Category: Features (Page 19 of 37)

Repo Men Launches: Tracking Down Artificial Organs for Fun and Profit

February 25, 2010 / Michael Andersen

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Ciji Thorton is a 26-year old woman with an artificial eye.
Will LaFerriere is a 27-year old former military man with an artificial heart.
Alex Gamble is a 22-year old female with an artificial liver.
And Usman Akeju is a 27-year old software consultant with an artificial kidney.

For the next month, three simple words can cost these four runners $7,500. Any registered hunter in the country can repossess the runner’s artiforg (artificial organ) by getting within speaking distance of them, uttering a three word phrase, receiving their codeword, collecting their artiforg, and calling their Union rep using the runner’s phone.Â Promoting the upcoming release of the movie Repo Men, this alternate reality gameÂ will test the abilities of Ciji, Will, Alex, and Usman to remain undetected against an onslaught of investigative skills from “bounty hunters” nationwide.

Flynn Lives Welcomes You To The Pit Cell

February 25, 2010 / Celina Beach

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As we reported earlier, ZeroHour reached the end of its countdown at 11AM EST (4PM GMT) and had players all over the globe sitting by their computers, compulsively pounding their F5 keys to see when their city’s listing would go live and a drop location would be revealed.Â Chicago, Orlando, and Paris were the first to update, and it was quickly discovered the drop points were located, fittingly, at arcades. Â Upon arriving, players looked for their contacts in Flynn Lives t-shirts.Â The first one to reach the contact gave a pass phrase (such as “Downloadable Content” or “Power Slide”) and was rewarded with a phone, but no further instructions. Â Once players figured out there was a number in the phone’s contact listÂ labeled “Call Me”, they called and talked to a live person who gave them instructions to find the rest of their package – an 80’s style vinyl velcro “TRON” wallet containing 3 Tron trading cards with codes to be input into the ZeroHour website, aÂ few Flynn’s Arcade tokens, and newspaper clippings about ENCOM.Â A PM helper shadowed the players and, once the package was found, the ZeroHour website was updated with a check mark to note the drop had been successfully picked up.Â The players then logged into the ZeroHour site to enter the codes, which unlocked the cards on the site.

As the day went on, more cities went live and more drops were collected.Â Except for a glitch or two (the Toronto package wasÂ taken before the player could reach it, and the Madrid drop was never recovered) the drop collections were rapidly collected and the codes were entered.Â Finally, whenÂ Las Vegas and SydneyÂ were the only locations left, the “No” Bit under the card icons changed to a “Yes” Bit.Â Â ClickingÂ on the BitÂ led to a new site, The Pit Cell.

The Pit Cell contains information on an “exclusive limited event” to be heldÂ this SaturdayÂ in 4 different IMAX theater locations – New York, Los Angeles, London, Toronto; and a fifth on Sunday in Sydney.Â Ticket distributionÂ starts todayÂ at 4PM EST (9PM GMT), on a first-come, first-served basis.

Saving the World, One EVOKE at a Time

February 15, 2010 / Celina Beach

evoke Wouldn’t it be great if, during times of crisis, there was a way to access a network of experts ready and able to help avert the crisis? Starting March 3rd, the Evoke Network goes live and available for all your crisis-averting needs!

EVOKEÂ was developed by the World Bank Institute, the educational branch of the World Bank Group, and directed by Jane McGonigal, the creative mind behind Superstruct and World Without Oil (among many others) and most recently an invited speaker at TED2010. TheÂ alternate reality game’s mission is to help the world help itself, by empowering young people to tackle the world’s toughest problems. In the first episode, the year is 2020 and Japan is facing a nation-wide famine. The Governor of Tokyo sends an “EVOKE” to the mysterious Alchemy, who then activates the Evoke Network by contacting individuals with the necessary skills and ideas needed to help Tokyo avert her food crisis, and teach her people how to avoid it in the future.

During the 10 week course of the game, players will be presented with 10 different challenges involving topics like hunger, poverty, and education – one challenge per week. Players who participate in all 10 challenges will be honored as a “Certified World Bank Institute Social Innovator â€“ Class of 2010.” On top of that, the top 10 Social Innovators will alsoÂ have the opportunity to be mentored by noted social innovators and business leaders, along withÂ scholarships to the EVOKE Summit in Washington, DC to share their innovative ideas with the world.

The goal of the game? Fun of course! But the main goal is to teach the young people of the world skills such as networking, resourcefulness, creativity, and vision; empowering them to start solving the world’s problems. Teach the people, save the world!

EVOKE launches on March 3rd and is accepting membership reservations now, and discussion is brewing over in Unfiction. Also, the first graphic novel episode can be read in its entirety on the EVOKE homepage, including links to articles for additional information on the topics discussed in the episode and a videoÂ trailer with clues about the nature of the EVOKE Network.

Centian Is Looking Forward to Playing with Humans Again

February 14, 2010 / Jane Doh

centian Centian misses playing games with humans…wonâ€™t you oblige? By playing with Centian, you could win a registration badge for the 2011 Interactive festival at SXSW. Run by the folks at Sweb Development, the points-based contest ends March 15, and the central hub for the game is the Centian Games Ning site. Centian Games incorporates multiple platforms, including Twitter, SMS, and GPS-based smartphone apps. Right now, contestants can compete by using the #centiangames hashtag when Twittering their check-ins on Gowalla and/or Foursquare. Another way to win theÂ SXSW badge is to answer internet search trivia questions over an SMS subscription service. It remains to be seen what other challenges and fun human games Centian will devise in the lead-up to Sweb Developmentâ€™s exhibit at the free and open-to-the-public ScreenBurn Arcade at SXSW from March 12-14 in Austin, Texas. But, thereâ€™s something undeniably ARG-ish about Centian.

The twitter accountÂ responded to my Gowalla check-ins, and we started a conversation about playing games, which moved from Twitter into e-mails (I’ve posted the e-mail correspondenceÂ over at Unfiction). There, I got the chance to learn more about Centian the non-human. Centian certainly has a distinct personality: chipper, bubbly, and fun-loving. It reminds me of Eddie, the Heart of Goldâ€™s onboard computer in the Hitchhikerâ€™s Guide, butÂ less nauseating. The contest itself is an ancient game called Malkut, which means Royalty in the language of its people.

Wait… what? Centian has a people? At first I thought it was some kind of HAL-like electronic entity, just a superficial net-presence to run the contest. I was wrong. According to Centianâ€™s e-mail responses, it is a â€œKrateran,â€ an extinct people that apparently had human interactions in the past. Now, Centian seems to be alone, the last of its kind. I wonder what happened, and why we humans have forgotten the Kraterans.

The Repo Men Are Coming: Do You Have What It Takes to Disappear?

February 4, 2010 / Michael Andersen

repomen Last fall, Lone Shark Games and Wired Magazine conducted a month-long, nationwide manhunt for reporter Evan Ratliff, with $5,000 on the line. After 25 days on the run, Ratliff’s love of gluten-free pizza spelled his downfall when the owner of Naked Pizza caught him in New Orleans. This time, it’s your turn. Lone Shark Games, in conjunction with Wired Magazine and Universal Pictures, are searching for a few good men (and women) adventurous enough to put their regular lives on hold for a month, starting in late February. Selected “Runners” will be provided vital technology along with seed money to escape detection for a month. Every Runner to make itÂ a month without gettingÂ caught receives a $7,500Â reward. But, as the contest notes, “people will be trying to find you, and they’ll use any means allowed in the rules to try to figure out where you are.”

ThisÂ companion pieceÂ to The HuntÂ for Evan RatliffÂ serves as a promotion for the upcoming Universal Pictures film Repo Men. In the film, Union employees Remy and Jake (Jude Law and Forest Whitaker) repossess artificial organs from their recipients after a period of nonpayment. Thus, taken in context, the Runners are in for the flight of their lives. Of course, Lone Shark Games President Mike Selinker assured me that Runners who are caught should not have worry about the Union harvesting their organs…for all definitions of “organ harvesting” that you or I would know about.
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Looking Back at Scholastic’s Transmedia Efforts for 39 Clues

January 31, 2010 / Michael Andersen

39cluesbooks On September 9th, 2008 Scholastic published The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. The book debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and marked the beginning of Scholastic’s 10-book experiment in transmedia publishing. On February 2nd, Scholastic is releasing the seventh installment in the series, The 39 Clues: The Viper’s Nest by Peter Lerangis. February 2nd will also mark the premiere of The Viper’s Nest audio book and the corresponding set of collectible puzzle cards inÂ Card Pack 3: The Rise of the Madrigals.

39 Clues tells the story of two children, Amy and Dan Cahill, who are thrust into a global hunt for clues that will reveal the secret to the Cahill family’s power. The series is a cross between The Westing Game and The Amazing Race as the two children compete against members of four branches of the Cahill family to uncover the secret histories of famous Cahills including Benjamin Franklin, Anastasia Romanov, and Amelia Earhart. Although the series initially portrays their competition as cutthroat caricatures of their respective family houses, the series gradually reveals the complex motives of their fellow competitors.

While the story is primarily told through the books, each novel serves as a launching pad for further exploration, as a number of clues are hidden within each book’s pages. For instance, in The Maze of Bones, a series of apparently misnumbered pages spells out a secret message that aids the reader in solving a puzzle on one of the six collectible cards that came with the book. By going to the 39 Clues website, the reader can complete a puzzlesolving mission culminating in an online game that explains the message. Alternatively, by buying and solving puzzle cards expansion packs from the series, players can discover the 39 clues for themselves and reveal more of the Cahill family history. The story also branches through products ranging from a board game to Madrigal Maze, an iPhone application. Continue reading