Author: Jonathan Waite (Page 8 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.

UPDATE: There’s gold in them thar’ real world locations

August 11, 2008 / Jonathan Waite

While it’s not quite a return to the gold rush days of yore, the alternate reality game for Velvet Assassin, dubbed Violette’s Dream by the players, involves much more than just fake Nazi gold bars. In fact, much to the delight of Dee Cook (addlepated) and Russel_k at the Unfiction forums, there are authentic gold bars ready to be found in the real world! According to a press release sent to us, while these gold bars are the first to be discovered, “[m]ore caches of gold are still being hunted down.”

The ARG, a campaign for the upcoming XBOX 360/PC game Velvet Assassin, has been entertaining players for three months thus far, and continues to play out at trailhead/meta site violettesdream.com. The premise of both the ARG and the video game is unique in that it is inspired by real-life British spy Violette Szabo. The video game launches in fall 2008, and we expect the ARG to continue past the release of the game, as

Along with the press release came some photos of the find in Fredricksburg, Texas, which you can see after the jump.

Mailbox: Shadowbox Inn

August 5, 2008 / Jonathan Waite

Shadowbox Inn swag

In the mail today was a plain brown box, light in weight but heavy in mystery. Inside was a postcard featuring the URL shadowboxinn.googlepages.com on one side, and the numbers ‘808080808’ on the back. Along for the ride was a pool ball, number 11, which looks fairly ordinary.

Shadowbox Inn post card

A quick Google search turns up this thread on the Unfiction forums, which started just over a month ago. From what we can glean from the thread, there have been a number of web-based discoveries, including a MySpace page, and a countdown on the front page, set to expire in just under three days. So, given the timely nature of the countdown — I guess Steve Peters was right, countdowns are very useful tools — we expect things to heat up in this campaign sooner than later.

Update: Upon closer inspection of the box, and some diligent investigative journalism (read: Google search), we have found two more connections to shadows. The first comes from the signature the sender provided when sending the package — a must for Canada Customs when sending packages from the U.S. — which looks to be Lamont Cranston. Lamont Cranston happens to be one of the alter-egos of The Shadow, the popular fictional vigilante that has appeared in radio, television and film dramas since 1930. The second clue of shadowy importance is the return address, which matches that of the Shadowbox Cabaret. We’re unsure if these specific references will be important in the scheme of the game play, or if they are simply meant as atmospheric affirmations of the game’s name, but we thought they were noteworthy to mention.

The quick and dirty: New ARGs pop up, like, everywhere!

July 31, 2008 / Jonathan Waite

Truckload of ARGs Don’t mind us — we’re just catching up on the latest round of alternate reality game launches, via the ARGNet tipline/inbox/mailbox. Here is what we know of, in no particular order:

(1) Eklipse Global: We first heard about this game through the LiveJournal blog of staffer Geoff May, and were reminded again of its existence when we picked up our post-ARGFest mail. After sitting at the post office since the 18th of July, the USPS Priority Mail envelope was opened to reveal a letter, and a mysterious message: IF YOU HEAR THE HUM IS TOO LATE!!

The letter notified “ARGN” that the decision committee did not select our marketing campaign bid as the winner. We’d be crushed, had we actually submitted a bid, but since we didn’t, um, yay? Later in the letter from Reinhart, the president of Eklipse Global, he assures us that their decision is not a reflection on our expertise or professionalism, which is a relief, because personally, I’d never work for a company run by a one-name person — and yes, that includes Madonna Inc.

This is only the start of the crazy amount of new ARGs that have appeared out of the chaotic fiction ether in the past few weeks — head on over the jump for the rest of the list.

UPDATE: Dharma Wants You, but not quite yet

July 27, 2008 / Jonathan Waite

Dharma Wants You logo As soon as the Octagon Global Recruiting ad flashed across the television screen during the final commercial break of the season four finale of Lost, fans were on their computers, headed towards the advertised web site. It wasn’t more than a few moments before the world figured out that something big was bound to happen at Comic-Con 2008, which is happening right now in San Diego. True to their word, the Dharma Initiative is actively recruiting new members for its global corporation, and quite a few lucky attendees have had the chance to take the test to become part of the Dharma team. For those unable to attend, a sister web site is all we get for now, but rumors swirl that claim that the new Lost ARG is scheduled to make a move to the mainstream starting tomorrow.

The events at Comic-Con were disclosed through an email sent out to those who submitted their emails to the Octagon Global Recruiting (OGR) web site, which also appears at the site itself. One thing to note here — if you view the source of the web page version, an interesting message from someone calling themselves RuckusGuy shows up — we won’t spoil it for you, but it involves Bluetooth, which we’ll get to later.

Reports about the events in San Diego are still coming in, but according to the fine folks at Lostpedia, the team from Dharma have Australian accents and are vehement as to their purpose at the Con — a member of the Lostpedia forums claims to have overheard one of the recruiters saying, “Yes. We’re an actual REAL organization currently trying to recruit new members,” to a curious onlooker. The test itself takes about five minutes, and involves a few oddball questions as well as some interesting images shown on audio/visual equipment. To make sure everyone at the Con was aware of the campaign, Dharma ‘sponsored’ Saturday’s panel discussion at which executive producers Cartlon Cuse and Damon Lindelof were joined by actor Matthew Fox to answer questions about the hit television series. However, the sponsorship was quickly pulled when a test applicant — most likely a paid actor — interrupted the discussion to show a new video featuring Dr. Marvin Candle, aka

Our own Celina Beach has been on the scene at Comic-Con all weekend, and we expect her reports to start trickling in sometime today or tomorrow. Hopefully, she has a chance today to take the Dharma test — she’s on a waiting list — and can tell us about her experiences. That Bluetooth reference we hinted at earlier? Well, there’s a video floating around showing what happened when someone enabled their device within proximity of the Dharma area. As for the next stage of the game, we’re optimistic about new content tomorrow, so watch those web sites!

ARGNet is SciFi’s Site of the Week!

July 23, 2008 / Jonathan Waite

SciFi logo As television stations go, we’re big fans of Sci Fi, and not just because they named us the Site of the Week earlier today. With original programming like Battlestar Galactica (the best show on television), the 4400 (which had an ARG of it’s own) and the Stargate series, it’s hard not to be a fan of the network.

Thanks to Ken Newquist at Sci Fi for recognizing our efforts here at ARGNet, and as we told him in an email a few minutes ago, it comes at a great time for us, as we have a series of articles coming this week on ARGFest-o-Con 2008, which officially wrapped upon Sunday this past weekend. Look for the first in the series to hit the site later today, with the rest coming in the next few days!

UPDATE: Prototype 161 Launches July 12

June 29, 2008 / Jonathan Waite

For those that remember the postcard we received a few days ago with the enigmatic “Wish You Were Here” message, we can now point you towards something more than just a vague location in New York City. A comment was left for that article by prototype161, stating, “Infringement will not be tolerated. Your sticker has been removed.” This led us to look at prototype161.com, which is the home of prototype161 investigations. There’s a client section which offers solutions when “problems cannot be solved by ordinary methods,” and a recruitment section that reveals details about a live event in New York on July 12th.

Two days ago, a letter was received, addressed to me, telling me that I have been selected as a prospective agent of prototype161. According to the letter, I will play a vital role in the development of a new “perscrutative method” — yes, I had to look up perscrutative, and it means thorough search — in the evening of July 12th. I hope that my vital role can be played as I sit at home, because I won’t be in New York City on the 12th. The letter encourages me to assemble a team of not more than eight people, and notes that if I am unable to locate a sufficient number of friends, some will be provided for me. What are you saying, mysterious recruiter, I can’t find my own friends?! Just kidding.

The only potential puzzle I’ve found so far is on the letter itself — the footer contains the text prototype161 form LMTH.”EUR”, with the E in EUR red in color. Our friend Sean C. Stacey at Despoiler received a postcard and a letter as well, and there is an ongoing thread at the Unfiction forums for developments thus far.

If you are in the New York area and wish to represent ARGNet at the recruitment event, drop us a comment or a voicemail and we’ll get in touch. Anyone attending the event that is able to take pictures or video, please send them our way, with our thanks and appreciation!