He Loves Bees

"Back in AI, the challenge was, hey, let’s build the game in such a way that your life just gets weird. The producers came back to me and said, what does that mean? I said, I want you to look at the web, and suddenly nothing quite makes sense anymore. And they said, well, we could do a little pop-up window. I said, what I want is, after you visit this website, your car only drives in reverse and none of your friends remember your name and suddenly your mom doesn’t speak English. And they kind of gave me this blank look and I said, yeah, I’ll settle for a pop-up window."

Yes, that's right, Gamasutra's interviewing Elan Lee, creator of ARGs such as The Beast, I Love Bees and Hex 168. Check it out now before they're erased from continuity, leaving nothing behind but a cryptic message encoded in the back of a cereal packet.

Perplex City Expanding

Via Gamasutra:

Officials from Mind Candy, the UK based company behind the alternate reality game Perplex City, have announced a $7 million dollar investment from Accel Partners and existing investors Index Ventures and NewMedia Spark, preceding a major 2007 expansion of the ARG, including a second new puzzle brand aimed at a younger audience. 2007 will also see a wide-range of new Perplex City products including books, video games and mobile content. Bruce Golden, general partner at Accel Partners said, “We believe that Mind Candy is a pioneer in developing new forms of entertainment that combine some of the best attributes of the internet with the strengths of traditional board games, puzzles, and treasure hunts. Mind Candy’s initial success at establishing a passionate community of participants in Perplex City,
combined with their ambitious plans to build a global brand for consumers interested in this new form of entertainment represents a very exciting investment opportunity for us.
- see the original article

So for all those people who'd been hanging out to see whether Perplex City had been commercially successful, this seems like a pretty clear indication that the long term answer is "yes". ARGs are finally entering the hallowed ranks of "things which are profitable". Huzzah.

EDIT: I should also add it's a mark of both coolness and games-industry foresight that Gamasutra are covering this news. They definitely seem to have a keen eye for where video gaming is going. Kudos, or somesuch.

Last LonelyGirl 15 Post

[Web Stuff] [Film] [Comics]

As a sort of finale to the LonelyGirl 15 posts I did a while back, I present the latest news direct from the mouth of Buffy and Firefly creator Joss Whedon. Discussing his upcoming Wonder Woman film adaptation over at fansite Whedonesque:

Wonder Woman has finally been cast. To no one's surprise, we eschewed all those tired movie and TV personalities and cast the interweb star "Lonelygirl", or whatever her actual name is. Congratulations, whomever!
- Joss Whedon

So there you have it. Clearly definitive news, and absolutely not a tongue-in-cheek off-the-cuff joke. Look forward to our friend Jessica Rose saving the world from Ares, Circe and/or the Cheetah soon in a theatre near you.

Thanks to Internal Collapse for the tip-off.