Something is happening in Ibiza… or so says the press release for The White Island, which filtered into the ARGNet tipline last week. The new alternate reality game began on June 1st, and involves dance music and late night parties across Europe. There are some interesting names connected to the project as well — Pete Tong, known best for his work on BBC Radio 1 and for being the subject of the mockumentary “It’s all gone Pete Tong“, and Charles Kriel, a DJ who previously worked on the Fallen ARG and now heads up Black Swan Media. If these names aren’t enough to get you clubbers interested, what about the cool swag we received earlier today? There’s video and more pictures after the break, so put down the glow sticks and click on through!
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Vroom vroom! The sleek champagne Toyota Camry zips around the corner, coming to a screeching halt. Out steps a leggy, ultra-fashionable African-American woman, arriving to hook up with her ultra-fashionable, successful boyfriend. She flips her keys to the valet – a little “blip blip!” sounds from the Camry’s push-button car alarm, like Kit saying “see ya later!” to Knight Rider. Who is this woman? Where did she get such an awesome car with such swanky accoutrements? Where did she find that hunky boyfriend of hers? What does her rolling stone of a father have to do with the dudes who stole her purse? What kind of pie did Nana bake? And where on earth did she find those fantastic shoes?!
The latest in cross-media marketing mayhem produced by Burrell Communications Group and 42 Entertainment for Toyota’s 2009 Camry, entitled “If Looks Could Kill,” takes you inside the world of high fashion and high espionage with Bianca, the fashionista lead character poised to pique the interest of young, hip, African-American women – women, who indeed, need a swanky Toyota Camry. In each weekly episode of this interactive drama, Bianca is pressed to unravel a mystery of intrigue and espionage, all while juggling the stressful duties of her job as a fashion designer, keeping her boyfriend happy and interested, and making sure not to miss coffee and dessert with her Nana. For seven weeks, participants are treated to six movie-styled webisodes of Bianca’s crazy life as she tools around through New York City (without ever running into traffic) in her champagne-colored Camry (with touch navigation and integrated Bluetooth). Within each episode are opportunities for players to help Bianca escape from trouble, as she turns to the camera and asks you to do something for her, such as download photos and find flyers, and email her the information she needs to stay in the game.
It should be no surprise to anyone who has been following the show LOST that there would be something special during the season finale. Fans were not disappointed. Close to the end of the episode, a mysterious commercial branded with “Paid for by ABC” aired, advertising a recruiting event for a company called Octagon Global Recruiting. They are looking for A LOT of “volunteers to assist in a range of unpaid positions” – a scrolling list displays diverse opportunities and skills ranging from Physicists, Mathematicians, and Botanical Researchers, to Drivers, Janitors, and Ex-Military. This recruiting event will be taking place in San Diego, July 24-27… wait, what’s that, you say? Those dates seem familiar? They should – they’re the same dates as the San Diego Comic Con.
The website for Octagon Global Recruiting doesn’t currently display much other than a streaming version of the aforementioned commercial. However, there is one other nugget of information to be found, tying Octagon Global to the Dharma Initiative. The two organizations are collaborating and recruiting volunteers willing to “contribute to an important new research project.” Interested? Just enter your email to register. So far, no reports have surfaced regarding contact from Octagon, but stay tuned.
Discussion has already started at Unfiction andThe Fuselage
Writer/Director Guillermo Del Toro recently ‘came out’ as a member of an organization called HETFET – Humans for Ethical Treatment of Fairies, Elves, and Trolls. It’s an organization dedicated to tracking down those who would seek to harm FETs, and bringing justice upon them. Guillermo’s upcoming film Hellboy II, is an effort to recognize FET rights, and raise awareness for HETFET’s cause. If you join them, you may receive a support package!
But it goes deeper than that. Recently some strange videos have surfaced of what appears to be people traveling through gateway-looking graffiti sprayed at the foot of cement walls. And HETFET knows something.
Cryptic emails were received by fans of GDT, containing hints that eventually led to a Secret Device – also linked from HETFET’s homepage. The device is locked with 10 combinations, which are being found in various places connected with HETFET and Guillermo. The first combination – the release date of Hellboy II in theaters (7/11/08) – provides a poem with highlighted letters, roughly spelling out a website, which introduces us to Lexi Lloyd.
Lexi loves fairies.
She also just began her first Youtube VLOG.
Watch Lexi as she vlogs about her life, and shares strange mysteries surrounding a cat, her dreams, her father who went missing years ago, and other cryptic YouTube stalkers like ‘dutchfelines’ and ‘aSmarmyYeti.’
Find out more about PANATROG, a mysterious organization also revealed by the Secret Device. What does the military have to do with PANATROG? Why are PANATROGs training videos so fun to watch? Why is Lexi involved, and what’s the mystery of these “gearways?”
“The Secret Device” is a promotional campaign for GDT’s movie (they’d have you believe) Hellboy II: The Golden Army, coming to theaters July 11th. The locks are phases in the plot leading to the movie, with a contest as a reward for those who follow through to unlock the 10th combination by the deadline of June 10 – which is 11 days from the time of writing. The two winners of the random drawing will each receive tickets for two to take a 3 day trip to Los Angeles for an exclusive fan preview-screening of Hellboy II hosted by Guillermo Del Toro. For more info, visit the HB2 Production website.
The contest is a nice bonus, and the story isn’t hugely complex or long either – so there’s plenty of time to catch up and unlock the 10 combinations along with a world of fantastical, strange creatures and trolls before June 10th. Heck, even if it’s just to help another cute, innocent girl.
—Save the Trolls!
HETFET.org
Lexi Lloyd’s website
Unfiction discussion
In-game Forums at HETFET
Player Wiki
Player Blog
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.
A couple of weeks ago, ARGN received a witty recruitment letter from The Sky Remains 6th Dimension Detective Agency, kicking off “The Sky Remains,” a much-anticipated game by Licorice Film.
If you haven’t had a chance to jump in on “The Sky Remains”, don’t worry! The game is still “in progress,” and Licorice Film has designed it in a way that allows players to follow the story at their own pace. In addition to the website, the player-maintained wiki is a good place to start, as is the “Useful Info” post for the game.
Currently, the 6th Dimension Agents of The Sky Remains Agency are working to solve Case #1: the case of Wendy Skinery, a pregnant woman living alone in an isolated house in England’s West Country. Wendy’s grandfather left her the house and everything in it, including some strange photographs. Agents on the case work under the supervision of agency director, Ms. Poliakov. Players of MeiGeist, Licorice Film’s first interactive project, may run into some familiar faces around the agency, as well!
undertone
postcurious
simulacra
black watchmen
escape rooms
masquerade nyc
