Editing Alternate reality game (section)

=== Massive-scale commercial games and mainstream attention ===
After the success of the first major entries in the nascent ARG genre, a number of large corporations looked to ARGs to both promote their products, and to enhance their companies' images by demonstrating their interest in innovative and fan-friendly marketing methods. To create buzz for the launch of the Xbox game ''Halo 2'',<ref>{{cite news |title=Ilovebees.com Link to Halo 2 Release Confirmed |url=http://www.argn.com/archive/000050ilovebeescom_link_to_halo_2_release_confirmed.php |work=Alternate Reality Gaming Network |date=23 July 2004 |access-date=19 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202074841/http://www.argn.com/archive/000050ilovebeescom_link_to_halo_2_release_confirmed.php |archive-date=2 February 2007 <!--None--> |url-status=live}}</ref> Microsoft hired the team that had created the Beast, now operating independently as [[42 Entertainment]]. The result, ''[[I Love Bees]]'', departed radically from the website-hunting and puzzle-solving that had been the focus of the Beast. ''I Love Bees'' wove together an interactive narrative set in 2004, and a ''War of the Worlds''-style radio drama set in the future, the latter of which was broken into 30–60-second segments and broadcast over ringing payphones worldwide.<ref name="ILB">{{cite web |url=http://www.42entertainment.com/bees.html |access-date=19 February 2007 |title=42 Entertainment: I Love Bees |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070217110759/http://42entertainment.com/bees.html |archive-date=17 February 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The game pushed players outdoors to answer phones, create and submit content, and recruit others, and received as much or a more mainstream notice than its predecessor, finding its way onto television during a presidential debate,<ref>{{cite magazine |title=I Love Bees Game A Surprise Hit |url=http://archive.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2004/10/65365?currentPage=all |magazine=Wired |date=18 October 2004 |access-date=19 February 2007 |first=Daniel |last=Terdiman}}</ref> and becoming one of ''The New York Times''{{'}} catchphrases of 2004.<ref>{{cite news |title=2004: In a Word; The Year of (Your Catchphrase Here) |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9805E7DC1E30F935A15751C1A9629C8B63 |work=The New York Times |date=26 December 2004 |access-date=19 February 2007 |first=Charles |last=Mcgrath}}</ref>

As such, ''[[I Love Bees]]'' captivated enough fans to garner significant press attention, and partly because of this publicity, ''Halo 2'' "sold $125 million in copies the first day of release."<ref>{{cite web |work=42 Entertainment |title=I Love Bees |url=http://www.42entertainment.com/bees.html |access-date=13 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070217110759/http://42entertainment.com/bees.html |archive-date=17 February 2007}}</ref>  A slew of imitators<ref>{{cite news |title=Metroid Prime ARGishness |url=http://www.argn.com/archive/000172metroid_prime_argishness.php |work=Alternate Reality Gaming Network |date=20 October 2004 |access-date=19 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202062914/http://www.argn.com/archive/000172metroid_prime_argishness.php |archive-date=2 February 2007 <!--None--> |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=I Love Bees Two |url=http://www.argn.com/archive/000389i_love_bees_two.php |work=Alternate Reality Gaming Network |date=7 March 2006 |access-date=19 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202061353/http://www.argn.com/archive/000389i_love_bees_two.php |archive-date=2 February 2007 <!--None--> |url-status=live}}</ref> fan tributes<ref>{{cite news |title=Ilovebees-Inspired Artwork to Raise Money for Charity |url=http://www.argn.com/archive/000185ilovebeesinspired_artwork_to_raise_money_for_charity.php |work=Alternate Reality Gaming Network |date=9 December 2004 |access-date=19 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202075408/http://www.argn.com/archive/000185ilovebeesinspired_artwork_to_raise_money_for_charity.php |archive-date=2 February 2007 <!--None--> |url-status=live}}</ref> and parodies<ref name="Ilovebeer">{{cite web |url=http://www.ilovebeer.org/ |year=2004 |access-date=19 February 2007 |title=I Love Beer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070222181022/http://ilovebeer.org/ |archive-date=22 February 2007 <!--None--> |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Welovebeef">{{cite web |url=http://www.welovebeef.co.uk/ |year=2007 |access-date=19 February 2007 |title=We Love Beef |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070226145826/http://www.welovebeef.co.uk/ |archive-date=26 February 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> followed. In 2005, a pair of articles profiling 42 Entertainment appeared in ''[[Game Developer (magazine)|Game Developer]]'' magazine and the [[East Bay Express]], both of which tied into an ARG<ref>{{cite news |title=Where's Handy? |url=http://www.argn.com/archive/000265wheres_handy.php |work=Alternate Reality Gaming Network |date=18 May 2005 |access-date=22 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070608001426/http://www.argn.com/archive/000265wheres_handy.php |archive-date=8 June 2007 <!--None--> |url-status=live}}</ref> created by the journalist and his editors.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Buzzmakers |url=http://www.eastbayexpress.com/2005-05-18/news/the-buzzmakers/ |work=The East Bay Express |date=18 May 2005 |access-date=22 July 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070407060201/http://www.eastbayexpress.com/2005-05-18/news/the-buzzmakers/ |archive-date=7 April 2007}}</ref>

The following spring, Audi launched ''[[The Art of the Heist]]'', developed by Audi ad agency McKinney+Silver, Haxan Films (creators of ''[[The Blair Witch Project]]''), to promote its new A3.

Roughly a year after ''I Love Bees'', 42 Entertainment produced ''Last Call Poker,'' a promotion for Activision's video game ''Gun''. Designed to help modern audiences connect with the Western genre, ''Last Call Poker'' centered on a working poker site, held games of "Tombstone Hold 'Em" in cemeteries around the United States—as well as in at least one digital venue, ''[[World of Warcraft]]''{{'}}s own virtual reality cemetery<ref>{{cite news |title=Last Call Poker PM Chat Transcript |url=http://www.argn.com/archive/000347last_call_poker_pm_chat_transcript.php |work=Alternate Reality Gaming Network |date=30 November 2005 |access-date=19 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202072728/http://www.argn.com/archive/000347last_call_poker_pm_chat_transcript.php |archive-date=2 February 2007 <!--None--> |url-status=live}}</ref> – and sent players to their own local cemeteries to clean up neglected grave sites and perform other tasks.<ref>{{cite news |title='Last Call Poker' celebrates cemeteries |url=http://news.cnet.com/Last-Call-Poker-celebrates-cemeteries/2100-1043_3-5963346.html?tag=nefd.top |work=CNet |date=20 November 2005 |access-date=19 February 2007}}</ref>

At the end of 2005, the International Game Developers Association ARG Special Interest Group was formed "to bring together those already designing, building, and running ARGs, in order to share knowledge, experience, and ideas for the future." More recently, an ARG was created by [[THQ]] for the game ''[[Frontlines: Fuel of War]]'' around peak oil theories where the world is in a crisis over diminishing oil resources.

In 2008, the [[American Art Museum]] hosted an alternate reality game, called ''Ghosts of a Chance'', which was created by City Mystery.<ref name="Luce Center">{{cite web |last=Baptiste |first=Laura |title=Luce Foundation Center for American Art Fact Sheet |url=http://www.americanart.si.edu/pr/facts/luce_fact_sheet.pdf |publisher=SI |access-date=29 March 2013 |date=April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130422162954/http://americanart.si.edu/pr/facts/luce_fact_sheet.pdf |archive-date=2013-04-22 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The game allowed patrons "a new way of engaging with the collection" in the Luce Foundation Center.<ref name="Luce Center" /> The game ran for six weeks and attracted more than 6,000 participants.<ref name="Luce Center" />