An important and much hyped event in the Flynn Lives! ARG came to fruition May 6th–the public unveiling of Encom International’s online version of their 1981 arcade classic “Space Paranoids,” which debuted at San Diego’s Comic Con 2009 for the Flynn’s Arcade event.

As a prelude to its release, a special countdown teased the game’s release. Players who visited the countdown splash page were able to click and destroy Recognizers that appeared and hovered across the screen. It served merely as a timewaster, but if players had the patience to keep clicking and destroy 99 Recognizers, they received a badge on FlynnLives.com. By persisting further and destroying 999, they received another badge.  Finally, when the countdown ended on May 6th, Encom published their much-anticipated Space Paranoids Online arcade game, just as Alan Bradley had announced.

At the same time, a member of the Flynn Lives Organization who had previously worked for Encom revealed an interface into one of Kevin Flynn’s old servers which he set up at HelloFlynn.com, although no one had found a way to retrieve content from it beyond two light-cycle blueprint files already available for viewing. It was soon discovered that hidden within each of the 15 levels of Space Paranoids Online were graphic barcodes left by Kevin Flynn, that once retrieved and decoded provided additional file retrieval codes. These new secret files showcased new blueprints and illustrations of digital Tron vehicles – a behind the scenes look at the creation of vehicles that will be making an appearance in Tron: Legacy.



Within days, reports started rolling in of people receiving packages in the mail from Flynn Lives!, containing pins, stickers, and a thank you message. Even players who, by word of mouth, out of curiosity, or just for fun, registered at FlynnLives.com to play around and earn some badges were unexpectedly rewarded with highly sought-after Tron swag.

As of this writing, a more recent update posted to the Flynn Lives forum seems to hint that the Flynn Lives! ARG will be sitting quiet for a few weeks.

Tron: Legacy is still 7 months from theatrical release, so expect much more yet to come from Flynn Lives! as the film’s release date draws near.  Watch ARGNet for news and updates!