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Diamond Reef Wins Ogilvy Award: Shopaholic ARGers Rejoice

July 18, 2007 / Michael Andersen

Do you like spending money? How would you like your very own American Express Black card? If the answer to either of those questions is yes, I have some good news for you. Jackie Turnure (Rockpool Productions and LAMP Story Mentor) won a Content 360 award at Milia 2007 in April for her Alternate Reality Game, “Diamond Reef”. As the Ogilvy One Worldwide Category winner at the conference, Jackie is engaged in talks with American Express to get the project underway, with a development prize of 10,000 euros. Milia is an annual conference in Cannes, France that brings together content creators, producers, and distributors to conduct business and discuss the future of creative content.

The award-winning “Diamond Reef” alternate reality game centers around the American Express online credit card. While following a gripping tale of adventure and intrigue, players will explore the features of American Express credit cards within the spy thriller format. Jackie describes the project as a collaborative online treasure hunt paying homage to James Bond stories: in her words,

The world’s most expensive diamond has been stolen, a beautiful young woman has gone missing, and you must find the diamond and rescue the girl, using your American Express card. This alternate reality game is an interactive treasure hunt where clues and story are distributed across the real and virtual worlds. And the stakes are high – if you are one of the top 10 players to solve the mystery, you win 10,000 euros!

Players are issued a Blue Amex card and make numerous virtual purchases both on their own and in groups to arrange for DNA tests, billboard purchases and package deliveries. Through the course of the game, savvy players will see their cards upgraded from Blue to Green to Gold and finally to the famed Black American Express card in an extended experience. A game that integrates money management with mystery solving should be a novel experience. And with the backing and support of OgilvyOne Worldwide, a major player in the advertising world, this game has the potential for truly redefining the cross-media experience.

Although a launch date for “Diamond Reef” has not yet been set, keep your eyes peeled over the next few months for updates on this exciting project. This might be your only chance to experience the American Express Black card firsthand, unless you have a rich great-uncle on his deathbed who always thought of you as his favorite.

Odina Nova Event Scheduled for Today

July 17, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about Odina Nova, but thanks to a tip we received last week, we can report that the game is still on, and there is a major event scheduled to happen today. This comes as good news to the players still hanging on, as activity over the last month has been sporadic at best.

Esteed at the Unfiction forums has found a new web site at which some of the game’s mysteries are revealed. According to the tip we received, this is the path towards the “final push” of the game, and that new players can catch up with the game’s story quickly with the information on this new site. There has been progress during the course of the day, so check in with the Unfiction thread for updates as well.

Click here (or here) for our previous coverage of Odina Nova.

Puzzles Across America: Ravenchase Strikes Again

July 13, 2007 / Celina Beach

When we last checked in with Ravenchase Adventures, our lovely and talented Jessica Price had attended an event in Chicago, amid chilly weather conditions. As was reported back in January, the company is set to start the Great America Race, a cross-country puzzle trail and treasure hunt. The race begins tomorrow (July 14th) in Washington DC and, over the course of seven days, visits a number of cities across the continental United States, including Richmond (Virginia), Charlotte (North Carolina), Nashville (Tennessee), Atlanta and Savannah (Georgia) and Panama City (Florida). Things are scheduled to wrap up in New Orleans (Louisiana) on July 21. Participants will be using cars, trains, motorcycles, buses, or boats as necessary to travel between different clues and different cities.

While it may be too late to join the Great America Race, be sure to keep an eye on the site, as theyâ€™ll have updates from the race along the way. If you live in one of those cities, maybe youâ€™ll actually see the participants as they race through your town, looking for clues! Even if youâ€™re *not* in one of those towns, Ravenchase Adventures organizes many other public hunts throughout the year. In fact, in September theyâ€™re having one in Sunny Sandy Eggo and I totally plan on attending! Anyone want to join me (heavenâ€™s knows I need the help!)?

Other noteworthy events in the upcoming months include “The Great New Amsterdam Subway Chase” on July 29 in New York City and the “Quest for the Lost Golden Garden Gnome” on July 15th in Princeton, New Jersey. The starting time for both of these events is 5 am, so grab a strong coffee and get involved!

World Without Oil: The Post-Game Press Release

July 13, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

Editor’s Note: Thanks to Voleine Amilcar at ITVS for this update!

(San Franciscoâ€”July 12, 2007)â€”At the end of the 32nd week of the global oil shock, things were looking up. Gasoline prices stabilized in the U.S. â€“ at around $5.60 a gallon, down from a high over $7. Companies were starting to hire again â€“ but more than 2 million people had lost their jobs. Cities were beginning to address more than $1 billion in damage from riots and civil disorder. And in some of the FEMA camps set up outside metro areas, handfuls of people were leaving agricultural work to return home. But among the citizen-journalists chronicling the crisis at www.worldwithoutoil.org, the watchword was caution. â€œIt should be clear of all of us,â€ warned Blueski, a blogger in Americaâ€™s heartland, â€œthat this is just a taste of what is to come.â€

Produced by the design team at Writerguy, WORLD WITHOUT OIL leveraged the power of people connected by the Internet to imagine the actual events of an oil shortage, document them and innovate solutions. As the event concluded, the grassroots website at www.worldwithoutoil.org had captured a vivid and visceral picture of what our next oil shock might look like, in the form of 1,500 blog pages, videos, images and audio clips documenting the crisis. â€œWe provided the narrative skeleton,â€ WWO Creative Director Ken Eklund said. â€œThe players fleshed out the story of this alternate reality game.â€

ARGNet Staff: A New Member, a New Role, and New Opportunities

July 12, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

We here at ARGNet would like to recognize the addition of a new team member, and the promotion of another. First, we’re happy to announce that long-time ARG community member Celina Beach (aka celina63) has joined our staff, and has already published a great article about Project Osprey. Celina was an invaluable resource at the latest ARGFest, recording video of all the panel discussions, which were later encoded and uploaded to Youtube. She is also a frequent panelist on the ARG Netcast series. Welcome, Celina!

Second, we’re ecstatic to tell you that Marie Lamb has moved up in the ARGNet ranks to become an associate editor. For those unaware of the responsibilities involved, Marie now has the dubious distinction of reading through, proofreading and publishing staff and reader-submitted articles, as well as answering emails and messages sent through our contact form. This is a big responsibility, especially for a volunteer (which we all still are), so we’re very grateful to the very lovely and wonderful Marie. She will work with Jessica Price and me to make sure that all the news that’s fit to print will get out to our readers in a timely fashion.

Speaking of articles, are you up for the task of writing short, blurbtastic news items about currently active games? Do you have a rumor that you want your fellow readers to know about? Is there a feature article or editorial burning in the back of your mind that you simply must publish before it gives you a stroke? Well, we’ve got a deal for you — ARGNet is looking for writers, and we think you might be someone we’re looking for. We have openings for staff writers who are interested in working in a professional(ish), fun, interesting environment, so if you want to help us crank the news out as a volunteer writer, drop us a line.

“I’ll have some nachos–oh, and one creepy guy to follow me home, please.”

July 11, 2007 / Marie Lamb

The next time you’re at the theater, why don’t you bring home more than a bellyful of popcorn? The horror movie HEAD TRAUMA is promising to follow you out of the theater. Filmmaker Lance Weiler is calling this special, multimedia presentation of his film a “cinema ARG” and admits that he wants to “disturb” people.

The chills will unfold July 14th at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, NY as part of their week-long retrospective on horror films. Bring your cellphone–â€œThis is one of the only films where youâ€™ll be asked to keep your cell phone on during the screening,â€ says Weiler.