Tyler Hacks the World

Leave it to Microsoft to take viral marketing to a whole new level. As a promotion for the soon-to-be launched Windows Vista, Microsoft has created an excellent new viral marketing campaign, called Vanishing Point.

The game started at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. On Monday evening in front of the Bellagio, the fountains suddenly shut down, and a image of a woman named Loki was projected onto the fountains. After cryptic references to time, a URL flashed on the screen, www.VanishingPointGame.com.

Each week, for four weeks, Microsoft will open a new set of puzzles. For each puzzle solved, the user gets a certain amount of points (based on the difficulty). At the end of the game, the user is entered into a raffle for prizes, one entry per point. Grand prize: a trip into SPACE to see the "Ultimate Vista".

The game is riddled with codes, double-meanings, and puzzles that need real-world data to solve. There are also secret prizes (one of which is to get your name on every AMD chip printed until March).

This game is HARD. Parts of the game involve emailing, faxing, and even calling Microsoft and asking to be transferred to Loki.

For those of you who want to play, too bad. The game is only open to adults age 18 and over (no kids in space I guess). But there's nothing against playing for your parents...

www.VanishingPointGame.com

-Tyler