At the beginning of the month a trailhead was discovered by UnFiction member draghkar. Quickly, a few things were discovered about the site, including the use of Fibonacci numbers in the WhoIs registration information (a sign that shows that something was definitely afoot). Players who visited the site were quickly thrust into a world of keyword discovery, coded puzzles, email interaction and poetry. While the site is not new (registered in 2004), there has been up-to-date changes and character interaction in the past month. While we’re not quite sure what QU13E is (and even less sure as to how to pronounce it), here’s your heads-up to get involved with this sooner rather than later.
Month: November 2005 (Page 2 of 2)
This weekend marked the end of the highly successful Last Call Poker ARG, which culminated in a large real-world event taking place in Hollywood, California. ARGN, along with UnFiction, are pleased to announce that the LCP Puppetmaster team from 42 Entertainment will be stopping by for a live post-game chat on Wednesday, November 30, 2005 at 7:00 PM PST (10:00 pm EST, 03:00 GMT) on the Chat-Solutions IRC network.
The moderated chat will be taking place in the #lastcall chat room. Attendees will only be able to speak when asking questions. If you have a question and cannot attend the event, please feel free to post your question to the UnFiction forums or email it to ARGN using our Contact page.
After twenty-one months of planning, fifteen months of pure speculation and a four months of dissecting the only (found) in-game site, Orbital Colony has finally launched.
Very neatly timed with the finale of Last Call Poker, Orbital Colony launched November 16th. Players who had provided their phone numbers in the Name That Rock competition were called by the TEP Foundation (not to be misheard as PEP, PEG, PET, TET or any other variation) and asked a series of survey questions. After the calls were over, players rushed to find two brand new sites to peruse: The TEP Foundation and SAI Pets
A few days later, after a hacking incident at Orbicon, three more websites appeared on the horizon. Coalition Against the Road To the Stars, Path Back to Eden and The Inept are all working to bring Orbicon down, as if Orbicon didn’t have enough problems with suing both NASA and Google.
What started as a mere training ARG for potential PMs has grown into a fully polished game that just happens to be run by several members of the unFiction community (and if you keep your eyes peeled, you might just run across a name or two carefully hidden in plain view). With phones to answer, emails to send, videos to watch, audio to listen to, and quite possibly the long lost brother of Wongmo, Orbital Colony has something for everyone to enjoy. So sit back, strap yourselves in, and get ready for your ride into space.
Discussion at UnForums
Wiki hosted by Deaddrop
IRC Chat in #orbital hosted by Chat Solutions
Playing ARGs using online clues and interpersonal meetups is cool. But wearing an ARG is even cooler. At least that’s the premise behind EDOC, a new clothing company that promises the shirt will not only say something about your style, but also tells you a story.
“How do they do it?” You say? Then you realize you’re talking to your computer again. But, for the ease of understanding, I’ll explain:
You go to the store and buy an EDOC article of clothing (or “Laundry” as the hip kids call it), and embedded into the shirt’s skater designs are clues and puzzles that when solved and entered into a secret area of the EDOC website, will reveal further information related to the game’s story.
While not much is known about the project, Wired Magazine has mentioned in it’s article (in the upcoming December issue) that Elan Lee was behind the design. So is this a 4orty-2wo Entertainment gig? Is this an Elan Lee solo project? Will people buy clothes with a secret? Will we see a “Help Find Tommy Hilfiger and win $50,000” contest in the future? (We hope not.) Only time will tell. The project looks interesting, though, and what better gear to save AIs from the future in, than a shirt that is, in itself, an ARG?
Sometimes Alternate Reality Games will fall into a rut in terms of plot line… “Someone or something has been taken, and you’re my only hope“… “You need to find evidence to clear my name”… “Hi, HKDL!” and so on.
One game that seemed to step out from the rest earlier in the year was Rookery Tower. It involved conjoined twins, a demonic Tall Man, and a spooked out heroine named Layla, all involved in a haunting tale with ancient occult reverberations… Anyone who played the game will tell you that it was original, creative, and entertaining.
Early last week, a player got an email from Layla stating that she was now working with Morgan Paranormal (the group of “ghostbusters” that assisted her with that pesky evil arcane craziness the first time around). Her blog has also been updated as well, and wouldn’t you know it? There’s apparently a little strangeness happening there as well. Entries written by someone other than herself, UFO sightings (and please don’t make me mention the “chalice” posting… Eww…)
Which brings up the question going on for over 7 pages of postings at UNFiction.com: Is it starting up again?
No one but Layla knows for sure, but if there is a sequel and it is anywhere near the quality of the first, you can expect some solid puzzling, as well as a great ghost story filled with creepiness and twists. ARGN will be following this one closely and let you know if anything substantial arises.
Many thanks to Obes for giving ARGN the details of what’s new at the Tower…
black watchmen
masquerade nyc
undertone
curators request
pendog creative
generation loss