In 1982, "Tron" became a landmark moment in pop culture for its prescient imagery and concepts. In December, the light cycles will roll again in the Disney revival project "Tron: Legacy." The film already has stirred the imagination and passion of "Tron" devotees around the world!
In a new element of the ARG, an online game recently was unveiled at the retro-spirited Arcade Aid website. Players who successfully completed the game were given the opportunity to request a personalized Encom corporate badge with Group 7 clearance, which would then be mailed to them.
That Group 7 clearance, by the way, is the same level that Bradley and Baines had in the original film. The badge also arrived with a note (written on the stationery of Arcade Aid, which is presented as a repair shop for vintage arcade machines) and this message:
I've been cranking out these badges in my workroom (behind Arcade Aid). Well, you don't know the half of it. I've also been working my magic on the ENCOM system so that you can access it using the unique ID number on your badge. Your password is the same one you use over at FlynnLives.com -- please note: only this password/ID combination will work (as I said -- workin' my magic, but that's the furthest magic can go). This is the hardest I've worked since the first time I beat Astro-Gunner back in '87 (I was on that machine for three days straight -- still have the calluses to prove it). Time to take a break and ... play some Astro-Gunner. -- Zack
Well, I received a package in the mail today from ‘Flynn Lives‘. The package contained an ENCOM employee ID Badge (Including a nice lanyard emblazoned with the Encom logo), and a note from ‘Zack’ (See below).
wpt note >> That one is mine by the way!! ;)
You’ll notice in the top right hand corner of the ID Badge, there is a QR Code. I broke out my trusty BlackBerry and launched my QR Code scanner, scanned the code and it brought me to the Encom International – Employee Intranet.
Once here, I could login with my employee identification number on the badge, and my password from my FlynnLives.com account.
And… SUCCESS, I’m in!
Oh look, I have 5 new email messages… hmm, we’ll get back to that later.
As you scroll down the page, you’ll notice a posting about an ‘Upcoming Announcement’ that will take place in less than two weeks. Checking my handy Con calendar, the only thing I could find within that time frame is ‘WonderCon’ in San Francisco. What is the picture just below the announcement? Yep, that’s San Francisco!
Next, we have some corporate mumbo-jumbo, but we’re going to check in to that email box just below.. so keep scrolling.
Now, here we are at my Encom inbox, you’ll notice my first initial and last name in the upper left hand corner and to the right of that, my employee ID number (from the badge) and my security access level ‘Group #7‘. If you don’t remember from the original Tron movie, this was the same access level granted to Kevin Flynn and Lora.
Now, on to the messages….
Nothing too informative in the message above, although – Lila seems to be missing, and it was a “KILLER” party. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to be reading too much into that but, was Lila killed at the party? or perhaps she vanished like Kevin Flynn? Could Lila be Olivia Wilde’s character, ‘Quorra’?
The next three messages seem to be harmless corporate bitching… so, skip down to the last message.
While the message above doesn’t seem to have any significance to the movie, or the viral ARG, it is nostalgic…and it’s from Alan Bradley (Bruce Boxleitner/Tron himself).
Thank you to Jason Moore from scifimafia.com for giving us this fantastic piece of information!
wpt note >> There you have it, keep an eye out for an ENCOM announcement between April 2nd and 4th – straight out of WonderCon!!! The ENCOM employee ID Badge is AWESOME and the lanyard with the Encom logo is just UAU!!!! Perfect even if you just want to keep it on your movie memorabilia collection!