An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions.
Carmen Sandiego is a series of American educational mystery video games that spawned an edutainment franchise of the same name. The game released in 1985, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, started off both the video game series and the franchise as a whole, which has continued up to the present day. Each game of the series has a particular theme and subject, where the player must use their knowledge to find Carmen Sandiego or any of her innumerable henchmen. This series was originally owned by Broderbund, but is now owned by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since its initial release the series has won over 125 awards and accolades.
Out Run is a racing video game released in arcades by Sega in September 1986. It is known for its pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, and a selectable soundtrack with music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi. The goal is to avoid traffic and reach one of five destinations.
Gaia Online is an English-language, anime-themed social networking and forums-based website. It was founded as go-gaia on February 18, 2003, and the name was changed to GaiaOnline.com in 2004 by its owner, Gaia Interactive. Gaia originally began as an anime linklist and eventually developed a small community, but following a statement by founder Derek Liu, the website moved towards social gaming and eventually became forum-based.
Pure Pwnage was a Canadian Internet-distributed mockumentary series from ROFLMAO Productions. The fictional series purports to chronicle the life and adventures of Jeremy, a Canadian and self-proclaimed "pro gamer". In 2010, an adaptation of the web series began airing on Showcase, a Canadian cable television channel, but the series failed to be picked up for a second season.
CollegeHumor is an internet comedy company based in Los Angeles. Aside from producing content for release on YouTube, it was also a former humor website owned by InterActiveCorp (IAC) until January 2020 when IAC withdrew funding and the website shut down. Since then, CollegeHumor has continued to release content on YouTube and on its streaming service, Dropout. The site featured daily original humor videos and articles created by its in-house writing and production team, in addition to user-submitted videos, pictures, articles and links. It was created by Josh Abramson and Ricky Van Veen in 1999. CollegeHumor is operated by CH Media, which also operates Dorkly.com and Dropout.tv in addition to CollegeHumor, and formerly operated Drawfee.com.
Call of Duty is a first-person shooter video game franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold War, futuristic worlds, and outer space. The games were first developed by Infinity Ward, then also by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games. Several spin-off and handheld games were made by other developers. The most recent title, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, was released on October 25, 2019. The next title, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, is set for release on November 13, 2020.
Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy. The website Funny Or Die contains exclusive material from a regular staff of in-house writers, producers, and directors, and occasionally from a number of famous contributors including Judd Apatow, James Franco, and Norm Macdonald. The production company makes TV shows including truTV's Billy on the Street, Comedy Central's @midnight, and Zach Galifianakis' Emmy-winning web series Between Two Ferns.
Haruhi Suzumiya is a Japanese light novel series written by Nagaru Tanigawa and illustrated by Noizi Ito. Initially released in Japan in 2003 with the novel The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, it was followed by eleven additional volumes, an anime television series adaptation, four manga series, an animated film, two original net animation series and several video games.
Room 401 is a hidden camera/reality television series on MTV, executive produced by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg. It is named after the room Harry Houdini died in at Detroit's Grace Hospital in 1926. The show also used some of his famous acts.
SystemSoft Alpha Corporation is a Japanese software development company.
Lexulous is an online word game based on the commercial board game Scrabble. It is run by an Indian company of the same name on a dedicated website, and is also available within the social networking site Facebook.
Peter Duncan Lerangis is an American author of children's and young adult fiction, best known for his Seven Wonders series and his work on the 39 Clues series.
Derek Yu is an American indie game designer, artist, and blogger. Yu is known for a number of indie games he helped design: Spelunky, Aquaria, and Eternal Daughter. He is also known for blogging and creating websites about independent video games.
The Pandora is a handheld game console and mobile personal computer originally released in 2010. It is designed to take advantage of existing free and open-source software and to be a target for homebrew development. It includes several features that no handheld game consoles have previously had, making it a cross between a handheld game console and a subnotebook. It is developed and produced by OpenPandora, which is made up of former distributors and community members of the GP32 and GP2X handhelds. Until 2013 multiple batches of slightly updated Pandora variants were produced. In 2014 the development of a redesigned and upgraded successor, called DragonBox Pyra, was started.
The Xbox is a home video game console and the first installment in the Xbox series of video game consoles manufactured by Microsoft. It was released as Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console market on November 15, 2001, in North America, followed by Australia, Europe and Japan in 2002. It is classified as a sixth-generation console, competing with Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube. It was also the first major console produced by an American company since the release of the Atari Jaguar in 1993.
Spelunky is a 2008 source-available indie 2D platform video game created by Derek Yu and released as freeware for Microsoft Windows. It was remade for the Xbox 360 in 2012, with ports of the new version to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2013, which was also ported back to Microsoft Windows. The player controls a spelunker who explores a series of caves while collecting treasure, saving damsels, fighting enemies, and dodging traps. The caves are procedurally generated, making each run through of the game unique. Spelunky is one of the first games that borrowed concepts from roguelikes and combined them with real-time side-scrolling platformer elements. Due to its popularity, it was the influence for many later "rogue-lite" games.
Xi was the world's first console-based and virtual world-based alternate reality game. It was a one-time-only play, unfolding in real time, and only available on the PlayStation 3 through the social gaming network, PlayStation Home. The game was an adventure to help find "Jess" and the meaning of Xi by collecting fragments and butterflies found in a series of secret areas in Home that changed frequently. The game also challenged the users to search for clues in the real world. The game was created by nDreams who released several spaces for Xi. The game was promoted through a teaser campaign of clues and hints during the month prior to its release on March 23, 2009. The clues were hidden in the Menu Pad and videos in the central meeting point.
Whiskey Media was an American online media company founded independently by CNET co-founder Shelby Bonnie in 2008. It was the parent company of Tested, Screened, and Anime Vice, and the former parent company of Giant Bomb and Comic Vine. Whiskey Media websites were wiki community based, while maintaining an editorial staff. The company's target demographic was focused primarily on males between 10 and 30. The name "Whiskey Media" is a reference to a Kentucky distillery that was owned by the family of Shelby Bonnie before prohibition. Whiskey Media operated in San Francisco, California, after previously being located in Sausalito. On March 15, 2012, Whiskey Media was acquired by Lloyd Braun and Gail Berman's BermanBraun along with Tested, Screened, and Anime Vice while Giant Bomb and Comic Vine were bought separately by CBS Interactive.
Jeopardy! is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show features a quiz competition in which contestants are presented with general knowledge clues in the form of answers, and must phrase their responses in the form of questions. The original daytime version debuted on NBC on March 30, 1964, and aired until January 3, 1975. A weekly nighttime syndicated edition aired from September 1974 to September 1975, and a revival, The All-New Jeopardy!, ran on NBC from October 1978 to March 1979. The version airing as of 2020, a daily syndicated show produced by Sony Pictures Television, premiered on September 10, 1984.
