Tag: perplex city (Page 4 of 9)

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?

The (dark) Cube Hunt

August 22, 2006 / Nicko Demeter

The San Francisco Connection for Perplex City came and went. Below is a brief summary of the events that took place.

Early in the morning several Cube Hunters gathered at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. With the doors still closed, the Hunters entertained themselves by listening to the podcasts, trading cards, and in general having conversations about the game. When the doors finally opened, Hunters were allowed into an area that contained several tables with free cards, a big screen TV with Guitar Hero, and a puzzle table for those that wanted to stretch their mental muscles before the main event.

On a wall, a projector was keeping track of the “solved” status for numerous puzzles. After several minutes of waiting, Hunters were told to gather to the amphitheater next door. There, representatives of Mind Candy explained that the connection between Earth and Perplex City had been severed and that only with the help of the Hunters would the connection be restored.

I Left My… Cube? in San Francisco?

August 11, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Another large-scale organized event for Perplex City is taking place tomorrow in San Francisco, California, hot on the heels of the almost-worldwide release of the fourth and final wave of Season One puzzle cards, which took place on July 31st. To help build up the hype machine for this event, the creative forces at Mind Candy Design have teamed up with buy.com and 1UP.com as official partners — there’s even a mini-game and Club at 1UP (http://von.1up.com and http://officialperplexcity-club.1up.com, respectively).

The event coincides with a plot development where the ‘Third Power’ has severed the link between our world and the world in which Perplex City exists, and players can expect this get-together to be a task-oriented affair. According to the Mind Candy Emergency website, “At 11am PDT on Saturday (7pm in the UK), (Mind Candy) be giving an emergency briefing both online at this website and at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco, detailing what needs to be done.” Will the participants save the day and be victorious against the Third Power evil-doers? Probably. In any case, it sounds like a heck of a way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and we encourage those in attendance to write in with your reactions and summaries of the day’s events for a follow-up early next week!

Editor’s Note: We are not suggesting that the Receda Cube will be found in San Francisco. It’s just a funny title, people.

Perplex City News

July 12, 2006 / Dee Cook

Good news comes to Perplex City fans this week as Perplex City announces that their card packs are now available via several major online retailers. The card packs, as well as a starter pack which includes additional items such as a music CD and a binder, may now be purchased at Overstock.com, Buy.com, Walmart.com, and Toys “R” Us.

Mind Candy received recognition recently at the Origins International Game Expo, where they won the Vanguard Innovative Game Award. According to the Origins Expo website, Origins awards “Celebrate the best in board, role-playing, miniatures, play-by-mail, and trading card games; professional and amateur magazine publications, game-related fiction, and accessories and supplements.”

Last but not least, Perplex City is planning a live event in San Francisco on August 12, from 10:30 am until 5:00 pm. According to Mind Candy, this is their first major US event, and they hope to have several hundred people there. This event will “activate the link” between Perplex City and San Francisco. For more information or to register, visit the live event website at PerplexCity.com.

Perplex City Video Competition Heats Up

May 31, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

Players of Perplex City have been hard at work this month on submissions for a video contest, and recently, submissions have made their way onto YouTube, a popular online video streaming service. As we told you earlier this month, the video contest is part of a campaign to promote the city which is central to the ongoing alternate reality game, entering its fourteenth month of continuous game play. While ARGN is definitely not in the business of film criticism, I personally viewed all 35 that were up for viewing and found a few that were funny, some that were extremely well-made, and one or two entries that were rather…. interesting. Here are my (completely unofficial) must-see picks:

Private Eye – The ARGN Editor’s Pick, if only for the included line “If she knew, she wasn’t telling me. She wasn’t telling anyone anymore.” Love it.
Hitchhikers Guide to Perplex City – A close second place. Very good use of GUI.
The Quest for The Cube mini-series – parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Proof positive that good things come in multiple episodes, and our third place pick, cumulatively. The ball in part four made me chuckle incessantly, but the freeze frame in part 5 did me in for good.

Assault on 13th Labour

May 4, 2006 / Jonathan Waite

This came in three weeks ago from the fine folks at Assault on 13th Labour, a movement dedicated to solving Perplex City card #251 :

Perplex City, an Alternate Reality Game based around puzzle cards and storytelling, features one card that has yet to be cracked: an RC-64 encrypted plaintext. We’ve created a distributed client and are looking for people with spare cycles to lend a hand. The program requires .NET or Mono (it works on Linux and OS X, as well as XP). Prizes are on offer for the first solve!

Word on the street is that this looks to be as tough a puzzle as the Alternate Reality Gaming community has come across, and hopefully, with a few more volunteers, the card can finally be solved. Perhaps a little history will be made along the way.