ARGNet: Alternative Reality Gaming Network
http://www.argn.com
By Ken Newquist
As the dog days of summer set in, it's nice to get away from it all ... like the alternative reality next door, where alien intelligences invade an innocent bee lover's web site or a formerly benevolent nonprofit is taken over by forces hell-bent on unleashing a virus to decimate the world's population.  ARGNet tracks these divergences from our contemporary timeline, providing regular news updates about new and ongoing alternative-reality games. Among the games it's tracking is the Dark Knight-inspired "I believe in Harvey Dent," the Beijing Olympics "Find the Lost Ring" game and the upcoming Lost-based Dharma Initiative ARG. It also has speculation on Web sites, e-mails and oddball advertisements that might lead to new ARGs, such as one for Joss Whedon's upcoming Dollhouse series. Those looking to join an ARG can follow one of the prominent links to active games from the site's homepage.
The site's offerings are augmented by a regular podcast that rounds up ARG news and speculates on upcoming games. It's hosted by Jonathan Waite, who writes ARGNet, and Sean C. Stacey, who runs the ARG-related web sites Unfiction and Despoiler. The podcast's schedule is somewhat erratic, sometimes posted monthly, sometimes weekly, but it's a useful resource for those who want their ARG news to go. |