Category: Update (Page 33 of 41)

Omnifam Wraps Up

December 4, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

Players of the Omnifam ARG found themselves at the end of the road today with the addition of a credits page on one of the in-game websites. The grassroots endeavor had been playing since May of this year, and was tied to the US television series ALIAS. Scanning through the list, it shows that the team of Puppetmasters includes people who have been on the other side of the curtain for previous ARGs, such as Acheron and ARGTalk.

ALIAS-themed ARGs have had a long history, with two previous “seasons” of games. The series started as a web puzzle in its first season, and morphed into an online adventure for the sequel, both of which were created and sponsored by ABC television. While this third season was a grassroots effort, it was much more interactive and contained more elements of a traditional ARG. Sadly, with the recent news of ABC’s decision to recently cancel ALIAS, the possibility of a fourth season is very much up in the air.

Last Call Poker PM Chat Transcript

November 30, 2005 / Krystyn Wells

Last night, players and Puppetmasters got together in an entertaining chat over at #lastcall. Put together by ARGN and UnFiction, the creative team at 42 Entertainment were invited to the IRC chat room where much of the hot gameplay action took place during the eight week run of the popular ARG. Many people showed up and a lot of interesting questions and answers flew about — and if you weren’t in attendance, we have the transcript of the chat available. (We have cleaned up and organized the transcript to make it easier to read and follow).

To read the log, click on the “Continue Reading” link below.

Reminder: Last Call Poker PM Chat

November 30, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

A reminder to all interested parties that the post-game Puppetmaster chat for Last Call Poker is happening tonight at 7:00 pm PST. As we announced last week, the chat will be happening in the #lastcall chat room on the Chat-Solutions network.

The members of 42 Entertainment that are scheduled to be in attendance are:

Elan Lee: Lead Design
Sean Stewart: Lead Writer
Maureen McHugh: Writer
Steve Peters: Design
Patricia Pizer: Design
Jane McGonigal: Live Events Lead
Jim Stewartson: Technical Lead

We will see you in #lastcall tonight — it’s going to be a full house of fun!

Perplex City Releases Second Wave Of Puzzle Cards

November 26, 2005 / Guy Parsons

Perplex City has released a second wave of 66 puzzle cards this week, doubling the number of available cards to 132. Contrary to earlier reports, the new cards will be mixed in with the existing ones, rather than packaged separately, but we’re told the new cards will be more plentiful. The original online retailer of the cards, Firebox, is celebrating by offering five packs for the price of four… but you’d better hurry, as the deal closes at midnight GMT (6PM CST) tomorrow tonight! (Sunday 27th November, that is.)

The collectible cards each feature a puzzle that can be tackled independently, and players can enter their solution on the Perplex City website, earning Perplex Points for a place on the leader board. Some cards have also been found to contain messages hidden using special inks – only time and sharp observation will reveal if the new batch of cards contain similarly obscured clues.

It has also been confirmed that there will be two further waves of cards, each comprising 62 cards, due for release in 2006. Snappy!

ReGenesis: A Contest and Season Two

November 26, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

ReGenesis, a well-received series being shown in Canada, has some exciting news for many, and some really exciting news for one person in particular. The big news for the masses is that the second season of ReGenesis is currently being filmed and will be ready for public consumption in 2006. With the sophomore season comes a brand new “extended reality” to compliment the story that takes place on-screen. While this is definitely great news for fans of the show, there’s more — one lucky Canadian is going to win the chance to have a walk-on role on the series! The folks at Xenophile Media have given players registered with the extended reality a chance to be flown in to Toronto and put on the set of the series. To enter, (1) be Canadian, and (2) go to the official contest website.

It seems that the fun just never stops with the hit Canadian television series. First, they debut the series on a prominent movie network and get people involved through its own ARG-style “extended reality”. Then, they re-run the series on a national network (and reset the extended reality for replay) during this fall TV season. Tack on the fact that they had one of the 10 most popular websites in a recent award show category, and one might say it was a pretty good year for ReGenesis and the team over at Xenophile. We hope that the second season is just as exciting as the first season was, and that the new extended reality brings in even more people to its wonderful world.

Rookery Two-er?

November 20, 2005 / Larry Eisner

Sometimes Alternate Reality Games will fall into a rut in terms of plot line… “Someone or something has been taken, and you’re my only hope“… “You need to find evidence to clear my name”… “Hi, HKDL!” and so on.

One game that seemed to step out from the rest earlier in the year was Rookery Tower. It involved conjoined twins, a demonic Tall Man, and a spooked out heroine named Layla, all involved in a haunting tale with ancient occult reverberations… Anyone who played the game will tell you that it was original, creative, and entertaining.

Early last week, a player got an email from Layla stating that she was now working with Morgan Paranormal (the group of “ghostbusters” that assisted her with that pesky evil arcane craziness the first time around). Her blog has also been updated as well, and wouldn’t you know it? There’s apparently a little strangeness happening there as well. Entries written by someone other than herself, UFO sightings (and please don’t make me mention the “chalice” posting… Eww…)

Which brings up the question going on for over 7 pages of postings at UNFiction.com: Is it starting up again?

No one but Layla knows for sure, but if there is a sequel and it is anywhere near the quality of the first, you can expect some solid puzzling, as well as a great ghost story filled with creepiness and twists. ARGN will be following this one closely and let you know if anything substantial arises.

Many thanks to Obes for giving ARGN the details of what’s new at the Tower…