Tag: mind candy (Page 4 of 4)

Mind Candy Secures $3m Investment

December 7, 2005 / Guy Parsons

Mind Candy, the team behind ever-popular ARG Perplex City, has just received a $3m investment from Index Ventures, a VC firm that invests in web companies such as Skype and Ofoto. It’s the first instance of an ARG-centered company receiving such a large investment – while several firms receive commissions from companies to create ARG-style games for marketing or training purposes, Perplex City operates through its own standalone revenue stream generated from sales of its signature puzzle cards.

“We were immensely impressed by both the creativity of the Mind Candy team and the enthusiasm of the players, who are in turn creating a global gaming phenomenon,â€ explained Danny Rimer, a partner at Index.

Meanwhile the Managing Director of Mind Candy, Michael Smith, gave credit to the broad, mass-market appeal of the game. “We cater to both the casual player, who wants to solve a few puzzles with friends, and the avid fan who is absorbed with the wider Perplex City mystery. We are extremely excited about this partnership and see enormous potential to build a global brand around puzzles and puzzle-solving.”

Another waypoint on Alternate Reality Gaming’s march to the mainstream, perhaps, but for now expect even bigger things from the Puppetmaster team – those who’ve witnessed them give presentations on the matter might have an inkling of their ambitious plans for the future.

PXC Live Event: A Mole Amongst Thee

October 30, 2005 / Jonathan Waite

PXC Live 01 Last Saturday, Perplex City took to the streets in a real-world event that involved both a ground team and an online team. Starting with a trail on an in-game site, players had to coordinate efforts to track the Third Power and obtain a highly valuable keyword. However, after collecting all of the puzzles and meeting back at a central location, players discovered that there was a mole within their group. To top it all off, the mole made a daring escape via helicopter (yes, HELICOPTER) and players were left with what must have been one of the most exciting ARG experiences in their lives. Matthew Turnbull, an active participant on the ground team, gave us permission to reprint his account of the day’s events:

E3 Report: Alternate Reality Games Bust Out

May 19, 2005 / Steve Peters

Greetings from sunny Los Angeles! This year’s E3 is proving to be a landmark occasion in the world of Alternate Reality Gaming. Not only is there a veritable ARG Development Team (Puppetmaster) Summit going on, with representatives from five different teams in attendance, but this whole ARG thing is creating quite a stir, especially on the exhibition floor.

Touch Me, I’m Perplex City

May 5, 2005 / Sean C. Stacey

As reported earlier this week, the Perplex City ARG has recently ignited a few flames of contention within the ARG community with its controversial announcement of what appeared to be a pay-for-play model based around collectible puzzle cards and, more shockingly, the possible payout of a large reward. Indeed, a prize of Â£100,000 (about $200,000) may be claimed by whomever locates the Receda Cube, Perplex City’s pet McGuffin Device, and returns it to its rightful owners (assuming Perplex City’s ownership of the mysterious cube is indeed rightful).

These developments have brought up plenty of questions, from whether the announced reward is real (it is), to whether players will have to buy puzzle cards in order to continue playing the ARG (they won’t), to concern about whether a large cash reward will end up factionalizing and splintering the existing community of players (maybe, but hopefully not). It certainly seems as if the recent “Group 333” launch managed to cry havoc and let loose the dogs of Meta across the forums, blogs, and news sites that populate the ARG community space. Opinions a-plenty can be found everywhere, many based on little to no concrete information, yet liberally daubed with some speculative glue to hold them together. A recent article posted to the Perplex City Sentinel helped to clarify some of the aspects of the game as related to the puzzle cards, but the best way to find out more was to secure an interview with one of the Perplex City Puppetmasters. Unfiction.com spoke at length with Adrian Hon about several issues related to some of these revelations.

Perplex City Explodes into Play: Introduces New Concept, Controversy

May 1, 2005 / Larry Eisner

If youâ€™ve been living in a cave for the last year, and donâ€™t know about Perplex City, now is the time to get up to speed. Sente Kiteway, the headmaster of the Perplex City Academy, has informed us of a missing priceless cultural artifact: The Cube. Itâ€™s here on Earth, and up to us to find, for a large monetary reward. Until recently, things have been slow in the coming:

First, just over a year ago, was Project Syzygy, apparently a site designed to gather players and build hype for the gameâ€™s start, which ended up soft-launching nearly a year later. The next site to show up was PerplexCity.com, which contained some cryptic pictures and an email sign-up, allowing those who wanted to play an avenue to register. Quite some time later, a video that started yet more pre-game, albeit with more hunting around for newspapers around the world, and ended with a real-life interaction at Abbey Road in London, UK.

Project Syzygy Announced

March 7, 2004 / Steve Peters

This comes to us from one of the Grand MastersÂ of ARGs himself, Adrian Hon: Project Syzygy. Billing itself as a “new type of immersiveÂ game, one that will change everything,”Â PS will be a cross between Masquerade,Â TheÂ Beast, Pattern Recognition, Rubik’sÂ Cube,Â The Matrix, Eternity, The DaVinciÂ Code, NokiaÂ Game, The Game, and MajesticÂ (whew!), PSÂ promises to be a ride like noneÂ other, atÂ least in our opinion.

The teaser page already has aÂ couple puzzlesÂ for the curious, and you canÂ sign up to beÂ informed of the launch. For thoseÂ of youÂ who are inclined, you can alsoÂ apply to beÂ a part of the development team. Â Project SyzygyÂ is scheduled to launch in lateÂ 2004. LookingÂ forward to it!

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