Category: Info (Page 7 of 16)

Iamamiwhoami: Those Who Play in Mud Grow Mandrakes

May 12, 2010 / Nicko Demeter

Imagine that in todayâ€™s tough economy you were forced to sell gizmos to as wide of a population as you can reach. And, all things being equal, your gizmos are not really that unique. Other salesmen are out there trying to sell their similar gizmos to a wide demographic as well. What do you do? Wrap your gizmo inside a shiny wrapper of course! The philosophy also applies to viral marketing that attempts to push a product such as a movie, a video game, or even (in this case) a new album from a music artist to the consumers.

Enter iamamiwhoami, a YouTube user that joined the service and set out to upload music videos of various time lengths under cryptic names and with a content that resembles something between Bjorkâ€™s artistic creations and the feature film Panâ€™s Labyrinth. As time went by, a more coherent message emerged from this viral campaign.

But letâ€™s talk a bit more about the video content. The central figure appears to be a female that quickly sparked the general interest among those following the viral. Speculation aboundedÂ with regards toÂ her identity: the popular choice shifted from Christina Aguilera, to Lady GaGa, to a speculation that this is an artist backed by Trent Reznor of NIN/Year Zero fame. Finally a strong possibility has emergedÂ that Swedish singer/songwriter Jonna LeeÂ is the culprit even though her own management denied involvement. The otherworldly themes that appear on the video tend to have a more eco-conscious message, and the music ranges from tribal to electronica. And yes, it even features a male character dancing around in his underwear.

The Twisperers

May 12, 2010 / Jane Doh

Meet Harold Procter. He’s an ex-soldier, he served in Iraq, and he’s in possession of a mysterious jewel-encrusted box. Let’s just say things aren’t going terribly well for Harold.

Recently, my Twitterverse has been filled with the back-and-forth of some strange charactersâ€”a bartender in Maine, an antiques dealer, several Iraq War veteransâ€”all from the small community of Cape Elizabeth, and all with lives intertwined by this strange, whispering box. And, when they’re not fighting each other, they’re killing themselves. Antiques dealer Jeremiah Webber committed suicide after having dinner with his daughter Suzanne and meeting a strange man that goes by the nameÂ Herod the Great. Ex-soldier Damien Patchett had been complaining about hearing voices,Â although no one knows what was being said. According to this newspaper article, Damien’s body was recently found on the beach, a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his head.

Then there is former sergeant Joel Tobias, who heads up some kind of smuggling operation. Joel is cold, sometimes cruel even to his “friends,” and personally gets my hackles up every time I see him tweet (which, unfortunately, is usually when I first wake up). Is he working for the shadowy Gutelieb Foundation? What about this suspicious man, Herod the Great? Where is this box that is driving everyone to suicide?

These characters are all part of a pervasive social media project called The Twisperers, an online extension of an upcoming book by bestselling thriller novelist John Connolly called The Whisperers. The protagonist is private investigator Charlie Parker, who appeared in Connolly’s first book, Every Dead Thing. The online content gives readers a snapshot of the plot of The Whisperers, and as participants interact with the novel’s characters, they reveal clues about the whispering box. According to our sources, the plot will soon escalate and lead to on-site clues in regional museums in the United Kingdom.

Lost Souls: Burning Sky Opens New Trilogy for Young Adults

May 11, 2010 / Jane Doh

2012 marks the end of the world in the Mayan calendar, and, in Lost Souls: Burning Sky, 13-year-old Nathan Richards must play the Game of Lost Souls to win mankind a place in the new world cycle. But apparently, Nathan is barely passing the 7th grade and doesn’t know how to play this game. To make matters worse, lost souls keep bothering Nathan with their pesky demands for revenge and redemption . . . but they’re the ones with the key knowledge that Nathan needs. Oh, and did I mention Nathan has to beat the Mayan god Kukulkan at the Game of Lost Souls, or else humanity is doomed? Yes, that’s right . . .Â doomed.

Lost Souls: Burning Sky is the latest book-plus offering created by game designer, author, and Smith & Tinker founder Jordan Weisman, well-known in the ARG community for his involvement on The Beast and, more recently, for his work in transmedia publishing with the Nanovor universe, Personal Effects: Dark Arts with J.C. Hutchins, and theÂ Cathy’s Book series with Sean Stewart. Written by science fiction and fantasy writer Mel Odom and published by Running Press Book Publishers, Lost Souls: Burning Sky features an original board game, which can be played online through Game Table Online. The object of the game is to get more pieces/points than your opponent into the center of the stylized Mayan calendar, and the straightforward gameplay is something like the African game mancala. To play, look for the “Play Now!” buttons on the Lost Souls website. You will need to download and run a browser pop-up application using Java WebStart to play.

It is not clear if there is a full transmedia experience planned for the Lost Souls trilogy. However, the website for the game seems to have some placeholders for future updates, and, there are few hidden extras to be found on the site.

Click Here to order Lost Souls: Burning Sky from Amazon.com.
Click Here for our coverage of Nanovor.
Click Here for our coverage of the Cathy’s Book series.
Click Here for our coverage of Personal Effects: Dark Art.

2010 Webby Winners Announced: Letters to the Future, District 9, and True Blood Take Home Honors

May 5, 2010 / Michael Andersen

Webby_Logo_small Yesterday, the winners of the 14th Annual Webby Awards were announced, recognizing excellence in “interactive design, creativity, usability and functionality on the Internet.” This year, a trio of alternate reality gaming projects came home with accolades. So congratulations to the teams behind Love Letters to the Future (Xenophile Media), District 9 (Trigger LLC), and True Blood (HBO).

Love Letters to the Future swept the Green category, taking home both the Webby Award and People’s Voice Award for the category. The campaign sought to collect messages from the worldwide community to future generations: the top 100 messages were buried in a time capsule at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on December 13, 2009. Providing an interactive undercurrent to the already interactive campaign, Xenophile Media hid a series of clues and messages from the future on the website, culminating a series of augmented reality images hidden at locations across the globe. To read more about the alternate reality game designed for Greenpeace International, you can follow along with the game’s progress at the Love Letters to the Future blog.

8th Wonderland: A Virtual Nation Up in Arms

May 3, 2010 / Jane Doh

8thwonderland How do you fight a country that doesn’t exist? Scattered all over the world, everyday people are sick and tired of political systems and being controlled by the media. They decide to create a virtual state and restore democracy, but “real” states view them as terrorists. An extended experience to accompany the 8th Wonderland film, interested participants can meet the ambassador and register for citizenship on the country’s website. Every week, citizens can propose motions related to the economy, health care, and politics, among other issues, and motions are decided by referendum.

Produced by the French company Mad Films, the mainly English-language 8th Wonderland film will be released in France on May 12th and in Germany on August 12th. There are no immediate plans for a US release, but in 2009, 8th Wonderland won Best International Film at the inaugural Politics on Film Festival in Washington, DC, and Best Screenplay at the Phoenix International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival.

Although the 8th Wonderland extended experience may not fully be an alternate reality game, the idea of citizenship in a micronation or a virtual state is not entirely foreign to the ARG genre, as several recent grassroots games, such as West Unfictionopia and Purity Towers, have used politics as an organizing principle in their gameplay. As a storytelling device, the virtual nation seems a simple and effective way to build a community and introduce conflict to drive plots. And then there are countless “real” micronations, of varying degrees of playfulness, that seem to enjoy declaring war on each other. Personally, it is a heuristic device I would like to see more often in the ARG genre.

Currently, the 8th Wonderland website boasts over 1,300 registered citizens who discuss and vote on motions in both English and French. The website also includes some content not otherwise publicly available, including footage of an 8th Wonderland commando projecting subversive messages on cultural and political landmarks in Paris. Check out the 8th Wonderland website to learn more about citizenship and how to participate in this virtual, international democracy.

Primeval Evolved and Reservoir Hill Win 2010 International Digital Emmy Awards

April 12, 2010 / Michael Andersen

emmy Transmedia storytelling was well received at this year’s International Digital Emmy Awards.Â Primeval Evolved and Reservoir Hill received Emmys for their innovative storytelling, while Heroes creator and executive producer Tim Kring received this year’s Pioneer Award at the award show in Cannes.

This past year has been particularly goodÂ for Primeval Evolved developerÂ Hoodlum. In September, the Australian digital entertainment company took home a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy for its work on Dharma Wants You, the third alternate reality game for ABC’s hit dramaÂ LOST. Earlier tonight, Hoodlum added another Emmy to its growing collection, as the Primeval Evolved experienceÂ won the International Digital Emmy for “Best Digital Program: Fiction.” The campaign allowed players to join the Anomaly Research Centre (ARC) team from ITV’s drama Primeval.

UK residents can still experience the Primeval Evolved interactive drama, a series of ran concurrently with the third season of Primeval. Each chapter of Primeval Evolved is preceded by a recap of the previous episode of the television series, before allowing players to begin the adventure. In addition to a series of online games creating a framework for the story, the series featured Temple TV: In Living Connor, a series of videos filmed by series regular Connor Temple, played by Andrew Lee Potts.

ITV recently announced that Primeval has been picked up for two more seasons starting in 2011 on ITV1 and Watch. Congratulations to ITV, Hoodlum, and Impossible Pictures for their International Emmy win.

Congratulations also go out to Reservoir Hill for securing New Zealand’s first International Emmy. The interactive web series picked up an Emmy in the “Digital Program: Children & Young People” category. At the end of every Reservoir Hill episode, viewers had the opportunity to text in suggestions to influence the course of the story. They could also interact with the main character through weekly video blogs and through her Bebo page. New Zealand viewers can still enjoy the Reservoir Hill web series at TVNZ Ondemand.

Tim Kring receivedÂ the 2010Â Visionary Prize at the awards, honoring his contributions to the field of digital entertainment. International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences President and CEO Bruce Paisner noted, “Tim Kring is a masterful storyteller and the Heroes Evolution digital experience is the ultimate showcase for successfully integrating technology and content.” As the Visionary Prize recipient, Kring delivered a keynote address earlier today to MIPTV conference delegates.