Month: February 2009 (Page 2 of 3)

Acts of kindness, secret dances keep citizens entertained

February 7, 2009 / Jonathan Waite

akoha_tsdo Not every project we write about here starts with an attractive brunette female in trouble, and in the case of these two campaigns, we don’t even know where the game starts and real life ends. First up, we have Akoha, a company that describes itself as one that believes that “community is not only the lifeblood of our company, but also an ongoing dedication to listening and working with our users to create something special.” Akoma recently made waves at the TED Conference by distributing packs of mission cards in its Inspired Minds series. The cards describe missions tailor-made for kindness, which include giving someone a hero medal, or sharing a book. In the world of community building and social networking, Akoma missions seem like a good way to spread kindness throughout your digital and physical world.

The second project on the list is the Top Secret Dance-Off. We were tipped off about this endeavor through Jane McGonigal’s twitter stream, and many people in the ARG community are participating in the game. The general idea, as described on the web site, is that there is an “underground world of dance quests and dance-offs,” where players can “[d]iscover new dance battlegrounds and develop [their] top secret Choreopowers!” Choreopowers might just be the word of the year, and as such, we encourage those that aren’t afraid to don a mask and complete an dance-based mission to grab your nearest video recording device and get started. Learn all about the rules through a video posted by a very familiar-looking Punky McMonsef, and check out the videos of one of our favorite Cthulhu-loving dancemasters.

You don’t know J.A.C.K.

February 7, 2009 / Jonathan Waite

As we continue to play catch-up from the past two weeks of email, we’re intrigued by a new campaign coming from Brazil. According to tipster Alessandra, there’s a new ARG out there just waiting to be had called Follow Your Instinct 2.O: J.A.C.K. We must have missed the original FYI ARG, launched in 2006 to coincide with the release of Brazilian band Mindflow’s Mind Over Body. However, we discovered the band’s Facebook group that told us the first game involved an imaginary serial killer, and based on what Alessandra has told us, this sequel begins as “not even the strongest bars could stop his never ending talent of bringing fear and his unattainable thirst for evil.”

In this game, which can be played at the band’s web site, players take on the role of a detective looking for clues and evidence exposing an ominous-sounding Destructive Device which is supposedly hidden inside Mindflow’s upcoming album of the same name. Now, how this has come to be isn’t clear, but in the game tip, Alessandra states that the “leads could be anywhere: music, websites, booklets, photos, videos.” How very cross-media!

The Flash-based web site is very slick and well-designed, and the music is catchy enough to leave playing in the background as you analyze the clues. For players who need a bit of a head start in getting into the process, there’s an instructional YouTube video set up to help make sense of the game. The most recent blog post from J.A.C.K. was a few days ago, so it appears that the game is in full swing. And even though this game originates in Brazil, there are English and Portuguese versions of the content, so those of us in English-speaking countries can jump right into the mix.

Do you have what it takes to capture J.A.C.K. and prevent the Destructive Device from doing damage? Register at the web site and get started today!

TNT launches “episodic Flash game” for Leverage

February 7, 2009 / Jonathan Waite

We received a game tip early in January from the fine folks at TNT TV regarding their new original series Leverage. According to Seth Miller, the Senior Manager of Digital Partnerships at the network, “[t]he games take elements and storylines of from the show, add on a layer of a 3D virtual headquarters and features a sweepstakes to help the Leverage team recover some stolen money.” Miller admits that he doesn’t know if this “qualifies as a true ARG” so let’s have our readers be the judges of that! You can access the game at LeverageHQ.com and please, let us know in our comments how you feel about the campaign.

Leverage is a con series in reverse, in which a group of “specialists” take on the corrupt people and companies that plague our society in a sort of modern-day Robin Hood theme. It stars Timothy Hutton and can be seen Tuesdays at 10/9c on TNT, or you can watch full episodes on the TNT website (U.S. visitors only, we assume).

Get Intimate with Intimation

February 7, 2009 / Jonathan Waite

It wasn’t too long ago that discussion at the ARG Netcast included a look at The Way Their World Ended, a game that launched through a Twitter account on Christmas day of 2008. At the beginning, a few of the players that followed Intimation on Twitter were discouraged by the flood of cryptic updates to the account, but once the messages were decoded, the game began dropping references to the Halo universe.

In the past week, there have been more discoveries which lead at least one player to believe that this game’s narrative takes place, “after the events of ILB, since this AI knows about ‘the legendary Melissa.'” ILB, for those who may not know, is short for I Love Bees, the massively popular alternate reality game from 2004 which was a promotion for Halo 2. There have also been references to material discovered through the Iris ARG, which Bungie/Microsoft put together for the release of Halo 3.

So, is it an official tie-in to some sort of Halo product, or a fan creation? We’ve sent off an email to Bungie to see what they have to say, and we’ll update once we get a response. In the meantime, if you’ve been waiting for something to fill the void until Halo Wars hits store shelves, this may be just the thing.

In-game YouTube account
Unfiction Forum thread

Mir-12: Viral Marketing for Singularity?

February 1, 2009 / Robbie Smith

mir-12

Once again, YouTube has led to a rabbit hole that seems to go deeper and deeper with each day. A video was uploaded to the site, supposedly a Russian news clip reporting on an assassination attempt on a scientist, as well as the the subsequent shooting of the would-be killer. The newscast points viewers towards an organization named Mir-12, which is believed to be behind the attack. Upon visiting the Mir-12 website, players discovered a blog documenting the actions of Mir-12, a â€œglobal communityâ€ attempting to uncover a Russian conspiracy concerning an island where Soviet weapons testing took place during the height of World War II.

Mir-12â€™s founder, an American student, roundly denied any knowledge of the scientist prior to January 16th, the date of the incident documented in the video, and states that the assassin, Natasha Norvikov, was nothing more than a friend helping to uncover the truth behind the mysterious island and the Russian government cover-up. Researching Natasha, players have found more information on the active young woman who had accounts on Flickr and Facebook. Mir-12â€™s most recent update includes a link to Natashaâ€™s photography work, also discovered and submitted to the site by players.

So, what does it all mean? As one intrepid blogger has already uncovered, Mir-12 seems to be a viral marketing campaign for the upcoming Activision video game Singularity. Some research into Mir-12â€™s Twitter account shows that certain followers of the Mir-12 Twitter-feed were employees of the DDB Ad Agency, and DDB has worked with Activision in the past. This discovery, coupled with the Singularity trailers, make the coincidences in plot seem much lessâ€¦ coincidental.
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Skynet Research Wants You!

February 1, 2009 / Robbie Smith

terminator_salvation

A recent trailhead discovery could prove very exciting for Terminator fans as it appears to be the beginning of a viral marketing campaign for the upcoming Terminator: Salvation film. Skynet Research has little more than a message claiming that “Skynet Research is Coming,” and registration for e-mail updates but the legitimacy of the site as more than a fan creation is helped by the privacy policy, which links to the website of non other than Warner Bros., the production company behind the Terminator films. There are still three months before Terminator: Salvation hits the big screen on May 22nd, which is plenty of time to give fans a chance to take part in John Connorâ€™s resistance.

Hopefully, more comes of this web site, and when it does, ARGNet will provide updates, so keep watching this site for details.