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Re: #EVILAWAKENS Discussion

Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2012 9:21 pm
by thebruce
General Vagueness wrote:I agree that it wouldn't really be fair but I thought that happens sometimes, and it could be the first X number of people instead. I'm not sure what you think this is.
I think it's the reveal of a code or a few codes that can be used at HaloWaypoint.com in the terminal to unlock either additional gameplay 'perks' (skins/etc) or additional fiction, even extra terminals in game-style content. Not a contest for prizes.
General Vagueness wrote:How is this not an ARG?
Oh man. This is not a simple topic. The subject of ARGs being alive or dead, and definitions of an ARG, or a traditional ARG, or transmedia whateveryouwannacallit has been going on for years, both in the professional circle and the players'.
Just trust me when I say it's not an ARG. Not, at least, in the traditional sense, in the same vain as ILB, The Beast, Year Zero, Flynn Lives, etc etc. If you want to use a different definition of an ARG as in any campaign that is a slow reveal of neat stuff via the web that greatly increases hype, then sure, ARG.
But no. Viral marketing. Community fan service. Not an ARG.

Re: #EVILAWAKENS Discussion

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:29 am
by UnrealCh13f
thebruce wrote:
General Vagueness wrote:I agree that it wouldn't really be fair but I thought that happens sometimes, and it could be the first X number of people instead. I'm not sure what you think this is.
I think it's the reveal of a code or a few codes that can be used at HaloWaypoint.com in the terminal to unlock either additional gameplay 'perks' (skins/etc) or additional fiction, even extra terminals in game-style content. Not a contest for prizes.
I'm going to have to +1 this.

Iris, while brought additional fiction to the Halo series, also became a contest for prizes. While players surely had the best intentions, it could have been interpreted like this.

"I got the key! Let me share it to all of my friends friends first and hold out on the people that put the most effort in!"

Or...

"Oh awesome! A key! Let me just snag one more for this server, I already got like 3 prizes from the other 4 servers!"

If anything, Microsoft would be doing something that avoids these scenarios, if at all.

Re: #EVILAWAKENS Discussion

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:42 am
by General Vagueness
thebruce wrote:I think it's the reveal of a code or a few codes that can be used at HaloWaypoint.com in the terminal to unlock either additional gameplay 'perks' (skins/etc) or additional fiction, even extra terminals in game-style content. Not a contest for prizes.
That's what I was talking about, except I guess I did frame it as a contest... oh well.
thebruce wrote:
General Vagueness wrote:How is this not an ARG?
Oh man. This is not a simple topic. The subject of ARGs being alive or dead, and definitions of an ARG, or a traditional ARG, or transmedia whateveryouwannacallit has been going on for years, both in the professional circle and the players'.
Just trust me when I say it's not an ARG. Not, at least, in the traditional sense, in the same vain as ILB, The Beast, Year Zero, Flynn Lives, etc etc. If you want to use a different definition of an ARG as in any campaign that is a slow reveal of neat stuff via the web that greatly increases hype, then sure, ARG.
But no. Viral marketing. Community fan service. Not an ARG.
I'm aware you had a role in previous ARGs so you would know better than me, but your explanation or reason here isn't convincing... like not convincing at all.
We're getting in-universe information-- in-universe communication, even-- embedded in mundane communications... isn't that the core premise or mechanic ARGs revolve around?

Re: #EVILAWAKENS Discussion

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 4:31 pm
by thebruce
General Vagueness wrote:I'm aware you had a role in previous ARGs so you would know better than me, but your explanation or reason here isn't convincing... like not convincing at all.
Sorry to hear that. Like I said, it's a BIG topic. And ongoing.
General Vagueness wrote:We're getting in-universe information-- in-universe communication, even-- embedded in mundane communications... isn't that the core premise or mechanic ARGs revolve around?
In short, no.
Unr3alChi3f wrote:Iris, while brought additional fiction to the Halo series, also became a contest for prizes.
Aye. It started out with great promise as a solid ARG - characters, interaction (though limited to Bungie community/forums, iirc), puzzles, content, story, ringtones, live in-story events, and in the implied context of things happening on earth via the installation - but got somewhat 'meta' in its delivery of episodes, and the move to the strive for prize swag among players more than enjoying the story that was being revealed... ymmv, but Iris IMO is somewhere between ILB and this campaign. I've always considered Iris to be "ARGish", personally. But as Frankie said, "no more ARGs". And so far, he's spoken truth ;)

Re: #EVILAWAKENS Viral Discussion

Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:40 pm
by UnrealCh13f

Code: Select all

http://download.halowaypoint.com/content/waypoint/assets/images/imbrium0000/a38a7ba3-24a7-4d50-a699-b8991410812e.mp4
http://download.halowaypoint.com/conten ... 10812e.mp4
Posted by Sharpsniper:

So Waypoint Just tweeted this:
https://twitter.com/HaloWaypoint/status ... 3936571392

(Be careful from Halo 4 spoilers on Twitter!)

I downloaded the file and opened it in NotePad and there is clearly a hidden Oni file in there as I see this text in the Meta Tags:

NI/SECTION3 U©cmt Mdata /START FILE//CLASSIFIED//ONI HAS RECEIVED-REDACTED-/END FILE/ *©nam "data RECOVERED FRAGMENT ©day data 2557 ©ART data desc data Ifree
Looks like nothing, tossing it in here anyway.

Re: #EVILAWAKENS Viral Discussion

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 3:57 am
by General Vagueness
I thought one of you guys would've gotten it by now. ;) We've narrowed it down in the HBO forum, it looks like the plain text is a red herring and there's another hidden PNG.

Re: #EVILAWAKENS Viral Discussion

Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:19 pm
by UnrealCh13f
I just realized something. Couldn't we use part of the same method from decrypting the @HaloWaypoint tweet to deciphering this image here? I am in the library right now doing a lot of work and I don't think I am going to have time to get there, but for someone with the tools at hand, would it be possible?

Image

Re: #EVILAWAKENS Viral Discussion

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:37 am
by thebruce
Unr3alChi3f wrote:I just realized something. Couldn't we use part of the same method from decrypting the @HaloWaypoint tweet to deciphering this image here? I am in the library right now doing a lot of work and I don't think I am going to have time to get there, but for someone with the tools at hand, would it be possible?
What is it you're looking to decipher? I don't see anything suspicious in the PNG data...

Re: #EVILAWAKENS Discussion

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:21 pm
by General Vagueness
I forgot, where did this come from again?
MrToasty wrote: Edit:
Just saw this in the original blue.png file too:
/START FILE//CLASSIFIED//RAIDER/EARLY REPORTS FROM IMBRIUM MACHINE COMPLEX FACILITY ARE POSITIVE - TESTING IS STILL UNDERWAY BUT SO FAR THE TEST SUBJECTS EXHIBIT THE DESIRED EFFECTS FROM THE UPDATED FERAL DESIGN./END FILE
interesting...
thebruce wrote:
Unr3alChi3f wrote:I just realized something. Couldn't we use part of the same method from decrypting the @HaloWaypoint tweet to deciphering this image here? I am in the library right now doing a lot of work and I don't think I am going to have time to get there, but for someone with the tools at hand, would it be possible?
What is it you're looking to decipher? I don't see anything suspicious in the PNG data...
Well it is named green_fixed.png; MrToasty, did you do cleanup on that file too? Hmm, now it looks like the one he linked is gone, but the original is still there....
Either way there might be something... I'll be back with results or non-results in a little bit.

Re: #EVILAWAKENS Viral Discussion

Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:56 pm
by thebruce
It's green-fixed.png because it's the fixed version of the 'noisy' green layer.

Trio.bmp green plane bytes extracted, saved as green-fixed.png.

ETA: the bmp was linked directly from the bulletin html source.
Steps are listed here