Category: Previews (Page 10 of 19)

Game Preview: The Big Plot

January 26, 2009 / Jonathan Waite

thebigplot So many game tips, so little time! We’ve seen a steady stream of email come in through our contact form this past week, and within the tips comes word of The Big Plot. While it doesn’t appear to have launched yet, we did look through the trailhead web site and a press release for interesting bits, and here’s the summary:

The story will be “dispersed in more than seven cities, across several media platforms and among a
cluster of actors.”
The game will utilize many recognizable social networking sites, including Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, BlogSpot, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn. Yes, even LinkedIn.
The game designer is one Paulo Cirio, and in the release he is describing this “multi-platform, multi-[channel] and cross-media form of storytelling” as “Recombinant Fiction.” Great, just what we need, another label to remember. But I digress.
The narrative will be a “romantic spy-story” featuring four key characters: Mark Savin, a Russian pilot; Brian Steiger, a trained psychologist; Vanessa Pinney, a Canadian journalist; and Paul Hampel, the spy and businessman from parts unknown.
Keeping track of the game might be easier than having to check up on characters through their various social site profiles — there are many RSS feeds available for subscribers, including character-specific feeds.
The content on the site is covered under a Creative Commons license, which allows for the sharing and remixing of content so as long as the end result is attributed to the source material. Sounds like user-generated heaven!

If there’s a clear indication as to when the game will start, I couldn’t find one, so I guess it’s wait and see, Good thing there’s that handy RSS feed to help us keep track of when the game goes live!

Mr. Weiler Goes to Rotterdam: Transmedia at the International Film Festival

January 15, 2009 / Michael Andersen

Artwork by Reinier Clabbers. Click picture for downloadable hi-res version.

In a few days, Lance Weiler is going to Rotterdam to attend CineMart, the annual co-production market of the International Film Festival. Weiler’s upcoming cross-media project HIM was selected as one of 36 films to participate in this year’s presentation to an expected 850 international producers, sales agents, distributors, and funds. HIM, in addition to being the only work selected from the United States this year, is the first transmedia work to be selected at CineMart in its 26 year history. Previous films selected to participate in CineMart include the Academy Award-winning film Boys Don’t Cry, the grotesquely captivating Ichi the Killer (æ®ºã—å±‹ï¼‘), and The Eye (è¦‹é¬¼), recently remade for the United States starring Jessica Alba.

When reached for comment, Weiler explained that HIM would be an interactive experience fusing storytelling and gaming, set on a global stage. The thought-provoking horror story will be a film at its core, but will fuse together elements of gaming, live events, serialized shorts, and graphic novel content taking place around the world and in your own living room. While the rules of the universe are established, Weiler has left considerable room in the story for what he describes as “controlled spontaneity”: the rules of the universe are set up, but the ripples from audience participation can have significant effects on the final product. As co-founder and principal of Seize the Media, Weiler developed the Hope is Missing ARG for the DVD release of his immersive film project Head Trauma, and worked with Hammer Films to produce the Beyond the Rave experience on MySpace.

The project is also an attempt to move away from traditional financing models for films relying on private equity and pre-sale financing deals by utilizing branding and licensing agreements. The ideal is to cement transmedia as a new media format. And one of the advantages of transmedia storytelling is the ability to set up considerable story elements on a limited budget, leading to a gradual rollout drawing on an international audience. Indeed, a number of times Weiler hinted that some elements may be floating out there relatively soon.

Presenting HIM to potential investors at CineMart is an opportunity to showcase both the potential and opportunities inherent in transmedia storytelling and alternate reality gaming as a self-sufficient format. And as one of BusinessWeek’s 18 People Who Changed Hollywood, Weiler just might be the man for the job.

The Creepy Luny Inn

January 13, 2009 / Robbie Smith

Taking no break following Transition Village, Funnel Productions released the first episode of “The Myth of the Seeker” today on www.creepylunyinn.com. Funnel’s latest project, the CLN website is home to an online radio drama that promises to give listeners a chance to take part in each episode by voting via Twitter for what they think should be in the upcoming broadcast.

Transition Village players will also get a nice Easter Egg if they follow the Sponsors link at CLN where they will find a certain recently revived character running a successful business.

This is Not a Game: The Novel

January 11, 2009 / Michael Andersen

The phrase “This Is Not a Game” has resonated over the years as an often misunderstood mantra for alternate reality gaming. Thus, I say the following with a bit of hesitation: This is Not a Game is, surprisingly enough, not actually a game. At least, it isn’t if you’re talking about Walter Jon Williams’ newest novel of the same name, due out March 24th.

This Is Not a Game (not to be confused with Dave Szulborski’s book of the same title) is a novel about Dagmar, an alternate reality game designer trapped in Jakarta during a revolution. When one of her co-workers is gunned down in the parking lot, she draws on her game’s player base to help her without their knowledge, diverting player talents and energies to solve her problems within the context of the ARG.

Walter Jon Williams is no stranger to alternate reality games, and worked with 42 Entertainment as a writer for Last Call Poker, working with prose, radio plays, comic books, sound files, puzzles, and teleplays. You can read more about his time working on Last Call Poker at his blog, Angel Station. His experience with Last Call Poker inspired him, in his words, “to take this bright, hot, blazingly hip new medium and turn it into ink on dead paper.” Williams’ goal with This Is Not a Game is to capture both the frantic pace and sense of danger ARGs can convey due to the immediacy of feedback and dynamic nature of the game due to player involvement.

While the plot of the novel centers around alternate reality gaming, there are no plans to develop cross-media…yet. However, Orbit Books has already picked up two more books in Williams’ new universe, starting with a direct sequel, Deep State.

Click here to pre-order This Is Not a Game at Amazon

Remember to Breathe

December 22, 2008 / John Fogg

The puppet masters who brought you Violette’s Dream are hard at work on an ambitious new project guaranteed to take your breath away. Breathe is being billed as a multi-media murder mystery that is a mash-up of film, alternate reality gaming and Web 2.0 media, which allows the story to unfold in both the real and cyber worlds. Headquartered in London, Expanding Universe is quickly making a name for itself in media circles by developing what it calls “immersive and innovative social entertainment”. Breathe shouldn’t leave anyone disappointed.

An official summary from the creators has this to say:

“Set over a four-week period, viewers watch (four 15) minute shorts, and try to help Detective (John) Franks solve the case by working through puzzles, infiltrating the underground club scene, trying to locate the venue, and save the next victim from running out of air. Using blogs, YouTube, GPS, telephone, secret meetings, IM, auditions, immersive role-play, cinema, and music, Breathe stands to be one of the most audacious multi-media experiences to leap from a cinema screen–‘all you have to do is breathe…'”

Player/Participants will first find their way into Breathe’s dark and dangerous world through a traditional ARG investigating a series of horrific nightclub murders. But they will soon find themselves rubbing shoulders with the characters at real life events and maybe becoming part of the story themselves (hopefully not in the role of victim).

Expanding Universe hopes to build different versions of the story in different cities to maximize scale and client base, and nothing creates ARG buzz faster than a real life event. We’ve seen some well orchestrated, large scale efforts in the past, but imagine a nightclub filled with pounding music, pulsing lights, and more than a thousand people taking part in the story. Not just participating, but creating it as well. That is the vision behind Breathe, and if those clever folks at Expanding Universe can pull it off, it might spark a brand new trend in cross-platform entertainment.

Yomi Ayeni, the Creative Director for Expanding Universe, is hard at work outlining and scripting the action, prepping the project for roll-out sometime in 2009 (financing permitting). While the online story will be available to the entire ARG community, only those lucky enough to be in the UK will get to participate in the real life events. But take heart, Ayeni said that at the conclusion of each city’s edition, Expanding Universe could put out complete versions, perhaps on DVD, or online, that could both let everyone see how it played out.

Scholastic set to Shock its readers

November 19, 2008 / Geoff May

Hot on the heels of the launch of the novel series The 39 Clues and its significant online experience aimed at young readers, Scholastic is working together with author M.G. Harris to create an extended experience for the second book in her series “The Joshua Files”, named ICE SHOCK.

“The Joshua Files” is a book series aimed at young readers 10+ years of age, much like 39 Clues. Harris’ first book, Invisible City, was released Feb 4, 2008 in the UK as the first book of this series. Harris drops hints about the upcoming novel and ARG in her website’s blog for her fans – she even asks if they’d rather hear more about Ice Shock‘s upcoming plot, or rumours about the alternate reality game. Harris and Scholastic plan to launch the ARG in March of 2009, and until then, she’ll be keeping her fans occupied and interested with teasers and contests.

At the time of this writing, Harris is running a contest for a bound proof of Ice Shock – using a code key, readers are challenged to find a hidden word in the content of Invisible City. Submit the word and register, and you may win. The contest, however, is only open to residents of the UK and Ireland.

Information about the ARG at this point is fairly hush-hush, but we know it’s coming. Stay tuned to her website for details if/when they’re released.

Invisible City: An ancient civilization is awakening. An ancient Maya prophecy is unfolding. One boy – Joshua – holds the key. When his archaeologist father goes missing in Mexico, Josh suspects alien abduction. But when he realises his dad was murdered, Josh is caught in a race to find the legendary ‘Ix Codex’ – a lost Mayan prophecy which predicts the end of the world.

Ice Shock: Josh is even more certain now that his father’s death was no accident – and he’s starting to wonder if he can really trust his closest allies. When he learns of a secret buried within the Ix Codex, he must journey back to the secret Mexican city of Ek Naab. Shocking news awaits him about the mysterious Bracelet of Itzamna. Did Josh’s dad really take it? And where is it now? Josh has no idea what’s waiting for him…

The ARG (source: mgharris.net): Readers, I have been SO busy with stuff (…) most of all working on the Alternate Reality Game we’re developing to co-launch with ICE SHOCK. That’s right, I said Alternate Reality Game – ARG! Conceptually, our game is a cross between Lonelygirl15 and The Beast. But! It’s a secret. So don’t tell, okay?

The secret’s out!

For more information about Harris and The Joshua Files, bookmark MGHarris.net, TheJoshuaFiles.com, or the fan community hub TheMGHarris.com. Keep a watch on this site as we get closer to the launch of Ice Shock and its ARG in March of 2009.