Inception Viral Marketing Kicks Into High Gear; New Websites, Games and The ‘Dream Machine’ is Revealed

FINALLY! So after weeks, nay, months of nothing-zip-NADA, the online viral marketing for Christopher Nolan’s Inception is finally picking up speed. A couple weeks ago, Nolan screened a few minutes of exclusive footage to cinema exhibitors at ShoWest in Las Vegas. This past weekend on Saturday, he made a surprise appearance at WonderCon in San Fransisco (basically Diet Comic-Con), and screened the same footage at ShoWest. But this time, Warner Bros. left the fans and journalists in attendance with some nifty-gifties that directly link to the new viral campaign.

The items they received were a spinning top, featured in both teaser trailers, as well as a t-shirt that displays the “Dream Machine,” which is the technology that Leo & Co. use to enter people’s dreams in the film. Check out the shirt below (via UGO), who also describes the WonderCon footage:

On the back of this shirt is a QR barcode. The good folks over at the Nolan Fans forums (of which I am an avid participant), deciphered the code which led to the new Inception viral site www.pasivedevice.org. The site features an instructional manual for the machine called a PASIV (Portable Automated Somnacin IntraVenous Device). Somnacin seems to be the fluid or chemical that is directly injected into the participant, allowing the “Extractor” to enter their mind.

The instructional manual is extremely detailed, describing step-by-step how one should operate the device to go into someone’s dream; although neither words “dream” nor “mind” are ever mentioned. You might see a resemblance in the “reclined position” picture in the manual from Leo falling backwards in a chair in the second trailer:

On top of all that awesomeness, there’s a fantastic Inception viral video game that you can play on Mind-Crime.com (formerly www.yourmindisthesceneofthecrime.com, but that’s a mouthful URL, so WB changed it). Good call. Just click on the spinning top in the second box, which takes you to Stage 2. In Stage 2, you connect to your Facebook account and have to run through this crazy city labyrinth, gaining points, while avoiding being “detected” by your friends. Yes, the people in the game are all of your Facebook friends, it’s pretty friggin sweet. No word yet on when a new trailer, clip or picture will be released (although you can bank on the third trailer being attached to Iron Man 2 coming May 7), but with the viral campaign kicking into high gear, you can bet that we’ll get something sweet soon.

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