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What Happens in Vegas Doesn’t Stay in Vegas

January 12, 2007 / Carie Ward

The lights dimmed, the music stopped, and the fountains at the Bellagio started chiming like clocks. It was time for Loki, the enigmatic puzzle mistress of the Vanishingpoint game to work her magic. For over three minutes, the Bellagio fountains were turned into a massive movie screen as clues to the online portion of the game appeared like ghostly images on the water.

Earlier on Monday, the Vanishingpoint game site updated from its teasing countdown to include ways for players to register for the game. The update also included information about the grand prize which had previously driven players into a speculation frenzy. Their wildest dreams were confirmed when it was announced that the grand prize winner would win a trip into space aboard the RocketplaneÂ® XP Vehicle, along with various other goodies.

2006 In Review: Alternate Reality Gaming

January 6, 2007 / The ARGNet Staff

By Jessica Price and Jonathan Waite

As another year has come and gone, looking back at 2006 shows that it was a good year to be involved in alternate reality gaming. All in all, the year saw the genre receiving ever greater mainstream recognition, evolving in ways both anticipated and surprising, and adapting enthusiastically to an ever-increasing variety of platforms, media and participants. It also saw major changes here at ARGNet, as we rebranded ourselves, added some new staff members, and initiated the ARG Netcast. We were also proud to bring our readers coverage from SXSW and were ecstatic to be a network partner for PICNIC ’06. The ARG community continued to grow, as Unfiction hit 10,000 members and Immersion Unlimited went over the 1300 member mark. In addition to longer-running corporate games like Perplex City, Studio Cypher, and Edoc Laundry, there were a number of well-executed and enthusiastically-received large scale indie games. It seems like the year has gone quite quickly, but not without some major stories and exciting developments. So, without further ado, here are the highlights, events, games, and trends that caught our attention.

ARG Netcast, Episode 8

January 1, 2007 / Jonathan Waite

We were big liars when we said that Episode 7 of the ARG Netcast would be the last of 2006. Yesterday, Jonathan Waite was joined by Sean C. Stacey, Marie Lamb, Brooke Thompson and Carie Ward for a look back at 2006, and a look forward towards what might happen in 2007. Episode 8 is our year-end Review and Predictions episode, one you don’t want to miss!

The Vanishing Point

December 24, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

A mysterious message posted recently in the news section of MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) IE Blog has people buzzing about the possibility that another large-scale alternate reality game is about to go live. The image, which includes a complicated cipher code and a link to the Vanishing Point web site, was found by a number of people at the Neowin forums who have done a lot of work since the discovery to solve some of the puzzles already in place. One of the features of the web site is a countdown, which is counting down to January 8th, and further investigation of the Flash file reveals that there is an event occurring at the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas that day. Conveniently, this coincides with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which starts on that day in Las Vegas. The connection between Microsoft and the CES makes this page on the site very interesting, where “high-end laptops, gaming computers, media centers, software, gaming consoles, media players, and games” are said to be won when the countdown hits zero.

According to this Neowin post, the Flash used on the web site points back to 42 Entertainment, creators of I Love Bees and Last Call Poker. Regardless of who is making the game, the message is already getting out to a number of sources — one person has received things in the mail, while a video (used to be on YouTube, but has since disappeared) includes various clues about the mystery so far. It will be interesting to see just what happens in the days ahead with this project, so stay tuned and keep your eyes open for developments.

:: Trailhead
:: Discussion at Neowin forums
:: Discussion at unfiction forums

More Than Meets the Eye? ARG in Disguise?

December 24, 2006 / Marie Lamb

Transformers fans are all atwitter about some mysterious goings-on in the trailer for the live-action Transformers movie, set to come out in July 2007. At a certain moment early in the trailer, the words “Sector Seven Org” and “takara83” appear at the top and bottom of the frame, respectively, leading the curious to www.sectorseven.org. Entering “takara83” in the submit box opens up a very stylish desktop, with a few goodies, including a live-action video and some image files. Also oddly present, a facsimile of a (fake?) legal agreement between “S7 Industries” and Takara, which is the real-life Japanese company that developed Transformers. Many of the desktop icons are locked, leading hopeful fans to believe that more is coming.

Is this a Transformers ARG? In my opinion, it’s too soon to tell, as right now it looks just like a standard movie viral site. But those Decepticons can be tricky creatures.

More details and discussion are at Unfiction.

A&E Unveils Sopranos Cross-Media Experience

December 20, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

So, it turns out that even a mob boss from Jersey can’t resist the sweet smell of cross-media gaming. In January, when the hit HBO series The Sopranos begins a syndicated run on A&E, it will be accompanied with a “real-time online experience” touted as “fantasy sports meets scavenger hunt,” according to a press release ARGNet received yesterday. The Sopranos A&E Connection game will be played online, but will involve real-world game pieces found in different locations, such as billboards and magazine ads. While the game has already launched (it was possible for players to start collecting game pieces beginning on December 15th), new players can register at the trailhead web site before the action really gets going on January 10th, 2007 – the night the first two episodes of Season One debut on A&E. Even more exciting for the ARGNet faithful — we have a unique opportunity for a few lucky readers to win fabulous Sopranos prizes!