Episode 41 was so ginormous, we had to split it into two parts, so here is the news portion of the netcast. Jonathan Waite (ARGNet), Geoff May (WikiBruce) and Sean C. Stacey (Unfiction, Despoiler) chat up a number of interesting topics (zombies, anyone?) while bringing back the Puzzle of the Week segment for the Zetria Atrian game.
News Items of the Past Two Weeks
- On the last episode of the netcast, we talked briefly about the live event that took place for the game Eldritch Errors. The spooky details of the three day extravaganza, which took place in the radio-free mountainous region of West Virginia, can be found at Sentry Outpost, the in-game forums. This event marked the end of Book 2 of the ongoing alternate reality game, and behind-the-scenes information can be found at schmeldritch.com.
- After days of patiently watching a Jack-o-Lantern candle diminish, WhySoSerious, the Dark Knight alternate reality game, updated with a message from the Joker asking players to go out and find 49 different locations across the country by following simple clues. This revealed a new picture of the Joker and led to RorysDeathKiss.com, where players can upload photographs of themselves in clown makeup at major landmarks.
- To promote the upcoming season of “Bones” on Sky One in the UK starting November 8, multiple window displays in the UK contained a rather spooky victim of the Silver Skeleton Killer–a skeleton with a single silver rib, sitting in a plush armchair. Visitors to TheDeadRoom.com could play along as characters from the show to help solve the mystery.
- For those of you waiting for a piracy-based alternate reality game, the wait is over. To promote the release of the video game Uncharted, players are encouraged to head over to sullivanstories.com to help treasure hunter Victor Sullivan follow a treasure map by Sir Francis Drake.
- GUINNESS, in conjunction with AMV BBDO, is releasing their new television commercially online through a series of 11 puzzles. In addition to the grand prize golden domino, weekly drawings will award players various GUINNESS related knicknacks. While anyone can play, only UK residents can win.
- Zombies are set to take over the ARG world with two new post-apocalyptic projects with television tie-ins. The first, which has a trailhead at falconrockcommand.com, involves a series of interactive websites to promote itself. The second, which begins at lastdaysjournal.com, is more along the lines of World Without Oil, allowing participants to submit their own videos and accounts of a world overrun with the living dead.
- Christy Dena of Cross-Media Entertainment has stopped posting on her blog site, but you can still get your cross-media news from her new podcast at UniverseCreation101.com. The podcast focuses on content creation in a cross-media environment, and her first interview with Evan Jones from Stitch Media revealed information on interactive projects for Survivorman and the upcoming CBC television show The Border.
- Zetria Atrian and the Sparrow-Clam, a recently launched chaotic fiction mystery we discussed during the last netcast episode, seems to have lost steam due to some very difficult puzzles. Players on Unfiction are lamenting the lack of progress and some have questioned whether the level of player motivation to move the story forward is sufficient in this case. We will talk more about motivation in our topic discussion today.
Puzzle of the Week
The Zetria Atrian puzzles: square0, whispers_0 and lockstone.
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3 Comments Received
November 13th, 2007 @7:41 pm
Hey gang, thanks for the link love.
November 19th, 2007 @7:38 pm
Uhm, it’s been more than a week….where is part 2?
November 20th, 2007 @8:29 am
You guys manage to ask such interesting questions as you skate from topic to topic. Part of what you mused about regarding EE inspired me to share a bit more of a glimpse into the way I think about our budget. Developers get so closed mouthed about that stuff, either because they are embarrassed they don’t have a budget or because they think their budgeting is a classified secret. In reality, budget is just like time: you have so much of it, how do you make the most of that?
Did the motivational subject matter of the second half of the netcast drain all the motivation from you? Or is it aging like a fine wine?
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