Month: September 2009 (Page 2 of 3)

Halo ODST: Discovering Sadie’s Story

September 15, 2009 / Geoff May

“Prepare To Drop”
Those words have been resounding through the gaming community for months, and the clashing drums of excited gamers are growing as the release date for Halo 3: ODST draws nearer. But there’s something more in this video game release that’s attracting attention.

Back in 2004, an ARG milestone was achieved with the launch of a defining marketing campaign for the genre. Before Halo 2 was released, a mysterious URL appeared momentarily in a promotional trailer, leading the way to the discovery of another world, another story within the Halo universe. The campaign became known as “I Love Bees“. That campaign is what introduced me to the world of ARGs. Already being an enormous Halo fan, the combination of the Halo science fiction universe with this method of story-telling had me immediately hooked.

Chrysopteron / Superintendent With each iteration of the Halo video game franchise, there has been some form of extended experience, viral campaign, or ARG. For Halo 3 it was Iris. Bungie even produced their own relatively localized mysteries, such as the Cortana Letters leading up to Halo: Combat Evolved, and other strange A.I. users posting and interacting on the Bungie.net forums like The Smuggler and The Superintendent. Bungie had created a diverse, dynamic, and vast universe in which many stories could be told beyond the video game genre.

Sure enough, Halo 3: ODST will have a unique extended experience of its own. Or rather, an embedded tangential experience, for lack of a better term. Within the game, players will be able to uncover bits and pieces of a separate story arc throughout the campaign. This story is being called “Sadie’s Story“. Created by Fourth Wall Studios in partnership with Bungie Studios‘ Joe Staten and Ashley Wood, it’s an audio drama (not unlike the radio drama revealed in I Love Bees) that utilizes comic-book style story-telling and will reveal an exciting mystery throughout the campaign, told from the perspective of Sadie- a New Mombasa civilian, and her experience through the ordeal leading up to New Mombasa’s destruction. It’s reported to contain even more voice acting than ODST itself.

Accomplice Hollywood: “Legendary” ARG Experience with Neil Patrick Harris

September 15, 2009 / Michelle Senderhauf

This article is the second in a series on â€œsecret tourismâ€ spots: cities that provide immersive experiences to residents and tourists alike, as long as you know where and what to look for.

He’s played a genius child doctor and a likable womanizer. He’s hosted the Tony’s and will do the same for the Emmy Awards this year. He’s become an internet sing-along sensation as Dr. Horrible. Now, Neil Patrick Harris can add Puppetmaster to his list of credentials, as he is co-producing an ARG experience in California called Accomplice: Hollywood.

Accomplice: Hollywood is a third in a series of live theatrical experiences that send participants out into the city to find clues and interact with characters in public places. Harris describes it as, “[p]art walking tour, part murder mystery, part scavenger hunt”. After playing Accomplice: New York himself a few years ago, Harris collaborated with the original creators, Tom Salamon and Betsy Sufott, to bring the experience to the West Coast.

This third installment involves a missing starlet named Nikki Desmond. Participants purchase tickets in advance, but have no information other than the date and time of the event and a video, starring Harris himself, with some background information on Desmond. A few days before the event, participants will receive a phone call from a character with the meeting location and other details. When they arrive, they suddenly find themselves immersed in the world of Nikki Desmond. They help solve the mystery behind Desmond’s disappearance while exploring Hollywood.

The customer reviews for all three Accomplice experiences are outstanding, with an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars. This definitely looks to be a fun experience for anyone living in Hollywood or New York. Tickets can be purchased through the Accomplice website.

BREAKING NEWS: Evan Ratliff Gets Caught

September 8, 2009 / Michael Andersen

evancaught1 It appears that a penchant for gluten-free foods can cost you, as Evan Ratliff learned earlier today. As of 7PM EDT tonight, Jeff, the owner of Naked Pizza, the only gluten-free pizza shop in New Orleans, caught Evan redhanded. As a gracious gesture, Evan received the pizza free of charge. As we previously reported, Evan has spent the last three weeks attempting to avoid capture as part of a contest for Wired.com, with $5,000 at stake.

Read about Evan’s capture here, or follow the whole harrowing ordeal by reading about the hunt at wired.com/vanish. Congratulations to the @vanishteamÂ on Twitter for tracking Evan down, and to Jeff for sealing the deal.

Congratulations are also in order for Evan, who successfully evaded capture for three weeks before his appetite got the better of him. For a detailed account of his capture, read the breakdown at Newscloud.

Digi-Novel “Level 26: Dark Origins” Goes Live Today

September 8, 2009 / Michael Andersen

level26 Level 26: Dark Origins, the first installment in CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker’s new “digi-novel” series, hit the bookshelves today.Â The novel, co-written by Duane Swierczynski and published by Penguin’s Dutton imprint, follows former FBI agent Steven Dark as he hunts down a serial killer known as “Sqweegel” as part of an elite, unnamed investigations unit. At least two more novels areÂ planned for the franchise.

The novel’s text is supplemented by twenty “cyberbridges” interspersedÂ throughout the novel. By visiting level26.com, the reader can enter a code to access short cinematic scenes that “bridge you from one platform to another.” Additional features including interviews, character breakdowns, and a social community will emerge at the Level 26 website. EQAL was brought on to the project to develop Level 26’s interactive website, leveraging their experience on projects such as Harper’s Globe and Lonelygirl15.

While Level 26 does not aim to be an alternative reality game, it serves as another step along the path of making reading a more interactive process. As Zuiker explained to Forbes,

[t]he digital novel will never take over traditional books, but what it does do is give the consumer a different way to experience the narrative. I think the special sauce here is once you watch the first couple of bridges, which are about three minutes each, you’ll begin to read with those [visuals in mind and you really have this movie experience in the read.

Be warned, however: Level 26 is for mature audiences, as Zuiker refers to its content as “hard R”. Plus, the novel deals with a killer in a full-body condom.

To read more about Level 26, head over to the digi-novel’s website or read the coverage at LG15 Today. You can also enter to win a Level 26 FlipCam with exclusive footage by tweeting using the hashtag #Level26 between today and September 15.

UPDATE:Â I have just received word that in honor of the release, SuicideGirls has teamed up with Zuiker to release a photoset, which goes live at 6pm today. SuicideGirls.com seems to be embracing cross-media publishing partnerships, as they previously teamed up with JC Hutchins and Smith & Tinker for the release of Personal Effects: Dark Art.

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK: Picture the Impossible

September 5, 2009 / Michael Andersen

This article is the first in a series on “secret tourism” spots: cities that provide immersive experiences to residents and tourists alike, as long as you know where and what to look for.

The Rochester Institute of Technology and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper are teaming up with Microsoft Bing to transform Rochester, New York into an urban playground between September 12th and October 31st with “Picture the Impossible“. The alternate reality game plans to showcase the city of Rochester through a series of online puzzles, live events, and clues hidden within the daily newspaper. Mobile-enabled participants can even test their wits against geo-locative puzzles designed by SCVNGR. Participants are encouraged to join one of three factions, each supporting a different local charity. Players in the Tree, Forge, and Watch factions raise money for Golisano Children’s Hospital, Foodlink, and Wilson Commencement Park, respectively. The experience culminates with an invite-only Halloween ball for the top 300 contestants. Players also have the chance to win prizes from Kodak, a company originally founded in Rochester.

“Picture the Impossible” provides an excellent opportunity to develop community bonds through play, while promoting local charities at the same time. If you live in the Rochester area, give “Picture the Impossible” a try, and see if it makes you look at the city in a different light. If you don’t live in the area, maybe now is the time to visit. While the game doesn’t start for another week, registration opens today at PicturetheImpossible.com. You can also follow along by becoming a fan of the game on Facebook.

Alternate reality games are often touted for their ability to capture attention on a global platform. For example, last year McDonalds sponsored The Lost Ring, a massive alternate reality game that reportedly attracted millions of players across the world, from Beijing to Buenos Aires. The same techniques that lead to the formation of massive global communities can also serve to foster closer connections within local communities, while providing unique ways for tourists to experience cities. With hope, we’ll be seeing and writing moreÂ about these experiences in the near future.

Click Here to learn more about the game at the Bing community blog.
Click Here to learn more about the game at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle.

PICNIC ’09: Not Your Ordinary Picnic

September 4, 2009 / Jonathan Waite

PICNIC 2009 Question: What do you get when you combine interesting speakers, special events, hands-on labs, two contests, networking opportunities, an Ignite event, and dinner? Answer: The PICNIC event in Amsterdam, which kicks off its fourth annual festival in just under three weeks!

Once again, ARGNet is proud to be a Network Sponsor of the event, which has been an annual must-see for those interested in the fields of cross-media, transmedia and social networking for the past three years. This year’s festival is the biggest yet, and it’s going to be a test of endurance for our man-on-the-scene Daniel van Gool, who will be at the conference again.

The line-up for the week is formidable and wonderful, starting with keynote speeches from such people as Peter Molyneaux (Lionhead Studios), Niklas ZennstrÃ¶m (Skype) and Ed Ulbrich (Digital Domain). Of the other speakers and presenters, Daniel will be paying close attention to Alice Taylor (Channel4), Dan Hon (Six to Start), Kevin Slavin (Area/Code), Matt Adams (Blast Theory) and Kati London (Area/Code) as they convene for the panel “Games That People Play” on September 24th. Daniel may also want to check out some of the special events scheduled for the festival — “Reality Continuum” is a really cool and interesting title which sounds like it could be fun to take in. Or maybe he’ll make his way over to the PICNIC ’09 Labs for some hands-on experiences at the Augmented City Lab. Any way you slice it, PICNIC ’09 is going to be magical and unforgettable, and we know Daniel is already counting down the days until it starts.

Of course, some of you out there are probably thinking of attending PICNIC ’09, and if you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, we’ve got great news for you. As sponsors of the event we have a special discount code for our readers, which we will tell you…. after the jump.