Category: Previews (Page 19 of 19)

Book Release: “This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming”

January 10, 2005 / Steve Peters

A new book is scheduled to hit the shelves that will really have a big impact on Alternate Reality Gaming. This Is Not A Game: A Guide to Alternate Reality Gaming by Dave Szulborski will be available in e-book and print-on-demand format in mid-January 2005 and in a traditional print version in February 2005. An MP3 book “on tape” will also be available. For a limited time, the first 2 chapters of this book are available to download for free!

Dave is the creator of several successful and critically acclaimed Alternate Reality Games including Chasing The Wish and Urban Hunt. From the book’s website:

Some of the founders and leading lights of the newest and hottest trend in entertainment announced today that they have joined forces to produce the first ever how-to book on the subject. Titled This is Not a Game, the new book promises to be a how-to resource for the casual game developer and media strategists alike who wish to explore the genre of Alternate Reality Gaming also called immersive gaming….

…While Alternate Reality Gaming has been around for several years, the recent phenomenal success of the online game “I Love Bees“, produced by Microsoft and Bungie to promote the release of the much anticipated video game Halo 2, has brought thousands of new participants into the genre and launched Immersive Gaming into the mainstream consciousness once and for all. ARG/immersive gaming has been featured in media venues such as CNN, Trendcentral, BBC, New York Times and countless other sources as of late.

This is Not a Game provides a concise and easy-to-understand explanation of the alternate reality game and why so many major marketing and entertainment companies are now turning to immersive gaming and marketing efforts to promote their biggest product releases. Tracing the roots of the genre back to the earliest days of online interactive fiction up through the most recent alternate reality games, This is Not a Game allows anyone, regardless of their level of knowledge and experience with the Internet or online gaming, to jump right in and become fully immersed in this exciting and engaging new form of entertainment.

The new book will also contain contributions from author and media theorist Joseph Matheny, ARGN founder Steve Peters, professional stage illusionist Ben Mack with website and cover design by cutting edge gaming artist Denny Unger of Worldworks Games.

Keep an eye on immersivegaming.com for future announcements and details as they become available.

Perplex City Ramping Up

December 15, 2004 / Steve Peters

Perplex City has been reaching out and touching real world locations in the form of an intriguing postcard that has been found in airports, Starbucks, and on college campuses around the world (North Carolina, Cambridge UK and Balogna Italy, so far). A message on the back is yet another communique from someone calling themselves Sente, asking for help in finding a missing cube. The postcard includes references to the Perplex City Academy, Academy tours, a gift shop, and the game’s trailhead website at perplexcity.com. Upon closer scrutiny, the postcard has revealed some hidden messages as well, but we’ll leave that for your own discovery.

Word is that Perplex City will be launching in early 2005, so it seems this is their cool way of starting to get the word out. We’ll be watching this one carefully for developments.

Discussion at Unfiction
Chat in #syzygy
Primer
Netninja Reference Pages

ARG: PandoraNext

December 13, 2004 / Steve Peters

Deaddrop reports that PandoraNext will be launching on December 22nd. Word is that this will have some sort of multi-team player element to it, so it will be very interesting to see where it will go.

This will actually be a re-launch of the game, as it originally got started back in October, but was put on hold after just 2 1/2 weeks due to various timing and gameplay issues. These will have been addressed this time around, so it looks like everything will be more robust. Players have already gotten an initial response by emailing [email protected].

Discussion at Unfiction
Chat in #pandoranext

Project Syzygy Announced

March 7, 2004 / Steve Peters

This comes to us from one of the Grand MastersÂ of ARGs himself, Adrian Hon: Project Syzygy. Billing itself as a “new type of immersiveÂ game, one that will change everything,”Â PS will be a cross between Masquerade,Â TheÂ Beast, Pattern Recognition, Rubik’sÂ Cube,Â The Matrix, Eternity, The DaVinciÂ Code, NokiaÂ Game, The Game, and MajesticÂ (whew!), PSÂ promises to be a ride like noneÂ other, atÂ least in our opinion.

The teaser page already has aÂ couple puzzlesÂ for the curious, and you canÂ sign up to beÂ informed of the launch. For thoseÂ of youÂ who are inclined, you can alsoÂ apply to beÂ a part of the development team. Â Project SyzygyÂ is scheduled to launch in lateÂ 2004. LookingÂ forward to it!

For further discussion, go to the Unfiction Forums.

A Blow for Myst Fans, Plus New Rumors

February 11, 2004 / Steve Peters

On February 4th, UbiSoft/Cyan announced the premature demise of the multiplayer portion of their most recent addition to the Myst franchise, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. The online version, which was in an open beta ‘prologue’ had attracted thousands of diehard Myst fans who eagerly logged on to explore the virtual 3D world of D’ni together. A thriving community was built over the holidays and into the new year, and the official launch was looked forward to with much anticipation. Unfortunately, the player base proved to be inadequate to support the ongoing development, and after what surely must have been a painful decision, the plug was pulled on February 9th at midnight PST.

Cyan had done an amazing job in creating the most realistic alternate reality yet, made up of 3D worlds, cities and neighborhoods that were beautiful to explore, and added the capability of interacting live in the same space with other players from around the world. Think of the multiplayer version of your favorite 1st-person shooter game and take away the weapons and gore, add cooperative interaction, chat and intelligent puzzles, and you’ll get an idea of what it was like.

Well, at least what the potential was. The mourning players went through at the end of Uru: Live was visceral, with many gathering in their neighborhoods to be with friends as the clock counted down to midnight. Players wanted to be together at the end of the world, so to speak, and spent their last minutes partying, taking group photos and reminiscing. All is not lost, however, as Cyan announced it will be releasing much of the content developed for Uru: Live as single-player expansion packs. To get an idea, we’ve archived some DivX videos of Uru: Live before it was killed.

In other news, a rumored rabbithole has seemingly been found for a possible upcoming ARG (geez, can we be any more non-commital?). An anonymous tipster pointed us to the Amboy Monthly, and we’re told this will become a trailhead site for an ARG in development entitled Aware. Stay tuned for this one, as it looks very promising.

Acheron Pre-Game PM Chat on May 28th

May 20, 2003 / Steve Peters

The folks behind the upcoming ARG Acheron (www.acheron.us) have announced a PM chat to talk about their upcoming game, scheduled to launch this summer. Acheron PM William Walrath will be in attendance as a representative to answer any question and give us a preview of what’s in store.

This moderated chat will take place on Wednesday, May 28, 2003 at 9:00 pm EDT / 6:00 pm PDT in #acheron on irc.chat-solutions.org. For browser-based access, java IRC applets can be found at http://www.acheron.us/chat.html or http://www.unfiction.com/chat.

Stop by Acheron for more information, and watch the forums at Unfiction for further details.