wicked. i will do.

yeah, i didn’t mean to be mean about the 1.9 thing – it is cool – i think given time, the advanced response to this kind of thing might be to redirect the url to a social network page or a site that allows people to sign up & contribute. imagine how cool it would be even if it linked to a wiki or a Ning social network set up by the first person to find it, which becomes a place to share game chat, cheats & media.


I was thinking that they must’ve left it open on purpose… but on reflection, perhaps they didn’t. It’s good fortune that the guy who did this didn’t have a darker heart. Could have been a commercial opportunity, a portal for spam / phishing, or something more Adult. thinking of the GTA Hot Coffee revelation, the media would have a field day with that…

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Well, Rupert, maybe for *us* that’s a 1.9 response. But it’s better than nothing, non?

I dropped the guy an email last night telling him how awesome it is that he secured that URL (I linked him here too, so maybe he’ll comment). Either way, I hope it opens up the way for more UGC easter eggs. That would be cool.

Batman Arkham Asylum is awesome. If you’re planning on sticking around in London for a bit, then do go and get an Xbox. You can join our Twitter/Gamers Google Wave for organising XBL nights.

‘Transmedia/ARG’ – Yep. I like that, much.

PS. Yes, I meant ‘billion’ – will change it now, cheers.

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Also, would have been great if the guy who registered the domain wanted to do something more gamey/storyish/interactive with it than just have an email and an edited guestbook… bit of a 1.9 response, perhaps…?

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Very cool!

Perhaps they anticipated this… I hope so. Would seem strange if they hadn’t.

Things like this are going to become ubiquitous in the next few years, I think – jumping off points for finding stories and games in other media, all expanding the universe of whatever the main property is: film, tv, game, etc. Lost has already made huge use of this – the Transmedia/ARG mentality is slowly seeping through into Mainstream Media.

I think the excitement of looking for and discovering easter eggs is key to bringing interactivity to old media. It allows you to have the satisfaction of experiencing a carefully crafted narrative or experience, but then also engage immersively with it to keep digging further into the story world. And gives the audience multiple entry points.

Excited by what you and Dan say about Arkham. Might be worth buying a console for – had to sell my Canadian one when I came back to London. This kind of detail and story experience is what I hope to find in games, and am almost always disappointed.

Also… did you mean multi-billion?

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Ben, I had no idea you were *such* a gamer!

What do you play on now? PS3 or 360?

Oh how I remember Killer Instinct, I still have my SNES kicking around somewhere with that on it – heh. Orchid, there are no words.

I lost many, many nights of sleep to Ridge Racer 64 also.

Grr..

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Arkham Asylum 2 trailer: http://arkhamhasmoved.com

(can you spot the Penguin and Catwoman references)

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Great post, James!

Other in-game Easter Eggs I remember:

Killer Instinct – Brutalities, animalities, “babalities”, and even this infamous move by Orchid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZPf7-kdcwY

Ridge Racer 64 – Bit of an odd one, but I remember that you had to do 100 laps on the hardest track without touching the sides and you got to play one level of Galaxian. Took me ages and the rewards really weren’t that great…

Outside of video games, I love the recent ‘Welcome to Apple’ unboxing posts that went round. Perhaps not really an Easter Egg, but it still makes you feel part of the club:

http://blogs.gartner.com/thomas_otter/2009/10/06/employee-branding-isnt-just-a-web-thing/

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@mossy You never considered it? But did you HEAR it? I bet you will next time round

Re: MW2. Dude, I’m jut trying to get through the damn thing ALIVE!! There are Easter Eggs too?! Jeez.. Will take another, closer look.

Cheers.

@kermit I didn’t even *think* about Paradise City, I haven’t played for ages. Like MW2, I’m going to have to play that again and start looking – or at least go and check Criterion’s blog post out. Cheers for that. Social games, yes – with Last.fm, Facebook and now Twitter integration – I reckon we’ll see much more of that over the coming months too.

@Dan You and me both

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It’s not so much the hidden easter eggs in Arkham which I love – it’s the fact that anyone can play and enjoy it, but the more you know Batman from the past, the more extra touches you notice around the place. Loads of bits that don’t play any part in the plot at all, but are just cool when you spot them…

I really do love this game – finished it on normal, working my way through the special missions, and then planning to go back through on hard!

Easter eggs are great for building in some additional excitement/reward, and so many games have interesting ones – I tend to play through a game and then compulsively check gamefaqs or xboxachievements to make sure I haven’t missed anything…

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