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.
Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, and strategy games. Gen Con also features computer games. Attendees engage in a variety of tournament and interactive game sessions. In 2015, Gen Con had 61,423 unique attendees, making it one of the largest conventions in North America.
The Infinity Gems are six fictional gems appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, named after and embodying different aspects of existence. The gems can grant whoever wields them various powers in accordance to the aspect of existence they represent, and have the potential of turning the wielder into a god-like being when all six are held together. Thus, they are among the most powerful and sought items in the Marvel Universe; playing important roles in several storylines, in which they were wielded by characters such as Thanos and Adam Warlock. Some of these stories depict additional Infinity Gems or similar objects.
City of Heroes (CoH) was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game which was developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCSOFT. The game was launched in North America on April 28, 2004, and in Europe by NCsoft Europe on February 4, 2005, with English, German and French servers. In the game, players created super-powered player characters that could team up with others to complete missions and fight criminals belonging to various gangs and organizations in the fictional Paragon City.
Bulova is an American timepiece manufacturing company that was founded in 1875 and has been owned by Japanese multinational conglomerate Citizen Watch Co. since 2008. The company makes watches, clocks and accessories, and it is based in New York City.
I Love Bees was an alternate reality game (ARG) that served as both a real-world experience and viral marketing campaign for the release of developer Bungie's 2004 video game Halo 2. The game was created and developed by 42 Entertainment. Many of the same personnel had previously created an ARG for the film A.I. titled The Beast. I Love Bees was commissioned by Microsoft, Halo 2's publisher and Bungie's ultimate parent company at the time.
Joseph Ward Simmons, better known by the stage name Run, Rev. Run or DJ Run, is an American rapper, producer, DJ and TV personality. Simmons is one of the founding members of the influential hip hop group Run–D.M.C. He is also a practicing minister, known as Reverend Run.
Victoria Centre is a shopping centre in Nottingham, England, constructed between 1967 and 1972. It contains fashion and high street chain stores as well as cafes, restaurants, a health and fitness centre, and the Nottingham Victoria bus station.
The Metaverse is a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the Internet. The word "metaverse" is made up of the prefix "meta" and the stem "verse" ; the term is typically used to describe the concept of a future iteration of the internet, made up of persistent, shared, 3D virtual spaces linked into a perceived virtual universe.
Jordan Weisman is an American game designer, author, and serial entrepreneur who has founded five game design companies, each in a different game genre and segment of the industry.
Jane McGonigal is an American game designer and author who advocates the use of mobile and digital technology to channel positive attitudes and collaboration in a real world context.
The Milwaukee City Hall is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was finished in 1895, and was Milwaukee's tallest building until completion of the First Wisconsin Center in 1973. In 1973 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Video game culture is a worldwide new media subculture formed by video gamers. As video games have exponentially increased in popularity over time, they have had a significant influence on popular culture. Video game culture has also evolved with Internet culture and the increasing popularity of mobile games. Many people who play video games identify as gamers, which can mean anything from someone who enjoys games to someone passionate about it. As video games become more social with multiplayer and online capability, gamers find themselves in growing social networks. Playing video games can both be entertainment as well as competition, as the trend known as electronic sports has become more widely accepted.
Bill Slavicsek is a game designer who served as the Director of Roleplaying Design and Development at Wizards of the Coast. He previously worked for West End Games and TSR, Inc., and designed products for Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, Alternity, Torg, Paranoia and Ghostbusters.
lonelygirl15 is a web series that was released on YouTube June 16, 2006 to August 1, 2008. Initially presented as an authentic video diary, it gained wide media attention in September 2006 when the show was revealed to be fictional. The plot began with the mundane life of a teenage girl; the narrative became increasingly bizarre, portraying her dealings with secret occult practices within her family, including the mysterious disappearance of her parents, and a "secret" ceremony prescribed by leaders of the cult. The series was created by Mesh Flinders, a screenwriter and filmmaker from Marin County, California; Miles Beckett, a surgical residency dropout turned filmmaker; and Greg Goodfried, a former attorney with Mitchell, Silberberg and Knupp, LLP.
42 Entertainment is an American company based in Burbank which specializes in creating and producing alternate reality games (ARGs). The company was founded in 2003 as an independently owned, creative content and interactive agency under the name 4orty 2wo Entertainment. The company started with a nine-person management team and was originally based in Emeryville, California. It produces alternate reality games, including campaigns for Xbox and PS3 titles, the movie The Dark Knight, and the Nine Inch Nails Year Zero album.
Sigma Harmonics is a 2008 role-playing video game co-developed by Square Enix and Think Garage, and published by Square Enix for the Nintendo DS. An expanded port for mobile devices was released in 2010 under the title Sigma Harmonics Coda. The storyline follows Sigma Kurogami, a member of magical family. He goes on a mission through time with childhood friend Neon Tsukiyumi after demons escape the family's imprisonment and rewrite history through a series of murders. The gameplay combines role-playing combat mechanics, and adventure-style investigation and storytelling.
Elan Lee is an American game designer, developer and creator. He has designed games for the Xbox, helped create the world’s first Alternate Reality Games, and in collaboration with Matthew Inman, Elan built the card game 'Exploding Kittens', the most-backed Kickstarter campaign in history at the time of release, and founded the Exploding Kittens company in 2015.
Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a 2009 action-adventure game based on the Ghostbusters media franchise. Terminal Reality developed the Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 versions, while Red Fly Studio developed the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii versions. The game was released after several delays in development and multiple publisher changes. In North America, all versions of the game were published by Atari, while in Europe, the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 3 versions were published by Sony Computer Entertainment. A separate game for the Nintendo DS with the same title was developed by Zen Studios and released at the same time, albeit with substantial differences in the gameplay and story.
Goblins is a Dungeons & Dragons-based webcomic by Ellipsis Stephens. Running since 2005, the world of the comic follows role-playing style rules which the characters can take advantage of. Spin-offs such as a card game, a video game, and an animated series have been announced but have not been produced.
