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Holomove Post-Game Chat Announced

July 9, 2008 / Celina Beach

Holomove logo Spring is over, but the “little birds” are still whispering – this time regarding the long-awaited Holomove Post-Game PM Chat! Members of the team behind the game will be gathering in Boston on Friday, July 18th at 4PM ET to chat with players, mere hours before ARGFest officially kicks off. Fear not, for non-ARGFesters will still be able to participate via live audio chat (details to follow).

Stay tuned to the Unforum thread or ARGNet for more details as they are made available.

Editor’s note: We had originally announced the wrong date, but we have it correct now. Sorry for the confusion!

Get off your Computer and Get a (War) Job

July 3, 2008 / Michael Andersen

Resistance 2 / 42 Entertainment GamePro Magazine’s August 2008 issue is offering a 10-page preview of Resistance 2. The GamePro website offered a sneak peek at the preview, leading to the trailhead for the rumored Resistance 2 ARG. Phew. Following so far?

One of the WWII-era advertisements directed me to visit GetaWarJob.com, a recruiting website for the American military. A business card on the website told me to dial 866-931-9417 to hear a rousing speech urging me to enlist. And without even realizing what I was doing, I found myself enlisting for military service on the registration page. Fine upstanding citizen that I am, I expressed an interest in “Law Enforcement”, one of the many military fields available. The recruiter got back to me fairly quickly verifying my interest in an honorable career of government service.

Underlying this military fervor is a trifling concern. It seems a deadly strain of influenza is ravaging Europe. “La Grippe” made the Great War fairly uncomfortable for its soldiers…somehow, I can’t imagine it being any easier the second time around. Although as long as I eat my vegetables, avoid immoral behavior, and floss daily, I’m sure I’ll be fine. And the discovery of oddly familiar alien skulls deepens my sense of foreboding. Indeed, an encrypted message within the advertisement asks “How far will they go Project Abraham”, leading to ProjectAbraham.com. The morse code at the end of the video at the “Project Abraham” site leads to a page showing a group of soldiers.

When ARGNet last asked 42 Entertainment to confirm rumors that they were developing an alternate reality game for Resistance 2, they offered no comment. The privacy policy reveals that this campaign is sponsored by Sony Computer Entertainment America, Resistance 2’s publisher. Whether or not 42 Entertainment are behind this project, the interface looks slick, the audio and recordings have a nice vintage feel, and the propaganda posters will take you back a few decades. It remains to be seen whether this game will be as “viral” as the flu, but initial indicators look promising.

Click Here for the thread at UnFiction
Click Here for the sneak peek of the preview of GamePro Magazine

Update: Some of you might be wondering why the woman in the ProjectAbraham video (let’s call her “Cassie”) looks so familiar. Although this has not been confirmed by official sources, “Cassie” bears a striking resemblance to Katee Sackhoff, an actress you may know better as Kara “Starbuck” Thrace from Battlestar Galactica (or as the voice of Female Marine #3 from Halo 3 for you diehard Halo fans). The resemblance is uncanny, really.

UPDATE: Prototype 161 Launches July 12

June 29, 2008 / Jonathan Waite

For those that remember the postcard we received a few days ago with the enigmatic “Wish You Were Here” message, we can now point you towards something more than just a vague location in New York City. A comment was left for that article by prototype161, stating, “Infringement will not be tolerated. Your sticker has been removed.” This led us to look at prototype161.com, which is the home of prototype161 investigations. There’s a client section which offers solutions when “problems cannot be solved by ordinary methods,” and a recruitment section that reveals details about a live event in New York on July 12th.

Two days ago, a letter was received, addressed to me, telling me that I have been selected as a prospective agent of prototype161. According to the letter, I will play a vital role in the development of a new “perscrutative method” — yes, I had to look up perscrutative, and it means thorough search — in the evening of July 12th. I hope that my vital role can be played as I sit at home, because I won’t be in New York City on the 12th. The letter encourages me to assemble a team of not more than eight people, and notes that if I am unable to locate a sufficient number of friends, some will be provided for me. What are you saying, mysterious recruiter, I can’t find my own friends?! Just kidding.

The only potential puzzle I’ve found so far is on the letter itself — the footer contains the text prototype161 form LMTH.”EUR”, with the E in EUR red in color. Our friend Sean C. Stacey at Despoiler received a postcard and a letter as well, and there is an ongoing thread at the Unfiction forums for developments thus far.

If you are in the New York area and wish to represent ARGNet at the recruitment event, drop us a comment or a voicemail and we’ll get in touch. Anyone attending the event that is able to take pictures or video, please send them our way, with our thanks and appreciation!

Cannes Lions Award for 42 Entertainment

June 20, 2008 / Jonathan Waite

42 Entertainment has won yet another distinguished honor, and this time, it’s a grand prize. On Thursday, June 19, the company won the Grand Prix Cyber Lions award at the Cannes Lions 2008 festival in the Viral Advertising/Viral Marketing category for their alternate reality game. The Cannes Lions awards are widely considered the most prestigious of all advertising awards, so this is definitely a feather in the cap for the company responsible for this enthralling collaboration with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame. Congratulations to the crew, which includes Steve Peters, the previous owner of this very web site.

In picture: Susan Bonds, Producer/CEO, and Alex Lieu, Creative Director/CCO, 42 Entertainment

Mailbox: From zombies to a mystery pole

June 17, 2008 / Jonathan Waite

It’s turning out to be quite the summer for alternate reality games, or so the relentless parade of packages, letters and postcards to come through the ARGNet snail mail box seems to indicate. First up, from last week, is a lovely package from Lost Zombies, a new post-apocalyptic venture billing itself as “a community generated zombie documentary.” Inside the package was a letter, a paperback copy of The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, and a retail DVD copy of 28 Days Later, the superb film by Danny Boyle. According to the letter (full text available after the jump), these materials “provide valuable insight into zombie behavior and its many forms,” and should help increase our chances of survival. Sweet!

Also in the mail — just today, in fact — was a postcard. Apparently, we’re just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year, because the sender wishes we were there, ‘there’ being New York City. And, beyond that, we have no idea why this postcard was sent to us. We do know that our friends at Despoiler received a similar postcard, and surmise that the image on the front is of a location in Times Square, NYC. They’ve urged their legion of readers to go outdoors and find the pole marked with the arrow, and we urge the same of our loyal viewers, if only to satisfy our curiosity as to the mystery of the blue pole.

ARGFest-O-Con 2008 – Ready or Not, Here Comes Awesome

June 15, 2008 / Jackie Kerr

Once again, ARGNet is proud to join Unfiction in hosting ARGFest-O-Con. This year’s weekend ARG odyssey sails into Boston, Massachusetts on July 18-20 at the Boston Radisson Hotel and Conference Center. Scheduled events include a Friday night Welcome cocktail party, a full day of conference talks on Saturday, as well as the return of FestQuest – the puzzley adventure that takes you around the highlights of the host city. Registration for the event recently opened on the ARGFest website for the low cost of $25 (the Friday night reception is an additional $15). Booking now guarantees you a seat to the hottest ARG show of the year and a weekend of adventure with fellow ARG enthusiasts. Where else would you be able to rub elbows and fight over the last bits of buffet bacon with some of the biggest names in the genre? Book now!

Rooms at the Radisson are filling up fast, but a few slots remain for those procrastinators among you. Information about booking for the ARGFest rate of $189 a night (plus tax) can be found at the conference website.

ARGFest-O-Con is also actively seeking private and corporate sponsors for the event. Sponsorship opportunities have been outlined and can be viewed on the ARGfest website. This year also tills new soil with the addition of the Order of the Trout, an individual sponsorship tier that promises secret handshakes, troutly designation, and the joy of being referred to as “Fish Face” at the conference. Rarely have I wanted anything oh so badly. Now if only the Order came with a Wii…