Author: Steve Peters (Page 15 of 25)

Original Owner, Godfather of ARG
Steve was the creator and original owner of argn.com. After three years of authoring articles, Steve moved on to bigger and better things at No Mimes Media. During his time here, Steve was also one of the puppetmasters for the popular ARG Project MU. He is affectionately known as the Godfather of ARG.

New ARG: Anne Fisher is Missing

October 30, 2004 / Steve Peters

ARGN received what at first looked like a typical “Have you seen this person?” flyer in the mail the other day, but a closer look revealed the rabbithole for a new Alternate Reality Game. Smiling at us is the picture of a young woman named Anne Fisher, who went missing on October 1st.

Upon closer inspection, we find links to a few websites (click on the picture for a fullsize version of the entire postcard). Andrew Gray is a private investigator who works in Tranquil Valley. He is apparently actively looking for Anne Fisher, and you can email him with any tips you may have. In addition, the postcard has been printed by American Regional Graphics, which is a very authentic looking graphics company.

So, it looks like we have a pretty straight ahead mystery getting started here, at least so far. Where is Anne Fisher? Who was she? Did she run away, or was something more sinister involved??

Discussion
Wiki
Chat-#mystery on irc.chat-solutions.org (you must have a chat client such as mIRC installed for this link to work)

New ARG: Legend of the Sacred Urns

October 29, 2004 / Steve Peters

Well, it seems we here at ARGN have been asleep at the wheel for the past few weeks. A new Alternate Reality type game has begun and we almost missed it!

Billed as a form of interactive fiction or viral narrative puzzle, The Legend of the Sacred Urns is pretty transparently a marketing tool for Sharp’s Aquos line of LCD TV’s. But once you get past the initial site, you soon forget about that, as you’re immersed in a nice Alternate Reality world of treasure hunters and the mysterious findings of a guy named Dagobert Steinitz.

According to the developers, the game launched on September 15th, and is scheduled to run through the end of the year. The main trailheads are moretosee.com, which you may have seen on the TV commercials (you know, the one where the orange Karmann Ghia crashes into the pool), and steinitzpuzzlers.com. These sites lead to numerous more websites, and the game has included a variety of elements, including the aforementioned television commercials, print, telephone, and even an art gallery. They’ve set up their own forum as a player area, which includes a nice FAQ to get you started.

We haven’t had a chance to delve into this very far, but then again, that’s your job! We have turned up almost a dozen websites and some cool puzzles, though. So, whether you’re new to ARG or finishing one and jonesing for more, the Legend of the Sacred Urns may be just the ticket.

Here are some links to get you going:

Steinitzpuzzlers
Moretosee
Steinitz forums
Unfiction forums
Quickstart FAQ

In addition, since there doesn’t seem to be one yet, we’ve set up an IRC channel for your chat needs:
#steinitz on irc.chat-solutions.org (you must have a chat client installed for this link to work)

Ilovebees Players Get Access to Probable Halo2 Preview

October 27, 2004 / Steve Peters

Players of Ilovebees yesterday were given what looks like a chance to preview Halo2 Multiplayer 5 days before it’s officially released. In a series of dramatic events that led to the “death” of one of the beloved AI characters in the game, players 17 and older earned the right to attend a special “training exercise utilizing squad-oriented combat simulation LIVEware.”

This event is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 4, from 18:00 â€“ 21:00 Pacific time at the following coordinates:

40.743071 -073.976763 (New York City)
42.040240 -088.035197 (Chicago)
30.266632 -097.744710 (Austin)
37.784568 -122.404169 (San Francisco)

So, after three months, it looks like Halo2 fans are finally being given what they’ve been yearning for: a chance to preview Halo2. In addition to the chance to play the game, many Beekeepers are looking forward to the chance to get to meet each other in person, as many have only interacted with each other on line. Some players have announced that they will be driving as much as 8 hours to take part.

The ARG seems to be winding down, but it still remains to be seen how much fun the PMs have in store for us. Stay tuned.

Metroid Prime ARGishness

October 20, 2004 / Steve Peters

We aren’t sure if it’s the door to an Alternate Reality Game or just some stealthy viral hype, but Nintendo has put up a couple of very well done websites that seem to be part of the Metroid Prime universe. What with the upcoming release of Nintendo’s Metroid Prime 2: Echoes on November 15th, this is pretty obviously a marketing hook for the game.

Channel 51 is an Art Bell wannabee site looking into all things spooky, mysterious and conspiratorial. The site comes complete with grainy pictures video footage of things like Chupacabras and Species X, along with info about The Rossler Transmission, which is a pretty obvious tie-in to MP2E.

Orbis Labs is linked to from Channel 51, and bills itself as a “Precision Defense & Weapons Technology” company. Along with schematics and test videos of their Battle Sphere weapon, you’ll find a nice juicy Government Offical Login. Other links, such as one to UFO Magazine, appear to be out-of-game (if there is a game here), but you never know.

Don’t know if this will turn out to be an ARG Rabbithole, but it will provide an entertaining read at the very least. We’ll keep you posted of any ARG developments here. For now, we’ll file it under Something To Keep an Eye On.

Project Syzygy Stirring?

October 17, 2004 / Steve Peters

There have been some recent changes at the Project Syzygy site showing signs that something may be happening. Despite announcements of 2005 being the launch of this new free Alternate Reality Game, a recent update at Project Syzygy reveals that “projectsyzygy is now complete.”

A new link reveals perplexcity.com and a mysterious memo. It seems some sort of McGuffin in the form of a Cube has been stolen and must be found. According the the memo, there will be a “substantial reward” for whomever may find it. Plus, you can enter your email to be contacted “when the time is right.”

Hmmmm. Preview? Launch? Reward?? Time will tell.

ARG on CNN

October 14, 2004 / Steve Peters

Alternate Reality continues to spill over into the real world, as was evident during the Presidential Debate last night. Players of ilovebees (the Halo2 related Alternate Reality Game) at Arizona State University took advantage of the occasion to promote themselves and their game in the form of a huge bee-infested banner.

On numerous occassions during CNN’s coverage, a large ASU Beekeepers banner appeared behind the commentators. The banner could clearly be seen during Wolf Blitzer Reports, as well as Larry King Live. In addition, viewers reported seeing the banner on MSNBC as well. This marks the first time an Alternate Reality Game has invaded political history, as far as we know (unless of course certain important people have been lurking on the boards). Unfortunately, the ASU Beekeepers’ shouts of “I love bees!” couldn’t be heard above the other chants from the crowd.

The ASU Beekeepers team faced a few challenges during the days leading up to the debate, as it was a little scary running around campus answering phones while the Secret Service was doing security sweeps of the area. Nevertheless, Team ASU came through and completed most of their phone answering for the day. For those not familiar with the Ilovebees game, a big part of the interaction right now involves being at certain payphones at specific times in order to give a correct answer for a challenge/response. Doing so successfully helps to unlock pieces of audio files on the ilovebees website, revealing more of the story.

Mad props go out to the ASU Beekeepers for making the news! We know Melissa would be proud of you! For more information about the Ilovebees ARG, follow the links above.

Photo Credits: GBrian and G3k