Category: News (Page 121 of 183)

The Committee of the Sedulous Amalgamation Rewards Patience With Hand-Made Quality

February 5, 2007 / Jessica Price

In a world where technology allows immediate communication between people on opposite sides of the planet, and the internet provides instant access to new entertainment and information generated daily by multitudes of contributors of both the professional and the amateur varieties, itâ€™s easy to forget the value of older, slower forms of communication such as snailmail. Perhaps this is the reason for the growing popularity of the slow foods movement, which offers a sumptuous alternative to the culinary portion of our increasingly-fast paced lives in which the time invested is itself part of the reward, and for which handmade quality trumps convenience.

The ARG world seems to have gotten its own equivalent to that movement in the form of The Committee for the Sedulous Amalgamation, which offers its players a veritable banquet of the type of pleasures that just canâ€™t be replicated digitally: the thrill of tearing open an envelope to find a mysterious snailmail letter, the enjoyment of physically handling a beautifully constructed puzzle, and the satisfaction of possessing swag that youâ€™ll keep long after the game has ended. The game launched with a letter sent to Unfiction, inviting players to thirteen Challenges and exhorting them to â€œmake humanity proud!â€

Dude, Where’s My Monster?

February 1, 2007 / Nicko Demeter

We all have enjoyed a monster movie at some point. From the ones that are so painfully bad (you can see the zipper on the rubber suit) to the awesomeness in graphic animation that dawned on films since Jurassic Park. The Host is one of those monster movies. Or is it? Reading around the net about the movie youâ€™d be as confused as I am: described as a â€œcomedyâ€, a â€œfamily dramaâ€, even as a â€œpersonal sacrifice epic,â€ this is poised to not be your typical monster-comes-out-of-the-sea flick.

It also seems that an ARG is also hidden within the marketing for this perplexing movie. After watching the movie trailer and heading over to the official website, one might find themselves staring at a â€œMonsters are Realâ€ message that links to a website that investigates sightings of Yeti, Nessie, and a weird looking fish.

Link after link, a mystery unravels between friends, college buddies, movie lovers, and tattoo freaks. Why would someone disappear when they are investigating something that must surely be a hoax anyways? Why would you want to implant a chip with a blinking LED in your arm? What will happen in NYC at the special screening of the movie in February 12th? And in general, why is there a mystery surrounding a monster movie anyway?!?

Promised to be an adventure full of twists and turns, Monster Hunter Club is currently being watched via MySpace and the unForums. So hop on over, join in the mystery, and remember: Donâ€™t feed the animals.

Links:
Thing in the Water – Meta In-Game blog to catch up quickly and follow the progress
The Host – Official movie site
MySpace account for the movie and entry point for the ARG
Current UnFiction thread

The Beeb’s a Bit Of A Wannabe

January 31, 2007 / Jessica Price

Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want,
So tell me what you want, what you really really want

If what you want is to be friends with the cast of characters of the BBC’s Wannabes, apparently you have to live in the U.K. Following on the heels of Jamie Kane, their successful foray into the world of ARGs, the BBC has created a 14-episode interactive online soap opera in which the online discussions of the fans will drive the story, promising that:

“Now you can REALLY get involved in the sexy scandals and temper tantrums of the Wannabes as they lie, cheat and blag their way to success – with a little help from their friends -duh…that would be you then…”

For those who spend a good portion of their time yelling at their TV screens, convinced that if the characters would only listen everything would turn out better, or for those who can’t understand why the producers of their favorite games continue to ignore the superior wisdom of their online fan communities, the chance to play with a model that adjusts to their whims may provide a certain long-awaited visceral satisfaction.

For those who enjoyed Jamie Kane or like interactive storytelling in general, Wannabes promises some juicy, soapy fun. Players can score “friendship points” by helping the Wannabes make decisions, and really good friends may get private emails or access to special videos. Unfortunately for wannabe players in the U.S., the characters appear not to be interested in foreign friends at this time. If you’re in the UK, check the episode schedule here to catch up and let us know what you think!

Vanishing Point Game Does Not Go Gently Into That Good Night

January 31, 2007 / Sean C. Stacey

On Saturday, January 27, 2007, at 5:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, a sizable crowd of two to three hundred people had gathered on the hill at Gas Works Park in Seattle, Washington, across from the brilliantly lit gas works. An enormous projection screen had been erected on the flat ground between the structure and Lake Union, where colored lights strobed atop police boats that formed a cordon around a darkened barge floating in the lake. As the clock ticked over to the top of the hour, hundreds of eyes aimed themselves at the video now winking into existence on the screen.

This was Loki’s final message to those few of the hundreds of thousands of players of the Vanishing Point Game – a promotion for Microsoft’s upcoming release of the next version of its Windows operating system, Vista – who had managed to be present for the final live event of the game…and to witness the final clues to the identity of “Loki” and her secret to winning, among other things, the grand prize trip into space.

In the video, Loki recounted her mission and praised the progress of the players so far. Photographs from previous live events flashed across the screen, along with screen shots of web sites and message boards that had been involved in the campaign. As the video ended, a single white flare shot out over the lake from behind the screen, music swelled from strategically placed loudspeakers, and the crowd was bathed in bright hues as broad brush strokes of flame painted the sky, synchronized to the wicked techno beats tumbling their way up the hill.

The volume of the fireworks display was only briefly rivaled upon the finale, as the crowd burst into cheers and applause.

Open Call for Writers – ARGNet Wants YOU!

January 30, 2007 / Jackie Kerr

With all of the news coming out regarding alternate reality games, we are hoping to find a few good men and women to assist us in writing articles and features for our web site.

If you are someone who is dependable, honest, and willing to write an article for ARGNet once a month, we’re looking for you. The submission guidelines are as follows:

Write a 100-150 word blurb-style article on any currently running game. For recent examples, see The Case of the Gumshoe Radio Play and The Trouble With Tropes.
Write a 400-500 word feature article about any of these topics: 1) a game, current or historical; 2) an interesting story or aspect of the ARG community; 3) a topic of interest to the ARGNet readership; 4) being a puppetmaster or behind-the-scenes game creator.

Submissions need to be sent in to [email protected] by 11:59 pm (CST, GMT -6) by this Friday, February 2nd, 2007. Naturally, spelling and grammar count, and a submission does not guarantee an invite to join the ARGNet staff.

We’re also interested in identifying key members of the community who would be willing and able to act as researchers and stringers for currently running ARGs. If you’re an avid player and have time to provide ARGNet staff members with highlight reels of games, but not enough time to dedicate to writing entire articles, we still want you! Send an email to [email protected] and we’ll add you to our growing list of community researchers.

Come Spring, will Odina Nova put the RAWK in Ragnarok?

January 25, 2007 / Jessica Price

Hojotoho! And other Wagnerian exclamations! Odina Nova, which gave participants a chance to ride shotgun with the Valkyries, metaphorically speaking, by combining codes, videos, blogs and other standard ARG media with a fresh take on Norse mythology, drifted off into silence last October and was presumed to have fallen prey to the high grassroots ARG mortality rate. An out-of-game Unforums message from the PM promised that it had not imploded, but was being put on hold due to unforeseen real-life circumstances.

It appears that the game will indeed resume this spring (an in-game reference suggests the restart date will be March 21 — an auspicious date which traditionally marks both the vernal equinox and the first day of the astrological year).

The game’s narrative claims that there are nine parallel worlds in which alternate versions of ourselves exist, and travel between them is possible. They appear to correspond with the Norse cosmology in which nine worlds hang upon Yggdrasil, the world tree. A character named Hermod is continuing the work of his father, whose own mentor had traveled to an alternate world called Vanaheim, which he learned had been a place of peace and beauty until otherworldly forces allied with a warrior named Woden drove it into chaos. Certain incidents in human history, the players have speculated, may have been caused by the intersection of alternate worlds with our own.

Odina Nova generated plenty of interest and speculation at Unfiction and Immersion Unlimited before its hiatus, so whether you’re one of the people that played it when it was running, or someone who is looking for an ARG to get involved in, check it out on March 21st.