Category: Announcements (Page 4 of 16)

Gentrification: The Game! Comes to Toronto Next Week

July 16, 2010 / Jane Doh

Image by Alex Raynes-Goldie

On July 25, Atmosphere Industries will bring Gentrification: The Game! to life at the Pedestrian Sundays event at the Kensington Market in Toronto, Canada. This critically acclaimed public space game has already been hosted in New York and at the Hide & Seek Festival in London and has won multiple awards, including Best in Fest and Best Use of Technology at this summer’s 2010 Come Out and Play in Brooklyn, New York.

Gentrification: The Game! will give participants the chance to explore their cities and think about issues of urban renewal, local politics, and urban growth. According to their press release, players will be divided into teams of real estate developers and local residents, as they:

fight to collect real-life properties, build chain coffee shops, form BIAs, and bend the neighbourhood to their will. They’ll craft slick advertising campaigns, deliver impassioned speeches, and probably run around a bit. One part real-world Monopoly, one part public-space hacking, and one part pure spectacle, Gentrification helps players and the public think about and enjoy their public space in a new and unexpected way.

Play takes place in rounds, providing each side with different tactics such as “Slightly Creepy But Wise Neighbourhood Guy Gives Impassioned, Poetic Speech” for local residents or my favorite, “Hired Goons” (for developers, of course). Progress during gameplay is monitored both through use of sidewalk chalk and a mobile app. AnÂ article in the Toronto Star gives an interesting perspective about why the Kensington Market neighborhood is the right fit for Gentrification: The Game!

Getting Wired For Your ARGNet Fix: The New Decode Subsite

July 10, 2010 / Michael Andersen

Puzzle aficionados and alternate reality game players have a new resource for the latest news and views about puzzles, alternate reality games, scavenger hunts, geocaching, and other sources of “harrowing mental torments.” Wired recently launched its new subsite,Â Decode,Â in the wake of Wired’s National Magazine Award for best special-topic issue, which recognized the magazine for its puzzle-riddled mystery issue of May 2009.

I am excited to announce that Decode will be syndicating ARGNet content on the site, starting with Jane Doh’s recent coverage of the We Lost Our Gold treasure hunt in New York City. So, in addition to finding our stories here at ARGNet or via our RSS feed, Facebook page, Digg account, or onÂ Twitter, you can visit Wired for the latest news about alternate reality games, transmedia storytelling, puzzle hunts, and that new Juzzling craze that’s sweeping the nation. Wired has consistently explored creative avenues of engaging its readership through endeavors such as Wired Magazine‘s Mystery Issue, Wired UK‘s Enigma Challenge, and the manhunts for Evan Ratliff and the Repo Men film. Â Hopefully, our new relationship will help raise interest and awareness in the burgeoning alternate reality gaming and transmedia space.

Special thanks to Chris Baker and the staff at Wired for creating the new subsite, and to Mike Selinker and Teeuwynn Woodruff from Lone Shark Games for spearheading the effort to make Decode a reality.

Coming Soon: New Online Experience from JC Hutchins

July 9, 2010 / Jane Doh

This week science fiction thriller writer and transmedia novelist JC Hutchins announced on his blog the start of a “groundbreaking fiction experience” that will be free and completely online. The project has been couched in secrets, but Hutchins has confirmed that it is a spin-off of an undisclosed show that airs on a major cable television network frequented by science fiction fans and other “geeks.” Fans will have to be on the lookout, but according to Hutchins, the experience opens in a few days. Updates will be available from Hutchins’ Twitter stream and through the #NewHutchFiction hashtag.

What can fans expect from this project? In his teaser, Hutchins admits “It’s about the end of the world” but doesn’t go into much specific detail, although he provides a few images that suggest some kind of catastrophic disease is on the horizon. Hutchins hopes that this will be “an authentic and emotionally resonant experience” and briefly discusses the work behind the mysterious project, including collaboration with filmmakers and model makers.

JC Hutchins is probably most widely known for his popular podcast trilogy 7th Son and for his work on the transmedia thriller with Jordan Weisman, Personal Effects: Dark Art, published by Smith & Tinker. Hutchins has also contributed to Smith & Tinker’s online collectibles game for kids,Â Nanovor.

Click here for ARGNet’s interview with JC Hutchins.
Click here for our previous coverage of Personal Effects: Dark Art.

ARGFest is Almost Here

June 26, 2010 / Michelle Senderhauf

This year will mark the 8th anniversary of ARGfest, and this year’s conference promises to be the most ambitious yet. The format has changed and expanded to include four days of information, networking and game-filled fun. The two day conference will take place on July 15th and 16th and will be filled with presentations, panels and roundtables galore. And in the spirit of the conference’s new “Think! Play! Do!” theme, a gaming festival has been added July 17th and 18th, where festival-goers will be able to participate in street games, location-based games, storytelling events and ARG live events.

The full conference schedule has not yet been released, but some of the announced panels include one involving casual social games and one made up of ARG enthusiasts. Presentations include Brooke Thompson’s “Can Transmedia Save the Soap Opera” and Patrick MÃ¶ller’s “Follow the Rabbit”. The conference will also feature a return of the ARG Museum, a display of artifacts from past alternate reality games.Â In addition to the typical conference activities, this year’s ARGfest will include a writing workshop with Maureen McHugh of No Mimes Media, a mini game jam that will help participants create a working game prototype by the end of the weekend, and an organic panel session that will be shaped on the fly by the audience.

ARGfest 2010 will take place July 15th through the 18th at the W Atlanta-Midtown hotel. Multiple registration packages are available on the ARGfest website or at the door. Hotel reservations can be made on the website at the discounted group rate.

Editor’s Note:Â Tomorrow (June 27th) is the last day for ARGFest’s Regular Registration rates, so now is an ideal time to select the package that best reflects your interests.

Must Love . . . The Latest from Awkward Hug

June 19, 2010 / Jane Doh

Fictional funny-guy Timothy Scribbles is full of amazing inventions, and you can check them out at his blog, Super Great Ideas.Â Timothy Scribbles used his first Super Great Ideas post in almost a year to announce his new blog, Must Love Socks. A lot of people (and apparently robots) around the world wear socks, soÂ his most recent ideaÂ is bound to take off.

Opening soon, Must Love Socks is the latest project from independent transmedia production company Awkward Hug, the Brooklyn-based duo that created last year’s critically acclaimed ARG hit, Must Love Robots. Despite the title,Â Must Love Socks isn’t strictly a sequel to the highly successfulÂ Must Love Robots. According to Awkward Hug founder Jim Babb, “While the narrative isn’t a continuation of the narrative from MLR, we are using things we learned from MLR and expanding into new territory.”

The story in Must Love Robots followed the comedic, romantic travails of 011iver as he looked for love, “helped” along by his well-meaning human friend, Tim. 011iver is quite the catch and even has his own line of t-shirts.Â A high point in Must Love Robots was the speed dating event at ARGFest 2009 in Portland, Oregon, which also featured the official “Must Love ARGFest” t-shirt designed by gamer Rowan, who also had a special date with 011iver in New York City. Babb was vague when asked about possible tie-ins with ARGFest 2010 this July in Atlanta, Georgia: “You never know what is going to happen at ARGfest, there might even be some awesome games of ‘Overit.'”

So what can players expect in the upcoming Must Love Socks? According to Babb, Must Love Socks “involves so much transmedia, that it has the potential to surpass transmedia and become ‘transtransmedia’ or just ‘media.’ I donâ€™t want to blow anybodyâ€™s mind, but it will sort of be the iPad of ARGs.”

Must Love Socks opens very soon, and players can sign up at the Must Love Socks website and follow along at the Unfiction forums. Follow Tim and 011iver on Twitter for the latest developments.

EDITOR’S NOTE 06/23/2010: Jim Babb has subsequently set up a Kickstarter page to raise funds for the Socks, Inc. alternate reality game with the goal of raising $6,000 by Friday, August 6th. The page includes a video that explains further details about the project.

Cathy’s Book App Contest: Win an iPod Touch

February 9, 2010 / The ARGNet Staff

cathysbookapp On September 12, 2006, authors Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman released Cathy’s Book, an experiment in transmedia publishing, under the Running Press imprint. The book and its accompanying evidence packet provided a window into the life of Cathy Vickers, a fashion-conscious teenage girl with a penchant for daydreaming and doodling. Readers could follow a series of clues contained within the novel to birth certificates, news clippings, telephone numbers, and websites. Cathy’s Book was a New York Times Best Seller. The subsequent books in the trilogy, Cathy’s Key and Cathy’s Ring, wrapped up Cathy’s story.

Last month, the Cathy trilogy was re-released as an iPhone app, at $0.99 per novel. The app integrates the interactivity of the original novels, and adds animations throughout the story that make the illustrations liberally peppered throughout the book come alive. To celebrate the app’s launch, Running Press Books is giving ARGNet readers the chance to win an iPod Touch and iTunes gift cards. To enter, follow the instructions below.
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