Category: News (Page 179 of 183)

Men of Metal: BMW Scores With Another Viral Promotion

May 25, 2004 / Steve Peters

Ready for the ultimate car conversion? Stop by this site and check out Colin Mayhew’s “Vehicle to autonomous biped robot conversion for the Mini Cooper r50.”

This site, and an accompanying book have caused quite a stir on the internet over the past few weeks. Hoax? Fact? Who knows?

Well, those of us who have been around ARGs recognized this at once as another of BMW’s viral marketing campaigns, following their successful Uncap the Ride campaign of 2003. The videos on the site are pretty fun to watch, and the book excerpt is very well done. While it’s not an ARG, it’s another fine example of viral marketing done right. Even the New York Times has taken notice.

Acheron Earns Pick of the Month

May 25, 2004 / Steve Peters

It’s just come to our attention that the recently concluded ARG Acheron was honored by being selected as EpiGuide’s April 2004 Pick of the Month.

Congratulations go out to the Acheron PM Team! Well done!

A Little Upgrade

May 24, 2004 / Steve Peters

We’re in the midst of upgrading the backend of the site, so please be patient as we work out the little glitches that are sure to crop up. The good news is that once this is complete, updates should come more frequently. 🙂

Thanks!

AWARE Goes Live

April 19, 2004 / Steve Peters

AWARE is currently in a live pregame. If you’dÂ like to jump in and get up to speed, a newÂ Wiki Guide is being maintained by the playersÂ here. In addition, there is now an AWARE Forum set up at Unfiction, along with an IRC chatÂ channel: #ruaware on chat-solutions.org. AWARE is picking up steam and looks toÂ be a very innovative ARG, alreadyÂ having hadÂ an established player at UnfictionÂ turn outÂ to be an in-game character, orÂ so it seems.

In other news, there have been some interestingÂ sites discovered lately. Stop by the Godsend Institute and take a look at the fine job done inÂ creating a very realistic site, completeÂ with a real address and phone number, andÂ no obvious disclaimer, although there isÂ one there if you look hard enough for it. Â The promotional departments in HollywoodÂ are getting so close, but not taking thingsÂ any further, which is disappointing.

Also, if you’re a fan of Cyan/Ubisoft’s URU:Â Ages Beyond Myst, you’ll probably find www.pathoftheshell.com an interesting distraction while you waitÂ for the next expansion pack. There is a GuideÂ for this mini-game here.

ARGN welcomes two new affiliate sites: metaurchins.org and varin.org. Metaurchins is an online book project aboutÂ the Project MU (Metacortechs) ARG, currentlyÂ being worked on by numerous players. A veryÂ interesting read so far. Varin.org is a veryÂ nice site dedicated to gaming in general,Â and includes quite a bit about AlternateÂ Reality Games. Be sure to check them bothÂ out.

Project Syzygy Announced

March 7, 2004 / Steve Peters

This comes to us from one of the Grand MastersÂ of ARGs himself, Adrian Hon: Project Syzygy. Billing itself as a “new type of immersiveÂ game, one that will change everything,”Â PS will be a cross between Masquerade,Â TheÂ Beast, Pattern Recognition, Rubik’sÂ Cube,Â The Matrix, Eternity, The DaVinciÂ Code, NokiaÂ Game, The Game, and MajesticÂ (whew!), PSÂ promises to be a ride like noneÂ other, atÂ least in our opinion.

The teaser page already has aÂ couple puzzlesÂ for the curious, and you canÂ sign up to beÂ informed of the launch. For thoseÂ of youÂ who are inclined, you can alsoÂ apply to beÂ a part of the development team. Â Project SyzygyÂ is scheduled to launch in lateÂ 2004. LookingÂ forward to it!

For further discussion, go to the Unfiction Forums.

JMX, Acheron Wrap Up

February 20, 2004 / Steve Peters

Two major ARG events finished up over the last week or so. The 6 level hardcore puzzle competition JMX was finally solved. JMX spanned months and provided countless hours of fun and frustration for the players. A final chatlog can be found here.

In addition, the time-travel ARG Acheron came to a conclusion this last week. If you played or were following, you may be interested in the PM post-game chat log, a copy of which is posted here. Acheron was plagued by many behind-the-scenes challenges, but the PM team withstood everything that was thrown their way, plugging on to give their players a great ARG experience.

From the rumor mill comes a pointer to two sites: www.beta-7.com and www.gamerchuck.com. We haven’t been able to check into these at all yet, but wanted to pass the info along. If anyone can make any sense of these sites, let us know.

Also, word comes to us that Aware is slated for a mid-summer launch and a spring pre-game. Folks are also keeping an eye onÂ www.lacunainc.com, which is connected to the upcoming movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.Â Nothing conclusive there yet at all, but who knows?