ESPN.com - Halo 4 ARG?

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UnrealCh13f
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ESPN.com - Halo 4 ARG?

Unread post by UnrealCh13f »

This thread was made as an attempt to continue discussion on the HBO thread located at http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/hal ... ad=1143538

Posted by: Hoovaloov
Go to ESPN.com (disable any ad-blockers), and play the Halo 4 YouTube video in the banner.
The new orange/upside down Didact symbol flashes on screen, things go wonky, and then all sorts of weird gibberish code appears. I only screencapped a few times and got these bits and pieces:

!attach act drop

,{"gameId":39598,"date":"201205
22060000","home":{name":"S.
Mirza","score":"1

!diag proc 10

Pretty cool effect, but I wonder if this is the start of some viral marketing for Halo 4?
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Re: ESPN.com - Halo 4 ARG?

Unread post by UnrealCh13f »

Link Dump (In order of when they are found.)

A video showcasing the ad, as well as the "site behavior". - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNCF4AX54tg
Audio from Xbox.com's Halo 4 Page - http://az204726.vo.msecnd.net/prod/audi ... ls_v03.ogg (via kelticking)
GIF of a Didact "Corruption" on Xbox.com's Halo 4 Page - http://az204726.vo.msecnd.net/prod/moni ... reen1E.gif (via General Vagueness)





Notable Posts from the HBO Thread:

Posted by: thebruce0
Ok, so as posted already, all the strings in the flash have been found. Listed (in order from the flash source):

,{"gameId":39598,"date":"20120522060000","home":{"name":"S. Mirza","score":"1 5","idme":{"name":"A. Rus","score":"7 3 6","id":"810"},"away":{"name":"J. Zvba","leagues":[{"league":"wnba","display

this json may just be a red herring, to look like a broken standard sport stats request... Mirza and Rus are tennis players, though I couldn't find anything about "Zvba" in the WNBA :)
Other strings:

38XUI¶¶ aos . 299 .
!attach act drop
d!D@cT
thanksshk terminal
862.293.342.3487.2
linvntry terminal
proc 7 8 9
rogue proc 10
probe terminal proc 10
!bite proc 10
!diag proc 10
94. ssdd a s--------
§200 sdkue
!bite rogue pro 1 recurse
clean !splotch control
s et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur
So8ii aspoke qpdkv disofasddddddd
Cras mattis imperdiet est, quis pharetra sdr3
Curae; In tempor pulvinar felis in ves
Maecenas tincidunt vehicula est, vitae condim
imperdiet felis sit amet mauris dignissim
oque penatibus et magnis dis parturient r35
Curabitur sagittis quam vel nisl cas37 jj6-fdd
scelerisque faucibus. In auctor leo eu sapien
Ut sollicitudin neque
faucibus neque accumsan. Ut convallis sagittis
Proin suscipit malesuada elementum.
a justo. Vestibulum dapibus aliqu

hard to tell if the latin is just lorem ipsum placeholder text. The phrases aren't connecting with any text other than other forums posting about the same ad content :)
still digging...

[but of course on the other hand] It could all just be purely esthetic, random, with bits thrown in to trigger some nostalgia on recognizable words and phrases...

Posted by: Hunter X
: The list of orange strings that show up reversed on the page: !diag proc 10
: probe terminal proc 10
: rogue proc 10
: proc 7 8 9
: linvntry terminal
: 862..293.342.3487.2
: thanksshk terminal
: d!D@cT
: !attach act drop
: 38XUI¶¶ aos . 299 .
: clean !splotch control
: !bite rogue pro 1 recurse
: §200 sdkue
: 94. ssdd a s--------
A few of the lines there (in particular, the ones referring to 'rogue proc', '!bite rogue pro', 'probe proc' and '!splotch') are extremely similar to the commands used in the I Love Bees campaign by the SPDR AI - as far as I can tell, this language was created specifically for the ARG and didn't exist beforehand. Is there a connection here or is 343 just re-using old material?

A compilation of the command language from I Love Bees: http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Flea++

Following that, I can decipher the following from the commands:
-Examine terminal process 10
-Process 10 is acting suspiciously (sometimes associated with Mendicant Bias in the Halo 3 terminals)
-Something involving processes 7-9
-Something involving a terminal
-?
-Something else involving a terminal
-Didact
-Attach the user to something (act is a known term, but it's purpose is unclear)
-?
-'Control' has been successfully destroyed (this should be a reponse to a previous command, perhaps whatever has been corrupted in the last line)
-Attempt to terminate the rogue process, and keep trying until it is terminated.
-?
-?

Not entirely sure if this relates to anything, but I'll leave with you to see if it you can make anything out of it.
thereIwasn't
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Re: ESPN.com - Halo 4 ARG?

Unread post by thereIwasn't »

Unr3alChi3f wrote:Notable Posts from the HBO Thread:

Hunter X
: The list of orange strings that show up reversed on the page: !diag proc 10
: probe terminal proc 10
: rogue proc 10
: proc 7 8 9
: linvntry terminal
: 862..293.342.3487.2
: thanksshk terminal
: d!D@cT
: !attach act drop
: 38XUI¶¶ aos . 299 .
: clean !splotch control
: !bite rogue pro 1 recurse
: §200 sdkue
: 94. ssdd a s--------
A few of the lines there (in particular, the ones referring to 'rogue proc', '!bite rogue pro', 'probe proc' and '!splotch') are extremely similar to the commands used in the I Love Bees campaign by the SPDR AI - as far as I can tell, this language was created specifically for the ARG and didn't exist beforehand. Is there a connection here or is 343 just re-using old material?

A compilation of the command language from I Love Bees: http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Flea++

Following that, I can decipher the following from the commands:
-Examine terminal process 10
-Process 10 is acting suspiciously (sometimes associated with Mendicant Bias in the Halo 3 terminals)
-Something involving processes 7-9
-Something involving a terminal
-?
-Something else involving a terminal
-Didact
-Attach the user to something (act is a known term, but it's purpose is unclear)
-?
-'Control' has been successfully destroyed (this should be a reponse to a previous command, perhaps whatever has been corrupted in the last line)
-Attempt to terminate the rogue process, and keep trying until it is terminated.
-?
-?

Not entirely sure if this relates to anything, but I'll leave with you to see if it you can make anything out of it.
It's 4:30AM over here so I am bound to miss something, let me know what I missed!
May I make some guesses? I wasn't involved with ILB, but some of the words look like they could be interpreted some way or another; programmers do like to leave letters out.

"linvntry terminal"
According to the wikia,
Invntry 117649
Seeker-class AI.
So we have a seeker-class AI trying to access a terminal perhaps? Or maybe the terminal is for the AI?

862..293.342.3487.2
This is some kind of IP address, I think, or other kind of address, as the line that follows immediately after is
thanksshk terminal
which in relation to the access(?) coding two lines above it is either another instruction directed at the terminal, or some other kind of connection establisher.

Thoughts?
Carver
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Re: ESPN.com - Halo 4 ARG?

Unread post by Carver »

Hey guys, running the following strings:

"38XUI¶¶ aos . 299 .
!attach act drop
d!D@cT
thanksshk terminal
862.293.342.3487.2
linvntry terminal
proc 7 8 9
rogue proc 10
probe terminal proc 10
!bite proc 10
!diag proc 10
94. ssdd a s--------
§200 sdkue
!bite rogue pro 1 recurse
clean !splotch control
s et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur
So8ii aspoke qpdkv disofasddddddd
Cras mattis imperdiet est, quis pharetra sdr3
Curae; In tempor pulvinar felis in ves
Maecenas tincidunt vehicula est, vitae condim
imperdiet felis sit amet mauris dignissim
oque penatibus et magnis dis parturient r35
Curabitur sagittis quam vel nisl cas37 jj6-fdd
scelerisque faucibus. In auctor leo eu sapien
Ut sollicitudin neque
faucibus neque accumsan. Ut convallis sagittis
Proin suscipit malesuada elementum.
a justo. Vestibulum dapibus aliqu "


Through Google Translate, Latin -> English, results in the following:

"38XUI ¶ ¶ AOS. 299.
! attached act drop
d! 500 @ cT
thanksshk determined
862.293.342.3487.2
linvntry determined
proceed 7 8 9
pyre to proceed 10
well are determined to proceed 10
! drink ye to proceed 10
! diag proceed 10
94. ssdd the s --------
§ 200 sdkue
! drink ye bier 1 running back
dead without slaughter! splotch control
s is reliable and the mountains, shall be born
So8ii aspoke qpdkv disofasddddddd
Read more here is, who is here sdr3
Care, the more time your in your
Read more vehicles is, the conditions of life
combined it here View results
She is fifth on investigating and resolving r35
Link, or more than cas37 jj6-fdd
your throat. The author of a Blog
Instructional or
here or here. Product arrows
Add your comment here.
whenever possible. Read any of"



Then, retranslating it back from the English translation, back to Latin, and then back to English again, results in a slightly different variation:

"38XUI ¶ ¶ AOS. 299.
! connected with a drop of
d! 500 @ cT
thanksshk determined
862.293.342.3487.2
linvntry determined
proceed 7 8 9
Please proceed to 10
well they have to go 10
! you go to drink 10
! diag March 10
94. ssdd in the --------
§ 200 sdkue
! you drink bier 1 running back
died without bloodshed! splotch government
s is reliable and the mountains, shall be born
So8ii aspoke qpdkv disofasddddddd
It is here that sdr3
Care, the more your in your
Our base is in
View results close to this
It is the fifth in seeking out and resolving r35
Page, or more than cas37 jj6-fdd
the throat. author of Blog
instructional or
here or here. produced an
Add a comment here.
as often as possible. read about the"


Anybody got any ideas or suggestions?
serpx
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Re: ESPN.com - Halo 4 ARG?

Unread post by serpx »

I hate to burst bubbles, but the Latin text is looking more like filler text, than any kind of clues to anything. I have some evidence of this.

http://www.blindtextgenerator.com/lorem-ipsum Gave me the following:

Code: Select all

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor. Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec quam felis, ultricies nec, pellentesque eu, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim. Donec pede justo, fringilla vel, aliquet nec, vulputate eget, arcu. In enim justo, rhoncus ut, imperdiet a, venenatis vitae, justo. Nullam dictum felis eu pede mollis pretium. Integer tincidunt. Cras dapibus. Vivamus elementum semper nisi. Aenean vulputate eleifend tellus. Aenean leo ligula, porttitor eu, consequat vitae, eleifend ac, enim. Aliquam lorem ante, dapibus in, viverra quis, feugiat a, tellus. Phasellus viverra nulla ut metus varius laoreet. Quisque rutrum. Aenean imperdiet. Etiam ultricies nisi vel augue. Curabitur ullamcorper ultricies nisi. Nam eget dui. Etiam rhoncus. Maecenas tempus, tellus eget condimentum rhoncus, sem quam semper libero, sit amet adipiscing sem neque sed ipsum. Nam quam nunc, blandit vel, luctus pulvinar, hendrerit id, lorem. Maecenas nec odio et ante tincidunt tempus. Donec vitae sapien ut libero venenatis faucibus. Nullam quis ante. Etiam sit amet orci eget eros faucibus tincidunt. Duis leo. Sed fringilla mauris sit amet nibh. Donec sodales sagittis magna. Sed consequat, leo eget bibendum sodales, augue velit cursus nunc,
When THAT is google translated, you get:
Welcome to here, and here here. Disclaimer pain. Leave a comment. She is the mountains, with my comrades on investigating and resolving security issues. Until they have the on Tuesday, not here, here, the price of a man, Shem. For woodwork. Until just a foot, or more, or not, will recommend here. In addition here, as the clean, modern, a new life in our society. Location: News by Email Home. Read more. Product. About. June's comment. Read more here, make your next life, and that's it. Read the text on, with our in, tightly unified any flavors, for a comment. We various additions, but the fear here. Read more. NASCAR. Contact Information. Check it out. For your needs. Even more. Welcome to the time, resources & T U-, prefix meaning half which they have always to set free, but not be published, nor your Shem. For which we have now, no blandishment or, mourning a couch, that needs an affordable price. But still it is hatred, and of content delivery. Jaws of life, until the wise man as they like free. No one before. This is your first time here you need more. Read more. But here's In Product Descriptions. Until it's great members. But really, COLOR PENCIL members of a lion, the course of your wishes to now,


There may be more I could bold, but I didn't want to spend another ten minutes comparing. Also, when I googled "imperdiet felis sit amet mauris dignissim" or "s et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur" I get Lorem Ipsum results. Unless the developer of this marketing scheme can push us some more clues, to me I think this is all more placeholder text, than something meaningful.

Another thing that makes me doubt this being an ARG is the

Code: Select all

,{"gameId":39598,"date":"20120522060000","home":{"name":"S. Mirza","score":"1 5","idme":{"name":"A. Rus","score":"7 3 6","id":"810"},"away":{"name":"J. Zvba","leagues":[{"league":"wnba","display 
Those aren't any Halo people, they're actual athletes in our world. (Edit: Unless they want you to check out whatever game that is for some further clues).

If there's nothing meaningful out of:

Code: Select all

38XUI¶¶ aos . 299 . 
!attach act drop 
d!D@cT 
thanksshk terminal 
862.293.342.3487.2 
linvntry terminal 
proc 7 8 9 
rogue proc 10 
probe terminal proc 10 
!bite proc 10 
!diag proc 10 
94. ssdd a s-------- 
§200 sdkue 
!bite rogue pro 1 recurse 
clean !splotch control 
Then I'd be surprised if anyone could find anymore out of something from this. I don't intend to communicate that this ARG isn't real, if that's how my writing may seem like, but I am definitely communicating my doubts. (Edit: Though, this is fun, if it is anything real or not, so over analyzing it and doing everything we can may actually open up some kind of door!)
Zeouterlimits
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Re: ESPN.com - Halo 4 ARG?

Unread post by Zeouterlimits »

Here's my interpretation of the latin text, based on two different online translators and a lot of reading into things.
Not bothered if it ends up being a Lorum Ipsum, but I'm hopeful all the same, especially with the new Infinity audio recording out.

And great rich parturient*
The mount will carry off.

Tomorrow (on the eve of) Everyone will quiver (with fear?) of My Management.

Upon transitory dust (when change has occurred i.e. Halo 1-3)
lucky upon (look upon?)

Add your e-
conveyance is , (method of arrival/transport)
life to agree

Name lucky he is (the one is named lucky - The Chief?)

View results published (reviewing stats, my guess on humanity's battle readiness)

The fifth home of the great (The fifth place the Didact has stayed in? Or the 5th Requiem esc planet?)
rich parturient* (can I just say.. hot)
link how or
more crime (Humanity has failed to take up the mantle? Commited crimes?)

Upon person responsible (Uh oh)
lion good wise (woken the sleeping lion?)

When concern worthless (no point in being afraid of something you can't beat? Or that he has no reason to fear us?)
worthless to add to a heap. (weird one, maybe no point in more death/destruction? Doubtful)

When to grow strong
Consequently to raise up
about first principle of equity. (coming to kick our ass at the right time?) (wanting an equal fight?)

We/Opening/Entrance
seneschal – Middle Ages Noble Officer/Officer in charge of Justice & Control (Us failing to take up the mantle have been judged as too big for our own breeches)
some/come (he's opening/coming to kick our ass)

* About to give birth; in labor.

On the weird numbers:
So8ii (So ate i?)
sdr3 - (Radio for the wild south?) lawlz
r35 – (Risk Phase 35? R35: Causes severe burns)

tl;dr - We've failed to take up the mantle, have grown too strong, Didact has waited and it's time to be judged.
Primordium: Precusor esc, no?
Dagoonite
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Re: ESPN.com - Halo 4 ARG?

Unread post by Dagoonite »

I just wanted to add my two cents real quick. While I was doing research for Bzzt, I studied the code used in ilovebees. The company that did the ARG had come up with their own language for AIs to use. Looking through all of this, two lines in particular caught my attention.
!bite rogue pro 1 recurse
clean !splotch control
!bite is an attack command line from ilovebees, and !splotch is a kill command that was used on the pious flea.

Sorry, just throwing that out there. It may not establish the validity of it, but I just couldn't help but notice it.
General Vagueness
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Re: ESPN.com - Halo 4 ARG?

Unread post by General Vagueness »

thereIwasn't wrote: 862..293.342.3487.2
This is some kind of IP address, I think, or other kind of address, as the line that follows immediately after is
thanksshk terminal which in relation to the access(?) coding two lines above it is either another instruction directed at the terminal, or some other kind of connection establisher.

Thoughts?
It seemed obvious when I saw you mention it, but I checked and it doesn't quite fit IPv4, MAC addresses, or IPv6; it's kind of like someone tried to combine them all, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was supposed to be some kind of unique identifier.
Zeouterlimits wrote:Here's my interpretation of the latin text, based on two different online translators and a lot of reading into things.
<span>Not bothered if it ends up being a Lorum Ipsum, but I'm hopeful all the same, especially with the [url=<a class="smarterwiki-linkify" href="http://az204726.vo.msecnd.net/prod/audi ... ls_v03.ogg]new">http://az204726.vo.msecnd.net/prod/audi ... ls_v03.ogg]new</a> Infinity audio recording out.[/url]</span>

And great rich parturient*
The mount will carry off.

Tomorrow (on the eve of) Everyone will quiver (with fear?) of My Management.

Upon transitory dust (when change has occurred i.e. Halo 1-3)
lucky upon (look upon?)

Add your e-
conveyance is , (method of arrival/transport)
life to agree

Name lucky he is (the one is named lucky - The Chief?)

View results published (reviewing stats, my guess on humanity's battle readiness)

The fifth home of the great (The fifth place the Didact has stayed in? Or the 5th Requiem esc planet?)
rich parturient* (can I just say.. hot)
link how or
more crime (Humanity has failed to take up the mantle? Commited crimes?)

Upon person responsible (Uh oh)
lion good wise (woken the sleeping lion?)

When concern worthless (no point in being afraid of something you can't beat? Or that he has no reason to fear us?)
worthless to add to a heap. (weird one, maybe no point in more death/destruction? Doubtful)

When to grow strong
Consequently to raise up
about first principle of equity. (coming to kick our ass at the right time?) (wanting an equal fight?)

We/Opening/Entrance
seneschal – Middle Ages Noble Officer/Officer in charge of Justice & Control (Us failing to take up the mantle have been judged as too big for our own breeches)
some/come (he's opening/coming to kick our ass)

* About to give birth; in labor.

On the weird numbers:
So8ii (So ate i?)
sdr3 - (Radio for the wild south?) lawlz
r35 – (Risk Phase 35? R35: Causes severe burns)

tl;dr - We've failed to take up the mantle, have grown too strong, Didact has waited and it's time to be judged.
Primordium: Precusor esc, no?
interesting... do you speak Latin?
also I saw the thing asking about it on HBO, but what is this audio thing, where did it come from?
agh, also quote fail
thereIwasn't
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Re: ESPN.com - Halo 4 ARG?

Unread post by thereIwasn't »

General Vagueness wrote:
thereIwasn't wrote: 862..293.342.3487.2
This is some kind of IP address, I think, or other kind of address, as the line that follows immediately after is
thanksshk terminal which in relation to the access(?) coding two lines above it is either another instruction directed at the terminal, or some other kind of connection establisher.

Thoughts?
It seemed obvious when I saw you mention it, but I checked and it doesn't quite fit IPv4, MAC addresses, or IPv6; it's kind of like someone tried to combine them all, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was supposed to be some kind of unique identifier.
Maybe the address is partial/corrupted/incomplete? We have all these other numbers appearing throughout the selection and a double-dot between 862 and 293. Maybe it implies a missing number string?
centurionomegai
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Re: ESPN.com - Halo 4 ARG?

Unread post by centurionomegai »

thereIwasn't wrote:
General Vagueness wrote:
thereIwasn't wrote: 862..293.342.3487.2
This is some kind of IP address, I think, or other kind of address, as the line that follows immediately after is
thanksshk terminal which in relation to the access(?) coding two lines above it is either another instruction directed at the terminal, or some other kind of connection establisher.

Thoughts?
It seemed obvious when I saw you mention it, but I checked and it doesn't quite fit IPv4, MAC addresses, or IPv6; it's kind of like someone tried to combine them all, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was supposed to be some kind of unique identifier.
Maybe the address is partial/corrupted/incomplete? We have all these other numbers appearing throughout the selection and a double-dot between 862 and 293. Maybe it implies a missing number string?
I've been looking into how IPv6 works, and it appears IPv6 addresses omit zero value spaces at the end and in the middle of addresses. Often signifying this with a double colon. Now if this is IPv6 but using periods instead of colons, then perhaps that is exactly why there is double period. The 'missing' digit is nothing but 0000, making the actual address 0862:0000:0293:0342:3487:0002 assuming this is in hexadecimal. If it still needs to be converted to hexadecimal it would be: 035e:0000:0125:0156:0d9f:0002 (Keep in mind, IPv6 is case sensitive).

EDIT: my internet connection doesn't support IPv6 current, so unfortunately I cannot check this out, we need someone who can to do so. And apparently consecutive groups of zeroes can be signified by a (::). So it could also be any one of the below.

Already Hex1 (AH1):
0862::0293:0342:3487:0002

Converted Hex1 (CH1):
035e::0125:0156:0d9f:0002

Already Hex2-4:
0862:0000:0293:0342:3487:0002
0862:0000:0000:0293:0342:3487:0002
0862:0000:0000:0000:0293:0342:3487:0002

Converted Hex2-4:
035e:0000:0125:0156:0d9f:0002
035e:0000:0000:0125:0156:0d9f:0002
035e:0000:0000:0000:0125:0156:0d9f:0002
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