Author: Jonathan Waite (Page 29 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.

ARGFest 2006 – Chicago, Baby!

February 2, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

After weeks of deliberation and debate, the final results are in, and it looks like ARGFest 5: Chicago will be officially starting on July 21st, and carrying on through the weekend to the 23rd. If you haven’t yet heard of ARGFest, it is a social event geared towards the Alternate Reality Gaming community that has previously been held in Las Vegas, Orlando, Vancouver and New York. The typical ARGFest weekend includes meet-and-greet events, dinners, nighttime activities (with the occasional nighttime beverage) and, on occasion, organized ARG-themed activities.

Last year’s ARGFest IV in New York set a new standard for an ARG community event, as organizers planned a full slate for the three day festival. Guest speakers such as Jane McGonigal and members of the Art of the Heist creative team were invited to give presentations to those in attendance, and those talks were eventually made into a DVD and encoded to video files downloadable through the Torrent network. As well, the event committee helped to put together a real world puzzle trail that had groups of eager participants travelling all over the Big Apple.

It is not yet known what kinds of surprises lie in wait in the hot summer of Chi-town, but you can be sure that everyone who makes it down to the Windy City will be blown away by the experience. For more information, there is a thread at the Unfiction forums and a wiki to keep you updated.

Is There Gold In Those Hills?

January 31, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Fans of Survivor, The Apprentice, and Rock Star: INXS will know the name Mark Burnett. He is one of the most successful television producers in recent times, churning out hit reality series after hit reality series. Now, it seems that Burnett wants to apply his talents to another niche — interactive Web programs.

Burnett has teamed up with AOL to bring the treasure-hunt game show “Gold Rush” to the Internet. Details about the game are sketchy at best, but it will require cryptic puzzles to be solved in real-time. Contestants will be able to have “constant interaction with the showâ€™s central treasure hunt,” according to Burnett, and the prize is nothing to scoff at – $1.6 million in gold will be available in 13 locations across the United States.

Perplex City Lands in America

January 30, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Perplex City will be taking another leap forward in the very near future, as the PXC universe will be on display at the Toy Fair in New York City from February 12-15 (Booth #6160, for those interested on visiting). Mind Candy Design, the creators of the card-based Alternate Reality Game, are currently putting together a media blitz for American audiences — a new press release is heralding the “launch of Perplex City in North America.”

While the cards have been available at select U.S. toy stores for months, Mind Candy CEO Michael Smith promises that they will make it “much easier to get access to our cards in North America, so everyone now has the opportunity to get immersed in Perplex City.â€ With an increase in the number of retailers selling the puzzle cards, the community of 13,000 registered at the Perplex City forums should see a surge of American players in the coming months.

The world of PXC keeps expanding — there is now a player-generated map of Perplex City in the style of Google Maps, and the aforementioned PXC Forums are full of activity. With the upcoming live events in New York and London coming soon, it looks like 2006 will be another big year for Sente and his cast of characters.

The Composer & Renata Isle

January 29, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Two weeks ago, selected members of the UnFiction message boards were sent mysterious emails from someone calling themselves “The Composer”. The emails were quickly solved — each email contained part of a coded message — and the game was on. Over the course of eleven short days, players were led to a security site, interacted via Instant Messaging, and were introduced to the story of Renata Isle.

As it turns out, the mystery has been solved, for now. On an in-game site, players have learned that they were part of a pre-game activity for upcoming ARG “Renata Isle”. The explanation promises bigger and better things to come on the “17th of the second,” which is assumed to mean February 17th of this year. There is also a teaser page that provides some basic details for the upcoming game.

From reactions in the discussion thread, this pre-game was quite enjoyable to be a part of. We will check back in on this on the 17th and see what happens with “Renata Isle”.

Elan Lee of 42 Entertainment to Appear on G4TV

January 25, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

ARGN has learned that Elan Lee of 42 Entertainment will be appearing on the G4 Video Game Television network tomorrow (January 26th). He will be interviewed by Kevin Pereira on Attack of the Show, which first airs at 7 pm, with repeats on Friday at 3 am, 9 am and 3 pm (all times EST). Accompanied by Shane Small, the two will discuss EDOC Laundry, among other topics. EDOC, for the uninformed, is a new clothing company offering coded clothes with an Alternate Reality Gaming tie-in.

Elan Lee has been a part of 42 Entertainment since its inception, and was instrumental in developing and producing some of the most popular ARGs of all time, including The Beast, I Love Bees, and Last Call Poker.

Orbital Colony Puppetmaster Chat

January 23, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

As is tradition with the endgame of a successful Alternate Reality Game, the Puppetmasters of Orbital Colony have announced a post-game Puppetmaster chat to be held on Saturday, Jan. 28th. The chat will start at 7:00 pm EST (GMT -5) in the #inquiringminds channel on the Chat-Solutions IRC network. We have set up a linked chat page here at ARGN, located here, from which you can access the chat and, quite possibly, get a chance to ask your questions about the game and the experience.

From the announcement by bagsbee, one of the PMs: Since Orbital Colony started out as a training ARG, I would definitely encourage everyone to attend, even if you didn’t play the game, and especially if you are an aspiring PuppetMaster. Pretty much everyone on the team started out with little or no PM or BTS experience, and we learned a lot along the way. We would love to share our experiences with you, and answer any questions you might have.

We’ll see you all on the 28th — space elevators are optional.