Tag: Ny Takma (Page 1 of 2)

ARG Netcast, Episode 6

November 26, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

If half a dozen netcasts are as sweet as half a dozen donuts, then feast your ears on the sixth ARG Netcast. Sean C. Stacey, Brooke Thompson and Jonathan Waite are joined this week by Carie Ward, ARGNet staff writer and webmaster of wonderweasels.org. Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through FeedBurner or via iTunes.

Game News

Ny Takma wrapped up this past week. The puppetmasters have spoken — find out what we think about the endgame.
Sammeeeees players are hot on the trail of the 4th and 5th Spoocheeeee disc pieces, and konamouse offers a Top Ten list. Does this ARG have the personal touch mastered?
OpAphid becomes the “Official LonelyGirl15 Alternate Reality Game, according to the official LG15 forums. Is this ARG 2.0?
Deus City rolls on. There’s a basic plot time line and cast of characters at the Unfiction forums.
tCotSA (The Committee of the Sedulous Amalgamation) shows signs of life with new snail mailings to various players. ARG or puzzle trail?
Lawn Games For Life is a new ARG. Brooke and Carie have the skinny on this emerging campaign, including info about the PM herself.
NeoVenus Construction may or may not be an ARG related to Capcom’s Lost Planet. Slick web sites, more information to follow this week.

Ny Takma Says Goodbye, PM Chat Scheduled

November 23, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

The Ny Takma alternate reality game, which began on September 30th, has reached a successful conclusion. It was an ARG soap opera of sorts — Bryan and Chaya, aliens which have had their love for each other transcend the boundaries of time, got back together, thanks to Kendra, who opened the Ark, releasing Chaya. John, the ladies man, tackled the two lovers, which resulted in the three of them becoming trapped inside of the Ark. This left Kendra alone and full of sadness at the fact that there is no one left here on Earth to call a family. The story elements aside, what made this endgame special for the players was the fact that they had an impact on how the final events took shape. For those interested, there is a final video update at the game’s main website.

The PM’s will be having a chat in #nytakma on the Chat-Solutions IRC network tomorrow at 9pm CST (10:00 pm EST). You can access the chat room by clicking on the Chat tab at the top of the ARGNet homepage, and selecting the #nytakma room from the menu.

ARG Netcast, Episode 4

November 12, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Episode 4 of the ARG Netcast contains more of the same tantalizing discussion that you’ve grown accustomed to over the past few weeks. Regular panel members Sean C. Stacey of unfiction, Brooke Thompson of Giant Mice and ARGNet’s Jonathan Waite are joined by special guest Steve Peters of 42 Entertainment. Subscribe to the ARG Netcast feed through FeedBurner or via iTunes.

Topics of Discussion

With our special guest joining us, we grill Steve Peters about his move to professional puppetmastery, and get his thoughts on the directions that we might see ARG move towards in the near future.
Elan Lee, another 42 Entertainment alum, gave a speech at the Montreal International Gaming Summit this past week (our own Carie Ward broke the story here), and our panel looks at some of the things he said.

The End is Ny: Ny Takma Explores Dead Languages and Possible Planetary Destruction

November 7, 2006 / Jessica Price

Eden, Shangri-La, Mu, Lemuria, Tir Na Nog, El Dorado, Lyonesse: lost lands have fascinated audiences as long as humans have been telling stories. So it’s probably not surprising that the most famous of them, Atlantis, has finally gotten its own ARG.

On September 30, Unfiction players received an email directing them to a website which warned that the end was near, and showed videos of what appear to be an exploding planet. Attempts to make sense of the site’s content led to a hunt for Hank Morgan, a man obsessed with the mysterious language of Atlantis and searching for answers in the Bermuda Triangle. Hank has a tragic history: his obsession cost him his relationship with his daughter Kendra, and drove his wife to suicide.

Through contact with Hank, his faithful friend (and ladies man) John, and a linguist named Bryan Aristos, players were introduced to what appears to be the game’s central puzzle: translating the Atlantean language.

Unfortunately, the reality doesn’t quite live up to the allure of the concept. Lanti is not a language, merely a word-level substitution cipher. Therefore it’s not a solvable puzzle: players are limited to guessing words from context and waiting for the PMs to drop more vocabulary in their laps. Nevertheless, the audience has been eagerly dissecting the cryptic texts, producing both a wiki lexicon and a translator. Perhaps the game will spawn some Lanti catchphrases that will spread around the community.

The romance of a lost language, hints that Bryan may not be trustworthy, and intriguing symbols and Atlantean references to Kendra and Hank have brought together a close-knit but welcoming community of players to unearth the answers.

Catch up with the story so far at Unfiction, visit the player wiki to get a look at the language, or pop into #nytakma on irc.chat-solutions.org to chat with players.

ARG Netcast, Episode 3

November 6, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

It’s already Episode 3 of the ARG Netcast series. Once again, this week offers the comedy stylings of unfiction’s Sean C. Stacey, the politically-charged folk songs of Giant Mice’s Brooke Thompson, and the gospel hip hop of M.C. Jonathan Waite of ARGNet. Subscribe to the ARGNet feed through FeedBurner or via iTunes.

Game News and Topics of Discussion

No response from Mind Candy regarding Perplex City yet, but the Sentinel is back up and us Earthlings are being looked down upon. Oh, those Perplexians.
AV wraps up, and the Puppetmaster comes out of hiding.
konamouse of the unfiction forums helps out the Three Blind Mice as they try to make sense of the Puzzle of the Week, Sammeeeees’s “Free the Five”.
Ny Takma introduces a new character. Trust him at your own risk.
Ocular Effect — is it rising from a Near Death Experience?
Cassie is Watching, Cathy’s Book, and Edoc Laundry chug-chug-chug along.
Hallow’s End launches just in time for Halloween, but we need more information, and you need to send it to us. Yes, you.
Studio Cypher will release another ARG soon, see descry.us for more details.

ARG Netcast, Episode 1

October 23, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Editor’s note: While we are still figuring out the logistical nature of netcasting, you can subscribe to the netcast by saving/dragging this link into your podcast/netcast program, including iTunes.

We’re happy to introduce the first in what will be a continuing series of netcasts featuring ARGNet staff and special guests. The ARG Netcast will be a weekly (we hope) look into the world of alternate reality gaming, in audio format. Episode 1 is up and features Brooke Thompson, Sean C. Stacey and myself talking about a number of different topics:

We dish on the games in our What’s Hot List!

EDOC featured on CSI:NY
Cathy’s Book gets a brief look — will it stand up test of time?
Cassie is Watching, dead trail or official tie-in with Lonelygirl15?
The End: we argue about the name but like the original language used in the game
Sammeeees launches creatively, uses free resources well
AV brings the gore, but is there more?
Perplex City keeps on going and going and going… where’s it leading? And where’s the cube?