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January 29, 2007

ARG Netcast, Episode 10

It's our tenth netcast, and as is the tradition, the roundtable discussion is both light-hearted and full of important game information. This week's panel is made up of regular guests Jackie Kerr, Brooke Thompson, Sean C. Stacey and Jonathan Waite. Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through FeedBurner or via iTunes.

Game News

• The Vanishing Point game is over, and Sean was there in the flesh for the festivities. Get the skinny on the behind-the-scenes action!
  
• Township Heights comes to a sudden and unexpected end. Was this a cash-grab or is the game still going, with the apparent endgame being part of the game?
  
• Gumshoe is billing itself as an interactive radio play. It launches on Valentine's Day, and we'll be listening.
  
• Meigeist kicks it old-school with enough content, puzzles and interaction to satisfy a multitude of players.
  
• The Sector Seven/Transformers ARG viral campaign stalls. Fanboys and fangirls around the world really want this to be more than what it currently is.
  
• Odina Nova will relaunch in March after a short hiatus. Our very own Jessica Price has the details on ARGNet.
  
• The Heroes 360 experience launches for the hit NBC television series. Save the cheerleader, play the ARG?
  
• The Library of Babel site for the Perplex City game holds what could be the final clue for finding the Receda Cube, after an article/advertisement in the London Sunday Times. Find it soon, please.
  
• Monster Hunters goes live, a tie-in with the North American release of a South Korean movie called The Host. Did you get your Yeti in the mail?
  

Topic Discussion

• Extended Realities (movies, TV, books) and the battle between parallel experiences v. immersive experiences
  
• Capturing the audience -- with 11 games concurrently running, where can games draw their players from? How do they target new players?
  

Various Discussion

• No listener email or voice mail. Have we been reduced to "I'll call you sometime, I promise" status?
  
• Jonathan's birthday falls on Superbowl Sunday, and his Colts are in the big dance. It'll either be a victory hangover on Monday, or a crying-in-the-beer hangover. Either way, send the aspirin now.
  
• Our open call for writers is of great importance right now. Get involved, you lazy writing bastards! (Stringers welcome -- listen for a definition).
  

Contact us at our special netcast email address, netcast@argn.com with your tips, suggestions, concerns and submissions. Call us on our ARGNet voicemail at 630-274-5425.

Update: For all of you who shared Brooke's frustration at not being able to link to the posts on the Monster Hunter Club forums, you can now do so quite easily. Just click on the little square picture at the top of each post and Voila! We don't want to say it was because of us, but we like to think so Wink (thanks to Sylvia for being the first to point this out!)

Posted by Jonathan Waite at 10:51 PM | Comments (1)

January 15, 2007

ARG Netcast, Episode 9.5

In this supplemental, special netcast, the panel from episode 9 return to talk about ARGFest-O-Con. This is a very informative, relatively short netcast dedicated solely to discussion about the 7th installment of the ARG discussion conference and social get-together. Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through FeedBurner or via iTunes.

What's the story?

• ARGFest-O-Con 2007 is the 7th in a series of social events for the alternate reality gaming community. From the website: ARGFest-o-Con 2007 will be held Friday through Sunday, March 2-4, 2007, in San Francisco, California, USA. The focus will be on “How to PM a Game” and “the Future of ARGs” (these are working titles).
  
• The web site has a handy wiki where people interested in the event can communicate with attendees, view schedules (under construction), and get information on accommodations.
  
• Speakers for the event, so far and officially announced, include Adrian Hon (Mind Candy), Evan Jones (xenophile), Kristen Rutherford, Brooke Thompson (Giant Mice), Krystyn Wells (glitterbook), Sean C. Stacey (Unfiction), speakers from sf0, Dave Szulborski, Brian Clark (GMD Studios), Jane McGonigal (avant game), Steve Peters (42 Entertainment), and keynote speakers Elan Lee and Sean Stewart of 42 Entertainment. Stewart will also be signing books at the event.
  
• Events are still being planned, and restaurants are still being chosen for social gatherings.
  
• Registration for the event is $10 US, which gets you a neat-o registration package. Registration will be available online soon, watch the web site for updates.
  
• A Fest Quest is in order, but the organizers need locals to step in and help out. Sponsors are needed to help out with costs. Also, if you are particularly good at dealing with the media (who have expressed much interest), there's a job waiting for you. Contact us here at ARGNet if you are available to help out with any of these situations.
  
• A T-Shirt contest is open for the event, but will close soon. There's a fabulous prize available, so enter now and enter often!
  
• We go on (and on, and on) about how much fun these fests are. You just have to attend.
  

Contact us at our special netcast email address, netcast@argn.com with your tips, suggestions, concerns and submissions. Call us on our ARGNet voicemail at 630-274-5425.

Posted by Jonathan Waite at 11:20 PM | Comments (0)

ARG Netcast, Episode 9

Caution: possible spoilers about Perplex City are revealed in this netcast.

It's our first netcast of 2007, and I'm happy to be joined by regular panel guests Brooke Thompson, Jackie Kerr and Marie Lamb, with special panel guest rose. In our ninth netcast, we talk about games, games and more games. Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through FeedBurner or via iTunes.

Game News

• Vanishing Point is live and full of wonderful prizes and challenging puzzles. And, no, we don't all think it's an ARG... even if 42 Entertainment is behind it.
  
• Puzzle of the week: The META puzzle from Vanishing Point. Read more about it at the Unforums.
  
• Township Heights, the new VirtuQuest alternate reality game, launches with a pay-to-play model and a few T-shirts.
  
• Meigeist (the ARG formerly known as Geist) goes live and people are already buzzing about the quality of the game this far. Oh, and there are cute, cuddly cats involved. You can get behind-the-scenes information here if you can't wait for us to publish an ARGNet article about the game.
  
• NeoVenus Construction (AKA Nevec) looked to be stalled before candy bars and a new blog opened the game back up with a resurgence. See Krystyn Wells' ARGNet article for more information.
  
• The Sector Seven/Transformers ARG viral campaign stalls. Fanboys and fangirls around the world really want this to be more than what it currently is.
  
• Perplex City has life, as the players feel that they are close to finding that darn cube. It's not an easy path, however.
  
• Second Life Future Salon panel discussion on ARGs took place on the 27th of November, we hope to have access to the audio from that discussion soon.
  
• The Human Pet reinvents itself with more videos and a shiny new website, complete with community-forming forums.
  
• Deus City is on a bit of a hiatus, claiming that the recent storms in the U.S. have thrown an icy wrench into their plans. Yeah, sure -- nice excuse. No, really, we like it.
  
• Marie talks about Doom Skull, which we were ready to pass off as just another game... until she really sold us on it.
  
• Preview for next week -- Bristelgoodman.. On first glance, it looks rather creepy. We'll know more by next week.
  

Topic Discussion

• Catch a special netcast with the panel discussing ARGFest 2007: San Francisco! We made it into its own separate netcast because of all the juicy news, information and gossip!

Listener Email

• We get word on an explanation from the Another Contest Worth Entering puppetmaster. We get further word that the missing prize issue has been resolved. We're now satisfied enough with this to never speak of it again.
  

Rambling Chit-chat

• The iPhone -- because if we didn't talk about it, we couldn't call ourselves a podcast. Which we don't, but it's too cool to ignore.
  

Contact us at our special netcast email address, netcast@argn.com with your tips, suggestions, concerns and submissions. Call us on our ARGNet voicemail at 630-274-5425.

Posted by Jonathan Waite at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)

January 1, 2007

ARG Netcast, Episode 8

We were big liars when we said that Episode 7 of the ARG Netcast would be the last of 2006. Yesterday, Jonathan Waite was joined by Sean C. Stacey, Marie Lamb, Brooke Thompson and Carie Ward for a look back at 2006, and a look forward towards what might happen in 2007. Episode 8 is our year-end Review and Predictions episode, one you don't want to miss!

Posted by Jonathan Waite at 2:15 PM | Comments (5)