Do it!

I wish to thank your dedication I'm as interested as you for finding out.

You do know it will just be a game :P

Perhaps someone hired you an escort service? Or, someone hired you out as an escort :D

Kotaku: We risk our lives to report on what may just be a cell phone game!

This is why you guys rock!

GO DR FLYNN!!!!

make a webcam hat and live cast it to us!

you'll have it, flynn, we'll make sure you do.

"R.I.P
flynn de marco,
who took one for the team,
forever in our thoughts
Kotaku"

So 5pm on my birthday you get a ride... Lucky shit.

This is like some real life Bourne Identity type of action!

So, 5pm on my birthday you get a ride, Lucky shit.

you have my admiration as well

it's crazy that you're thinking about going,

but my thanks to you for being so dedicated!

Its a trap!

He was a brave lad...

You gonna get raped...
Or a game involving a car ride is going to activate on the phone.

Be careful, Flynn! Remember: Always keep a knife in your boot. It worked in Kill Bill, so it must be true.

heh, personally, I would be worried. and then dissapointed to find out this whole ordeal was for some lame cell phone game.

The Nintendo Wii Ambassador event was similar to this in Denver. 30 people received text messages instructing them to be at an intersection in the Metro-Denver area in 1 hour. Everyone showed up at a street corner, a hummer/limo pulled up with paper over the windows. We surrendered our cell-phones (they gave us claim tickets) and were driven around for a few minutes. They dropped us off in an alley behind an art studio where we enjoyed Pizza, Beer, and the Nintendo Wii a few months before it was released to the public. To the best of my recollection, only one person died, but he knew the risks.

It's probably some crazy stalker. Write a will if you haven't already. Godspeed De Marco, godspeed.

Wow, this sounds like it could be an over-hyped action-thriller-mystery.

Flynn De Marco in ... Mission Impossible 4: Unlock Every Achievement or Die Hard!

@LANfill: YES!!! flynn, please liveblog your kidnapping! :D

sounds like gta 4. as you get your missions via cell phone. . .

It sounds like viral marketing for GTA4. In the game you get phone calls on a cell to do side missions.

Probably has something to do with GTA IV. Isn't a cell phone an important way to get missions with the game? Pretty cool if that is the case.

Just think about how this plays out if you're found face down in a river somewhere.
"he got a cellphone? he got in a strange car? why did no-one stop him? It sounded cool? thats no reason!"
its probably some sweet game related event... but there ain't no continues in real life (unless you're buddhist).

@eddw1n: @blizzardjesus: @vanhammer2000: hivemind

This, ladies and gentlemen, is how new positions open up at Kotaku.

Crecente masterminded this. I can hear his pirate-y laughter from here.

I know why you're here, Flynn. I know what you've been doing... why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night, you sit by your computer. You're looking for him. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him. I was looking for an answer. It's the question that drives us, Flynn. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did.

Sounds very Spy-ish.
My first instinct was to shout Bourne or SpyHunter, but with the imminent release of the next Bond movie I am inclined to go with that franchise.

JustinTV?

I'm thinking GTA4, too. If it's a cell phone game, I'll be stricken with disappointment. In either case, good luck, Flynn.

It's good to be back to Kotaku after a week off. Oh, Spring Break.

Eleaborate April Fools joke? or a Stalker? Still it'll very anti-climatic if it ended up being another message in the car.

@jayntampa: I don't know those escorts can be tricky and you might end up in a bathtub with your kidneys missing or something else worst.

+ Watch video

So this is how they recruit for the American CIA.

how very Hollywood. I like it.

it's certainly better then how we recruit agents in the UK.

i.e. put a Ad in the mainstream Job Finder section.

[news.bbc.co.uk]
[news.bbc.co.uk]

far too civil. bah. oh not allowed to use sex either.

[news.bbc.co.uk]

I tell you, the Secret Service not what it use to be.....

@MURDERFACE: They could be selling Flynn off as a slave, too ... scary stuff! But, it's all worth it if there is the possibility of playing a game early!

Why oh why do we have to wait so long to find out what happens next! Two weeks!

"*Dead* drop point." Is this a term I am unfamiliar with, or does that seem weird to anyone else? Maybe something for Dead Space.

So, are you supposed to respond to whoever sent the message with a confirmation? (as the message does say "confirm pick up name for driver")

Probably some strange add campaign for The Agency.

@Synep: My understanding of a "dead drop" is that it means there won't be someone at the drop off point, just whatever item Flynn is meant to obtain. Could be wrong though

What's the phone # the texts are coming from? We can track these secret agents down right quick.

bring a condom and a can of mace.

@jayntampa: True, but now the question is what game is it for?

This is actually SO creepy, oh my god.

@pylon_trooper: Well, Crescente did say that he doesn't like to fire people...

Might as well be for the Bourne Conspiracy game. Never know.

Or maybe it's not about a game at all and someone's out to kill ya lol

do a barrel roll!

MAJESTIC! That's the name of the game I tried out. Never had a driver, though.

I hope the end of the road is a stripper.

@Fallible: Actually. After checking the article again I'm going with Mercenaries 2. Although, it could also be GTAIV I suppose.

Haha wow. Do it! If you don't make it, I'll personaly sail across the ocean to show up on your funeral.

"It is reported that if you ride with R. A. Salvatore, you ride with Hitler."

I'm thinking GTA IV too, between the timing, the use of a cell phone, and-- more than anything else-- this is their "style."

Cthulhu is sending his minion limo to take you to his hidden base. You are so lucky. doesn't even call me anymore.

When you get raped by hillbillies and get left naked and bruised in a field full of pricker bushes, don't say I didn't warn you, Flynn.

mmmHMM!- Tha's right.

I'm going to be the voice of female reason here: until you get official word from some company or other that this is their baby, don't get in that car! It could be a serial killer that targets game journalists because they always wanted to make it as one and couldn't. Don't go, Flynn!!!

I think people are overlooking one other possibility. He gets in this car and then the driver just takes him home or someone unimportant. Then, the next day, the front page news has a picture of Flynn entering a mysterious car and uses this as proof of some sort of scandal. After Flynn is out of the picture (presumably to jail), they have their mole apply at the Kotaku Tower to replace Flynn. This is just the first step into the takeover of Kotaku, mark my words.

But who could this shadowy figure organizing everything from behind the scenes? Maybe CNet wants a replacement for their crumbling Gamespot? Maybe Sony wants revenge for leaking Home? Maybe, but my suspicions run deeper. I fear it is the Unholy alliance of Rupert Murdoch and Jack Thompson.

I'll be back with some more of my theories, right after I get some tin foil and construct a hat. I'll also be looking to see if I can find a stylish trench coat and glasses.

you know how a few weeks back Cresente talked about how he hates to fire people? Well he never explained the process of "firing" people. Flynn, run run while you can!!

Please Live Blog it!

You simply have to set up a hidden cam. This is almost definitely a viral ARG, and I'd love to see what they have in mind.

@robbrechter: haha, yessiree mr. morpheus

GTAIV. Without a doubt, you will get to playtest the multiplayer portion under a pier somewhere...

The only way to make that creepier would be

"P.S: Free Candy!"

I'll agree with the sentiment that Grand Theft Auto IV seems a good fit, considering that taking missions via phone is an integral part.

This is moderately exciting, and not particularly dangerous regardless if the cell phone was sent by some random parson. Knowing where you live, I'm sure they'd know you would post here, and they wouldn't do anything to you with so many eyes watching.

Unless they're sacrificing themselves and to spread some kind of message to this audience. No worries.

@MagWheels: You see! We're on to something. Crecente has plotted the whole thing. He just wants to get rid of a contributor without looking him in the eye.

Pirates. Deceitful characters. Elaborately firing someone. And not out of a cannon, but possibly from a speeding car.