It has been a busy summer. Year, even. But two days from now, a community of alternate reality gamers and creators, media and casual folk, fans and fanatics, will descend on Portland, Oregon for the annual ARGFest-o-con.  2009 marks the 6th year of the ‘con, which began as a group of friends gathering for a meetup in Las Vegas. It’s certainly come a long way!

My flights are booked, hotels reserved, and later today I’m heading out for the trip to Portland.  ARGfest has always been an amazing experience, both socially, educationally, and professionally. That it’s also highly entertaining goes without saying.  If you’re also registered for attendance, keep an eye out for me and say hi! :)

For more information about ARGFest and the events of the weekend, be sure to bookmark and visit ARGFestocon.com.  Watch for new announcements, teasers, press, editorials, photos and videos, and much more to come out of the ‘con.  Catch up on the latest discussion at the Unfiction thread.

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Not to be outdone, after the ARGFesters have dissipated, I’ll be attending the San Diego Comic Convention the following week.  There, all forms of entertainment are present and respresented, from comic book artists, to TV shows, to video games, to upcoming major theatrical releases, and of course many fans decked out in their favourite characters’ costumes.  It’s a sight to behold!

This will be my first attending of the SDCC, and to say I’m extremely excited is an understatement. Be sure to watch this space for updates, news, rumours, and – hopefully – intimations of upcoming ARGs and quality promotional campaigns!  These events are hot spots for mysterious happenings and hints of upcoming announcements. Let’s hope there are some upcoming campaigns with some meat, some substance!

At the very least, there will be a sore lack of sleep, lots of talking, lots of news, definitely lots of photos, and many announcements.  Watch this space for updates!

Two years ago Comic-Con was host to a part of Batman: The Dark Knight‘s campaign Why So Serious, with a live event and lots of fanatical attendee activity. Last year, Comic-Con saw dropping of content related to Resistance 2‘s campaign Project Abraham.  What might this year hold?

We shall see…

As above, if you’re also planning to be in attendance, watch for me – the guy with the black Canadian ball-cap – bold red maple leaf in the front! :)

Tags: argfest, comiccon

Categories: ARGs General

In less than 5 days now, ARGFest-o-Con 2008 will kick off in Boston, MA.  Last year, ARGfest invaded San Francisco for an awesome weekend of meeting and greeting, joining (most for the first time) community and industry members, puppetmasters and players, lurkers and veterns, young and old, local and foreign, from across the nation and across the continent, ushering in an era of world peace!  Ok… getting carried away.

ARGFest stretches vaguely from Friday through Sunday morning.  People typically arrive anywhere from Thursday through Friday evening, so that entire period is a general social meet and greet and drinkering.  This year, some key elements strengthening ARGFest’s position as an event you don’t want to miss:

1. Friday night, 42 Entertainment (the company behind the TDK ARG themselves) has graciously sponsored 75 free tickets to see Batman: The Dark Knight at 10:30pm!  Tickets are available first come first served to registered ARGFest attendees, though regular tickets can still be bought while supplies last.
2. The team behind the Holomove game will be performing a PM chat Friday at 4pm (which also be available online for those not at ARGFest)
3. There will be a special labyrinth training event in Boston for The Lost Ring ARG on Sunday morning at 11am. Exact location (near the hotel) TBD.
4. If you’ve been to Boston, there’s an attraction called “The Tomb” for which Jason Chrest of AporiACME has performed some magic, granting special reduced group rates (of up to 12) for the experience.
5. Of course there’s the meet & greet cocktail party Friday night (before TDK) at the hotel. Who’d want to miss that?
6. The traditional FestQuest takes place Saturday afternoon!  It’s always a mystery… you never know what’s going to happen… but for some reason it typically ends up gathering everyone for dinner.  Strange.
7. Thanks to bingo-master BrianEnigma, there may very will be another implementation of Buzzword bingo – Unfiction member Bingo!

Much of this event has been made possible thanks to the gracious sponsorship of:

But with additional sponsorship from other organizations, ARGFest has been made possible again this year, with ever-more exciting content.

The panels and speakers planned for this year, taking place through Saturday’s schedule, include:

• ARGs and Extended Media Experiences – Evan Jones, Lance Weiler, Yomi Ayeni, Blair Erickson, and Elan Lee
• Serious and Independent Games – Ken Eklund, Alice Leung, Dave Szulborski, and Brian Clark
• ARGs and the Rules of Engagement – Steve Peters
• The Future of Alternate Reality Gaming – A Speech Blitz of 10 individuals with 3 minutes each (oooh)
• The Expansion of Alternate Reality Gaming into the international arena – Brian Clark, Patrick Moeller, Alexander Serrano, and Geneviève Cardin
• Long Live Unfiction – Sean C Stacey (who else?)
• Player to Puppetmaster – Michelle Senderhauf, Andrea Phillips, Lindsay Mills, Jan Libby, and Jonathan Waite
• Keynote address, The Story Inside: Making ARGs for Fun and Profit  – Dave Szulborski

For full details, how to sign up, where to go, and loads and loads of additional information and excitement, visit the official website: www.argfestocon.com

For other input and details that may not be officially listed (like konamouse’s ARG Museum), see the ARGFest Wiki.

To skip right to signing up (because you’re going to anyway, right?), go now, to the signup page, now!

I am personally arriving in Boston on Thursday evening, hoping to make it to the oh-so-famous Cheers inspiration (Bull and Finch Pub) on Beacon Hill, a few blocks from the official ARGFest hotel.

ARGFest events officially begin Friday night with the meet and greet at the hotel.

Hope to see you there!

Tags: argfest

Categories: ARGs General