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.


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 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.

That's what I was talking about, except I guess I did frame it as a contest... oh well.


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?

Sorry to hear that. Like I said, it's a BIG topic. And ongoing.


In short, no.


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

http://download.halowaypoint.com/conten ... 10812e.mp4



Looks like nothing, tossing it in here anyway.

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.

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...

I forgot, where did this come from again?

interesting...

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.

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