Category: News (Page 83 of 183)

“Hooking Up” with Lonelygirl15’s Jessica Rose: Not Quite What I Anticipated

October 13, 2008 / Michael Andersen

Imagine, for a moment, half of your favorite YouTube stars going to the same college, obsessively using all your favorite social networking programs. It’s almost like some alternate reality where obsessively twittering, texting, Facebook stalking, and playing Halo is the epitome of coolness.

Apparently HBOlab has an active imagination, as they’ve gathered together Jessica Rose (Bree from lonelygirl15), Phil DeFranco (sxephil), and Kevin Wu (kevjumba) to produce Hooking Up, “a College Comedy Series about Relationships and Communications.”

Starting October 1st, “Hooking Up” commenced its ten episode run, with new episodes released weekly. HBOlab is showcasing the project at the American Film Institute’s DigiFest 2008, billing it as “a cross-platform alternate reality game” seeking to “explore how [an] online narrative series might integrate cross-platform promotions to build both intrigue and audience.” AFI’s Digital Content Lab is working with HBOlab on the production.

So far, the interactive and cross-media elements of “Hooking Up” are admittedly sparse. This may change after adding the characters to my social networking profiles, as the site claims you can “Become friends with your favorite HOOKING UP characters…and be part of the hidden story!” The Hooking Up homepage features “bask-book”, a social networking Facebook clone for the fictitious Bask University and its attendees that leads to MySpace and Facebook profiles, where the characters communicate (and miscommunicate) with each other. A post by Kevin Nalts implies that the series will expand to include access to e-mails between the two main characters. The site also provides links to bonus video content.

PICNIC ’08, part one: A healthy dose of cross-media inspiration

October 12, 2008 / DaniÃ«l van Gool

ARGNet @ PICNIC 08 Logo Editor’s Note: DaniÃ«l van Gool, an administrator at the Unfiction forums, was on the scene at PICNIC ’08 on behalf of ARGNet. We were impressed with DaniÃ«l’s work covering PICNIC ’07 and, as media partners of the annual cross-media festival, were invited to a number of special events in addition to the speaker sessions. This is the first part of DaniÃ«l’s comprehensive look at this year’s event. All pictures are courtesy of DaniÃ«l as well.

The morning of the 24th of September marked the third year I walked up to the intriguing Westergasfabriek area in the West of Amsterdam to attend PICNIC on behalf of ARGNet. In my report on PICNIC ’07 I tried to describe why this area is perfect for a conference that is all about creativity, innovation and inspiration: the Westergasfabriek area just breathes all those things. If you want to try and get an idea how PICNIC looked and felt in 2008, check out the set of rather nice 360-degree pictures made by C360.

PICNIC’s ambition is still growing, and they have taken things another step further this year, welcoming an even larger audience in attendance and hosting even more events before, during and after the main conference in comparison to the previous two years. The PICNIC Club, the central lounging and networking area, was moved to the Gashouder building this year. Previously a huge silo used to store natural gas, during PICNIC it was fitted with large patches of grass, rows of picnic tables, a stage with some impressive lightning, a couple of huge displays of hundreds of images of sheep (I will come to this later) and various booths and domes where demonstrations were held and books and picnic-baskets were sold.

Around 1:00pm. Bas Verhart and Marleen Stikker, founders of the Crossmedia Foundation and PICNIC, opened the event and announced that over 5000 people had registered this year for the main conference and all the partner events. The main theme of this year’s conference was Collaborative Creativity, a subject that has a couple of interesting parallels with the world of ARGs.

Save Muggle Quidditch 2.0

October 10, 2008 / Michelle Senderhauf

Save Ludo logo A few weeks ago, Harry Potter fans started receiving riddle-ridden emails from a man named Ludo Bagman. Ludo, a former professional Quidditch player and current leader of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, has been forced into hiding and his new game, Muggle Quidditch 2.0 is in danger. It seems that goblins, possibly those behind Gringotts Wizarding Bank, are after Ludo for a “small financial miscommunication” and the Ministry has shut down Muggle Quidditch 2.0. Ludo thinks the two are connected and that wizards are influencing the goblins. To make things more complicated, controversy has recently surrounded Gringotts Wizarding Bank and the Ministry, as it seems the effects of the current U.S. economic crisis have reached the wizard world.

So what is Ludo’s Muggle Quidditch 2.0 and why is it so important? In the Harry Potter world, Quidditch is a sport played by witches and wizards at Hogwarts and other schools. Players ride broomsticks while trying to get several different types of balls into goals. Muggle Quidditch is a variation of the game played by Muggles (or humans) sans the magical balls and broomsticks. According to Ludo Bagman, Muggle Quidditch 2.0 is set to launch on October 15th. This new type of Quidditch is going to be an online version where wizards, witches, and Muggles can all play together. Someone (possibly goblins, wizards, or a mixture of the two) doesn’t want that to happen. So Ludo Bagman has gone into hiding and called upon supporters of the game to investigate what is happening. S.P.E.L.L. (or the Society for the Promotion of the Expeditious Liberation of Ludo) has formed and created a website to organize efforts on Ludo’s behalf.

Join in the discussion at Unfiction

NEWSFLASH: “Major” Charlie Higson and James Bond are Not Dead

October 10, 2008 / Michael Andersen

The Shadow War logo For followers of The Shadow War alternate reality game, the success and excitement generated by the experience might convince them that The Shadow War was the game with the golden gun. Charlie Higson, the author of the Young Bond series, kicked off the alternate reality game with a little help from Six to Start at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, launching the main game website YoungBond.com. The first mission went live on August 27, and players were taken on a worldly, online adventure that spanned seven missions.

On Wednesday, October 6, players faced their final mission. Players supporting the OGPU and SIS raced through the Alpine castle, Schloss Donnerspitze, desperate to save captured British soldier “Major” Charlie Higson, James Bond, and themselves from a bomb. Higson regularly appeared within the game to offer hints and encourage the players in their race to the finish. Prior to the final mission, Higson stated that “it’s the final stage of the game this week, and a chance for all those kids to come together in a race against time and finish the story. I’m really looking forward to playing a part in it and appearing live in the game as a British agent. I just hope the kids solve the problems in time or I risk being liquidated by a fiendish foreign power!”

Upon the successful completion of the final mission, you can see the obviously grateful Charlie Higson thanking his rescuers in this video.

You can still replay the first six missions online, and according to the Danger Society News, there is still more content to discover: 20 copies of By Royal Command include a special variant codeword that unlocks additional content for the third mission. To my knowledge, none of the variant books have been located yet.

You can also view a portion of the live event with Charlie Higson, sans sound, on ustream.tv. It gets quite interesting at 5:42.

UPDATE: Prototype161 vs. Mare Vitreum, Live in NYC

October 9, 2008 / Michelle Senderhauf

Attention New Yorkers! You’re going to have to tell the kiddies trick-or-treating is canceled this year. Something much more interesting is happening this Halloween in New York City. Prototype161 is planning a live scavenger hunt game on October 31st called Mare Vitreum.

Mare Vitreum is a dangerous doomsday cult that has been recruiting its members by sending out etched pieces of glass in the mail. In response, prototype161 wants agents to infiltrate the cult and foil its Hallow’s Eve plans in New York City.

If past events are any indication, this is something that is not to be missed. Last summer’s event had participants scouring the city looking for clues, solving puzzles and interacting with in-game characters. Some of the live interaction included being kidnapped by a van full of masked men and saving a tied-up damsel from inside a locked theatre.

The event starts at 7pm at a yet undisclosed location. Many of the previous events have run late into the night or even the next morning, so bring along some caffeinated gum and money for snacks. The registration fee is $40, although a 50% off coupon is available for the first two people to call the ARGNet voicemail (leave us your email address). So get yourself registered, bribe the kids to skip trick-or-treating (who needs all that cavity-causing candy anyway?) and get ready for a very ARGish Halloween!

Game Launch: Mare Vitreum (Sea of Glass)

October 6, 2008 / Jonathan Waite

Sea of Glass swag On a very busy day for us here at the ARGNet offices, the last of our day’s articles deals with a beautiful piece of etched glass sent to us through the post. With the words “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire” written into the glass block, and with nondescript symbols etched along the bottom, we had a feeling that there was a mystery to be solved here. Even as we talked about it during tonight’s ARG Netcast recording, I didn’t have a hot clue as to what to do with this puzzling transparent square slab. And then, thanks comments from Geoff May and redct in the ARG Netcast Ustream channel, we had a destination — marevitreum.com.

You see, those symbols along the bottom which resemble the Klingon alphabet were only part of the message. Luckily for us, there were a few other recipients of the same gift, except at least one (thatsplenty at Flickr) had different etchings at the bottom. Simply line up the two and the web site URL magically appears.

The web site includes a mystery of its own, with blurry paragraphs that clear up as you mouse over them. The thing is, the blurry paragraphs have red letters strewn within the text, and the clear version do not. Sean C. Stacey and I actually went through and solved the puzzle during the netcast recording, getting the message “Oct thirty first new york city” which points, quite obviously, to Halloween in NYC. Besides that, other mouse overs reveal text which seems rather religious in tone — appropriate as the ‘sea of glass’ quote comes from Revelations 15:2.

So, anyone up for a bit of fun on All Hallow’s Eve in the Big Apple? If you’re in the area, stay tuned for developments of this new mystery.