According to the Virtuquest website, a winner has been announced in the Virtucube Multi-Layered Puzzle contest. Richard Patterson, who lives in the United Kingdom, is the winner of $500 cash prize. The contest ran for well over ten months, a formidable challenge for all those who took part. Congratulations, Richard, and we hope you lend your talents to helping us solve future ARG puzzles in years to come.
Author: Jonathan Waite (Page 34 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.
The Laramie Project was a unique ARG experience that took place during this year’s Blogathon charity event. We were fortunate enough to have Xara Roberts, the creative mind behind the game, email us with some of her thoughts about the experience.
“I first did Blogathon 2 years ago when I was 17 – so many people who participated that year managed to pull off some amazing projects whilst still staying within the rules. Despite not having a properly functioning blog for about a year, I intended to do this year’s Blogathon. Raising money and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis has been important to me since my mother was diagnosed with the disease in 2000. I also knew that because I had dropped off the blogosphere for so long I would run into problems outside of my circle of friends when trying to raise money, and since most of my friends are students, it wouldn’t be the most lucrative campaign. So when thinking about what to do to get my cause out, I realised I could combine this with running my first ARG.”
A long-awaited addition to the Perplex City universe happened late last week when the site rolled out its in-game message forum area. Players have been busily discussing topics related to the puzzle cards that have been released so far, and new information has been added to the FAQ section.
As well, this past week included an email from in-game character Scarlett Kiteway to all players on her father’s (Sente Kiteway) mailing list. The email was chock full of information about the death of Pietro Salk, who had been a reporter at the Perplex City Sentinel. Players were able to get Scarlett’s take on the situation and were offered a spot on her mailing list.
As the PXC machine continues to chug along, you can catch updates at the Perplex City Updates blog as well as right here at ARGN.
Due to some technical difficulties, the online chat with 
We reported earlier about a text-messaging game related to the upcoming feature film Cry Wolf. Well, ARGN got a tip today about how you can get involved in the AIM-based ‘instant-win game’. Register at this site to get in on the action, provided you have an AIM screenname and access to the AIM service on your handheld device/cell phone. The grand prize is a trip to Hollywood to hunt for a missing car. As we said in our earlier article, we have no idea where this will lead. However, after reading the offical rules, we’re pretty confident that this is a sweepstakes only and not an ARG, per se.
In addition, there was another website address given in the tip for a completely different game, but still connected to the movie. Cry Wolf: The Game is a flash-based game pitting people against each other in an elimination-style cat-and-mouse game. The site includes tutorials in which the voice-over instructions, which are both simplistic and thorough, give you a good sense of how the game is played before you jump into it. Again, we’re not implying that this would lead to anywhere ARGish, but it’s a neat diversion and another interesting use of Internet technologies to promote a movie.
Jamie Kane, the Alternate Reality Game designed by the BBC, has moved out of beta stage and officially launched yesterday. According to the Jamie Kane website, players can get involved in in the ‘part game, part drama, part murder mystery’ through various methods, including finding clues in message boards and emails, and interacting with characters with a proprietary Instant Messaging system. There is even a cell phone interactive component for ARGonauts living in the UK.
meow wolf
curators request
generation loss
escape rooms
black watchmen
giggleland