ARGs Appear in Greece and Portugal

Often, our coverage of European alternate reality games drifts somewhere between Manchester City and London, with the occasional dash of Düsseldorf thrown in for good measure. In the past few weeks (and days, in fact), we’ve been alerted to two new ARGs from two of the EU’s finest member states – Portugal and Greece.

While not much is known about how the trailhead video was found for the Greek ARG we’re dubbing Exeis (thanks, anonymous tipster!), we do know where it leads, and what’s connected. Watch the video, titled “Exeis blog?”, and see for yourself how a simple 30 second advertisement for the Gazpacho Music Festival 2007 can turn into a trailhead with a simple message (in Greek, at about the 17 second mark). That message leads to 4728489.com, and the start of the ARG. Greek speakers can start there, while the rest of us are stuck using online translators — and trying to make sense out of statements like ‘Truth Agnwoti Country’.

The offering from Portugal comes to us via a press release: From the creators of the successful interactive teen drama series Sofia’s Diary, Searching for Miguel is beActive‘s latest entertainment proposal – an alternate reality game that involves real characters in a plot of suspense and chase. The release goes on to mention interactivity through web sites, personal blogs, email, video, Hi5 (think Myspace) profiles, phone calls, faxes and SMS messages. The game will run for three months, and registration is free at the official web site.

Know of any ARGs being run in your country? Want to keep us abreast of the latest news of your favorite ARG? Send us a note through our contact form, and tell us about it!