Author: Jonathan Waite (Page 19 of 37)

Jonathan Waite was an innocent lurker when The Beast hit the Internet in 2001. From his temporary residence in Jeon Ju, South Korea, he was immediately captivated by the lush environment that had been laid out before his feet. Moving back to his hometown (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) in July of the same year, Jonathan continued to be involved in the burdgeoning genre of Alternate Reality Gaming, getting into Plexata and finding a voice on the forums dedicated to the game. Once Lockjaw hit in 2002, there was no looking back. Jonathan adopted the alias 'jamesi', started a fansite called GuysGuise, and the rest is history.
Jonathan can currently be found as an administrator on Unfiction's forums, as well as co-hosting the ARG Netcast audio show. In the past, he has been involved with Smirkbox, a humor site that focuses on the realm of ARGs, as well as actively creating and maintaining JMX, a puzzle trail website that is currently working (yes, still) on a second run.

As a freelance developer and consultant, Jonathan has worked on such games as Ocular Effect (for Fallen on ABC family), Reach the Future (aka Holomove, for Microsoft), Enitech Labs (for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on FOX) and Monster Hunter Club (for The Host by Magnolia Films). He is happily married and has two wonderful daughters.

ARG Netcast, Episode 10

January 29, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

It’s our tenth netcast, and as is the tradition, the roundtable discussion is both light-hearted and full of important game information. This week’s panel is made up of regular guests Jackie Kerr, Brooke Thompson, Sean C. Stacey and Jonathan Waite. Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through FeedBurner or via iTunes.

Game News

The Vanishing Point game is over, and Sean was there in the flesh for the festivities. Get the skinny on the behind-the-scenes action!
Township Heights comes to a sudden and unexpected end. Was this a cash-grab or is the game still going, with the apparent endgame being part of the game?
Gumshoe is billing itself as an interactive radio play. It launches on Valentine’s Day, and we’ll be listening.
Meigeist kicks it old-school with enough content, puzzles and interaction to satisfy a multitude of players.
The Sector Seven/Transformers ARG viral campaign stalls. Fanboys and fangirls around the world really want this to be more than what it currently is.
Odina Nova will relaunch in March after a short hiatus. Our very own Jessica Price has the details on ARGNet.
The Heroes 360 experience launches for the hit NBC television series. Save the cheerleader, play the ARG?
The Library of Babel site for the Perplex City game holds what could be the final clue for finding the Receda Cube, after an article/advertisement in the London Sunday Times. Find it soon, please.
Monster Hunters goes live, a tie-in with the North American release of a South Korean movie called The Host. Did you get your Yeti in the mail?

ARGFest ’07 Online Chat Scheduled

January 24, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

For those of you who still have lingering questions after our special ARG Netcast on ARGFest-o-Con 2007, you are in luck. Tomorrow, in the #argfest room at the Chat-Solutions IRC network, organizers and attendees alike will be present to discuss the festivities, as well as organize some of the details for the event. If you are interested in attending the chat, it will happen at 8:00 pm EST on Thursday, January 25, 2007. We have set up a dedicated chat channel for your convenience, so now you really have no excuse for not being there. Come one, come all, and bring your ideas and questions!

Belated Welcomes, and an Open Call For Writers

January 19, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

As the genre of alternate reality gaming continues to grow, so does ARGNet. Last year, we welcomed the additions of five new staff writers, and while we officially announced the addition of three in April, we were remiss in failing to officially welcome Nicko Demeter and Jessica Price to our staff in the latter stages of 2006. As faithful readers (you all are, aren’t you?) you’ll have already had an opportunity to enjoy Nicko’s articles on topics like Stranger Adventures and Perplex City, while Jessica has written about Ny Takma and Sammeeeees and was a driving force behind the 2006 Year in Review. Although they’ve both been kicking around our staff lounge for a while, partaking of our wonderful buffet of nachos, we want to officially welcome these two bright, enthusiastic writers to our staff.

If you’ve not visited the ARGNet web site recently — perhaps you subscribe to our RSS feed instead — this month has been one of the busiest periods in ARG history. Our What’s Hot section has ten games we’re currently keeping tabs on, and there are a few more which are starting to show up on our radar as well. With all of the news coming out regarding ARGs, we are hoping to find a few good men and women to assist us in writing articles and features for our web site. Therefore, starting today, I am putting out an open call for writers, in the hopes that there are still people out there who don’t mind a little bit of volunteer work in exchange for worldwide notoriety and fame. Okay, maybe not fame, but definitely notoriety.

If you are someone who is dependable, honest, and willing to write an article for ARGNet once a month, we’re looking for you. The submission guidelines are as follows:

Write a 100-150 word blurb-style article on any currently running game. For recent examples, see The Case of the Gumshoe Radio Play and The Trouble With Tropes.
Write a 400-500 word feature article about any of these topics: 1) a game, current or historical; 2) an interesting story or aspect of the ARG community; 3) a topic of interest to the ARGNet readership; 4) being a puppetmaster or behind-the-scenes game creator.

Submissions need to be sent in to [email protected] by 11:59 pm (CST, GMT -6) on Friday, February 2nd, 2007. Naturally, spelling and grammar count, and a submission does not guarantee an invite to join the ARGNet staff. However, we’re confident that through this process, we’ll be able to expand on our award-winning* team of journalists**, so if you’ve always wanted to be a part of our dynamic*** squad of writers, here’s your chance.

* No awards have been given to ARGNet in the past. This is simply a precognitive statement.
** The definition of “journalist” is broad enough for us to use this term liberally.
*** Dynamic doesn’t even begin to describe our staff.

The Case of the Gumshoe Radio Play

January 18, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

Well, either I’m a psychic genius or someone out there is listening close to our netcasts. Hot on the heels of my prediction in Episode 8 of the ARG Netcast series that there would be a radio play-style alternate reality game released sometime in 2007, we got a game tip about Gumshoe, an “interactive, 6-part radio drama.” The first episode in the series is set to be released on Valentine’s Day by the Gallagher Brother’s Radio Theatre. We can’t say for certain how the interactivity will be built into the series, but the site is currently advertising a free membership in something called the Gumshoe Secret Society, which includes “an exclusive Decoder Ring, which you can use to discover hidden clues within each broadcast.”

Anyone interested in what could possibly lie ahead in this detective tale can listen (in browser or as a download) to the first preview for the radio play. It’s too early to be certain about what Gumshoe will end up looking or sounding like, but it would be very satisfying for me, personally, to be dead-on right about a prediction for once, so we’ll get back to you after February 14th to see what shapes up.

ARG Netcast, Episode 9.5

January 15, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

In this supplemental, special netcast, the panel from episode 9 return to talk about ARGFest-O-Con. This is a very informative, relatively short netcast dedicated solely to discussion about the 7th installment of the ARG discussion conference and social get-together. Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through FeedBurner or via iTunes.

What’s the story?

ARGFest-O-Con 2007 is the 7th in a series of social events for the alternate reality gaming community. From the website: ARGFest-o-Con 2007 will be held Friday through Sunday, March 2-4, 2007, in San Francisco, California, USA. The focus will be on â€œHow to PM a Gameâ€ and â€œthe Future of ARGsâ€ (these are working titles).
The web site has a handy wiki where people interested in the event can communicate with attendees, view schedules (under construction), and get information on accommodations.
Speakers for the event, so far and officially announced, include Adrian Hon (Mind Candy), Evan Jones (xenophile), Kristen Rutherford, Brooke Thompson (Giant Mice), Krystyn Wells (glitterbook), Sean C. Stacey (Unfiction), speakers from sf0, Dave Szulborski, Brian Clark (GMD Studios), Jane McGonigal (avant game), Steve Peters (42 Entertainment), and keynote speakers Elan Lee and Sean Stewart of 42 Entertainment. Stewart will also be signing books at the event.
Events are still being planned, and restaurants are still being chosen for social gatherings.
Registration for the event is $10 US, which gets you a neat-o registration package. Registration will be available online soon, watch the web site for updates.
A Fest Quest is in order, but the organizers need locals to step in and help out. Sponsors are needed to help out with costs. Also, if you are particularly good at dealing with the media (who have expressed much interest), there’s a job waiting for you. Contact us here at ARGNet if you are available to help out with any of these situations.
A T-Shirt contest is open for the event, but will close soon. There’s a fabulous prize available, so enter now and enter often!
We go on (and on, and on) about how much fun these fests are. You just have to attend.

Contact us at our special netcast email address, [email protected] with your tips, suggestions, concerns and submissions. Call us on our ARGNet voicemail at 630-274-5425.

ARG Netcast, Episode 9

January 15, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

Caution: possible spoilers about Perplex City are revealed in this netcast.

It’s our first netcast of 2007, and I’m happy to be joined by regular panel guests Brooke Thompson, Jackie Kerr and Marie Lamb, with special panel guest rose. In our ninth netcast, we talk about games, games and more games. Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through FeedBurner or via iTunes.

Game News

Vanishing Point is live and full of wonderful prizes and challenging puzzles. And, no, we don’t all think it’s an ARG… even if 42 Entertainment is behind it.
Puzzle of the week: The META puzzle from Vanishing Point. Read more about it at the Unforums.
Township Heights, the new VirtuQuest alternate reality game, launches with a pay-to-play model and a few T-shirts.
Meigeist (the ARG formerly known as Geist) goes live and people are already buzzing about the quality of the game this far. Oh, and there are cute, cuddly cats involved. You can get behind-the-scenes information here if you can’t wait for us to publish an ARGNet article about the game.
NeoVenus Construction (AKA Nevec) looked to be stalled before candy bars and a new blog opened the game back up with a resurgence. See Krystyn Wells’ ARGNet article for more information.
The Sector Seven/Transformers ARG viral campaign stalls. Fanboys and fangirls around the world really want this to be more than what it currently is.
Perplex City has life, as the players feel that they are close to finding that darn cube. It’s not an easy path, however.
Second Life Future Salon panel discussion on ARGs took place on the 27th of November, we hope to have access to the audio from that discussion soon.
The Human Pet reinvents itself with more videos and a shiny new website, complete with community-forming forums.
Deus City is on a bit of a hiatus, claiming that the recent storms in the U.S. have thrown an icy wrench into their plans. Yeah, sure — nice excuse. No, really, we like it.
Marie talks about Doom Skull, which we were ready to pass off as just another game… until she really sold us on it.
Preview for next week — Bristelgoodman.. On first glance, it looks rather creepy. We’ll know more by next week.