unforum

[prufrock]

[not-so-likely SPEC]

My two cents is that this is all a massively publicity stunt by ice CUBE (see icon) to get back into the spotlight and boost new album sales. I mean, we're all the hardcore gansta rap listening type, right?

...or MoMA or some other huge art museum has a new picasso exhibit they need to start hyping early...

[prufrock]

actually, looking into the whole Apple connection a bit more, I have not yet seen anyone mention this old Apple press release regarding the ending of the (old?) Cube line. I thought the language is interesting, of course the "company said there is a small chance it will reintroduce an upgraded model of the unique computer in the future" quote is promising , and it seems like the exec mourned having to kill the line in the first place.

also, the wikipedia article that linked me to the PR (all praise to wiki!) noted how it's a pretty strange move for mac to make that kind of a press release...

more fuel for the fire!

[jbd]

My current guess is that there's an "angel investor" involved. That's financial-speak for "some rich bloke with a lot of free cash lying around".

Furthermore, I am guessing this is not just an ARG, but a social engineering experiment -- somehow creating an "intellectual community", making our real world more like Perplex City's fictional one. This guess comes from
a.) Comments from a ReGenesis interview mentioning ARG as a method of not just gaming, but political change (not related, but it got me the idea) and
b.) In the Liberation article Adrian makes a cryptic comment about Perplex City being more than just a game.

Just more wild spec, of course.

[Marrec]

I don't know what the hook is... but the more and more Michael Smith is in the media talking about Perplex City... the more he reminds me of that Bigend guy from Pattern Recognition. Which gives me the willies.

[Alex Smith]

[wintermute_au]

and don't u love how we read the article/s mentioning michael smith as the ringleader and Scarlett goes and posts saying that her dad's been in contact with him?

whatever the case, firebox alone is hardly worthy of promotion (nor even brand recognition given the possible returns - i imagine)... i'm inclined to agree with the 'angel investor' spec -- mainly because i really really hope that is the case!

lol re Bigend...

[Alex Smith]

I personally reckon it's a huge advert for a new company that solely designs ARGs, and that genre. Michael being the founder, Adrian being a worker/co-founder. Like a new breed of advertising agency.

I can see it now:

"Qnqn qn qn qnnnnn
V'z ybiva' vg"

[Mikeyj]

On the investor front a Mr. Saul Klein...

http://tinyurl.com/4gdfv and http://tinyurl.com/6f4sq

there's even a lovely link to the postcard...which I guess we should be calling Perplexcard now

[edit] note the presence of pleasurecards too...Michael Smith involved in them...it's one big happy family!

[Marrec]

I would be extremely interested to know if there were any other investors of Perplex City who also put money into Pleasure Cards. Only to quench my thirst is all... I'm not suggesting a connection between the two other than investors.

[tanner]

[Mikeyj]

I think so:

There's a brand or style council which have input into the direction Pleasurecards take...Michael Smith is on this and it seems that he got them to name a card (more clever marketing cos he knows we're going to find any reference to PPC). More evidenc for this comes from the style called Blue Movie which has the tagline "once more with feeling". Victoria Coren who is also on the brand council wrote a book about porn movies with that title.

Have signed up for pleasurecards myself and there was only the one colour I could have gone for (see sig)!

[Edit] as an aside Ms Coren also writes for The Guardian...

[Mima]

Pleasure cards

[Alison_1]

Ridiculous

[Marrec]

Interesting if not wrong. We know that PS was the pre-game for PXC. I'm going to assume that your a bit peeved that Art of the Heist, which is an amazing game for those of you who don't know, isn't attracting very many players. Well, we can blame that on many things... but I don't think AotH has anything what-so-ever to do with PXC or PS.

PS wasn't even a pre-game really... PS was a recruiting phase for PXC's PMs, the Pre-Game really started when preplexcity.com was found, so the Pre-Game was only a few months in length.

Besides, we have no connection between Hon, who we know was behind the PS recruiting thing, and AotH/Audi.

[maxim]

Interesting - there are definitely some links to be noticed. But unlikely, I think.