Category: News (Page 88 of 183)

ARGFest 2008 in Review: Long Live Unfiction (Sean Stacey Learns to Whistle)

August 11, 2008 / Michael Andersen

ARGNet Writers pose at ARGFest 2008
This article is the fifth in a series, providing summaries of the panel presentations at ARGFest-o-Con 2008 in Boston

In 2004, Sean Stacey was traveling through France with a friend. Walking along the Champs Elysees, he encountered a man on the street making the most incredible whistling sounds he ever heard. For the next few days, Sean diligently practiced his whistle, contorting his face in new and unfamiliar ways, attempting to duplicate the sound that fascinated him so much. Finally, his friend explained to him that the man on the street was selling bird whistles. He didn’t say anything before because, “well, you were getting pretty good.” Unfiction is kind of like that. The moral of this story is that Sean C. Stacey is one heck of a good whistler.

The story also helps explain the twists and turns in the evolution of Unfiction.com, the largest discussion board devoted to alternate reality games on my bookmark list. When Sean created the website during the alternate reality game Lockjaw in 2002, running a forum was the last thing he wanted to do. He still harbors hopes that Unfiction will not live forever, because the genre will expand beyond needing a single resource.

Sean credited Adrian Hon, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Six to Start, with creating the first alternate reality gaming wiki. He followed that up by noting that no one actually used the wiki. Using wikis, he claims, augment community rather than create it. Thus, the only way you can get Sean to create a wiki on his new website, Despoiler.org, is by requesting one. People like to teach others, and wikis can lower entry barriers for complex topics: but only if a community exists to develop it. One of the true pleasures of the Unfiction community, Sean explains, is that reputation is not an issue in how discussions are handled. Everyone, no matter how well known or well liked, must rely on persuasion to justify their thoughts and opinions.

Puffin Books Announces “The Shadow War”: Young Bond ARG for Young Players

August 11, 2008 / Michael Andersen

The Shadow War logo Puffin Books announced the launch of The Shadow War, an alternate reality game set in the Bond universe. The game was designed by Six to Start and written by Charlie Higson to create a parallel experience for Higson’s newest Young Bond novel, By Royal Command. The series is intended for 9-14 year old children, and has sold over three-quarters of a million copies in the UK alone. Over 35,000 fans of the series are registered as members of The Danger Society over at YoungBond.com. While the Shadow War is intended for children 9 years and older, the young at heart are still permitted to play.

The game is comprised of seven missions spanning seven weeks, culminating in a live event on October 8th featuring Charlie Higson, allowing players to ask questions and influence the game. Each mission takes about an hour, and allows players to work as a British SIS agent or a Soviet OGPU spy, exploring familiar locations. Player decisions will directly influence the outcome of the game. Players can join and leave at any point, and can even switch sides if they choose to defect.

Penguin Group has been experimenting with book publishing, most recently with We Tell Stories, a reimagining of six classic novels using different media created with the help of Six to Start. In addition, Jasper Fforde released an alternate reality game to promote his most recent Thursday Next novel under the Penguin imprint, First Among Sequels.

The first mission for The Shadow War will be revealed by Charlie Higson at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on August 23rd. The festival will also feature a panel exploring the future of ARGs including Dan Hon (Six to Start), Alex Fleetwood (Hide & Seek), David Varela (formerly of Mind Candy), and Yomi Ayeni (Expanding Universe).

Mailbox: Shadowbox Inn

August 5, 2008 / Jonathan Waite

Shadowbox Inn swag

In the mail today was a plain brown box, light in weight but heavy in mystery. Inside was a postcard featuring the URL shadowboxinn.googlepages.com on one side, and the numbers ‘808080808’ on the back. Along for the ride was a pool ball, number 11, which looks fairly ordinary.

Shadowbox Inn post card

A quick Google search turns up this thread on the Unfiction forums, which started just over a month ago. From what we can glean from the thread, there have been a number of web-based discoveries, including a MySpace page, and a countdown on the front page, set to expire in just under three days. So, given the timely nature of the countdown — I guess Steve Peters was right, countdowns are very useful tools — we expect things to heat up in this campaign sooner than later.

Update: Upon closer inspection of the box, and some diligent investigative journalism (read: Google search), we have found two more connections to shadows. The first comes from the signature the sender provided when sending the package — a must for Canada Customs when sending packages from the U.S. — which looks to be Lamont Cranston. Lamont Cranston happens to be one of the alter-egos of The Shadow, the popular fictional vigilante that has appeared in radio, television and film dramas since 1930. The second clue of shadowy importance is the return address, which matches that of the Shadowbox Cabaret. We’re unsure if these specific references will be important in the scheme of the game play, or if they are simply meant as atmospheric affirmations of the game’s name, but we thought they were noteworthy to mention.

The quick and dirty: New ARGs pop up, like, everywhere!

July 31, 2008 / Jonathan Waite

Truckload of ARGs Don’t mind us — we’re just catching up on the latest round of alternate reality game launches, via the ARGNet tipline/inbox/mailbox. Here is what we know of, in no particular order:

(1) Eklipse Global: We first heard about this game through the LiveJournal blog of staffer Geoff May, and were reminded again of its existence when we picked up our post-ARGFest mail. After sitting at the post office since the 18th of July, the USPS Priority Mail envelope was opened to reveal a letter, and a mysterious message: IF YOU HEAR THE HUM IS TOO LATE!!

The letter notified “ARGN” that the decision committee did not select our marketing campaign bid as the winner. We’d be crushed, had we actually submitted a bid, but since we didn’t, um, yay? Later in the letter from Reinhart, the president of Eklipse Global, he assures us that their decision is not a reflection on our expertise or professionalism, which is a relief, because personally, I’d never work for a company run by a one-name person — and yes, that includes Madonna Inc.

This is only the start of the crazy amount of new ARGs that have appeared out of the chaotic fiction ether in the past few weeks — head on over the jump for the rest of the list.

Tying up loose ends in fairyland

July 30, 2008 / Geoff May

HETFET logo Not only was it a tight box office for Hellboy II, releasing just one week before Batman: The Dark Knight, but the alternate reality game running in its shadow was also competing against TDK’s massive viral campaign. As a result, the game, which was a joint venture between Hellboy II director Guillermo del Toro and Double-20, found itself flying in under the radar for the most part. However, the community following it very much enjoyed it, myself included. There is, however, still one minor piece of content that never got a chance to see the light of day, which is revealed at the end of this article.

For those unfamiliar with Double-20, they were part of the team that created the alternate reality game known as Ocular Effect for ABC Family’s Fallen last year. For this campaign, the story focused on Lexi Lloyd, a girl who loves fairies and whose father disappeared years ago. Living with her mother, Lexi worried about a cat she had found and returned to a mysterious old lady, was bothered by prank calls and a stalker on YouTube, and was eventually led to try to contact her father.

Action also revolved around an organization named HETFET, an acronym for Humans for Ethical Treament of Fairies, Elves, and Trolls. Backed by Guillermo del Toro himself, HETFET ran rallies in a couple of cities to bring awareness to Troll abuse, and was instrumental in bringing down Augustine Pharmaceuticals – the creator of the miracle “anti-aging drug” Uthyntrol, or “glamour” as described in Hellboy II.

ARGFest 2008 in Review: ARG International (Lost in Translation)

July 30, 2008 / Michael Andersen

ARGNet Writers pose at ARGFest 2008 This article is the fourth in a series, providing summaries of the panel presentations at ARGFest-o-Con 2008 in Boston

The third panel discussion featured Brian Clark of GMD Studios as moderator, Patrick Moeller (ARGReporter, vm-people GmbH), Alexander Serrano (vm-people GmbH), and Genevieve Cardin (Baroblik communication et multimedia). The panel discussed the blossoming ARG market in countries that have yet to enjoy the wonders of Fried Oreos.

The discussion started with a brief history of the alternate gaming market in Germany, from its humble beginnings as a student project about the World Cup to the present day, with three grassroots projects running concurrently, and commercial ARGs both international and domestic targeting the country. Cardin noted her experiences entering a market she didn’t even know existed through her multi-lingual games.

Often, the developers noted, the decision to go International is more of a matter of budget than that of language barrier concerns. The panelists noted a few differences in play styles. For instance, the media involved for projects with target audiences with limited access to flat-rate internet service plans need to be adjusted accordingly. Additionally, the popularity of devices with GPS capabilities has led to the popularity of geo-caching in Germany.

Creating international ARGs as opposed to region-based games may present its own difficulties. A member of the audience noted that creating games spanning more than one language requires highly skilled translators, since they must create adaptations of the game that take into account its subtle nuances. Furthermore, navigating the international legal quagmires may mean a significant amount of time is spent talking with lawyers. The challenge of finding people in other locations also becomes grander on the global stage.