Month: January 2005 (Page 2 of 3)

Regenesis Post-Game Puppetmaster Chat: January 31, 2005

January 11, 2005 / Steve Peters

The Production team behind the Alternate Reality Game for the recent Canadian TV series Regenesis will be featured in an upcoming moderated IRC chat on Monday, January 31st, 2005 at 5:00pm Pacific/8:00pm Eastern. They will be fielding questions and giving a behind the scenes look at the world that’s been consuming them for the past 15 weeks.

Regenesis’ final episode will air January 23rd, bringing the accompanying ARG portion to a conclusion as well. The Regenesis Extended Reality, as it was called, was developed by a team at Xenophile Media, and was groundbreaking in that it was the most extensive Alternate Reality Game that has been officially tied to a television series to date.

Regenesis was a biotech thriller produced for Canada’s The Movie Network/Movie Central that premiered on October 24th. Players of the Extended Reality received emails from the game during the show’s airings, and gathered together on ingame boards at ScienceSucks.com to figure out the nefarious goings on at the North American Biotechnology Advisory Commision (NORBAC).

The chat will be moderated (attendees will only be able to speak while asking questions) and is scheduled to last about an hour and a half.

When: January 31st, 2005 at 5:00pm Pacific/8:00pm Eastern
Where: #regenesis on irc.chat-solutions.org (browser-based access here)

Book Release: “This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming”

January 10, 2005 / Steve Peters

A new book is scheduled to hit the shelves that will really have a big impact on Alternate Reality Gaming. This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming by Dave Szulborski will be available in e-book and print-on-demand format in mid-January 2005 and in a traditional print version in February 2005. An MP3 book “on tape” will also be available. For a limited time, the first 2 chapters of this book are available to download for free!

Dave is the creator of several successful and critically acclaimed Alternate Reality Games including Chasing The Wish and Urban Hunt. From the book’s website:

Some of the founders and leading lights of the newest and hottest trend in entertainment announced today that they have joined forces to produce the first ever how-to book on the subject. Titled This is Not a Game, the new book promises to be a how-to resource for the casual game developer and media strategists alike who wish to explore the genre of Alternate Reality Gaming also called immersive gaming….

…While Alternate Reality Gaming has been around for several years, the recent phenomenal success of the online game “I Love Bees“, produced by Microsoft and Bungie to promote the release of the much anticipated video game Halo 2, has brought thousands of new participants into the genre and launched Immersive Gaming into the mainstream consciousness once and for all. ARG/immersive gaming has been featured in media venues such as CNN, Trendcentral, BBC, New York Times and countless other sources as of late.

This is Not a Game provides a concise and easy-to-understand explanation of the alternate reality game and why so many major marketing and entertainment companies are now turning to immersive gaming and marketing efforts to promote their biggest product releases. Tracing the roots of the genre back to the earliest days of online interactive fiction up through the most recent alternate reality games, This is Not a Game allows anyone, regardless of their level of knowledge and experience with the Internet or online gaming, to jump right in and become fully immersed in this exciting and engaging new form of entertainment.

The new book will also contain contributions from author and media theorist Joseph Matheny, ARGN founder Steve Peters, professional stage illusionist Ben Mack with website and cover design by cutting edge gaming artist Denny Unger of Worldworks Games.

Keep an eye on immersivegaming.com for future announcements and details as they become available.

Deaddrop Puzzle Contest

January 9, 2005 / Steve Peters

Deaddrop today has announced its Best Alternate Reality Game Puzzle contest. The best puzzle will be used in an upcoming ARG, and the winner will also be invited to participate behind the scenes in that ARG.

Deaddrop will accept submissions for this puzzle contest through the end of January. The winner will be announced on Deaddrop, but you won’t see the puzzle until it shows up in a game.

For rules and submission procedures, refer to the post on the Deaddrop site.

PM Chat: Legend of the Sacred Urns

January 6, 2005 / Steve Peters

There will be a post-game chat with the puppetmasters behind the recently concluded Sharp promotional game, dubbed “Legend of the Sacred Urns.” It will be tonight at 9:00 pm EST in #steinitz on chat-solutions. For those of you without a chat client, you can access the channel here.

If you followed along, now’s your chance to talk directly to those who were behind this well-done ARG promotion.

ARGN Announce List Subscription Back On Line

January 6, 2005 / Steve Peters

We’ve finished our upgrade to the ARGN Announce List backend, so you’re once again free to subscribe.

This is a very low-traffic email list, reserved for notifications of new games and major announcements only. If you want to be sure not to miss getting in on the ground floor of the next big ARG, this is your best bet.

If you’ve subscribed previously, there’s no need to re-subscribe.

Slumberil: Matrix Online ARG?

January 5, 2005 / Steve Peters

The highly anticipated game The Matrix Online is scheduled to be released this spring. Beta testers of the game noticed a billboard advertising a sleep-aid product called Slumberil, and subsequently discovered slumberil.com.

Call us jaded, but we’ve gotten our hopes up before, hoping that a game-related site is an ARG trailhead, but then being disappointed to find out that it’s merely an atmospheric site, nothing more (as in recent game-related sites for the Myst and Grand Theft Auto series’). Nevertheless, a little digging reveals a juicy login page, a mailing list signup, and mysterious emails from someone named pandora.

The fact that there’s a spring release of Matrix Online increases the likelihood that this will turn into ARG goodness, but we’ll have to wait and see for now.

Discussion at Unfiction.
Chat in #slumberil