Category: Rumors (Page 8 of 18)

Get Intimate with Intimation

February 7, 2009 / Jonathan Waite

It wasn’t too long ago that discussion at the ARG Netcast included a look at The Way Their World Ended, a game that launched through a Twitter account on Christmas day of 2008. At the beginning, a few of the players that followed Intimation on Twitter were discouraged by the flood of cryptic updates to the account, but once the messages were decoded, the game began dropping references to the Halo universe.

In the past week, there have been more discoveries which lead at least one player to believe that this game’s narrative takes place, “after the events of ILB, since this AI knows about ‘the legendary Melissa.'” ILB, for those who may not know, is short for I Love Bees, the massively popular alternate reality game from 2004 which was a promotion for Halo 2. There have also been references to material discovered through the Iris ARG, which Bungie/Microsoft put together for the release of Halo 3.

So, is it an official tie-in to some sort of Halo product, or a fan creation? We’ve sent off an email to Bungie to see what they have to say, and we’ll update once we get a response. In the meantime, if you’ve been waiting for something to fill the void until Halo Wars hits store shelves, this may be just the thing.

In-game YouTube account
Unfiction Forum thread

IU’s “Skeleton Chase” Gives Students the Runaround

January 25, 2009 / Michael Andersen

skeletonchase_logo A few months ago, I wrote about Indiana University’s exciting new alternate reality gaming research project, Skeleton Chase. The game was a collaboration between professors Anne Massey (Kelley School of Business), Jeanne Johnston (Kinesiology Department), and Lee Sheldon (Telecommunications Department). Now that the game is over, the three professors took the time to describe the game play and their research to me.

During the first week of the game, students in Indiana University’s Foundations of Fitness and Wellness class were greeted by Steven Cartwright, a public relations representative from the Source Corporation, a fictional company researching health and nutrition. The students would participate in a series of fitness challenges, and were handed a worksheet and free bottles of vitamin water. Through the worksheet, students discovered the Source Corporation’s “Internal Site” using clues from the presentation to access the site. Through the Internal Site, students discovered IU Security reports relating to Sarah Chase, a missing student. Her former associate instructor Sam Clemens was also missing.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the students engaged in a series of physical challenges from the Source Corporation while digging deeper into the disappearance of Sam and Sarah. According to Lee Sheldon, students

searched Sarah’s office (staged with planted assets including Sarah’s diplomas and research notebook); hacked into the IU Security internal website where they could access security camera footage from the night Sarah vanished; found Sam’s hiding place (but not Sam); and were able to uncover a wide-ranging conspiracy tied to a formula that may or may not retard aging. In the process they learned of a third person’s disappearance; were alerted to flying saucers sited near IU’s Cyclotron facility; and investigated appearances of a creature dubbed the “Blomington Bigfoot” in some campus woods.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

January 12, 2009 / Robbie Smith

If Warner Bros. can reconcile with Fox in time, you will be able to see The Watchmen in theaters come March 6th. In the meantime, fans can tide themselves over with The New Frontiersman, the online home of Rorschach’s favorite newspaper by the same name.

Whether the site will be home to a full alternate reality game or just a handful of sneak peeks is unknown at this time, but New Frontiersman is due to go live early this week when the evidence seal seen on the homepage is broken and should provide fans with a nice treat either way. Join Rorschach and delve into the conspiracy as it happens.

Bungie’s “Superintendent” Returns, For Now

September 21, 2008 / Michael Andersen

In Late May of 2008, “The Superintendent” registered on the Bungie.net forums. The iconic figure was seen wielding his trusty plunger, informing forumgoers to “KEEP IT CLEAN” while giving a big thumbs up.

Numerous iterations of the “KEEP IT CLEAN” message resolved to indicate that something would happen on July 14, 2008 at 10:30AM, Microsoft’s E3 slot. While nothing happened at E3, a countdown ending on July 16, 2008 at 7:07:07AM turned up. When this countdown expired, Harold Ryan, the President of Bungie, posted a letter announcing that Microsoft altered the plans, but that they looked forward to sharing an exciting announcement “when the right time comes”.

The right time is apparently now, as the Superintendent has returned to the Bungie.net forums with a cryptic post. The post includes a transcript from a conversation between the Superintendent, an Urban Infrastructure A.I., and Prowler “Tokyo Rules”, a Comm. Duty Officer.

It’s too early to tell whether this is an alternate reality game or something else. Whatever it may be, the buzz surrounding the Superintendent has been building steadily despite frequent delays, as the icon has been sighted on top Bungie employees at numerous gaming events.

Image courtesy of Tech Artist

Click Here for a walkthrough of the story so far on the Bungie.net forums
Click Here for the discussion at Unfiction

Lonelygirl15 producer to launch Scary City this week

August 24, 2008 / Jonathan Waite

Scary City logo As lonelygirl15 proved, the new age of storytelling is upon us, and according to a recent article, a web-based endeavor by one of its key production staff is going to be a very big deal. Earlier last week, Unfiction forums member jlr1001 posted a link to an article at ThugLifeArmy about Scary City, which will include two separate but interrelated editions of the series running in the US and Japan. The international effort doesn’t stop there, as there may be possible expansion into Korea, Israel, the UK, France, and Thailand.

The article points out the extravagant cost of the Scary City web site, which was designed by IMJ at a reported cost of $1.4 million, which may or may not be part of the overal project budget of $5.2 million. Another press release reveals details about casting, as videos will be released on August 26th describing he process of getting a part on the show.

Oh, and as for any alternate reality gaming elements, Yumiko Aoyagi (formerly the executive producer for lonelygirl15) reveals that the web site will “include interactive online Alternative Reality Games,” according to the ThugLifeArmy article. Wait… games with an S? That sounds intriguing, especially with the international elements involved — it could mean that a Japanese ARG could run concurrently with an English ARG, with intertwining plots or characters. As things start to kick off in two short days, we’ll keep our eyes and ears on Scary City.

Attention Whedon-ites! The Dollhouse Welcomes You with Virally Goodness

May 28, 2008 / Michael Andersen

Over at Furious Nads, The One True b!X (founder of Can’t Stop the Serenity) reported receiving an email from Adelle DeWitt, a character in Joss Whedon’s upcoming drama, Dollhouse. The email reads “Take Southlandlabs.com offline for now, whilst we redesign.” The domain Adelle used for the email, AdelleDeWitt.com, currently displays a single login page. And whilst Southlandlabs.com was offline when the email was sent, it is now up with an image of the lab from the TV show trailer, the message “soon. but not yet” in the source code. A comment on the Future on Fox blog from “Kimi Lassek” revealed the username/password combination to access Adelle’s email: adelle/wipe. Odd, as Kimi seems to be missing.

The Future on Fox blog also posted a link to the adelledewitt.com domain, implying this may be an official ARG for the upcoming show. Last season, Fox experimented with alternate reality games alongside Millions of Us with the Enitech ARG for The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It looks like they were satisfied with the results if this is any indication.

Click here for the discussion at UnFiction.