Category: News (Page 126 of 183)

Exploring Our Future on a Lost Planet

November 29, 2006 / Carie Ward

As any gamer can tell you, game trailers are more than just an opportunity to feast your senses on the latest pre-recorded gameplay designed to tempt you into buying the game when it is finally released. For the keen-eyed gamer, hints of deeper game mythology can often be coaxed out of these trailers, adding to the overall experience of the game.

It was just this type of dedicated gamer who first noticed that there were strange things in the trailers for Lost Planet, a new Xbox 360 game designed by Capcom and scheduled for release in January. Those that watched the first trailers on the Xbox Live Marketplace saw â€œ111â€ and â€œneovenusconstruction.comâ€ flash toward the end, leading them to rush off in search of the next I Love Bees.

These intrepid explorers have been rewarded with the discovery of several slick-looking websites that all share the goal of colonizing new planets (including, in the future, EDN 3 – where Lost Planet is set). While the in-game sites seem to be setting up background stories at present, there are numerous hints that more is still to come, making this an ideal point to join the game. In fact, it has been hinted on the Capcom boards that players have all the information needed to advance the game, so things could start to happen very quickly if they can discover what clues they are missing. Maybe you could be the one to stumble upon that one little bit of information that can blow the game wide open, so what are you waiting for? Be a hero to gamers everywhere and discover the secret.

Trailhead: http://neovenusconstruction.com
List of in-game sites: http://awiser.googlepages.com/home
Discussion at Unfiction: http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17446

OpAphid Becomes “Official LonelyGirl15 ARG”

November 28, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Just when you thought the LonelyGirl15 phenomenon had settled down, in walks Cassie. Cassie, an 18 year old YouTube contributor from, um, “right there above you,” first caught the eye of LG15 fans in mid-September when she was mentioned in one of the LonelyGirl15 videos. From there, it’s a little hard to explain, what with the public skepticism about whether “Cassie Is Watching” (the first video in the Cassie series can be found here) was officially tied in with LG15. Weeks passed by with no official confirmation on whether Cassie, Bree and Daniel (the latter two being the main characters of the LG15 videos) were all part of the same story, which left fans wondering whether Cassie was another creation by the makers of LG15 or some sort of story hijacking attempt.

Then, on October 21, things took a turn for the… even more strange and confusing. Somehow, a YouTube user named OpAphid became intertwined into the LG15/CIW universe. Again, followers of events had to wonder if this was another attempt to derail the “official” LG15 experience. Fortunately, exactly one month later, the public got some well-deserved answers from the LG15 creation team — OpAphid had become the “Official LG15 Alternate Reality Game,” according to a post on the LG15 forums. Days later, the LG15 creators acknowledged that OpAphid “was a 100% fan created ARG” and that they “liked it so much that [they] decided to contact the creator and make it the official LG15 ARG.”

Project MU Archives Book Released

November 26, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Once upon a time, there was Metacortechs, a Matrix-themed alternate reality game that ran from August to November 2003. The game was good, and the players enjoyed it. Some players enjoyed it so much that in 2004 they wrote a comprehensive archival book, which can still be found at Metaurchins.org. And one day, those dedicated souls took that online book and had it made into a full-color, 218 page print version. That day just so happened to be this past Wednesday, marking three years since the end of the Project MU ARG.

While online guides, wikis and trails for ARGs is commonplace, books related to specific ARGs are rare. And while we don’t have a physical copy of the book in the office (yet), we’ve seen the electronic version of the print copy, and it looks good. Darn good. Plus, at $39.99 (â‚¬32.19), the book authors are donating all proceeds to unFiction, the ARG player resource. You can find and purchase the MU Archives Book through its online store on Lulu.com.

Top Ten Reasons I Love Sammeeeees

November 25, 2006 / Letter to the Editor

Every so often, we at ARGNet are fortunate enough to get a reader submission for an article. Today, we’re happy to be able to share konamouse’s Top Ten Reasons She Loves Sammeeeees:

10. Characters are well played both on video and via their emails. Psyche!
9. Play the game, get a T-shirt.
8. Thursday night trivia game always leads to a video.
7. Ima Spoocheeeee sends smoocheeeees to distract Mr Alan Johnson.
6. Puzzles that don’t make you feel dumb.
5. Great soundtrack.
4. Online sÃ©ance and a singing nun in the shower.
3. You can’t help but smile when you say “Spoocheeeee”, “Sammeeeees” and “hoopsssssthoo”.
2. Higg’s is so sexy when he’s all fired up.
1. We have our own cool slogan: SAVE THE FIVE, SAVE THE WORLD

Often we chat in #sammeeeees about why we are enjoying this ARG. This is an ARG with a great story; great characters; and puzzles that are not overly complicated. Maybe its the responsiveness of the PMs in addressing our concerns. When we got upset at the idea of players having to choose sides, the PMs made sure we knew that we should stay on one side and that there would be an in-game method to avoid the evil Mr. Alan Johnson from getting inappropriate information. When we voiced our concerns about having to pick someone to hold the Spoocheeeee disc pieces they had a character provide us with an idea on how to do it in a fair manner. And when a potential gamejacker showed up, the PMs used the most appropriate character to deliver a message that kept us from falling for it.

Ny Takma Says Goodbye, PM Chat Scheduled

November 23, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

The Ny Takma alternate reality game, which began on September 30th, has reached a successful conclusion. It was an ARG soap opera of sorts — Bryan and Chaya, aliens which have had their love for each other transcend the boundaries of time, got back together, thanks to Kendra, who opened the Ark, releasing Chaya. John, the ladies man, tackled the two lovers, which resulted in the three of them becoming trapped inside of the Ark. This left Kendra alone and full of sadness at the fact that there is no one left here on Earth to call a family. The story elements aside, what made this endgame special for the players was the fact that they had an impact on how the final events took shape. For those interested, there is a final video update at the game’s main website.

The PM’s will be having a chat in #nytakma on the Chat-Solutions IRC network tomorrow at 9pm CST (10:00 pm EST). You can access the chat room by clicking on the Chat tab at the top of the ARGNet homepage, and selecting the #nytakma room from the menu.

StudioCypher Back At It Again

November 18, 2006 / Nicko Demeter

StudioCypher Studio Cyphers returns with the release of the latest chapter of their multi-player novel (MPN), “The Cyphers”. This chapter, entitled Descry, starts with The Cyphers diving into the mystical world of rituals and spirits while following the experiments of a curious professor — experiments that might have gone a bit too far in the investigation of the paranormal.

What remains true from previous episodes is the overwhelming feeling of â€œspookinessâ€ and the This-Is-Odd factor that players experience when they first encounter an in-game site or clue. Also, the puppetmasters again seem committed to realism by emailing players individually (instead of canned responses from an auto-reply program) and by conducting IRC chats where the professor and his helpers interact in real-time with the players.

In past episodes/chapters, Studio Cyphers has worked with a subscription model where ‘Wakeful Agents’ (those who pay to play) get information more rapidly, or receive additional clues for game play. For Descry, it is not yet clear what premium content the â€˜Wakeful Agentsâ€™ are getting. Perhaps a more prominent or clearly defined set of benefits for the subscribing members would draw more players to participate in the paid version of the episodes.

A change of note is that this episode seems a more focused on establishing cooperative play between the players. This is evident by the number of players that currently use IRC and the Unfiction forums to discuss and solve the latest clues, which happened less frequently in previous installments.

To get started, head over to the Studio Cyphers Website and the Unfiction forum section for Studio Cyphers.