Month: July 2005 (Page 2 of 2)

Email Mystery Announces “Group Read”

July 17, 2005 / Steve Peters

The publishers of the highly praised email mystery The Daughters of Freya (review) have announced a unique “Group Read” for readers of ARGN, where everyone will read the mystery at the same time, and discuss it in an online forum as it happens. The idea is to create a shared interactive experience out of what is normally a solitary activity. The story itself – about a journalist investigating a Marin County sex cult – is told through emails exchanged among the characters. But instead of reading them in a book, readers get them as part of their regular email – 4 or 5 a day over the three weeks it takes for the mystery to unfold. The mystery introduces a new and innovative way to use the Internet as a storytelling tool, and has been getting a great response from readers and reviewers alike.

In some ways, these email mysteries are much like ARGs, only without the puzzles. So, we thought it would be fun to offer ARGN readers an opportunity to experience the story collectively in real-time, much like a typical alternate reality game. The folks at Email Mystery have been kind enough to extend a special promotional price of $3.99 for those who wish to take part. The Group Read will begin on August 1st, when the first installment of the mystery will be emailed to readers.

A forum will be set up for discussion of this Group Read as it happens , so watch ARGN for details on that. If you’d like to participate, you can register here. In addition, there is a free preview with the first three emails from the mystery available here.

EDIT: The discussion forum for Daughters of Freya has been set up here.

ARG Parody ‘Seen Steve’ Takes Off

July 14, 2005 / Carie Ward

It’s not every day that an ARG that starts off by IM’ing hkdl turns out to be one of the most talked about, but “Seen Steve” has turned out to be just such a game.

Seen Steve is a brilliant parody of the ARG world. So far it has encompassed Acheron, Art of the Heist, BLARGS, The Beast, Chasing the Wish, The Flaming Heart, gAIMs, Gypsysoft, I Love Bees, Lockjaw, Our Colony, Perplex City, RedKore, and Seen James – just to name a few. As a bonus, it also has ferrets and pixies which are near and dear in everyone’s heart (or at least they should be).

Perplex City Plays Its Cards Right

July 9, 2005 / Guy Parsons

The much-anticipated alternate reality game Perplex City came a little closer to full launch yesterday, with the first packs of puzzle cards going on sale at Playlounge in London.

The news reached players through an unexpected tip-off from wannabe-journalist
Scarlett Kiteway, just two hours before the cards were to be made available. Two players in the area were able to make their way to the store, where the puppetmasters were waiting excitedly to greet their first ever customers and take a few celebratory photographs. It was reported that the cards had only arrived from the printers that day, and the Mind Candy team had made a last minute decision to dash the first packs over to Playlounge and into the eager hands of its players.

Live Phone-in Chat with H3ist Team: July 10th

July 6, 2005 / Steve Peters

The Alternate Reality Gaming Network will host a live call-in phone chat with some of the folks behind the recent alternate reality game The Art of the H3ist, provided by the kind folks at AccuTalk. It will be open to callers both in the US and abroad, and will take place this Sunday, July 10th at 7:00pm Pacific/10:00pm Eastern. Our guests will include Mike Monello, Brian Cain, Brian Clark, Nicole BarrÃ© (Nisha), Ben Rock and Dave Szulborski (more as they are confirmed).

This phone chat will work very much like a call-in radio show, as callers will have a chance to talk directly to our guests, and ask whatever questions they like. If you’d like to participate, call (404) 920-6650, then enter the conference code 880772#. You’ll be prompted to state your name (or screen name in this case), then will be put on hold until the chat begins.

By default, you’ll be in listen-only mode. If you’d like to ask a question or make a comment, press *1. This will put you in the queue, which will be gone through in order. We’ll move international callers to the front of the queue. When it’s your turn, you’ll be ‘voiced’ and able to talk.

EDIT 7/12: You can download an mp3 file of the chat here (13.5MB).

The Devil’s Own Work: A Sable & Shuck Wrap-Up

July 5, 2005 / Guy Parsons

Sable & Shuck, the promotional
alternate reality game crafted by Draft
London for Stella Artois,
has finally come to its conclusion – not with a bang, not even with a
whimper, but with a wall of silence punctuated only by anguished complaints
from its players. Despite offering a Â£10,946 ($19,225) cash prize
to the player who cracked the final puzzle, the solve eluded the community
and the closing date passed without comment from behind the curtain.

A newcomer reading the post-game thoughts from the players might imagine
that S&S was an unmitigated disaster. On the contrary, the game showed
many a flash of brilliance during its rocky eight month run. Unfortunately,
however, the exceptional design and colourful premise failed to compensate
for the chronic gameplay flaws that ultimately rendered the game a much-maligned
alternate reality car crash. By squandering such high quality material
and even inspiring some players to disown the brand itself, it will live
on as a warning to would-be corporate PM’s in how seriously ‘ARGvertising’
can backfire.

So where did it all go wrong?