Category: News (Page 75 of 183)

TNT launches “episodic Flash game” for Leverage

February 7, 2009 / Jonathan Waite

We received a game tip early in January from the fine folks at TNT TV regarding their new original series Leverage. According to Seth Miller, the Senior Manager of Digital Partnerships at the network, “[t]he games take elements and storylines of from the show, add on a layer of a 3D virtual headquarters and features a sweepstakes to help the Leverage team recover some stolen money.” Miller admits that he doesn’t know if this “qualifies as a true ARG” so let’s have our readers be the judges of that! You can access the game at LeverageHQ.com and please, let us know in our comments how you feel about the campaign.

Leverage is a con series in reverse, in which a group of “specialists” take on the corrupt people and companies that plague our society in a sort of modern-day Robin Hood theme. It stars Timothy Hutton and can be seen Tuesdays at 10/9c on TNT, or you can watch full episodes on the TNT website (U.S. visitors only, we assume).

Get Intimate with Intimation

February 7, 2009 / Jonathan Waite

It wasn’t too long ago that discussion at the ARG Netcast included a look at The Way Their World Ended, a game that launched through a Twitter account on Christmas day of 2008. At the beginning, a few of the players that followed Intimation on Twitter were discouraged by the flood of cryptic updates to the account, but once the messages were decoded, the game began dropping references to the Halo universe.

In the past week, there have been more discoveries which lead at least one player to believe that this game’s narrative takes place, “after the events of ILB, since this AI knows about ‘the legendary Melissa.'” ILB, for those who may not know, is short for I Love Bees, the massively popular alternate reality game from 2004 which was a promotion for Halo 2. There have also been references to material discovered through the Iris ARG, which Bungie/Microsoft put together for the release of Halo 3.

So, is it an official tie-in to some sort of Halo product, or a fan creation? We’ve sent off an email to Bungie to see what they have to say, and we’ll update once we get a response. In the meantime, if you’ve been waiting for something to fill the void until Halo Wars hits store shelves, this may be just the thing.

In-game YouTube account
Unfiction Forum thread

Mir-12: Viral Marketing for Singularity?

February 1, 2009 / Robbie Smith

mir-12

Once again, YouTube has led to a rabbit hole that seems to go deeper and deeper with each day. A video was uploaded to the site, supposedly a Russian news clip reporting on an assassination attempt on a scientist, as well as the the subsequent shooting of the would-be killer. The newscast points viewers towards an organization named Mir-12, which is believed to be behind the attack. Upon visiting the Mir-12 website, players discovered a blog documenting the actions of Mir-12, a â€œglobal communityâ€ attempting to uncover a Russian conspiracy concerning an island where Soviet weapons testing took place during the height of World War II.

Mir-12â€™s founder, an American student, roundly denied any knowledge of the scientist prior to January 16th, the date of the incident documented in the video, and states that the assassin, Natasha Norvikov, was nothing more than a friend helping to uncover the truth behind the mysterious island and the Russian government cover-up. Researching Natasha, players have found more information on the active young woman who had accounts on Flickr and Facebook. Mir-12â€™s most recent update includes a link to Natashaâ€™s photography work, also discovered and submitted to the site by players.

So, what does it all mean? As one intrepid blogger has already uncovered, Mir-12 seems to be a viral marketing campaign for the upcoming Activision video game Singularity. Some research into Mir-12â€™s Twitter account shows that certain followers of the Mir-12 Twitter-feed were employees of the DDB Ad Agency, and DDB has worked with Activision in the past. This discovery, coupled with the Singularity trailers, make the coincidences in plot seem much lessâ€¦ coincidental.
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Skynet Research Wants You!

February 1, 2009 / Robbie Smith

terminator_salvation

A recent trailhead discovery could prove very exciting for Terminator fans as it appears to be the beginning of a viral marketing campaign for the upcoming Terminator: Salvation film. Skynet Research has little more than a message claiming that “Skynet Research is Coming,” and registration for e-mail updates but the legitimacy of the site as more than a fan creation is helped by the privacy policy, which links to the website of non other than Warner Bros., the production company behind the Terminator films. There are still three months before Terminator: Salvation hits the big screen on May 22nd, which is plenty of time to give fans a chance to take part in John Connorâ€™s resistance.

Hopefully, more comes of this web site, and when it does, ARGNet will provide updates, so keep watching this site for details.

HIM Wins Arte France CinÃ©ma Award at Cinemart

February 1, 2009 / Michael Andersen

Image courtesy of Scott Macaulay.

Lance Weiler just got back from his trip to Rotterdam for the International Film Festival. At the festival, Weiler’s upcoming transmedia project HIM (produced by Seize the Media) won the Arte France Cinema Award.

The Arte France CinÃ©ma Award is given out every year to the best CineMart project. The winner receives 10,000 Euros towards financing the development of the project. Filmmaker Magazine noted that director of Arte France CinÃ©ma Michel Reilhac remarked that the award “acknowledged the visionary nature of Weiler’s project and noted that it speaks towards the type of new thinking about audience and platforms that will be necessary if our world of specialty cinema is to survive in the coming years.”

Congratulations to Lance Weiler and everyone at Seize the Media.

Puppetmasters wanted, Geppetto need not apply

January 27, 2009 / Jonathan Waite

job_opportunity Our roving reporters regularly scan the blogs and news sources that make up our digital world, and this morning, staffers Marie Lamb and Michael Andersen found two unique opportunities for aspiring game designers in Los Angeles and New York City. If you are someone who wishes to work in the exciting field of alternate reality game creation, these might be a stepping stone in the right direction!

First up, a craigslist ad from a company called Urban Interactive, who is advertising for an “Alternate Reality Game Writer for iPhone (NYC).” The ad talks about a new product called Urban Sleuth, which is described as, “a platform that allows anyone to create alternate reality games, ranging from simple treasure hunts to full-blown storytelling adventures that incorporate improv actors, local merchants, flash mobs, etc.” It also reveals that a new ARG will be launching in March called The Analog Resistance, and lists the cities of Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago as locales affected by the game. Specifically, they need help writing missions for events taking place in Manhattan, and the ad suggests that owning an iPhone or iPod Touch would be helpful.

The ad triggered a spark of a memory for me, and as I looked back in my cluttered inbox, I did find a game tip from last month that we weren’t able to follow up on which relates to this ad. The email, from Nick Tommarello, further describes The Analog Resistance this way: “It’s the ‘Amazing Race’ meets The Game (with Michael Douglas).” Sounds altogether cool and wonderful!

The second job opportunity isn’t a paying position, but an internship at Studio 33 in Los Angeles, according to this posting at internweb.com. There are quite a few positions available to those who wish to intern at the start-up, including Production Office Management, Web Series production, Alternate Reality Game production, Website Development and Maintenance, Sponsorship & Advertising and Marketing. The hours are flexible, and students may be able to use this for college credit. The start date is listed as “immediately” and the internship runs to the end of April, 2009.

So what are you waiting for — get out there and make a great game!