Greetings from sunny Los Angeles! This year’s E3 is proving to be a landmark occasion in the world of Alternate Reality Gaming. Not only is there a veritable ARG Development Team (Puppetmaster) Summit going on, with representatives from five different teams in attendance, but this whole ARG thing is creating quite a stir, especially on the exhibition floor.
Author: Steve Peters (Page 4 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.
Well, it’s that time of year! The 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles opened its doors this morning. This is where game developers, console manufacturers and anyone related to the electronic entertainment industry have a chance to showcase their newest and coolest products for all the world to see for the very first time. Next-gen consoles are definitely what everyone’s buzzing about this year, with new offerings by Xbox, Nintendo and Playstation at the forefront of virtually every conversation.
The recent trailer for the upcoming thriller “Cry Wolf” seems to be promoting an accompanying text-messaging game of some sort. The film, scheduled for an August 2005 release, revolves around a series of murders that are foretold by someone using AIM®, giving warning about where the victims will be found.
At the end of the trailer, the following text appears:
“Use your cell phone to text your AIM® screen name to CWOLF (29653) and use AIM® on your phone to get in on the hunt!”
It looks like an interesting film, but we have no idea whether this will lead to anything beyond some spammy text messages, but time will tell. Watch for updates if this turns into something ARGish.
Just in case you’ve been asleep for the last 24 hours, it was officially revealed yesterday that the OurColony quasi-Alternate Reality Game was a promotional lead up to the new Xbox 360, scheduled to hit the stores for the 2005 holiday season.
As the countdown timer on the OurColony site expired yesterday, the page changed to reveal a link to a video file, which began with a CG OurColony ant scurrying across the floor to stand at the foot of J. Allard, Corporate VP of Xbox, who proclaims, “You are The Colony. You’ve found your way to the center, and you’re in control. This experience revolves around you. Welcome….to Xbox 360.”
The BBC has announced today that it is accepting beta testers for its upcoming alternate reality game Jamie Kane. The game is aimed at a teenage audience and revolves around the search for a missing popstar.
Those who are familiar with alternate reality games may be a little surprised by the lack of stealth here, but Jamie Kane is treading into new territory in numerous ways. This game, while employing classic ARG elements, will be aimed at a primarily teenage market, so the plot and puzzles will be targeted accordingly. In addition, it won’t be played in real-time, so that players may begin at any time and all have the same experience. Nevertheless, Jamie Kane will employ numerous websites, emails, mobile phone alerts, videos and instant messaging to help players discover what happened to their favorite pop-star, Jamie Kane.
Fans of the television series Alias have enjoyed supplemental online challenges since 2001, when the first Alias Web Puzzle appeared.
It seems that something may be starting up again. Players recently stumbled upon omnifam.org, which has been showing signs of life, although we haven’t been able to track down exactly how it was found in the first place. As a result, we can’t determine whether this is an ABC sanctioned game or a grassroots effort.
Regardless, if you’re an Alias fan, this may be for you, as quite an established following has developed for these Alias Web Puzzles over the years.
Trailhead
Discussion at Unfiction
Discussion at Joey’s Pizza Y! Group
Discussion at Alias Web Puzzle Y! Group
Chat in #omnifam (irc.chat-solutions.org)
Season 1 Web Puzzle FAQ
Season 2 Web Puzzle FAQ
Season 3 Web Puzzle FAQ
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