As season 2 of USA Network’s drama Covert Affairs ramps up, fans can assist CIA operatives led by Auggie Anderson in an online mission in Budapest. This online “tweetcast” is setting the stage for the show’s July 12th episode.

By Celina Beach, originally posted at ARGNet

Image courtesy of USA Network

USA Network is running a “tweetcast“ called Mission: Budapest to promote their show, Covert Affairs, where players are recruited as remote CIA operatives and tasked with assisting operatives on the ground in Budapest. Players can follow one or all of four CIA agents as they work the mission in Budapest by viewing photos, files, and videos uncovered by the agents. The lead character, Auggie Anderson, is also a main character on the TV series, and acts as the main conduit between users and the other agents. Auggie poses questions to the players about how the agents on the ground in Budapest should proceed, or poses questions they should ask of suspects or CIA “assets” (usually foreign civilians providing information to the CIA) in order to further the mission.

The tweetcast is not an entirely new idea: ABC’s Castle has run a “summer mystery” tweetcast during the hiatuses between seasons 1 and 2 through the @WriteRCastle twitter account . . . due to the “tragic events” in the Castle season 3 finale, there will be no Castle summer mystery tweetcast during the current hiatus. While players are more spectator than participant in these experiences, the content is entertaining and there is just enough interaction to give the players that warm fuzzy feeling when their suggestion or information is used and called out on Auggie’s twitter account.

Mission: Budapest launched around the 1st of June and is scheduled to run until July 12th, with the online mission’s events setting the stage for that week’s episode. There’s no need to worry if you’ve missed the first few weeks: Auggie has been posting weekly recaps, which makes catching up easy.

If you’re in between games or books, and all your favorite shows are on hiatus, go check out Covert Affairs’ tweetcast for a fun diversion and possibly a shout-out or two. While you’re at it, check out the show itself, which runs as a summer replacement show Thursday nights at 10PM ET/PT, 9PM Central.