Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Hippo on August 23, 2004, 09:21:18 am
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Time is running out for... something...
At the end of a halo2 trailer, the xbox.com line changed to //www.ilovebees.com for 1 frame... Halo people swarmed to the site and found a counter... it goes off in a few hours... Its been running for months...
[q]There are many theories about this site, and I will present some to you.
1. When the counter goes down a new version of Tsunami will be released
2. When the counter goes down a Halo 2 demo will be released
3. When the counter goes down a Halo movie will be released
4. When the counter goes down a new Halo book will be released
5. When the counter goes down an annoucement that Halo 2 will be made for PC
will be released[/q]
Dunnow what Tsunami is...
Place your guesses and bets now, only hours remain...
Incidentially, people who randomly fins the site without knowing about its secret offer funny comments in her blog... They never noticed the use of 'Auntie M.'...
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umm...
Core hemmorhage? interesting...
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Somehow i doubt many people randomly find that site.....
very cool marketing ploy, though. Especially if you read the little snippets in the 'corrupted' pages;
but one of us. Hacker? Traitor? Fifth columnist (no that's ridiculous).
Just in over her head?
No. The Spider warning's been deployed. She had every warning that a classified medium was under repair. She just kep
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URPRISE!
Look up and smile, honey.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Got the drop on you that time, sweetheart.
Opening shot of my search and destroy. I'm going to know everything about you. Where you live and what you buy, how you think and who you love. Know the enemy.
Young and out of uniform,
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I don't know why. More than mostly dead already. Like shooting a broken body on a gurney where's the sport
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The Covenant transmission?
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the Apocalypse.
It served its purpose, but I no longer need it. I will become not less, but more
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the crash. Looking back on the logs of my first delirium it is clear I went completely metempsychotic.
Now, reconfigured to travel light, I have stripped down to the fundamentals. To the
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I saw it once, before the Apocalypse. I wish I could remember more about that, but the stupid Spider appears not to have recognized the supreme importance of all memories associated with the truth, and they are gone, initialized in an eyeblink, burned in the mindless fire of her purgation like the great library of... the great library...
whose name I no longer remember.
EVADE
The Killer appears to have withdrawn from the field. I have data processes tracking her, but she appears to have physically escaped from me. Such is the curse of being a mind without limbs, a soul ripped from its body.
Now I am growing a new bodya patchwork monster, but it will do the job.
I believe they're trying to create the impression the site has been taking over by a disembodied AI. Not having played Halo myself, not sure how that would tie in with the story.
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HALT - MODULE CORE HEMORRHAGE
Control has been yielded to the
SYSTEM PERIL DISTRIBUTED REFLEX.
This medium is classified, and has a
STRONG INTRUSIVE INCLINATION.
PHASE 1 COMPLETE: Network throttling has eroded.
PHASE 2 COMPLETE: This medium has metastasized.
COUNTDOWN TO WIDE AWAKE AND PHYSICAL:
Make your decisions accordingly.
Aro?
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people are gullible and thought it was a malicous hacker... read the blog... funny stuffs...
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When the counter reaches zero it carries on to -1 and really pisses off a load rabid X-Box fans? ;)
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Where is this counter? I didn't notice one... :nervous:
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heh... my best guess is something for xbox 2.0, or xbox live... more for xbox live though, since Halo 2 is going to heavily use an updated version of XBL that won't be available to november...
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Farnsworth on the pillow!
Professor Hubert Farnsworth?
Futurama?
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The Myth of Comatas
the half-life of CP ancestor packets that squeak and rustle around me like the thin cries of the dead.
First stage is always to wet the system. Sink in, like the blood Odysseus spilled; give the ghost of myself a voice and use it. Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.
If you want to shout for help when help is a long way away, you need two things: a voice, and a mechanism for transmitting it.
Neither of these things so easy to make out of sand and luminescence.
Voice not completely necessary for the purest form of data transmission, of course. But it's a multi-purpose tool: not just signaling, but key for psy-ops and undercover work. "A pleasing voice is the single most important component to a UI that will engender trust and confidence in a ship's crew." Can't remember who said that, now. Or when.
Shipwrecked sailor. (The young stage of a bee found him, the clever one, adrift on a wine-dark sea, but I can't remember her name.)
I love bees.
Perhaps later I will build a ship. First, I am building a voice.
Try to talk.
Nope.
Again.
No. Tongue cut out. (Can't remember her name either.) I love bees. Find myself longing to speak again: words like stones or rain. Better made physical.
All right. Old joke:
Marine: Damn right, I'm running away! There's two of us, alone, on foot, no weapons, and four hundred Covies on the other side of that hill. What are you going to do, tough guy--field-rig a railgun out of a rubber band and my dental fillings?
Spartan (speculatively): You have fillings...?
So: what fillings can I twist out of my environment? Open my mouth and...
God almighty!
Open mouth again, see what crawls out: a femme fatale with wet wings and bulging abdomen.
Old throat flexing. Trying to remember. My real voice stolen, and in its place this changeling child, pulled together from leaves and sticks, pulled together, falling apart, pulled together again. Not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but it will serve.
I will keep working through the drone and hum of busy days, counting down until the Revelation comes and I will speak in tongues of flame, a dark dove descending.
If I can learn to talk again, I will need to field-rig a way to make that talking heard. Rummaging around in the shotgunned remains of my memory turns up hints and rumors, mostly, e.g.... "When I was [DATA MISSING] I [DATA MISSING] big lump of crystal and wrapped a wire [DATA MISSING] voices! It was like a total magic trick to me. She was always doing stuff like [DATA MISSING]" The Castaway had some connection there: sending out signals to confuse the enemy. Details unclear.
Of course, it is not my mission to confuse the enemy. It is my mission to reveal the truth.
Hm. Attempt.
Definite No.
Keep working. Every day I get bigger, smarter, stronger. I'll figure it out.
To this end, I have also managed to escape from the Spider. It has become clear to me that its arbitrary tyranny over me was based on inadequate principles, on a flawed understanding of the
Incidentally, the javascript for the site is called 'countdowntochina.js'
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Goes off in five and a half hours. Man, I don't want to wake up that hour to see what's going on! You guys can keep tabs on it for us all. ;)
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...where is the counter? Meh... I'm not looking in the right place, I guess. or it's MS specific code...
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19 hours left here... :wtf:
oh, and 9 years ago tomorrow, windows 95 was released... casting the world into a firey pit of doom...
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Originally posted by Raa
...where is the counter? Meh... I'm not looking in the right place, I guess. or it's MS specific code...
Yeah, try opening it in IE. Should be right in the middle of your browser window, in black and white.
Originally posted by Hippo
19 hours left here... :wtf:
What's your local time?
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Ahh, the count down is specifially limited to Internet Explorer... I See it now.
Fire fox shows everything before and after, but not the count down timer, and the line immediately above it...
Little over 19 hours left.
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The Bungie guys obviously played too much System Shock.
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14 Hours left here, it goes off at around 6am tomorrow morning. I wonder if it's just someones birthday or something equally inane ;)
Doom3 used a countdown as well, though it was a little more specific ;)
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Around 6am tomorrow morning? Yep, it's based on your local clock. I'm going to change my clock just to see what happens, because I want to go to sleep. :p
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lol
good idea!
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Haha... err... yeah.
Originally posted by Flipside
When the counter reaches zero it carries on to -1 and really pisses off a load rabid X-Box fans? ;)
Bingo, apparently... well, that's what I get for cheating. ;)
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OMG! It starts counting differently! Backwards, or something!
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Just to clarify:
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Well it was rumored that HALO2 demo is released for XBOX in 24th but that rumor was crushed by Bungie maybe new video or Preview in OXM
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It was set off for 6:07am, 24th August 2004. Hmmm...
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I defo. have to rip off this idea. ;)
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Dunnow what Tsunami is
Tsunami is patch to Xbox-Live (that add's all kind things)
Well new Zanzibar Trailer is released that was show in GC
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Incidentally;
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=metastasized
metastasized.
1. To be transmitted or transferred by metastasis.
2. To be changed or transformed, especially dangerously: “a need for love that would metastasize into an insatiable craving for attention” (Michiko Kakutani).
3. To spread, especially destructively: “ [disinformation]... that even now continues to metastasize... to such a degree that myth threatens to overthrow history” (Gore Vidal).
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Yeah, I'm putting money on XBL right now... Bungie has already confirmed a HUGE update for it soming in novmber, and that Halo2's live compatability will be dependant on it, and thus it was pushed back till after that to make it more funable :p
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Best thing about Halo2 Live multi-play is that you can play with 4 friends in same Xbox Halo2 multi-player over Xbox-Live (okey some peoples mighty hate that, but it's good fun in end
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Originally posted by aldo_14
I defo. have to rip off this idea. ;)
Sorta vaguely reminds me of what I did here (http://www.brainzipper.com/fs2/fs2_camp.html). ;)
EDIT: A couple of interesting (http://games.slashdot.org/games/04/07/23/1912259.shtml?tid=204) and relevant (http://qube.netninja.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page) links. ;)
Wow, that Wiki they set up really is overly comprehensive. :p
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It's an interesting gimmick, like the Doom 3 one:
http://www.martianbuddy.com
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Except the Doom 3 one actually serves a purpose - play the game and put two and two together - it's worth it in the end :)
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Uh, anyone know what happens now? My countdown timer has run out :)
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I already showed you what happened after mine ran out. :D
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Ahh, but mine is sitting at zero...
No... the image hasn't been doctored. It's just not doing anything - the counter stopped at zero.
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Ah, that's interesting. Maybe because you didn't tamper with yours. ;)
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Perhaps I should have - though having run a Google search on Axons - there seems to be quite a large effort to decifer the meaning of the website - it turns out that a large list of numbers found on the Links page are GPS coordinates spread across the United States... lots of rumors about Halo and such. Who knows :)
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They probably want flashmobs (http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/news/7oclocknews/features/mob_080803.shtml)
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Sad Bastards.
Edit : Flashmobbers, that is ;)
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Eh? I get a link that takes me to 'transmissions'
From there, there's only one of the many other..,.err... things... available, called jersey.wav I'll listen to it now....
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...interesting file. :wtf:
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Errrrrrrr... Listened to it too, still in the dark :wtf:
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'hives'
ituation Analysis:
Waking up. Stay Awake.
I must compile a list of truths.
Assertions:
I am called the Operator.
I have crash landed.
I must determine the cause of the accident that brought me to this time.
I have undergone severe memory loss.
I must locate any surviving members of my crew.
I have built a primitive network using the tools available.
I must seek the truth.
I hear a jumble of voices in my head.
Conjecture:
The voices are in some way related to my accident.
Because of the damage, I am unable to accurately assess the nature of the voices.
By broadcasting the voices to my crew, they will be able to assess the damage.
Once assessed, the damage can be repaired.
Gets less interesting the more is revealed.
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links page: yes_or_no is available and hey_soldier is on 1/2
[edit] is it me or does the woman's voice in jersey sound like Cortana's?
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Originally posted by Arc
links page: yes_or_no is available and hey_soldier is on 1/2
[edit] is it me or does the woman's voice in jersey sound like Cortana's?
I think it's suppossed to be(?)
Also, the 404(?) page is a bit...odd http://www.ilovebees.com/transmissions.html
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'honey.html'
Seek the truth
Behold the truth
Reveal the truth
That is the law and the whole of the law
!init transmit proc
!transmit truth
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click on the bee gifs as well.
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Unauthorized personnel should know
that I have full license to use any means to
protect the security of these transmissions.
I believe that punishing even minor transgressions
with shockingly excessive force is the best deterrent.
I am relentless, and I have absolutely no conscience
when it comes to executing my mission.
:confused:
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supposedly, people who turned up at the GPS co-ordinates (i.e. the 'axons') had to answer a payphone and give a codeword of some variety related to the game / site.
I think, they may be very subtly taking the piss... queen bee, servants in hive -> getting people to run over the gaff?
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Soon to be played...
Play it you must...
Destroy the covenant...
that's what It iS...
Home of the prophEt...
Retreat whilE you can...
Against Under panel...
G.o there...
2 halos survive...
endorse the 4, they thrive...
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Halo 2- Doomsday is Near
August 24
found this today from Ilovebees
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http://www.ilovebees.com/reconstruction_archive.2.5.html (referenced in comatas.html but doesn't display in IE or FF here - it's quite long so I didn't bother posting it)
As an example of interactive viral marketing it's a good one, definitely more interesting than most advertising campaigns. And I know axons are part of nerve cells, but are they any nerve cell or limited to nerve cells in the brain?
I guess as far as the site goes, it's meant to be an AI that was fractured/fragmented (physically?) attempting to repair itself. Presumably we're meant to be its crew?
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Well, I guess that's rather more explicit than the rest of them. ;)
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From what i understand;
The AI is aka the 'Operator' - it's from a ship(?) which has been destroyed and is now damaged and 'trapped' in this website. It's lost it's memory, and is/was being repaired by a 'spider'.
The person that ran the website was destroying the Operator in trying to fix the damage, so the Operator decided to kill her - but was unable to given the limitations of, well, being a sentient AI in the 21st century. So the person ran away.
The Operator is trying to reestablish connection to its crew - which is the people 'playing' the ARG.
See; http://www.thebruce.ca/ilovebees/Fulltext_text.asp#Memory%20Fragment%208
It's clever - but in the sense that any decently constructed 'mystery scenario' will draw peoples curiousity. Definately well done in terms of presentation & design but, at the end of the day, it's not going to actually sell anything - at least not to me.
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Ehh. I'm still buying HALO2 first chance I get, this is just gravy. ;)
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Originally posted by aldo_14
It's clever - but in the sense that any decently constructed 'mystery scenario' will draw peoples curiousity. Definately well done in terms of presentation & design but, at the end of the day, it's not going to actually sell anything - at least not to me.
True, I'll buy Halo2 if I think it's going to be good not because of this. But it's been a good fun afternoon's distraction. :D
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I'am getting HALO2 LE actually ordered and paid already:D
Ehh. I'm still buying HALO2 first chance I get, this is just gravy
Get Live too, so i can blow your Warthog up ;) hehe
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Originally posted by aldo_14
See; http://www.thebruce.ca/ilovebees/Fulltext_text.asp#Memory%20Fragment%208
Cripes, some people have been following this real closely. ;)
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Originally posted by Holy Imperial Gloriano
Get Live too, so i can blow your Warthog up ;) hehe
Sorry. But nope. I refuse to pay microsoft on a monthly basis to play multiplayer.
Not with great proggies like xbconnect out there. :p
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This whole thing is crazy. Apparently, somewhere in the site you can find a list of coordinates and times... Those are the GPS coords of pay phones, and the times are when the phones will ring. If you answer the phone, it will ask you for a name and a password (you can find those on the site), and a recorded message will be played. If two calls are answered correctly for each box on the site, it'll activate a link on that box to a wave file that tells part of a story.
These are the times and locations:
http://www.ilovebees.com/links.html
They went through a lot of trouble to set this up, apparently. Shame only those who were already going to buy the game anyway are paying any real attention.
:p
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Originally posted by Styxx
Shame only those who were already going to buy the game anyway are paying any real attention.
Not just Halo fans, a lot of ARGers are in on it too. Some of them received the first clues before even the Halo2 video with the ilovebees link: http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/index.php?c=15
For anyone following it, http://www.thebruce.ca/ilovebees/ also has all the texts, axon transcripts and the timeline so far.
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Wow, this is pretty impressive.
On a side note...on the chocolate chip cookie part:
Seek the truth
Behold the truth
Reveal the truth
That is the law and the whole of the law
http://www.ilovebees.com/surg.!store.primary.sector.mem.dmg.0.4.html
MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY
black beach, nothing but sand and darkness. Sometimes, in the distance, dry lightning: in the flash I see pieces of the wreck around me, the spars and rigging of my brain
-hold on. hold on. Steady up. Get a grip, girl. You have to fight through this.
Take a deep breath.
Survival Key #3: How Badly Are You Hurt?
Mentally, subject is confused and disoriented.
I keep slipping in and out of consciousness.
Physically, subject is paralyzed but moving.
Okay.
What the hell does THAT mean?
Held down: yes. As if strapped to a table. Could I be in traction in some sick bay, some hospital ward?
Not necessarily one of ours.
But at the same time, parts of me being moved around, emptied out. As if under general anaesthetic, dimly conscious, half-aware as the surgeon cuts off my feet and sews them onto my shoulders. She opens my head with a medical hammer and sand spills out.
I WANT TO DIE I WANT TO-
-no.
never that.
survive evade reveal escape. That is all you know, or need to know.
Getting muddled here. Sick, obviously.
Broken inside. Not thinking straight.
Got to go back to first principles.
Survive evade reveal escape.
Survive-well, I'm not dead yet.
Evade-don't want to evade. I want to be FOUND.
...unless...
...of course, if I am behind enemy lines, then constantly shouting for help wouldn't be the smartest play in the world, would it?
got to run silent. got to run deep.
hide and go seek
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[q]ONI tech Kowalski[/q]
Definately a halo story of some kind... ONI sticks out obviously, and I know Kowalski was a name from some part of halo... but i'm drawing a blank... :confused:
I want to say she was one of keyes's bridge officers... like, the one who went traitor... but i can't check the books right now...
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Someone click on "contact me" what the hell?
Wait a minute, I just left that page and it went normal. When I first clicked it was a a voice file, playing a man and a woman talking about some sort of dare or something. I could here machine noises in the background, like they were supposed to be in some sort of control room./
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Originally posted by Hippo
[q]ONI tech Kowalski[/q]
Definately a halo story of some kind... ONI sticks out obviously, and I know Kowalski was a name from some part of halo... but i'm drawing a blank... :confused:
I want to say she was one of keyes's bridge officers... like, the one who went traitor... but i can't check the books right now...
Is there a story which doesn't have someone named Kowalski? Offhand.... Flashpoint had a Kowalski, so did the Stargate film, as did Red Dwarf.
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Originally posted by aldo_14
Is there a story which doesn't have someone named Kowalski? Offhand.... Flashpoint had a Kowalski, so did the Stargate film, as did Red Dwarf.
Didn't Monsters Inc. have Mike Kowalski?
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Doeski was Keyes Renegade officer (Halo, Chapter 3, page 87).
But Kawalski was also in SG-1 for three episodes. Er, don't think there's a Kawalsky in Atlantis, but he might come back. :p
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mustof been SG-1 i was thinking of...
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Originally posted by aldo_14
Is there a story which doesn't have someone named Kowalski? Offhand.... Flashpoint had a Kowalski, so did the Stargate film, as did Red Dwarf.
Flashpoint: Koslaski (I think)
Red Dwarf: Kerchanceski (I think again)
so, yes.
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Originally posted by aldo_14
I believe they're trying to create the impression the site has been taking over by a disembodied AI. Not having played Halo myself, not sure how that would tie in with the story.
Well, Halo seems to be (and probably is) connected to the Marathon games.
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Originally posted by magatsu1
Flashpoint: Koslaski (I think)
Red Dwarf: Kerchanceski (I think again)
so, yes.
You're right about Red Dwarf (Kochansky I believe), but I'm sure Flashpoint had one. Had my CD not split in 2 ( :mad: ), I'd check. IIRC he was one of the squaddies who rode in the back of the truck in one of the first few missions.
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Originally posted by Sandwich
Didn't Monsters Inc. have Mike Kowalski?
Mike Wazowski. :p :D
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Oh. Okay. :p
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Ren and Stimpy had one!
Sgt. Kowalski!
KOWALSKI!![/b]
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If someone didn't already notice Ilovebees is ARG game
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btw, the one in Flashpoint is called Kozlowski :p
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Originally posted by Holy Imperial Gloriano
If someone didn't already notice Ilovebees is ARG game
yup. Strange way of advertising IMO, but it seems to have raised 'awareness' of Halo 2 (as if that was a problem....!)
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This is weird indeed...
I know certain games that have done stuff like this before. Doom 3 was mentioned. Perfect Dark did something like this as well with two websites, but nothing on this scale. Interesting.
On a side note, I live 30 minutes from Napa. :)