Alasdair Stuart has been following the exciting alternate reality game to tie in with the massive monster movie Cloverfield…

Alternate Reality Gaming is a fascinating mix of puzzle and story, and the Cloverfield ARG has been no exception.

Starting with the photos added to www.1-18-08.com, the game has expanded constantly. Hand-written notes on the photos led to the discovery of each character’s Myspace page, which in turn led to Jamie Loves Teddy, a series of video postcards sent by one character to her boyfriend. The homepage for Slusho!, a mysterious soft drink was also uncovered through these photos as was Tagruato, the company who produce Slusho’s mysterious main ingredient.

When Tagruato’s page was hacked to show the company CEO watching the destruction of a city, a code was discovered which led to TIDOwave.com. A group of environmentalists desperate to stop Tagruato’s research, TIDOwave infiltrated the company’s Chuai oil rig. Not long after that, fake news reports from multiple countries appeared on youtube showing footage of Chuai, located near New York, being torn apart, seemingly from beneath…

It’s been a fascinating ride for players and spectators alike, and with several questions still unanswered, it looks set to run at least until the film’s release and possibly beyond. So if all of this sounds intriguing, visit www.1-18-08.com or the Cloverfield Despoiler page and start catching up.