Month: June 2007 (Page 2 of 2)

CourtTV is sponsoring what looks to be a fairly entertaining campaign, “CourtTV’s 8-Day Mystery Challenge,” in conjunction with Applebees and Suzuki. Starting at the trailhead site savemyhusband.com, players will be attempting to track down Andrew Goodis, chief scientist at AKARM Pharmaceuticals, a drug company on the verge of developing a cure for the common cold. The game is intended to be an eight day alternate reality game with a $25,000 cash prize to be shared by all players who successfully complete the game, which is accomplished by discovering who kidnapped Andrew and where he is being held. Clues will be given to registered players through video, email and text on the main site as well as a series of others.

The game is scheduled to start on Monday, June 4th and run until June 12th. However, ambitious players posting at the Unfiction forums have already discovered unsecured online assets — specifically, all videos intended for day-to-day posting on the Save My Husband web site. We don’t want to spoil things for those who wish to take part in the experience, and it seems that the game designers have corrected the situation, as the workaround to gain access to the videos no longer works.

With subject matter involving kidnapping, the game’s stealth launch has caught some people off guard. One blog post has an interesting debate about the appropriateness of how the game has been launched, particularly in the way it has been advertised on third-party sites.

All issues aside, there is still the matter of the $25,000 shared grand prize. To claim their share of the prize, players will still need to solve each day’s puzzle, although registration is open up until the final day of the contest, which is only open to US residents.

Click here for the discussion at UnFiction (be wary of spoilers).