up on the same roof. They also question a leather-wearing biker and an Asian business woman. Amita and Larry help with the investigation and Amita is threatened because of her involvement with the game.

The drama revolving around mathematician Charles Epps (David Krumholtz) and his FBI agent brother Don (Rob Morrow) often features techniques familiar to followers of alternate reality games such as cipher decryption and steganography. Be sure to check out Wolfram on Numb3rs after the show for a closer look at the math used in the episode.

If you checked ARGNet too late to catch Primacy (or just want to see it again) and you have a US IP address, go to the Numb3rs homepage for the full episode.

DISCLAIMER: Televised impressions of "alternate reality game" might not mesh with your own.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 6:26 PM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2007

Why So Serious, Halloween Edition

At the stroke of midnight (Eastern time, GMT -4) on Halloween, the newest chapter in 42 Entertainment's alternate reality game promoting the release of the movie "The Dark Knight" launched. Over the past few weeks, the website WhySoSerious.com depicted a slowly rotting Halloween pumpkin with a diminishing candle.

Just minutes ago, as the candle burnt out, the page changed to show 49 small pieces of paper on a worktable. Each piece links to a puzzle involving a US city. A note from the Joker says,

"Hey, clowns! Ready to do what you're told? First, don't start before daylight. With a police force this corrupt, it's not safe to be out at night, and anyway, you won't be able to see the things you want to find.

Follow all of my directions to the letter and send photos of what you find.

I'll make it worth your while, I promise - for what that's worth...

The campaign to promote the new Batman movie started in May with a handful of Joker playing cards discovered in a California comic book store, and led to a massive email campaign to reveal the new face of the Joker. Later in July, strange dollar bills were distributed at Comic-Con that led 140 lucky participants on a scavenger hunt throughout the city of San Diego. Now, it appears the scavenger hunt has expanded on a national scale as participants are encouraged to solve a series of puzzles and send in photographs.

Check back at ARGNet for updates as the story develops.

Click Here for the discussion at UnFiction.
Click Here for ARGNet columnist Geoff May's wiki for the Dark Knight ARG.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2007

Guinness Tipping Point ARG Update: I May Be Getting Wasted, But I Won't Be Getting Rich

A post on Spinning Around, a subsidiary of AMV BBDO, indicates that the game requires players to go to the Guinness website to enter codes to gradually unlock the video. The first of eleven unlock codes is already available, revealing a three second snippet from the commercial.

Checking the Game's Terms of Service reveals that there will be weekly prizes offered starting on November 2nd and running until December 7th. Prizes include Guinness branded glass packs, mugs, pint aprons, pint oven gloves, luxury chocolate truffles, Pint bottle opener key rings, Toucan key rings, Toucan luggage tags, playing cards and egg cup sets for 175 lucky people each week. It also indicates the official name of the campaign is the "Guinness Tipping Point".

The grand prize for completing all the puzzles is a solid gold domino, awarded randomly to a participant who registers and successfully completes all 11 clues. However, don't get too excited -- the contest portion of this alternate reality game is only open to mainland UK residents over the age of 18.

Click Here to enter your Tipping Point codes and register to win.
Click Here for previous coverage on the Guinness Tipping Point at ARGNet.
Click Here for the UnFiction discussion thread.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)

October 25, 2007

Guinness Campaign Might Not Get You Drunk, but That's Not Stopping Me

According to Adfreak, GUINNESS®, with the help of the advertising agency AMV BBDO, will be launching a new alternate reality game. Described as a "kind of treasure hunt", players will be scouring the net to be the first to find Guinness' newest commercial by following a series of clues, codes, and puzzles. The agency warns, "don't expect it to be easy. As you know, it just wouldn't be Guinness if the reward didn't involve a little waiting."

The first video has already been posted on YouTube by MeestaRamon, the mayor of a village that will be throwing a little celebration. In the video, Mr. Juan Ramon promises an unforgettable adventure, noting "a grand treasure awaits the person who finds the path" while playing with a handful of dominos. It remains to be seen whether the "winner" of this alternate reality game will receive something more than the first look at Guinness' new ad before it goes on television.

ExperienceCurve shares a letter from Mr. Ramon that suggests a closer look at the video might be in order.

Click Here to view the video.
Click Here for the Unfiction discussion thread.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 7:06 PM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2007

It's Coming...It's Coming...It's Here! Ditch Witch Releases the Zahn

For the last month, we knew it was coming. But until yesterday, we didn't know exactly what "it" was. A series of Google Advertisements led to Itscoming.us, a website depicting a shed stranded in the middle of a moonlit field. Scattered throughout the eerily ominous environment were numerous clues hinting at what "it" was...but now, the truth is revealed. "It" is the newly released Zahn series of trenchers by Ditch Witch.

For those of you who, like myself, thought a trencher was only good for making authentic sandwiches, let me clarify. A trencher is a piece of heavy-duty construction machinery that digs trenches. And Ditch Witch, the Oklahoma-based industry leader in underground construction equipment, opted to launch their new line of trenchers virally. Targeted advertisements directed towards people searching for construction equipment ostensibly stumbled across the teaser page and hunted through a haunting environment in search of blueprint fragments to the new product as well as audio, video, and written clues periodically updated. The clues alluded to something hidden within the rickety shed in the middle of the screen...something powerful and awe-inspiring.

It remains to be seen whether Ditch Witch's campaign succeeded in attracting the audience it desired. But in a market saturated with media and entertainment companies and large corporations attempting to reach as many people as possible, it's refreshing to find a company using viral strategies to target a narrow audience.

Click Here to find a Ditch Witch dealer near you, with affordable financing available.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 8:18 PM | Comments (1)

October 10, 2007

Stage6 wants to help you find Hope

Alternate reality games that use kidnapping as a theme have been subject to varying amounts of controversy over the years. In November 2006, the adult-themed game The Human Pet was temporarily banned from YouTube for its fictional videos about a sadistic kidnapper. Last June, the CourtTV campaign "Save My Husband" faced a similar backlash after encouraging visitors from Cute Overload to help solve a kidnapping case. Now, a new ARG launched on Stage6 (part of the DivX network) is facing its own share of controversy.

San Francisco resident Hope Wilcott is missing. At least, that's what visitors to Stage6 thought when a mysterious video appeared on the streaming video network's front page on October 3rd. Posted by Richard Chambers, a user claiming to be Hope's fiance, the two videos currently available follow Hope's quest to find out what is wrong with her mother, and document her subsequent disappearance. The story continues to unfold at Richard's Blogspot page at HopeIsMissing.Blogspot.com. According to Matt Staggs of Skullring.org, this campaign is run by Lance Weiler as a "Horror 2.0 ARG" serving to promote the DVD release of his film "Head Trauma". The Head Trauma website notes the campaign will encompass "myspace, xbox, twitter, eyespot, stage 6 and opera" leading up to "live cinema games" in 10 cities on October 20th.[

Following a rather heated debate that took place within the video comments on Stage6, the producers edited the video tags to include "cinematic game" and "arg". In addition, the header on Richard's blog now prominently labels the project "an alternate reality game". However, some video viewers continue to raise concerns that this makes light of real Missing Persons cases and the people affected by it. In a response to similar concerns regarding the Save My Husband campaign, Rachel at Behind the Buzz addresses this reaction as an issue of framing, noting "anyone with the slightest acquaintance with any entertainment, books, TV, films, plays etc know that dramatic situations like this are often used for entertainment. Looking at the top TV shows in the US, such as CSI or Law and Order, they use murder, kidnapping and worse as the premise for their entertainment."

As long as the team behind "Hope is Missing" can find an acceptable compromise to viewer concerns, the game has the potential to be both successful and engaging if the videos are any indication of what to expect. Indeed, the changes that have already been implemented are likely sufficient to help Studio6 and the game producers weather any criticism sent their way.

So, while you keep your eyes peeled for Hope, remember to think twice before calling the police. After all, if Lonelygirl15 has taught us anything about the line between reality and fiction, it's that the troubled girl in the weird video may very well be an actress from new Zealand looking to make a name for herself.

Click here for the discussion at UnFiction.
Click here to read more ARGNet coverage on the Head Trauma film.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 8:50 PM | Comments (2)

September 5, 2007

Of All the Gin Joints in All the World: Casablanca Game Goes Live

After months of development and testing, the new social networking game Casablanca launches today. As a winner of mtvU and Cisco's Digital Incubator 2.0 competition, the four NYU University students behind the game received a $30,000 grant towards the development of the game.

Set in the city of Casablanca during World War II, players are assigned roles working for the Resistance or Occupation forces. While Resistance forces are striving to create large networks of contacts, Occupation forces are attempting to infiltrate the Resistance cells. Resistance forces can check to see if their network is compromised seven times during the course of the game. NYU students engaged in the beta-test of the game went to extreme lengths to ensure the sanctity of their networks and communications, including the establishment of password-protected websites. Gameplay can proceed on the website as well as through a special text-messaging service.

The real appeal of Casablanca is its scalability. The crew behind Casablanca encourage groups to play Casablanca as an ice-breaker or for team-building, combining the gameplay with live meet-ups. Anyone interested in facilitating a local running of the game merely needs to contact the staff, load up the email addresses of prospective players onto the site, and choose the duration of the game. Promotional materials are available upon request.

Fittingly, Casablanca started out thanks to a chance meeting at a bar between NYU students Ed Purver and Charles Pratt. The two shared an interest in the cross-over between games and theater and its intersection with the ARG world, and agreed to enter mtvU and Cisco's Digital Incubator competition. Fellow NYU students Josh Knowles and Robert Moon joined the team, and the four became finalists in the competition in mid-May, qualifying for $30,000 to develop the concept. Casablanca and the other four Digital Incubator finalists for 2007 are now in competition for a $100,000 grant to carry out their plans. Future goals of the team include introducing RPG-like elements, VoIP integration, and real world gameplay elements such as flash mobs.

Many of the concepts underpinning this game will be familiar to ARG players, whether through participation in rousing bouts of Cruel 2 Be Kind organized by Jane McGonigal and community members, or time spent playing faction-based ARGs like Deus City. So don your trenchcoat and fedora and head over to test your networking and deductive reasoning skills in Casablanca.

Click Here to sign up to play, or to set up your own game
Click Here to learn more about the Digital Incubator initiative

Posted by Michael Andersen at 7:27 AM | Comments (0)

August 26, 2007

40,000:1--Find Kiyash at Burning Man

Jane McGonigal is a busy woman. She has worked on award-winning alternate reality games including I Love Bees, Last Call Poker, and World Without Oil. Along with Ian Bogost, she introduced benevolent assassination through Cruel 2 B Kind to unsuspecting cities around the world. Independently and as a member of The Institute for the Future, Jane has published countless articles exploring alternate reality games and collaborative play.

And now, according to her blog, all she wants is our help finding her husband, Kiyash.

Jane's husband will be attending Burning Man, an "annual experiment in temporary community dedicated to radical self-expression and radical self-reliance." The event will be held in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada from August 27th to September 3rd. Over 40,000 attendees are expected at the festival this year, so finding Kiyash will be a challenge. But then, the ARG community has faced tougher odds before.

Jane's instructions tell potential participants of the Secret Burning Man Game to look for a six-foot-three man who will likely be wearing an orange jumpsuit, goggles, and/or a white muslin head wrap. Tell him that "Jane says hi" or something equally nice. Perhaps "Jane says you look dashing in your orange jumpsuit."

And if you manage to beat the odds and find Kiyash, please leave us a comment with the details.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 9:03 PM | Comments (1)

August 3, 2007

MTV's Room 401 Delivers Thrills, Chills, and an Extended Experience

The famed illusionist and skeptic Harry Houdini died in Detroit Grace Hospital, Room 401 at 1:26PM on Halloween of 1926. A life shrouded in secrecy ended with secrecy, as the master magician left friends and family with ten words that, if uttered, would conclusively prove his greatest escape of all.

Almost a century later, MTV's new reality show "Room 401" pays homage to the tricks and illusions of Houdini by assembling skilled illusionists to scare the living daylights out of unsuspecting victims. And as those of you who read BoingBoing already know, executive producer Ashton Kutcher is providing viewers with a little something extra.

Embedded within select frames in each episode of "Room 401" are shots of Ashton Kutcher holding up cue cards with clues leading to various websites including clips from future episodes and bonus features such as the storyboard for the show's teaser. While the puzzles are a trifle simplistic and there does not yet appear to be a cohesive plot, the fun of this game is derived from searching the show's frames for secret messages (behavior that must make the show's advertisers ecstatic). Additionally, players are finding hints of something bigger in the websites' registration information in addition to morse in the online videos, so the possibility for more exists.

Each episode leads players to discover a new website. The game's most recent website, as of the third episode, has a countdown ending at the next episode and presumably additional content Tuesday at 10pm (EST). Be careful, though--follow the game too closely, and you just might end up the final victim of Room 401.

Click Here for the 401WTF Wiki, a comprehensive walkthrough of the game so far
Click Here for the UnFiction thread
Click Here for the official MTV Website for the show

Posted by Michael Andersen at 8:15 AM | Comments (1)

July 18, 2007

Diamond Reef Wins Ogilvy Award: Shopaholic ARGers Rejoice

Do you like spending money? How would you like your very own American Express Black card? If the answer to either of those questions is yes, I have some good news for you. Jackie Turnure (Rockpool Productions and LAMP Story Mentor) won a Content 360 award at Milia 2007 in April for her Alternate Reality Game, "Diamond Reef". As the Ogilvy One Worldwide Category winner at the conference, Jackie is engaged in talks with American Express to get the project underway, with a development prize of 10,000 euros. Milia is an annual conference in Cannes, France that brings together content creators, producers, and distributors to conduct business and discuss the future of creative content.

The award-winning "Diamond Reef" alternate reality game centers around the American Express online credit card. While following a gripping tale of adventure and intrigue, players will explore the features of American Express credit cards within the spy thriller format. Jackie describes the project as a collaborative online treasure hunt paying homage to James Bond stories: in her words,

The world's most expensive diamond has been stolen, a beautiful young woman has gone missing, and you must find the diamond and rescue the girl, using your American Express card. This alternate reality game is an interactive treasure hunt where clues and story are distributed across the real and virtual worlds. And the stakes are high - if you are one of the top 10 players to solve the mystery, you win 10,000 euros!

Players are issued a Blue Amex card and make numerous virtual purchases both on their own and in groups to arrange for DNA tests, billboard purchases and package deliveries. Through the course of the game, savvy players will see their cards upgraded from Blue to Green to Gold and finally to the famed Black American Express card in an extended experience. A game that integrates money management with mystery solving should be a novel experience. And with the backing and support of OgilvyOne Worldwide, a major player in the advertising world, this game has the potential for truly redefining the cross-media experience.

Although a launch date for "Diamond Reef" has not yet been set, keep your eyes peeled over the next few months for updates on this exciting project. This might be your only chance to experience the American Express Black card firsthand, unless you have a rich great-uncle on his deathbed who always thought of you as his favorite.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 8:34 AM | Comments (0)

July 11, 2007

The Labratory of Advanced Media Production: It Must Be Bloody Awesome to be Australian

"Where the Bloody Hell are You?" It's a simple question, and yet it becomes a pivotal one in the world of Alternate Reality Gaming, where live events, deaddrops, and local advertisements feature heavily in the experience. And thanks to the dedicated work of the Laboratory of Advanced Media Production, things are looking bright for Australian ARGers.

LAMP is faciliated by the Australian Film TV and Radio School and provides numerous seminars, workshops, and residentials to aid in the development of cross-media entertainment under the direction of Gary Hayes (Personalize Media). Fellow staffer Jackie Turnure refers to the organization as "a hothouse or idea incubator, an intense brainstorming residential" that takes eight development teams away for a six day program to refine their concepts and develop pitches under the guidance of guardian mentors. Past mentors have included Christy Dena author of Cross-MediaEntertainment.com and co-author of the ARG white paper, as well as Evan Jones (Stitch Media) and Tony Walsh (Clickable Culture).

On the first day of the LAMP residential, the eight teams experience a condensed, customized ARG designed by Gary and Jackie as both a team-building exercise and an introduction to the possibilities of the genre. You can find past games documented on the LAMP Wiki, most recently featuring an Italian mystery quest functioning concurrently in the real world and in Second Life. The remaining time is spent working with numerous experts dealing with issues such as cross-media production, financial modeling, and new media models. The residential culminates in a 15 minute visual presentation to a group of VIPs.

The most recent conference in May produced numerous projects in varying stages of development that should be of interest to Alternate Reality Gaming fans. Some of the projects below are meeting with sponsors, while others have already been optioned, so keep your eyes perked and ears peeled for the following projects:

• Get Carla is a radio driven ARG spanning numerous media. The story revolves around a kidnapping, and asks the question "Carla is on the run with 100 grand. Do you help her...Or turn her in?"
  
• Middlemania is a cross-media murder mystery series taking place during a community's local council elections. This project has been optioned, and we can look forward to more exciting news in the future.
  
• Killer Gene follows the disappearance of a genetic scientist who may have discovered the code of life itself.
  

Remember, this is only a sampling of the offerings from one LAMP residential. It must be great being Australian. With all of these projects in the works, chances are that we'll be hearing more about LAMP soon.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 8:50 AM | Comments (0)

June 24, 2007

Find Friends to Foil Fake Fforde: A "Thursday Next" ARG

Amy Greenford is a mild-mannered bookstore employee working in the Classic books section of Foyles on Charing Cross road, and the books in her store have been behaving oddly. Books get mysteriously misfiled in the wrong section, pages of text simply vanish. Oh, and a bride and groom have materialized from a book and fled the store. Literature is in danger, and only we can save it, with the help of Spec-Ops 27 and the literary detectives.

Most specifically, Jasper Fforde's upcoming Thursday Next novel First Among Sequels, scheduled to be released on Thursday July 5th, is in danger. Slight errors and suspicious emails to fans of Jasper Fforde who entered an online quiz competition led them to June Haversham's blog, a publicity and marketing employee for UK publisher Hodder & Stoughton. It appears an impostor is trying to supplant the real Jasper and release a different version of the book. Both plots appear to be converging with Jasper Fforde's scheduled book signings at Swindon Waterstones on July 7th and Foyles on July 9th.

This alternate reality game appears to offer a "novel" exploration of the line between the real world and the fictional including a woman dressed as a bride singing opera in the streets of London and numerous dead-drops inside misfiled books at Foyles. If you have a deep and abiding love of the classics, this may be the game for you. It might also be worth checking out Jasper Fforde's books, as they include many elements that would be appealing to avid alternate reality gamers.

Click Here for the trailhead.
Click Here for the UnFiction discussion.
Click Here to learn more about Jasper Fforde and the "Thursday Next" series.

Posted by Michael Andersen at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)

June 2, 2007

Save My Husband (But Not For Real)

CourtTV is sponsoring what looks to be a fairly entertaining campaign, "CourtTV's 8-Day Mystery Challenge," in conjunction with Applebees and Suzuki. Starting at the trailhead site savemyhusband.com, players will be attempting to track down Andrew Goodis, chief scientist at AKARM Pharmaceuticals, a drug company on the verge of developing a cure for the common cold. The game is intended to be an eight day alternate reality game with a $25,000 cash prize to be shared by all players who successfully complete the game, which is accomplished by discovering who kidnapped Andrew and where he is being held. Clues will be given to registered players through video, email and text on the main site as well as a series of others.

The game is scheduled to start on Monday, June 4th and run until June 12th. However, ambitious players posting at the Unfiction forums have already discovered unsecured online assets -- specifically, all videos intended for day-to-day posting on the Save My Husband web site. We don't want to spoil things for those who wish to take part in the experience, and it seems that the game designers have corrected the situation, as the workaround to gain access to the videos no longer works.

With subject matter involving kidnapping, the game's stealth launch has caught some people off guard. One blog post has an interesting debate about the appropriateness of how the game has been launched, particularly in the way it has been advertised on third-party sites.

All issues aside, there is still the matter of the $25,000 shared grand prize. To claim their share of the prize, players will still need to solve each day's puzzle, although registration is open up until the final day of the contest, which is only open to US residents.

Click here for the discussion at UnFiction (be wary of spoilers).

Posted by Michael Andersen at 8:54 PM | Comments (24)

May 22, 2007

Do You Believe in Harvey Dent? Possible Batman ARG Launches

Promotions for the July 2008 release of "The Dark Knight" appear to have commenced in earnest. The official movie website for the upcoming sequel to Warner Bros Studios' hit film "Batman Begins", featuring the Batman insignia, recently directed visitors to I Believe in Harvey Dent. The website displayed an advertisement for Harvey Dent's campaign for District Attorney. Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart in the upcoming movie, is better known as the villain Two-Face. Campaign posters have been reported displaying the same image in select major cities.

A handful of Joker playing cards were discovered in Meltdown, a comic book store in California, leading curious patrons to I Believe in Harvey Dent Too. This website displayed a defaced replica of the campaign poster. The posters were reported to be similarly defaced within 48 to 72 hours of going up in their respective cities.

Visitors to the defaced website were prompted to send emails to "tragicpast" to reveal the Joker's grim visage for the movie a pixel at a time. Once completed, a message reading "See you in December" is displayed amidst a string of laughter. And while it is still too early to determine if this will be a full-fledged ARG or a simple viral marketing campaign, with over a year before the movie's release, there appears to be ample opportunity for much more.