Kotaku
Yesterday the truth was finally revealed behind the mysterious cell phone received in the mail a few weeks back. I was still pretty unsure of exactly what was going to go down yesterday, so I sent a final text message through the phone asking what was going on.
A few minutes later I received a reply: "At 3:30 a black car will arrive to your house to pick you up. The mission should take no longer than three hours." Three hours, eh? What the hell, I went ahead and cleared my schedule for the afternoon and got ready to embark.
At 3:30 on the dot I went outside and lo and behold, there was a black car with a card with my name on it in the window. Not only was the car out there at the assigned time, but they had managed to get a parking spot right in front of my house. If you know anything about parking in San Francisco, you'll know that this is no mean feat, especially in the Mission. My driver was waiting by the car and told me he would be taking me to my destination as he opened the door for me to get in. I looked and made sure the door locks hadn't been sawed of and got in.
We drove all the way across town and eventually ended up at Fort Mason Center out by the water. If you've ever seen the movie Copy Cat you'll have an idea of where this is. We drove over by the firehouse and the car stopped. The driver told me to go get the information case and return to the car. As I got out, I saw a large metal briefcase type deal sitting in the middle of the pavement. I got out and grabbed it and returned to the car. Inside was a postcard of Coit Tower and instructions to direct the driver to take me there.
Once we were on our way to Coit Tower, the driver received a phone call and then informed me that he had new orders and a new destination for us. What else could I do but say yes? Didn't seem like I had too much of a choice. So I sat and watched the city slide by the windows as we passed Pier 39 and wound our way through The Embarcadero. We finally arrived in a very warehouse-y area down by Third Street and Twentieth where the driver told me it was time to get out of the car. We had reached the final destination.
I took my case, got out of the are and was greeted by a fellow who welcomed me to the assignment and asked if i had any idea what this was all about. I admitted that I didn't but that I had some ideas. We walked into a nearby warehouse and started making our way up the service elevator and through the halls towards the final reveal.
We arrived in front of a door which was opened for me and I entered wondering what I would find. As some of you speculated in the comments of my previous articles, the whole thing turned out to be for... the new Bourne Conspiracy game. Three of the developers from High Moon Studios were there to discuss the project with me and show me a little bit of what it was all about. Unfortunately I can't say much about what I saw as the information is under embargo until the 28th. But I can tell you that I liked what I saw and that The Bourne Conspiracy isn't your run of the mill action game. I saw four different areas covering the various game mechanics including a driving level.
Once my talk with the guys form High Moon was finished, I was escorted back to the front of the place where my driver was waiting for me. I was giving a digital voice recorder that contained my entire interview with the developers (had I known I wouldn't have taken all those notes!) and the case was given back to me although it was slightly heavier than before.
As we drove away, I opened the case to find a ton of swag including a mini-backpack (you can never have too many bags) a flashlight, a 2gig USB drive hidden in a black rubber bracelet, a Sony MP3 player containing some of the music from the game, a game fact sheet/booklet and of course the case itself which looks like it would comfortably fit an Xbox 360. Also included was what I thought to be the most clever addition, a dossier on me that included my name, known associates and habits. It was odd some of the things they knew about me, but then again, on the internet your life is an open book. Attached to the dossier was four large black and whit photos, two of me coming out of my house to meet the car and another two of me picking up the case at Fort Mason Center. It was really quite the clever and ingenious marketing ploy and I must admit that I, like many of you, was completely sucked in.
All in all it was not a terrible way to spend a Tuesday afternoon and I was told that even more would be revealed to me today at Sierra's Editor's Day here in SF. Again, everything I see will be embargoed until the 28th, but judging from the line-up, there will be plenty to talk about when that day finally rolls around.
I hope you've enjoyed unraveling this little mystery with along me. Agent De Marco over and out.
Comments
That's pretty damn cool. ARG-style advertising.
You know, that whole experience sounds pretty cool. Who hasn't fantasized about being in on something really important/clandestine? Good on the publisher and ad agency for whipping this up.
I knew it! I think, at least, I mentioned the Bourne game being this.
Anyway the photos of you in the case thing is pretty cool :D Kinda creepy, but cool.
That was a sweet stunt, nicely executed (pardon the pun).
I was half expecting it to be for GTA4 though.
I wish stuff like that happened to me :)
Hahah all that just for Bourne Conspiracy gotta give Flynn De Marco guts for going something likes *Raises Hand Cool Points*!!!
Talk about going above and beyond. Nicely done!
Well, at least it wasn't that CSI game... Can I have the mini backpack? :)
I would have been freaked out, nice bravery there.
Absolutely fantastic cheers for this and I'm looking forward to the Bourne game as I loved the films.
That was... was... AWESOME...
@Flynn
what if the case had weapon in it? Were you freaking out? did you now what was happening?
just checking - so you're not face down in the river then?
My earlier fears have passed without coming to pass. Good stuff.
Like the photos - freaky touch
During the whole ordeal today -- prior to seeing the High Moon Studios devs -- did the thought ever cross your mind "Maybe I should be concered. What have I gotten myself into?".
All in all, that was a pretty impressive marketing campaign. It is events such as this that really show how unique the video game industry is. Have you heard of any other game websites participating?
That is pretty sweet. Kudos for them for putting that all together.
Bad. Ass.
While I don't really have any interest in the game itself. That was one helluva cool way to set it up. A lot of nice little touches in there, kudos to the guys behind it.
Now, see, I was expecting a ransom note today.
"Bring me the head of the head of Take-two, Ben Feder, and I shall return Flynn - Tack Jhompson"
haha that's freaking awesome
How do we know its you? How do we know they didn't take over? Show us proof.
Lets just say *HYPOTHETICALLY* I may have been one of those photographers....and there will be some pictures of Flynn on ebay...>.>
MUWHAHAHAHA JUST ACCORDING TO PLAN.
That's awesome. I imagine they couldn't go much further in the whole theme without being too creepy-- a good balance. Look forward to your write-up on the game.
That sounds very awesome, and an exciting way to pass the time.
The swag that came out of it sounds even more awesome, pretty cool touches they put on that to make the whole thing seem even more grand.
the story is no longer the preview or the review of the game but it has become the event of the revealing of the said game...MGS4 now Bourne, a Denis Dyack jumping out of a cake for the Too Human ad launch?
Sounds cool that they'd go through so much effort. I would've used the phone to make calls to sex operators and never would've completed the mission.
That's just badass
That is indeed pretty sweet. I smell another contest? You could put together a pretty damn cool (and convoluted!) contest out of this one.
Very impressive.Not you taking out the devs in hand to hand combat impressive,but still very cool.Actually,this is one of the best ideas I've heard.
Epic on all scales.
However, I am a bit disappointed that a secret-GTA-setup-under a pier didn't come to fruition.
Now this is how you market a game. Hopefully it will surpass the stereotype of all movie games suck. Odd enough movie games were fine for NES... but maybe because we had only so much that could be done in terms of gameplay.
Thats what I call awesome PR. Still... im sure the game will do well, but it's not what im looking for in videogames anymore.
ARGs kick ass, totally, but sometimes you really have to open yourself up to doing really stupid things (like getting into a stranger's car because of a mysterous phone call) for the sake of forwarding the game. Did you check back at the Coit Tower to make sure it wasn't something else? Man, I applaud your guts. I wouldn't have gone anywhere alone.
Pity the game'll probably stink.
You should have asked the driver to take you through [insert favorite drive thru] on the way there or back ;)
"Also included was what I thought to be the most clever addition, a dossier on me that included my name, known associates and habits."
That's really, really creepy.
@GMC: of course he is. you think that was the real Flynn reporting? fool!
Good job, High Moon.You got me interested in what cool ideas you put in the game. Unless this was just cool marketing wrapped around an okay game.
And absolutely amazing idea by High Moon. Flynn, you lucky bastard, you might have the coolest job on earth. I want to get to be a super spy who's part time job is that of a mild mannered video game journalist.
Thats F'n kewl! I was betting it was GTA IV
Good to hear your not dead.
@keyrat: I don't normally make these kind of comments, but it was a lol moment; and your avatar is full of victories.
@Civin: i went to a friend's wedding in Vegas in February. there was a Jack in the Box across the street from their chapel. we asked the limo driver if he could go through (even though we had a buffet waiting when we got back to the hotel), but he said it couldn't make the turn. :/
This is why I wouldn't want to be a games journo, I'd feel really bad if I reviewed the game and called it crap after all the freebies and secret missions. That's why they do it of course, but even so I'd still feel guilty! :)
pretty sweet, one of the better marketing ploys I've heard of.
That's awesome.
On a side note... High Moon Studios is right down the street from my work. It's a pretty awesome studio and I've been trying to get a job there forever.
Very, very cool. Kudos to the guys who had the idea for this.
I have to admit that I was morbidly hyped to see in the front pages an article about the dissapearance of a kotaku blogger after a string of kryptic blogs. Not because I harbor any ill will, but because it would have been "hella-cool".
After reading that I am SOOOO envious of you. I love the Bourne movies and that whole adventure you went through would have been a blast. I would have eaten it all up.
God I'm jealous.
What a let down. No offense to fans of the franchise, but they are pretty generic spy/action films to me, and a game based on them is definitely not on my radar. At least Flynn had fun, though.
Pretty sure I was the first to call it as a Bourne game. I deserve a no-prize.
So...anything interesting on the flash drive?
Cool read!
Makes me wonder when someone will do this and make it into a horror movie where they lure blogsters with mystery and cool swag and then...we never hear from them again!!!
Cool setup. Sounds like you had fun.
However, you might want to sweep your apartment for bugs now, ala "The Conversation."
One can never be too careful, you know.
That kicks ass Flynn! I've been reading lots of good things about this game lately. Looking forward to the 28th to hear more about it.
That was very interesting Secret Agent Flynn! Thanks for letting us in on your adventures. Maybe next time you will get to stab someone with a pen. ;)