Had a Fun and Sweltering Experience on My Way Home From Work Today

If you have been following the Crackdown 2 viral promotion lately, you know that the marketing team for this new game made their way to Boston today. By following clues posted to Twitter by @Xbox participants could follow the viral team in an effort to collect Crackdown 2 SWAG and other goodies as they visited various landmarks around town. Just my luck that this promotion would make its way to Boston on the one day that I was working on the South Shore (about 30 mintues Southeast of Boston proper). I was resigned to watching the action from the sidelines for most of the day. However, I was able to wrap up my work and snake out of the office a bit early. So I jumped into my car and made a bee-line for Boston while touching base with @Avatrix, my fellow ARG'er and Boston-area partner in crime when it comes to sleuthing out the locations for viral campaign SWAG Drops. As luck would have it, Avatrix also was able to slip the confines of work early enough to try to make the final drop. So we agreed to settle in and wait for the next drop location to be announce by Twittter.

The previous drop locations for the day were at first all Historical landmarks (Paul Revere's house, Fanuel Hall, etc), but as the day wore on, the Boston Garden (where the Celtics play) became one of the targets. With this in mind, I set up near Fenway in the hopes that this area would be the choice for the last drop. Turns out I was fairly close, but off the mark, but more on that in a second.

Right about this time, Emminentt from 2old2play landed back in Boston from a work-related trip to Buffalo and posted on Twitter that he was in the area of the Boston Garden and wanted to know what was up. We filled him in and he stated that he could not find anyone with and Crackdown 2 logos there. They had moved on. I told him I was staking out Fenway and holding tight for more info.

Then the word came from Twitter that the Boston Common was the final location and that the prize for the first person to find the marketing team was a custom Crackdown 2 themed XBox 360. With this info I revved up my car and peeled out for the Common, which is about two miles from Fenway. I received word from Avatrix that he was also headed that way via bike. Emminent posted "I know where they are, but have to take a taxi." The chase was on and we had no idea how many others were following the clues.

I pulled up the the Boston Common and took a hard right at Newbury Street where I could find some parking. I pulled into a space and decided to ignore the meter and chance the ticket, hoping that the 100 degree weather which we experienced today would slow down the meter ninjas which roam this area ruthlessly pasting $25 ticket on every vehicle that they can. I ran up the street and crossed what is known as the Public Garden, an public area just West of the Common. Little did I know that running past the Public Garden would cost me the 360.

While running up to the Common, I called Avatrix first and then Emminentt to see if they had found the Crackdown 2 marketing team yet. They both were scouring the Common, but so far had not seen anyone wearing green or orange (the colors of orbs in Crackdown and our best guess for shirt color for the team). I posted to @Xbox via Twitter "Are you sure that it is "Common" and not "Garden" thinking that they had mistaken the Public Garden for part of the Commons (a common mistake for newbies and tourists to Boston, no pun intended). Just about then I received a call from Emminent - "I found them in the Public Garden, but I forgot the password. What is it". To claim the 360 he needed the password given via Twitter. I could not remember it off the top of my head, so I told him that I would check the Twitter Feed and call him right back. So there I am, running at full speed toward the Public Garden, scrolling through Twitter on my Blackberry and pouring sweat like a fountain (remember the 100 degree temps?). I find the password "Justice" and call Emminent back. It goes straight to voicemail. Emminent had mentioned that his phone battery was running very low and I figured that it had died on him. So I call Avatrix to tell him where the Crackdown 2 Team was and continued my sprint. As soon as I jaywalked across Charles Street and made my way into the Public Garden I saw a small cluster of orange shirts and Emminent standing among them. I also saw Avatrix. So I yelled "Justice! The password is Justice!" Out of breath I finally get up beside Emminent and he has this huge grin on his face. "I got it man" is all he said. He had made it to the team and with the very last electrons sputtering away from his battery he was able to secure the password from our very own DSmooth via text.

A happy Emminentt displays his coupon for a new Crackdown 2 themed Xbox 360.

As we stood there and relayed our story to the Crackdown 2 Marketing Team, two more guys rode up on bikes. Apparently they had followed the team by peddle to each of the drops earlier in the day in hopes of scoring the Big Ticket item, the custom Crackdown 360. Thanks for Emminentt's prompt return from Buffalo, they were foiled, although they did score two sweet giftcards each.

The good news is that neither Avatrix nor me would leave empty handed either, as we both won $100 gift cards (mine was for Fandango) and also received a Crackdown 2 T-shirt. As luck would have it I was able to score some extra T-shirts. So if you want one, check out my Twitter feed and post your idea of the ultimate form of Justice. The two best answers will get a T-shirt, just like the one pictured below.