Author: Steve Peters (Page 8 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.

War of the Worlds Latin Revelations

March 24, 2005 / Steve Peters

A few weeks back, we reported on some mysterious posters and graffiti that was showing up around the country, all depicting the latin phrase, “Omnium Finis Imminet.” Word was that these could be the beginnings of a marketing campaign for the upcoming Spielberg adaptation of War of the Worlds, and this even seemed to be confirmed in a New York Times Article. This news caused many in the ARG community to clench various body parts in collective anticipation of another Spielberg-related Alternate Reality Game.

Paramount discounted these reports, however, and it was finally disclosed that these ads were for an upcoming NBC-TV series, Revelations. In addition, the New York Times subsequently published the following retraction:

“An article on Saturday about unusual subway advertisements included an erroneous identification from transit officials for the production whose ad featured a flock of birds with the phrase “Omnium Finis Imminet,” Latin for “The End of All Things Is Near.” It is an NBC television series called “Revelations,” not Steven Spielberg’s film version of “War of the Worlds.”

Well, it just goes to show you that you can’t always believe everything those pesky NYC Transit Officials tell you after all, let alone the New York Times! Alternate Reality Game? Nope. Stealth campaign gone terribly wrong? Absolutely!

“Perplex City” Launches

March 21, 2005 / Steve Peters

After much anticipation, Perplex City launched today via their final advertisement in The Guardian, just as promised:

Cube stolen in Deadly Raid
January 16 2004 [267AC] – Iona Rodie

“from the Academy museum last night in a raid which left one security guard dead. Police cheif, Eoin Morgan, described the theft, which took place during the Annual Acadamy Ball as “highly organised and technologically sophisticated.” Fran Mendling, 42, was killed with a neuro-suppressant device, making it impossible to pinpoint the time of death. Academy spokesperson Valerian Reynolds revealed that security cameras and sensors were offline throughout the Ball. She”

www.perplexcitysentinel.com

We won’t spoil it for you, but be prepared for a nice deep rabbithole to explore. The Perplex City universe awaits!

Discussion at Unfiction
Chat in #syzygy
Primer
Perplex City Wiki

International Attention for ARGs

March 19, 2005 / Steve Peters

The last few weeks has seen a marked increase in press coverage for Perplex City, most notably from sources outside the U.S. and England. PC is doing exceptionally well at gaining the attention of news sources around the world, furthering the visibility of Alternate Reality Games as a whole.

Just since the beginning of March, major articles have appeared at CNET (which was syndicated all over the place), Agent PortÃ¡l (Hungary), La Voz de Galicia (Spain), the Contra Costa Times, and the LibÃ©ration (France). This international coverage makes sense, as Alternate Reality Games are one of the few things that can truly be played by a worldwide audience. For a comprehensive listing of major ARG press coverage over the past few years, see our Press Page.

It was also noted that multiple film crews showed up at Abbey Road Studios this morning, presumably to catch what was going on with the Perplex City event. Couple that with the numerous recent interviews with members of the ARG community, and you can expect to see even more coverage in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Perplex City is proving itself to be the Game To Watch. If you’re new to the genre, we highly recommend it as the one to get involved with. While you may have to wait a few more days for things to really get going, we have a feeling it will definitely be worth the wait.

Perplex City Hits the Street

March 19, 2005 / Steve Peters

Perplex City continued its journey “up the lift hill” in the form of a live meet with an ingame character in front of Abbey Road Studios in London today. Players watched events unfold on the streaming webcam of the scene, where players found clues planted around the intersection, and finally met up with someone named Dinah, who handed out envelopes filled with clues.

The initial clues indicated that a Dinah would be a little late, but would arrive before 1:00 pm, and that she would require a password, which was also hinted at. When Dinah did arrive, the dedicated London ARGers approached her with the password (which was “exchange”), whereupon she handed out envelopes that contained code-laden sheets and a Perplex City postcard. Breaking through the various codes, players revealed a log of emails between characters, with a little more backstory on Perplex City history.

All in all, this was a great way to kick things off, giving PC players a chance to meet each other in person right from the start, not to mention getting handed a clue from someone from the game. While we think Perplex City is just reaching to crest of the lift hill, we’re going to go ahead and change its status to Now Playing.

Discussion at Unfiction
Chat in #syzygy
Primer
Netninja Reference Pages
Player Video from Abbey Road | (mirror)

Persistence

March 14, 2005 / Steve Peters

Last week, we reported on a greeting card we received here at ARGN. While we couldn’t make heads nor tails from the card, the intrepid folks at unfiction discovered a trail of similar greeting cards that looks like it does indeed lead to what looks like an Alternate Reality Game.

Players have found two websites so far: vagabondsojourn.net and astrostole.com, which in turn leads to a forum entitled Persistence. The story so far seems to involve eight characters who are on the run from someone/something. The story has involved some good puzzles, and the posts on the board are reminiscent of previous bands of hackers that have shown up in various games past.

While very intriguing so far, it’s still tough to say exactly what this is, or how deep it will go. Time will tell. YMMV.

Discussion at Unfiction.

GDC 2005 Spotlights Alternate Reality Games

March 12, 2005 / Steve Peters

As Elan Lee took to the stage to accept the 2005 Innovation Award for I Love Bees at the Game Developers Choice Awards on Wednesday night, Alternate Reality Gaming stepped off of the sidelines and into the spotlight. Lee, on behalf of his team at 4orty2wo Entertainment, thanked the players, and made a special point of thanking Microsoft and Bungie for showing trust in their vision of producing an Alternate Reality Game that would promote the release of Halo 2. I Love Bees was one of three games presented with the Innovation Award this year, the other recipients being Katamari Damacy and Donkey Konga. During the presentation, a video teaser featuring various ILB website pages, photos of crewmemebers and soundbites from some of the live calls highlighted what a unique form of entertainment I Love Bees truly was.

The games that win the Innovation Award usually cause quite a stir at the Game Developers Conference, and this was no exception. There was definitely a resultant buzz going on the following day, with many attendees talking about what I Love Bees, Alternate Reality Gaming and Pervasive Games in general are all about. These questions were answered when I Love Bees was featured in a session on Experimental Gaming on Thursday, led by ILB Puppetmaster Jane McGonigal. Jane was able to talk at length about what I Love Bees entailed, and what the concept of Alternate Reality Gaming is, giving specifics about gameplay, community aspects, and the “This is Not a Game” philosophy. Jane is also one of the forces behind the current I Love Bees exhibit at UC Berkeley.

The Innovation Award and subsequent Experimental Gameplay presentation definitely got people’s attention, with many developers expressing deep interest in jumping on the ARG bandwagon. However, the folks at 4orty2wo Entertainment were tight-lipped about what projects they may be currently working on, for obvious reasons.

Complete List of 2005 Game Developers Choice Awards Winners