At ARGFest, an annual convention dedicated to alternate reality games and transmedia storytelling, conference attendees complement the panels and presentations with more practical implementations of interactive storytelling and puzzle-solving. The 2011 conference continued this trend with a campus-wide puzzle trail, dance battles, riddles, and even a time-travelling balloon.

By Michael Andersen, originally posted at ARGNet

Image courtesy of Kevin Makice

For almost a decade, ARGFest has gathered game developers, academics, and players in one spot to take stock of the industry, sharing insights...

The besieged Mexican government has a new tool in the info war against drug cartels: animated, online propaganda comics set to electronic beats.

The 10-episode comic series, posted over the summer in two- to three-minute episodes to the blog of President Felipe Calderon, is the latest weapon in a “cultural struggle” against drug cartels. The comics are said to be “a new space for communication” that will “help us better understand the phenomenon of organized crime,” said federal security spokesman Alejandro Poire. That is, government propaganda with a pop art twist.

“We cannot allow, as a g...