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The Beast (game)


The Beast is an alternate reality game developed by Microsoft to promote the 2001 film A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Entry points to the game embedded into the film's promotion centered on the fictional Jeanine Salla and the death of her friend Evan Chan. In 2142, Jeanine learns that Evan was murdered and her investigation uncovers a network of murders of humans and artificial intelligences. The game launched on March 8, 2001 and continued running past its initially scheduled end date on June 29, the film's release date.

Players were led through a network of websites created by Warner Bros., registered to fake names, and further clues were given in subsequent promotional materials and events for the film. The game drew a large, tight-knit player base who created online groups dedicated to the game, most prominently the Yahoo! Group Cloudmakers. The Beast was described as "unprecedented even by Hollywood standards" and is considered among the most influential early alternate reality games.

The Beast centers around the fictional Jeanine Salla, who investigates the death of her friend Evan Chan and discovers a cover-up involving a string of murdered humans and artificial intelligences. Players were led through a network of over forty websites created by Warner Bros. via clues left in trailers, print ads, posters, telephone messages, and live promotional events for the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence. The game launched on March 8, 2001 and continued running past its initially scheduled end on June 29, the release date for the film.

Set in 2142, roughly forty years after A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Evan Chan is said to be killed in a boating accident aboard his artificial intelligence-enhanced boat Cloudmaker. Dr. Jeanine Salla receives a cryptic message revealing he was murdered and leads an investigation. She discovers that he was having an affair with Venus, a companion bot reprogramed to kill Evan, and that the ensuing cover-up triggers further murders of humans and artificial intelligences. Simultaneously, the Mann Act is brought before the legislature and the president and ultimately put to referendum to decide if artificial intelligence will be treated equal to human citizens.


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