Tag: i love bees (Page 4 of 6)

Halo2 ILoveBees Game Ends With a Bang

November 6, 2004 / Steve Peters

November 4th brought the final chapter to the 16-week Alternate Reality Game that became known as I Love Bees. A promotional game for Bungie’s eagerly anticipated game Halo2, Ilovebees caught the attention of thousands of gamers and media alike over the past few months. The journey culminated on November 4th, with a live event in four cities attended by hundreds of players (San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Austin). At this event, referred to in-game as a Combat Training Exercise, players got an exclusive chance to play Halo2 before its release on November 9th, and received a commemorative DVD and Ilovebees lanyard. What’s more, the lucky players in San Francisco got a chance to meet some of the Ilovebees Puppetmasters.

Ilovebees was developed by a team headed by Elan Lee and Sean Stewart, who headed up the first real Alternate Reality Game, The Beast, in 2001. Since then, they teamed up to form 4orty2wo Entertainment, and began production of Ilovebees in February. Ilovebees, which launched on July 16th, told the story of an A.I. from the future named Melissa who crash landed on a website server here in 2004. Over the 16 weeks of the game, players completed a series of web-based puzzles and realworld challenges to reveal a compelling story that formed a prequel to Halo2, following its characters through the weeks leading up to the invasion of Earth by an evil race of aliens known as the Covenant. The story was revealed in over 6 hours of audio drama using some of the best voice talent and post-production in Hollywood.

Ilovebees broke new ground in its innovative use of real world distributed puzzles, stellar writing and sheer numbers of players. At it’s culmination, the ilovebees site received as many as 500,00 unique visitors per day, making it by far the most followed Alternate Reality Game to date.

A post-game chat is scheduled with the Ilovebees Puppetmasters on November 7th at 2:00 pm Pacific Standard Time. You can have a chance to ask questions and get the inside scoop on what went on behind the game by stopping by #apocalypso on irc.chat-solutions.org (browser based access).

Ilovebees Players Get Access to Probable Halo2 Preview

October 27, 2004 / Steve Peters

Players of Ilovebees yesterday were given what looks like a chance to preview Halo2 Multiplayer 5 days before it’s officially released. In a series of dramatic events that led to the “death” of one of the beloved AI characters in the game, players 17 and older earned the right to attend a special “training exercise utilizing squad-oriented combat simulation LIVEware.”

This event is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 4, from 18:00 â€“ 21:00 Pacific time at the following coordinates:

40.743071 -073.976763 (New York City)
42.040240 -088.035197 (Chicago)
30.266632 -097.744710 (Austin)
37.784568 -122.404169 (San Francisco)

So, after three months, it looks like Halo2 fans are finally being given what they’ve been yearning for: a chance to preview Halo2. In addition to the chance to play the game, many Beekeepers are looking forward to the chance to get to meet each other in person, as many have only interacted with each other on line. Some players have announced that they will be driving as much as 8 hours to take part.

The ARG seems to be winding down, but it still remains to be seen how much fun the PMs have in store for us. Stay tuned.

ARG on CNN

October 14, 2004 / Steve Peters

Alternate Reality continues to spill over into the real world, as was evident during the Presidential Debate last night. Players of ilovebees (the Halo2 related Alternate Reality Game) at Arizona State University took advantage of the occasion to promote themselves and their game in the form of a huge bee-infested banner.

On numerous occassions during CNN’s coverage, a large ASU Beekeepers banner appeared behind the commentators. The banner could clearly be seen during Wolf Blitzer Reports, as well as Larry King Live. In addition, viewers reported seeing the banner on MSNBC as well. This marks the first time an Alternate Reality Game has invaded political history, as far as we know (unless of course certain important people have been lurking on the boards). Unfortunately, the ASU Beekeepers’ shouts of “I love bees!” couldn’t be heard above the other chants from the crowd.

The ASU Beekeepers team faced a few challenges during the days leading up to the debate, as it was a little scary running around campus answering phones while the Secret Service was doing security sweeps of the area. Nevertheless, Team ASU came through and completed most of their phone answering for the day. For those not familiar with the Ilovebees game, a big part of the interaction right now involves being at certain payphones at specific times in order to give a correct answer for a challenge/response. Doing so successfully helps to unlock pieces of audio files on the ilovebees website, revealing more of the story.

Mad props go out to the ASU Beekeepers for making the news! We know Melissa would be proud of you! For more information about the Ilovebees ARG, follow the links above.

Photo Credits: GBrian and G3k

ARGs Becoming a Trend?

September 27, 2004 / Steve Peters

The genre of Alternate Reality Games (or Immersive Media, Pervasive Gaming, etc.) may finally be making inroads into the mainstream. Not only is computer/platform gaming media paying attention, such as in the recent story about Ilovebees broadcast on G4TechTV, but marketers are being urged to take notice as well.

Recently, TrendCentral ran a story in their newsletter pointing out the viability of these sort of games, “as their diverse media format seems conducive for brand integration and promotions.” Trendcentral is one of the leading resources for marketing firms and advertising agencies, helping them keep their finger on the pulse of up-and-coming trends in the marketing/promotional field. This makes a lot of sense, as some of the most successful Alternate Reality Games to date have in fact been promotional tools.

While many may criticize promotional ARGs as a cheap marketing ploy, most of those who have played along with such games as A.I.’s The Beast or BMW’s Uncap the Ride will be the first to tell you that when done right, they are highly entertaining, addictive, challenging and ultimately very satisfying in and of themselves. Let’s hope the trend continues.

What is Project Gateway??

September 17, 2004 / Steve Peters

A few mysterious websites have cropped up that are causing some ARG’ers to scratch their heads. Things seem rather game-like, but frankly it’s may just be a little early to be able to tell exactly what’s going on. We submit it here for your consideration (cue Rod Serling in the corner along with obligatory creepy music).

This site provides the trailhead, a literal gateway into a realm of clues and locked up cells. The page beckons: “CC32 Gateway – Insert Front Door Key To Continue,” and somehow this site has led to two others: Project Gateway and 32nd Notes. Beyond that, we really can’t tell you much, beyond the fact that a certain amount of caution is advised, due to every ingame site so far being hosted on a free webserver of some kind. As always, proceed at your own risk.

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In Ilovebees news, players continue to strive for the 777 connected axons mark, having succeeded in answering 728 of the 777 needed phonecalls to proceed to the next step in the game, whatever that holds in store. Notably, the game’s first non-U.S. phone has been revealed in London, enabling British “Beekeepers” to get involved with this live interaction for the first time. With only 49 phonecalls left to go, we should find out what the next chapter in the ilovebees saga is within the next few days.

In the meantime, ARGN has set up a repository for all of the audio files found so far. It’s a great way to get quickly caught up on the major plot of the game, and you can access it here.

Unfiction Ilovebees Forums
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Netninja Wiki
Fireflies Wiki
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Ilovebees Suddenly Seeking 777

September 11, 2004 / Steve Peters

It’s been a trying week or so for the Ilovebees ARG. After having axons piled on top of more axons, the players are starting to feel a bit abused, and momentum seems to be waning. Although the folks behind the game are revealing some stellar content in the form of audio clips, the pacing overall is proving to be a challenge for even the most optimistic.

According to Dana’s latest blog entry, players are being encouraged to press on toward the 777 live axons mark. The problem is, the phones seem to be being answered less and less often, which is quite a contrast from two weeks ago when there were as many as 30-40 people at some phones. Sadly, at this rate, it may be weeks before we find out what happens when 777 axons go hot. Currently, we’re at 496 out of 777. That’s a lot of phones left to answer!

On the plus side, the story that’s being revealed continues to intrigue. A new snippet is released each time a codeset goes active, and players have assembled them into a narrative that reveals not only a confirmed tie-in with the Halo universe, but a tale of chatternet hackers, geek love, nefarious kidnappings and blackmail. ARGN has assembled a repository of the audio story so far, and will add more as it is revealed.

Finally, as a little off-topic diversion from the endless answering of phones, ARGN is sponsoring an Axon-Hunter Photoshop Contest. Only a couple days left to get your entries in.

Graphic Credit: jamesi