Category: Awards (Page 4 of 5)

Regenesis Extended Reality Wins Gemini Award

October 24, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Congratulations are in order for Canadian production Xenophile Media as they captured the 2006 Gemini Award for Best Cross Platform Project at last week’s ceremonies in Toronto, Canada. Their ARG, the ReGenesis Extended Reality, won for the first time in the prize category, awarded to the “interactive project that best â€œenhances the users’ enjoyment of the television program/series through such platforms as mobile, the Web and other portable devicesâ€,” according to a press release. ReGenesis is a Canadian bio-lab drama available in Canada and in syndication worldwide.

Shaftesbury Films, who produce the television series, has been forward-thinking in its attempts to connect to its audience, partnering with Xenophile to manage the alternate reality gaming model which has delivered real-time content that is directly related to the weekly series for both of the show’s seasons. In the second season’s Extended Reality, players were treated to hours of video clips which broadened the overall storyline of the show, and the show reciprocated (in a fine bit of pre-filmed trickery) by acknowledging the efforts of the players as they attempted to aid the scientists working at NorBAC labs in Ontario.

You can watch the Gemini awards gala will be broadcast on Canadian network Global on November 4th at 6:30 pm PST / 9:30 pm EST. The Gemini Industry Awards, which were awarded over a three night span, will be broadcast on Rogers Television in the Toronto area, so if you want to see the Xenophile folks accepting their awards, you’ll want to tune in on for the second of the three nights, dubbed the “Gemini Lifestyle, Childrenâ€™s and Youth,” which will be shown at 6:00 pm EST on November 17th.

Perplex City News

July 12, 2006 / Dee Cook

Good news comes to Perplex City fans this week as Perplex City announces that their card packs are now available via several major online retailers. The card packs, as well as a starter pack which includes additional items such as a music CD and a binder, may now be purchased at Overstock.com, Buy.com, Walmart.com, and Toys “R” Us.

Mind Candy received recognition recently at the Origins International Game Expo, where they won the Vanguard Innovative Game Award. According to the Origins Expo website, Origins awards “Celebrate the best in board, role-playing, miniatures, play-by-mail, and trading card games; professional and amateur magazine publications, game-related fiction, and accessories and supplements.”

Last but not least, Perplex City is planning a live event in San Francisco on August 12, from 10:30 am until 5:00 pm. According to Mind Candy, this is their first major US event, and they hope to have several hundred people there. This event will “activate the link” between Perplex City and San Francisco. For more information or to register, visit the live event website at PerplexCity.com.

ReGenesis: Relaunch and Award Nomination!

September 12, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

Two bits of exciting information coming out of the ReGenesis camp this week, one concerning the relaunch of the series on public television, and the other regarding the nomination of the ReGenesis website for a major Canadian award.

We last reported on ReGenesis back in October of 2004 when the series was first aired on Movie Central and The Movie Network, both subscription-based cable networks in Canada. The series included an ARG element, or “extended reality” to it. Now, almost a year later, ReGenesis is enjoying a resurgence in popularity with the broadcast of Season One on Canadian public television channel Global. (Unfortunately, there is no current syndication deal for any networks outside of Canada.) With the re-airing of the series on Global comes the relaunch of the web-based ARG. This is the first instance of an “replayed” ARG — that is, the reset and replay of an ARG that had previously run its course.

“I Love Bees” Wins Webby Award

May 3, 2005 / Steve Peters

It was announced today that 2004’s runaway Alternate Reality Game hit “I Love Bees” won the 2005 Webby Award for Best Games-Related website. The Webby Awards are the internet equivalent of the Academy Awards.

A complete list of the winners can be accessed at the Webby website. Congratulations to the entire 4orty2wo Entertainment Team behind I Love Bees! This award is well-deserved.

More Awards for Alternate Reality Games

April 24, 2005 / Steve Peters

Recognition for Alternate Reality Games is continuing to build with yet more media-related awards and nominations announced this week.

Regenesis Extended Reality won the FITC Design & Technology Award for Convergence. The FITC is one of Canada’s largest annual new media festivals. You can check out all of the winners at the FITC 2005 Awards website. In addition, ReGenesis Extended Reality was nominated for a Canada New Media Award for a Cross-Platform Project, which is arguably one of the top awards in Canada. The Canadian New Media Awards will honour individuals and companies in 19 categories on May 30th in Toronto. Congratulations, Xenophile Media!

If you missed Regenesis when it originally aired, it’s been announced that Season I will be shown on Canada’s Global Television Network this fall, effectively exposing the series to a much bigger Canadian audience. Additionally, Regenesis is scheduled to air on the Sci-Fi Channel in the UK this summer. Whether or not a replay of the extended reality game will occur in conjuntion remains a mystery at this point, however.

As we previously reported, I Love Bees is up for a 2005 Webby Award, although its run for a People’s Voice Award seems to be undeservedly out of reach at this point. The Webby Award winners will be announced at a gala celebration on June 6th at Gotham Hall in New York City, while the People’s Voice Award winners will be announced on May 3rd.

With all the mainstream recognition ARGs have been getting lately, we can surely look forward to seeing more and more of them in the very near future.

“I Love Bees” Nominated for Webby Award

April 12, 2005 / Steve Peters

The biggest Alternate Reality Game of the past year, “I Love Bees,” continues to gain major recognition with its just-announced nomination for a Webby Award! Time magazine and the New York Times call the Webbys â€œthe Academy Awards of the Internet.â€

“I Love Bees” is eligible to win two different awards in the â€œGames-relatedâ€ category â€” the official games-related award, and the â€œPeopleâ€™s Voiceâ€ awardâ€¦ which YOU can vote for!

Obviously, we here at ARGN would love to see ILB win this, but to be honest, we’d actually like to see it win the Peopleâ€™s Voice award even more than the official award. We think it’d be really great to show the world that the ARG communityâ€™s voice is loud and strong and bigger and badder than anyone elseâ€™sâ€¦ of course, we already know that because we heard you all singing over those payphones!! So letâ€™s show the rest of the web what we can do.

Voting in the 2005 Peopleâ€™s Voice Awards runs TODAY through April 29. VOTE NOW! Hereâ€™s how:

Go to http://pv.webbyawards.com/ and click on the â€œRegister nowâ€ button.
To ensure integrity of the vote, all voters must register. The process takes about 30 seconds (fill out the form). Then youâ€™ll receive a voting link and password via email.

Note: Voters can choose to vote in just one, or some of, or all of the categories. Itâ€™s fine, for instance, to just vote in the â€œGames-relatedâ€ category, which is the “I Love Bees” category.

Extra fun: There is an â€œinstant pollâ€ in voting that gives you the current standings for each site after you vote. We really need to get OUR votes in ASAP so that ILB looks like a contender, and so that other voters are more likely to spread the word. (Right now, ilovebees is in 3rd place out of 5â€¦ how long will it take ILB players to push it to #1? Hmmmâ€¦ letâ€™s find out!)

So what are you waiting for? Go vote!