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And what happens if someone wanted to go to http://www.ilovebees.com/ yet they never typed the http:/// part, and their browser redirects to, oh lets say htstp://www.ilovebees.com?
Now, in a nice world, that would be the same site, but don't kid yourself, this is the internets, we all know that it would turn out to be that lovely picture of bees on a penis, the same one that you get when trying to visit the /z/ board from 4chan.

http://www.ilovebees.com/

It takes a Director with a passion and an ear for voice acting to get it right. We hear a lot of poor voice acting in TV and film - hell, even Disney falls flat on voice acting once in a while - and those directors only have to worry about putting images on a 2D screen! They don't have to build entire sets for 3D exploration or make their creations interact with the audience. It's ten times harder for a game director to draft and manage good voice talent, which is why voice in games tends to suck.

Of course, there are a few who are good at it - most notably Tim Schafer, who worked on games with voice acting when it was a new phenomenon, and whose studio (LucasArts) was an offshoot of a very big movie production company - although he seems to be pulling out the same caliber of acting for his indie gig. Jordan Mechner is another good example, but I can't tell if hiring Yuri Lowenthal to voice the Prince of Persia was an intentional stroke of brilliance or a fluke. On the other hand, the people who directed another excellent Lowenthal project are brilliant when it comes to VA, but I honestly don't count them as part of the "video game industry." No amount of money in the world can buy skill when it comes to this, which is why Square puts out game after game with shitty voices.

Until game developers have to take theatrical courses to get their degrees, I think I'd rather keep the text option wide open, thanks.

I hope not.. I love bees! ;-)

Man, oh, man, do I love bees!

(Internet-ancient? Yep. But it was still a neeto-keen event!)

Do you mean ilovebees?

Ah, i believe he is talking about ilovebees

But you gotta love the flowbees!

It should be called a chatter... I'm surprised this wasn't brought up earlier! http://www.ilovebees.com/

Unfortunately, my favorite characters from the Halo universe are from what can only be referred to as a piece of official apocrypha, so it looks like I'll be staying home for this one.

Put Jan and the other 1.1s somewhere in the movie, though, and I am SO there.

Other Alternate Reality Games have been a bit more successful. Home-grown games are numerous and plentiful. Corporate engines include I Love Bees, where people were asked to answer pay-phone calls all over the country to unravel a story, and the quite successful Perplex City, which employs collectible cards and a dozen websites to tell a story.

ARGs typically exist on the web primarily, so quite a bit different fFrom this interesting "escape" game. Really though, I hope they ask Jane McGonigal's input. She knows her stuff, yo.

Assuming I'm not the only one who had no idea what "I love bees" was, here are a few links:

The site (Yeah, it is freaky!)
Wired News article about the game

Sounds like I missed the boat.... :(

I am involved with a group of people who play games called "Alternate Reality Games" that take place primarily online. (One such project was for M$ and Bungie promoting Halo 2, called "I Love Bees".)Since a big feature in "getting into the game" involves some secrecy of "who's behind the curtain" making the games, often false information, or fake information related to the "in-game corporation" is listed so that even the WHOIS info points to the game world.

(If you're interested, check out www.argn.com or www.unfiction.com for more info on the growing genre.)

Ummmm....no.

Alternate Reality Games are supposed to give you the sense of playing The Game - being sucked into a world of intrigue and danger completely removed from mundane life. They give you the opportunity to do things that you would never get to do otherwise, with the added thrill that you're doing it in real life. When you're out on a real, live, public street corner playing phone tag with an A.I., waiting to meet a bunch of mad cultists or looking for a secret "drop", the experience of doing it is that much more tangible. As for the storylines, missing people, aliens, mad AIs and web-wandering ghosts are par for the course. We're not talking about a nose-powdering sim here. Go read up on it in wikipedia or one of these fine sites.

If nothing else, listen to this and tell me its not hot.

Sounds like a hint for an alternative reality game starring the brothers Gibb.

It's way to late for puns...

You're forgetting MMOs. They work much better on a PC, where people have already worked out their own internet access rather than paying Sony or Microsoft for more access (XBox Live!, for instance).

Also, you are forgetting the controllers. Consoles have wonderfully ergonomic controllers (or at least the Cube does), and PCs have 101 buttons. Some games require 101 buttons.

Also, joysticks. No one buys a joystick for a console. So MechWarrior and flight games will always have a place on the PC.

Also, who gives a crap about High Def? That's right, people with a lot of money. I bet they have plenty of money for keeping up with PC graphics card costs, too. So your points about High Definition TV fall flat.

You're also getting confused about how long it takes to develop games. It takes that much work no matter whether you're developing for a console or a PC. Check Halo 2's production cost sometime.

Oh, and A-List titles are still on the PC just as much on the consoles. The only thing is, you've never heard of them. Why? Because they aren't advertised the same way. I understand that that is somewhat of a contradiction in terms. Let me put it this way: PC games don't need as much advertising up front because they are easier to try for free. Partly, this is because it is easier to crack and illegally distribute the full versions of PC games, and partially it is because it is easier to get your hands on demo versions of PC games. Thus, PC games can ride on their merits more often than console games can. That means that you haven't heard about great PC games because they are already selling well without having to buy huge ads.

The market for PC games is big enough for that. For proof of all this, go to http://www.ddo.com/ and check out the 'Alpha' status. There are thousands of hardcore fans rabidly waiting for a game you've never heard of. They will advertise a bit to catch the mainstream, but since they're already assured by release time that they'll make back their production cost, they don't care the same way Microsoft did about Halo 2. Microsoft was so worried about Halo 2 that they paid for an different entire game (http://www.ilovebees.com/ in order to advertise it. PC game makers don't have to do that.

Woe be unto those that intrude into one of Melissa's systems.
she takes care of her crew.

As well-known UK ARGinado Adrian Hon points out in a comment on that article, Uncle Roy is not an ARG in any real sense of the word. ARGN is a much better place to go for ARGs -- think I Love Bees.

Or just imagine if such an intelligence were to take over someone's web site
...beekeepers, ssshh ;)

I love bees also opened up the genre of Alternate Reality Games to the general public, using Halo 2 as a draw. As a result, it was the biggest game of it's kind yet created. It's story was complex and deeply engaging. It gave thousands of bored office workers a chance to talk to interesting people, and an excuse to do something rewarding and exciting once a week.

If you actually visited the web site, the name Halo 2 never came up once. Although everyone knew what the game was supposed to promote, none of the people running the game and very few of the players even discussed it. It was totally self-contained up till the end, earning ire and wrath from some people who thought they would be getting free Halo 2 demos just for showing up at a GPS location.

It was also a completely free game given as a gift to the players. They even gave out a limited edition DVD, and then told the players to distribute it on bittorrent and give copies to whoever they like. Microsoft giving anything away entirely free is news to me.

I love bees inspired people to become artists and actors, if for a short time. It also encouraged it's players to leave their shitty jobs and go back and get their Masters' degrees. I'm not kidding.

Unfortunately, to understand any of this, you had to have the patience and forbearance to actually play the I love bees game. Since a lot of people never did this, all they heard was "web site" and "Halo 2." Those people missed out big time. A log of the game and the entire radio play are still available, though, for anyone who wants to find out what all the fuss really was about. (Hint: it wasn't Halo 2.)

It's worse than that, man. I actually previewed Halo 2 at the end of I love bees. When one of my friends found out, he immediately asked me, "Was it awesome? Did it totally kick ass?" I told him that it looked like a solid FPS for a modern system. My friend went frantic, asking me all kinds of questions to get me to reveal the "awesome" in the game. He wants so bad for this to be the next big thing that a lack of enthusiasm on my part was painful. When you get people to invest themselves in a game like this, they want their investment to pay off.

It wouldn't be so bad if the game wasn't preceded by one of the best marketing campaigns/pregames ever created. Halo 2 is more like the ugly girl you'll date just to be around her hot sister. And Jan is totally hot. DAAAAAMN!

I find it hilarious that so many slashdotters in this and previous threads criticize the crappy web design of ILB... thats fully intentional, it adds to the [alternate] reality of the game... in the game storyline, the character Dana designed this Ilovebees website for her Aunt Margaret, a beekeeper. Mysteriously everything went screwy from broken images to weird messages and countdowns to corrupt images (try opening a corrupt image in a text editor...). As the story progresses, you learn the site is inhabited by an AI, or possibly more than one AI. I won't retell the whole story, but my point is a lot of the "amateur" feel of the site is quite intentional and ads to the suspension of disbelief for those playing the game.

Now that its all over, check out the Mission Log for an archive of the radio drama that participants "unlocked" while playing.

When I went to Penny Arcade I got an SQL dump in small white text.

Apparently the Pious Flea gets around!

I read this article about some of the things that are being done by companies. Notably, the fact that companies have linked 32 handhelds together.

Another thing that piqued my interest is that internet browsing protocols (I'm assuming http and such) are in development. I can't really see the DS actually displaying regular web pages, but this opens up a whole new possibility: MMOARG- Massive Multiplayer Online Alternate Reality Games. ARGs just like the recently finished I Love Bees. Except these could be longer and have more to do outside.

Here's an example: You know that you have to meet with an agent of some spy organization to get a password to allow you into the enemy's internet organization. However, the spy is afraid of getting caught, and as such, does not stay in one place. Armed with a GPS device (or, hell, even one that plugs into the DS,) you wirelessly connect to a pre-designated website (or even something else that has a DS-only protocol) and use that to track the location of the spy, and try to locate him. You'll have other visual clues, of course. Once you do, he gives you a DS card (or even something you load onto the DS card in your system,) and you're off.

The more I hear about this device, the more I wish I had preordered one. Unfortunatly, I didn't have the funds. Hmm, I have a semi-regular paycheck now, and I've been wanting to go on a diet for a while...

Hmrpita is well-known person in the ilovebees community (mentioned on the site even) but this is not her. This is just some Slashdot troll trying to draw attention to himself.

Hmrpita is well-known person in the ilovebees community (mentioned on the site even) but this is not her. This is just some Slashdot troll trying to draw attention to himself.

Hmrpita is well-known person in the ilovebees community (mentioned on the site even) but this is not her. This is just some Slashdot troll trying to draw attention to himself.

SHE'S BACK!! She's okay!! omg I'm so happy!! Also, the coordinates for Sunday's broadcast have been posted, and as always you can find them in human-readable format. If there's an axon anywhere near you, you MUST make Sunday's rendezvous because this could be your last chance. Melissa and the Princess may be leaving us. All we know is that something huge is going to happen. REMEMBER TO CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS FOR DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME SO YOU DON'T MISS THE RENDEZVOUS; MELISSA WOULD NOT APPROVE OF BEING AN HOUR LATE.

SHE'S BACK!! She's okay!! omg I'm so happy!! Also, the coordinates for Sunday's broadcast have been posted, and as always you can find them in human-readable format. If there's an axon anywhere near you, you MUST make Sunday's rendezvous because this could be your last chance. Melissa and the Princess may be leaving us. All we know is that something huge is going to happen. REMEMBER TO CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS FOR DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME SO YOU DON'T MISS THE RENDEZVOUS; MELISSA WOULD NOT APPROVE OF BEING AN HOUR LATE.

Has the cutest voice ever.

Has the cutest voice ever.

Has the cutest voice ever.

Has the cutest voice ever.

Has the cutest voice ever.

SHE'S BACK!! She's okay!! omg I'm so happy!! Also, the coordinates for Sunday's broadcast have been posted, and as always you can find them in human-readable format. If there's an axon anywhere near you, you MUST make Sunday's rendezvous because this could be your last chance. Melissa and the Princess may be leaving us. All we know is that something huge is going to happen. REMEMBER TO CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS FOR DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME SO YOU DON'T MISS THE RENDEZVOUS; MELISSA WOULD NOT APPROVE OF BEING AN HOUR LATE.

SHE'S BACK!! She's okay!! omg I'm so happy!! Also, the coordinates for Sunday's broadcast have been posted, and as always you can find them in human-readable format. If there's an axon anywhere near you, you MUST make Sunday's rendezvous because this could be your last chance. Melissa and the Princess may be leaving us. All we know is that something huge is going to happen. REMEMBER TO CHANGE YOUR CLOCKS FOR DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME SO YOU DON'T MISS THE RENDEZVOUS; MELISSA WOULD NOT APPROVE OF BEING AN HOUR LATE.

Oh but they do have a backstory. And quite an engrossing one at that.

from what i understand, it's a alternate reality game. As a reward for solving various puzzles and/or completing certain tasks, players are given audio stories that flesh out the Halo universe a little more. It's actually been pretty good, the voice acting is great, and the climax of the story is going to lead right into the Halo 2 launch.

People seem to dismiss ILoveBees as "YetMoreMarketing".

But the reality is closer to Halo 2 being an ad for ILoveBees! Think about, never once on any ILoveBees area is Halo 2 mentioned. Nor will it be - the whole point of an ARG is the alternate reality! ILoveBees is devoted to slowly playing out this alternate reality, feeding you glimpses of it to get you hooked on the story. It's bulding up this alternate reality where teh Covenent are slowly snuffing out worlds, and getting closer to the Earth.

So in a way it's a sort of inverse marketing, that tells you nothing at all about the product it's meant to get you interested in, but instead meant to get you interested enough in what is going through qualities of its own to maek you want to seek out the product yourself. Of course it helps that you have a back-link in that many people found out about it from the Halo 2 trailer, but that's not made explicit anywhere on ILoveBees.

They make a good point in the Wired article that ILoveBees can stand on its own. I don't even plan to get Halo2 (not having an XBox) until it comes out on the mac (several years hence no doubt). But I still really enjoy listening to teh combined story, even if I don't have time to play the game itself.

For those of a similar mind, they happily have all the audio collected in nice easy to digest chronological bits here.

So, even though it's marketing it's the very best kind which is really not meant to sell the product - it's meant to sell the story - through only text and audio! And isn't that pretty cool all by itself?

For those of you with no patience or time to play the game, they do have a page that comes very close to what you want. Just download all the clips and listen at your liesure. It's also fun to poke around the site and read things there but the audio portion stands up by itself.

The Wired story had it right that it's basically a modern-day radio drama - and I think a really good one. The game around it sounds cool, sad I don't have time for that.

the sleeping princess has done that for us:
http://ilovebees.com/humptydumpty.html

actually...... you can:
http://ilovebees.com/crew_4.html
and
http://ilovebees.com/404

actually...... you can:
http://ilovebees.com/crew_4.html
and
http://ilovebees.com/404

I don't find it sad, but then again, I hate companies that use viral marketing...

Huh?

Isn't "I Love SCO" that web site that got hacked into by some rogue AI from Halo?

Oh, wait....

That was ILoveBees

Never Mind....

RedvsBlue is what you tell your friends and co-workers about in order to make them think that you're ahead of the curve in terms "hip and cool things". Except that RvB is Sooooo Last Year, but it's still funny.

Sorta like telling them about I Love Bees except that everyone knows about I Love Bees now, and it's time to find something else to impress them with.

And no, I'm not telling what the latest thing is, you'll just have to find out about it from somebody else. (And it's not the Donkey, either. That's sooooo last month, it isn't even funny.)

And there's a whole bunch of .wavs on the site if you go digging.

-T

It's just a bunch of really shitty voice acting. Disregard and move along.

The real treasure is the audio drama, it's really quite well-done.

the "backstory" to Halo 2 is being laid out before us as we speak
www.ilovebees.com
timetravel, flash-clones, retired Spartan 1's, rampant AI's, Naval Intelligence coverups, illegal refugess; its really good stuff actually

for those too lazy to really get into the storyline, just go to http://ilovebees.com/humptydumpty.html to hear the story so far

ah, yes. It was a reference to I Love Bees.com, which had some serious Halo 2 rumors circulating around it about a month ago... but I'm sure you all knew that.