Category: News (Page 93 of 183)

Is This a Game? IGDA Talk on ARGs in NYC

May 3, 2008 / Marie Lamb

On May 14th from 6:30-9:00 pm, the New York City Chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) will host a meeting entitled “Alternate Reality Games: Is This a Game?” The announcement describes the meeting as follows:

Alternate Reality Games blend the real world with the online world and fuse the players’ creativity with that of the designers as the story unfolds. A genre that began just a few years ago, ARGs have been used for marketing, for independent and self-funded storytelling, for serious games, and for no other purpose than to have fun.

This panel will address the genre’s roots in games and with gamers, explore what ARGs and traditional video games have to learn from one another, and even speculate on how the ARG is changing the face of 21st Century entertainment.

The panel will be moderated by Andrea Phillips, best known for her work on Perplex City, and a leadership council member of the IGDA ARG SIG, and will include panelists Frank Lantz, a founder and director of area/code, the creators of the Chain Factor (Numb3rs) game; Catherine Herdlick, creator of the grassroots game, Lawn Games for Life, co-organizer of the Come Out and Play Festival and a designer for The Case of the Coveted Bottle; and Mike Monello, co- founder of Campfire Media, who has been involved in transmedia storytelling since the Blair Witch Project.

You do not need to be a member of IGDA to attend, but you do need to RSVP.

Thanks to Rose from unFiction, the meeting’s organizer, for letting us know about this event.

Beyond the Rave: Humans vs Vampires

April 23, 2008 / Michael Andersen

Beyond the Rave logo Filmmaker Lance Weiler, who recently promoted the VOD release of his film Head Trauma alongside an alternate reality game called Hope is Missing, was kind enough to talk with me about his current project, Beyond the Rave. For the first time in almost 30 years, Hammer Films is releasing a feature-length horror movie, and Lance and his company, Seize the Media, are producing a companion alternate reality game in conjunction with Hammer and MySpace.

The feature will be released in twenty installments on MySpace, with new episodes every Monday and Wednesday. The plot revolves around a British soldier trying to find his girlfriend who was taken by a group of vampiric, night-time ravers. According to Weiler, the game aspect is broken down into two paths, with hints and clues strewn across the videos and MySpace: “Find the Wraith,” based around the movie’s vampire-centric plot, and “Humans vs Vampires,” a combat-based system that allows players to hunt down weapons and trophies, and battle to increase their collection.

In stark contrast to “Hope is Missing,” where the gameplay led players through a variety of websites such as MySpace, XBox Live, Twitter, Stage 6, and Opera, “Beyond the Rave” is much more centralized. Lance claims this allows the developers to take advantage of the MySpace Developer’s Platform in order to receive finite information on gameplay that helps the team optimize the experience, and suggests we’ll be seeing a lot of innovative uses of the underlying API.

Bringing alternate reality games to social networking sites has exposed the genre to new audiences, with over three hundred players discussing the game so far on the MySpace forums and over 14,000 users listing the main page for the experience as a friend. Due to mature content, access to the videos and the game is restricted to anyone 18 or older.

Lance notes that bringing alternate reality games to social networks can also help bring people together. On their own, social networking sites let you set up a page, deal with your friends, and occasionally meet a new person randomly. “What’s cool about an ARG is the ability to work through things together, and to become friends.” Since Beyond the Rave has multiple levels of interactivity, players can choose the level of involvement that suits their interests, whether that involves leaning back and enjoying the first new movie from Hammer Films in decades, or progressing through the videos frame-by-frame to isolate subliminal clues leading to websites that can provide weapons helpful in battling for supremacy.

For those of you looking for prizes, you can answer twenty questions about the episodes on Faustino‘s profile for a chance to win “a truly vampiric top prize” or one of forty goody bags.

Click Here to visit the Beyond the Rave page on MySpace.
Click Here to check out the MySpace forums for the game.
Click Here to join the chat channel for Beyond the Rave.

A-Mazing Event in San Francisco

April 22, 2008 / Sean C. Stacey

When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout. –R.A.H.

Over fifty people gathered at Sutro Heights Park in San Francisco this past Sunday to practice the ancient sport of “Labyrinth Running” which, according to the recently-launched Alternate Reality Game, “Find the Lost Ring,” was lost in 393 A.D. when Theodoseus banned the Olympic Games. Find the Lost Ring is an ARG designed to promote the upcoming Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, China in August, and is sponsored by the McDonald’s Corporation. It officially launched on March 3, 2008, shortly after trailhead clue packages were received by various ARGonauts and media sites.

The ARG is conducted in several languages and has gained popularity all over the planet. It was reported that at least two other training events were taking place that day in other parts of the world, including in Brazil, which country holds one of the largest interested groups of players of this game that isn’t a game. It is scheduled to run through to the closing ceremonies of the Olympics on August 24, 2008.

Although the event was organized by two players, Tom Bullock (aka Ariock) and Lenore Henry (aka hmrpita), it was also acknowledged by the game, and an in-game character named Kai announced early that he would attend the practice run. Lead designer and avant-gamer Jane McGonigal also appeared at the event and offered to help organize and referee the training.

Alternate Reality Gaming Meets the Adult Entertainment Industry with Kronos480BC

April 21, 2008 / Michael Andersen

WARNING: SOME LINKS IN THIS ARTICLE MAY NOT BE SAFE FOR WORK

Graphic for Kronos 480 BC Earlier this month, Sean Stacey over at Despoiler received a tip about a new alternate reality game, Kronos480BC. The game is part of a campaign created by the public relations firm Black and Blue Media, presumably to promote the summer release of The Four, an adult feature film by Ninn Worx SR.

Given the rather explicit nature of the product Kronos480BC is promoting, it is surprising to note that the alternate reality game itself is anything but. As the game’s disclaimer explains, “[a]lthough the story line and rewards in Kronos480BC are not explicit in nature, the product itself is.” The disclaimer elaborates that players above the age of 18 are eligible to play for rewards such as postcards, magnets, stickers, and free ring tones. Although the game seems light on puzzles at the moment, there is an extensive backstory in place going back several years.

The story of Kronos480BC revolves around the search for an ancient necklace. Agamemnon Cronides claims the necklace, dating back to 480BC, is a family heirloom. He has enlisted the aid of Roberta “Bobbie” Hope, an archaeologist with the Hope Ranch Foundation, to find it.

Over the past year at ARGNet, I’ve covered campaigns promoting a fairly diverse range of products including books, television shows, movies, beer, and even heavy machinery. So I can’t really say that I’m surprised to find an alternate reality game promoting pornography. But I can say that I am impressed with their treatment of the campaign so far. While the subject matter relates to the plot of the upcoming film, the production staff made a conscious decision to eschew attracting players through titillation, prefering to rely on the strength of the story.

Click Here for the UnFiction discussion thread.

A Call for Help: Folding the Wish

April 18, 2008 / Michelle Senderhauf

Folding the Wish crane As ARG players, we often receive cries of help from mysterious strangers. Over the years, people in this community have banded together to help these strangers no matter what the task. We’ve found missing loved ones. We’ve defeated dangerous cults. We’ve saved the world countless number of times.

This time it isn’t a mysterious stranger who needs our help, but one of our very own community members. Dave Szulborski, puppetmaster of countless ARGs over the years including Chasing the Wish and Urban Hunt, has recently fallen ill and will be undergoing treatment for the next several weeks.

So what can you do? Fold him a wish.

There is an ancient Japanese legend that says that anyone who receives one thousand paper cranes will be granted one wish. A few community members have been furiously folding cranes and we need your help.

How to fold a wish:

1. Find a square piece of paper.

2. Write your well wishes for Dave on the paper.

3. Use the paper to make a paper crane.

4. Stick the crane in the mail. Email varin[at]foldingthewish.com for the mailing address.

We will be stringing the cranes together and sending them to Dave by May 2nd. If for some reason you cannot make your own crane or won’t be able to get it to us in time, we will make one for you. Just email us your wish for Dave. We’ll also be compiling a list of the wishes for Dave to read so that he doesn’t have to actually unfold all one thousand cranes to read them. So please be sure to let us know what your wish is if it’s hidden inside the crane.

Check www.foldingthewish.com for updates on the project.

GMD Studios Stalked by Cricket; Eldritch Gifts Prompt Response from PuppetMaster

April 18, 2008 / Brandie Minchew

On April 16, 2007, mysterious packages began finding their way into the hands of unsuspecting people about to be lured into a world of dreamscapes, nightmares, madness, and death. The contents of the packages led to a network of dreamers, reaching out for help to dwellers in the mundane world. The Dreamers found willing listeners and clever helpers in several internet communities. Together, these Good Samaritans became Sentries; became Providence; watched helplessly as several friends left them, one by one; embarked on a journey together to find answers; and then waited together in the darkness when, at the last, all contact with their friends was lost as the signal faded out nine weeks ago.

The Eldritch Errors ARG, produced by GMD Studios, gathered a strong following of players from its launch in 2007 into its third “book” in 2008. In February, at what was supposed to be the climax of the game’s third installment in February, the game’s momentum faltered. The day for the promised climax passed in silence. After realizing that the game was on hold indefinitely for reasons unknown, frustrated players created a space for venting and even “uncovered” an obituary for one of the game’s characters, in hopes of eliciting some comment from GMD.

On Monday, April 14, two days before the game’s one-year anniversary, a person using the alias of Mr. Cricket visited the GMD Studios offices, leaving a drawing of a cricket taped to the door. On Tuesday, Mr. Cricket visited again, this time leaving a dog collar – with the nametag of “Providence” – hanging from GMD’s doorknob. On Wednesday, the game’s anniversary, Mr. Cricket returned a third time to draw a familiar mark in colored chalks upon GMD’s doorstep.