We've just got over the jetlag after a week in Los Angeles at E3, the year's premier games convention.

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Like most boys, when I was a child I went through a phase of wanting to be an explorer. My aspirations were knocked one day when I realised that most of the world had already been explored long before I was born.

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It has now been a few years since I left my previous role at a large publisher, so I finally feel able to get a rather big chip off my shoulder. And the chip in question is the truly horrible way that film studios and games publishers have worked together over the last decade.

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Xi is coming to an end. Its three-month run as a live ARG is over, but we’re keeping the puzzles and games open for a few weeks yet, so people can finish collecting all the butterflies and fragments they want before submitting themselves to the final assessment that concludes their individual experience.

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nDreams finest, Patrick O'Luanaigh and Chris Nuttall, bring a quick E3 preview from Los Angeles the day before E3 begins:

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On Monday 23rd March, at 2pm GMT, we finally launched Xi. It’s an unusual game – the kind sometimes called an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) – and we’ve been quietly working away at it for a very long time. It’s a relief to finally talk about it. Before I go on, I should say that there will be no clues or spoilers here. It’s a game filled with suspense and secrets and I wouldn’t want to ruin the fun.

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For the last few years, I've been a big fan of open-world games, particularly the ability to mess around in a sandbox and explore a beautiful world without feeling forced down a particular route. Whilst I have a strong love of narrative, I admire the freedom that these titles give you, and I was willing to sacrifice a strong story for the ability to explore and find creative solutions to problems. I was fortunate enough to work closely with Avalanche Studios on Just Cause, one of the largest open-world games ever created (in terms of square kilometres), and it was a great experience.

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