Category: Previews (Page 13 of 19)

Eldritch Errors, Book 3?

January 14, 2008 / Michelle Senderhauf

Much to the excitement and delight of Eldritch Errors players across the globe, it looks as if the launch of the ARG’s third book, titled Red Moon Rising, may be imminent. Book two ended with a live event chock-full of Lovecraftian horror goodness. Players and in-game characters spent the weekend together in a rustic cabin on top of Bald Knob in West Virginia. The weekend was full of good-hearted fun, camaraderie, mediocre chili and terrified screaming.

ARGers who are looking for a new game can easily jump in and play without having participated in the previous two books. Players can catch up quickly by reading the detailed Story Thus Far on the game’s meta site. Also, the puppetmasters’ behind-the-scenes blog at www.schmeldritch.com gives a sneak peak behind the curtain (for those who are into that sort of thing).

Join in on the discussion at Unfiction or the in-game forums at sentryoutpost.com.

Rolling Out a Few New Projects: Six to Start and the Channel 4 New Media Lineup

January 10, 2008 / Michael Andersen

Mind Candy may have pulled the plug on Perplex City, but the Hon brothers are back to work at a new company, Six to Start Limited, returning to work on alternate reality gaming. According to Adrian, the name “Six to Start” refers to the classic board games that required players to roll a six before commencing play. Adrian and Dan will be joining forces with James Wallis, the former director of Hogshead Publishing, a hobby-games publisher that you might recognize as one of the expert judges for Let’s Change the Game.

One of the first projects for Six to Start is code-named “The Ministry”, an ARG taking place within a fictional social network. The game is part of Channel 4’s effort to provide engaging educational content to 14-19 year olds. According to a Channel 4 press release, “The Ministry” will be

an online networked game exploring how online privacy and identity apply to real world situations. The game will challenge players to discover how much trust matters online: when you might not know who you’re dealing with, and when information posted online remains persistent and public. Players will network, collaborate and challenge each other from within a fictional social network, using identity as a weapon, and privacy as armor.

In addition to “The Ministry”, Channel 4 will be sponsoring an ARG project by Oil Productions code-named “Route” that focuses on cartography, geography, and genetics, and numerous other cross media experiences. These alternate reality games are part of a larger push by the station to provide educational content to teens through a variety of serious games and new media productions. Alice Taylor, the commissioner for the projects at Channel 4, may be familiar to video game fans through her blog or her work at Kotaku.

Six to Start is currently looking for an experienced Alternate Reality Games producer to round out their staff, although with an application deadline at the end of January, you’d better hurry if you’re interested. As a reminder for our bilingual readers, Jane McGonigal is also looking for a “jr. puppet master” for an upcoming project. In the meantime, I’ll be waiting patiently for a lucky roll of the die to start up one of these exciting new projects.

Launching Into ’08: New Games and New Beginnings

December 31, 2007 / Brandie Minchew

As our planet careens into yet another lap around the Sun, puppetmasters are waiting gleefully in their lairs, cackling behind their respective curtains, fingers poised to hit the big red LAUNCH button at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2008. All around the world, ARG players will be clinging to their F5 buttons or obsessively checking their email for the new year’s first hint of activity in the world of chaotic fiction. January’s schedule is crowded with launches, relaunches, and continuations of new and ongoing games and experiences.Â We’d like to give you a quick peek at what’s in store for you in 2008.

The Lost Experience â€“ Relaunching 12/31/07
A press release on the ABC media website declared that on December 31, Oceanic Airlines would be resuming flights service to several cities. Contact your travel agent now!

What is this Game? – Launching 1/1/08
What is this Game?, an ARG and contest promoting What is this Movie? by Staff of the Magi Productions, begins on 1-1-2008 at midnight. Players may register here to participate (must be 18 or older by January 1, 2008). According to Magi’s press release, “What is this Game requires player interaction, quick thinking, puzzle solving skills, countless hours of dedication, and in the end a journey to the Grand Prize.”

QU13E
Last Halloween, QU13E rose from the grave. A few members of unFiction began exchanging emails and receiving clues from QU13E’s shadowy inhabitants. After solving a puzzle in the source code of the QU13E website, players noted that 1/1/08 was set to be the launch day of this mysterious game.

The Dark Knight
Who knows what the Joker’s next prank will be? This time, it might be PIE! The next phase of The Dark Knight kicks off early in the new year, so keep your eyes peeled and your forks at the ready.

Cloverfield
ZOMG! 1-18-08 is less than three weeks away! Avid followers of Cloverfield’s viral marketing will finally get to experience the Cloverfield monster on the big screen.

Eldritch Errors: Book 3
What lies ahead for the Sentries and the Dreamers in a post-Scream world? No exact date has been hinted at for the opening of Book 3, but players speculate that new activity on Eldritch Errors will begin sometime in the new year.

39 Clues: Tidings of Good Cheer for a Former Scholastic Book Club Addict

December 29, 2007 / Michael Andersen

A recent New York Times article announced a new and exciting venture by Scholastic, Inc, the largest publisher and distributor of children’s books and related products to home and school.

Starting in September of 2008, Scholastic will publish “39 Clues”, a cross-media experience centered around ten books released over the course of 24 months. Scholastic is pulling some of the top childrens authors published under the brand, including Rick Riordan, Gordan Korman, Peter Lerangis, and Jude Watson.

According to the article in the Times, the plot of “39 Clues” will revolve around Amy and Dan Cahill, two adolescent members of the world’s most powerful clan, as they compete against other branches of their family to collect 39 clues that lead to ultimate power.

Tracy van Straaten, Scholastic’s VP of Publicity for the Children’s Book Publishing division, notes that Scholastic’s Lab for Informal Learning is collaborating on the project with “a company that has ARG experience, as well as game designers” in creating this project. This collaboration may include work with GMD Studios, the company that has worked on such games as Art of the Heist and Who is Benjamin Stove, and are currently presenting their project, Eldritch Errors. The experience will extend beyond the books through a website including character blogs, puzzles and mini-games, as well as maps and treasure hunts. Each book will come with six collectible cards that will provide further clues.

Although the project is still months away, both Kotaku and Ian Bogost at Watercooler Games have expressed skepticism regarding the project due to Scholastic’s decision to retain all rights to the intellectual property. Scholastic responded to the criticism, noting that the decision to retain all rights stems from the project’s development through the Scholastic Lab for Informal Learning.

39 Clues has the potential to introduce a younger generation to the world of alternate reality gaming, and Scholastic has the resources to pull it off, especially if the company leverages the resources available through the Scholastic Book Club, their distribution channel in schools worldwide. The bar for transmedia novels has been set rather high by New York Times bestseller Cathy’s Book.

Comic-Con 2007

July 25, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

Comic-Con 2007 has arrived, and our roving reporter Celina Beach is at the event, ready for the action to start. This year’s event includes attendees many alternate reality gaming fans will be keeping tabs on, including J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse of the hit TV show Lost. If you remember, it was this time last year when Rachel Blake, a character in The Lost Experience, confronted panel members about their involvement with the Hanso Foundation. We don’t expect the same sort of large-scale ARG event to take place with this year’s Lost, but you never know.

Abrams will be serving double duty at the Con, as he will also be discussing the upcoming movie Star Trek movie. However, there are rumblings across the blogosphere that he will shed a little light into the 1-18-08 mystery that began with a pre-roll movie trailer earlier this month.

With Celina blogging and Tweeting from the event, we will have up-to-the-minute coverage if any ARG-related news breaks through the course of the next few days, so bookmark ARGNet and check back regularly.

Itâ€™s A Birdâ€¦ Itâ€™s A Planeâ€¦ No! Itâ€™s Project Osprey!

June 19, 2007 / Celina Beach

A voicemail was received on ARGNetâ€™s voicemail (which has now also surfaced on YouTube) from a gentleman who seems to be very disturbed by the recent acts of his company â€“ a project called Osprey that is about to â€œstep way over the lineâ€. It appears to be a â€œsting operationâ€ of some kind and being use to test â€œnew techâ€. Luckily, he manages to direct us to a Tradecraft journal web site before the voicemail is cut short as someone appears to arrive during his callâ€¦

Thus begins OVERWATCH, a new interactive fiction project by Djinn Productions, who are also the team behind the on-going project â€œAutumn Countryâ€. According to David Valley (Djinn Productions’ contact for this project), OVERWATCH is still first and foremost a story. Although they will be adding more ARG-like elements than were in Autumn Country, it is not primarily a game â€“ but participants who donâ€™t enjoy or immerse themselves into the ARG element â€œwill only â€˜getâ€™ about 50% of the story.” By the time itâ€™s over, the PMs expect the story to be told over many types of media, and will be using puzzles and hidden paths to tell not only the story but to expand the characterâ€™s backgrounds and various subplots.

Currently, OVERWATCH is in the â€œPreludeâ€ stage, laying the groundwork form the first story arc. The interactive elements will start to emerge during this first story arc, and hopefully motivate the players into finding out â€œhowâ€ the story is being told. Players can expect episodic updates every five to seven days throughout the Prelude stage, and moving to 10-14 days once the first story arc begins. This first phase is expected to run through August 2007.

For more information, check out the Unfiction thread. To hear the voicemail for yourself, steer your browser to YouTube.
While not a â€œtraditionalâ€ ARG, new forms of games and storytelling are always exciting to watch and see what happens and how they unfold â€“ and since this one has just started, itâ€™s easy to get started and get involved!