So a while back, after watching the Matrix movie, I decided to find out some information about the company Neo worked for. Turns out the site existed. I e-mailed them, asking to be told about the company. I quickly forgot about it, since they never responded. Until now...
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
Redland, WA - SEPTEMBER 19, 2003 - MetaCortechs Corp. announced today the development of its new MetaVR entertainment system, for use in conjunction with its MetaGamex computer gaming console.
The MetaVR entertainment system is currently the most sophisticated Virtual Reality complex developed for the home entertainment market. Consisting of a set of MetaVR goggles, a stereo headset, infrared tactile sensor/emitters and an olfactory chest plate, the MetaVR system breaks new ground in providing absolutely immersive, lifelike, convincing aming like nothing ever seen before.
Our new MetaVR system will take gaming a quantum leap beyond anything that our competitors have been able to create so far, stated Steven Walsh, CEO of MetaCortechs. We're on the cutting edge of the gaming marketplace. We're very excited about the worldwide anticipation for this new system, and we've put a lot of effort into putting more of what players want into the MetaVR. Already, we are building substantial inventories in anticipation of consumer demand.
The MetaVR system uses new proprietary MetaCortechs software to actually anticipate the players' moves, buffering what it thinks will happen in order to avoid any kind of perceptual lag on the player's behalf. This lag has been the primary limitation on the gaming community's willingness to wholly embrace true virtual reality systems in the past, since it has a tendency to make players nauseous, which clearly is not in our best interest as a developer, stated Walsh. However, all indications are that these anomalies have been completely eliminated from the core MetaVR operating system.
Providing sensory input to four of the five senses, the MetaVR system will let players see in stereo 3-D vision, hear in simulated surround stereo, feel objects when they're held or impact their bodies, sense temperature changes, and even smell their simulated surroundings. Players have yet to realize how important olfactory feedback is in the gaming world, because they take it for granted in the real world, Walsh continued. Imagine the adrenaline rush as, while you're exploring an alien world, you realize that you are smelling the sour musky odor of an invisible grungbeast. That smell could give you those precious extra seconds that may mean the difference between life and death, or at least having to start a level over.
MetaCortechs has only recently made inroads into the gaming genre. Known for its expertise in developing business and information applications, the Company has made a huge impact worldwide, quickly becoming *the* force to be reckoned with in the computer industry.
For further information, contact:
MetaCortechs
One MetaCortechs Avenue
Redland, WA 98076
USA
(206) 350-7100
www.metacortechs.com
"What exactly is this?", you're probably asking yourself. Some of you gamers out there might remember a ill-fated game by the name of "Majestic". It was an attempt to merge gaming with reality. The premise was that you'd send the company your contact information, AIM SN, telephone # and fax #, and they would interact with you in real life. Some people got freaked out when their fax machiens started recieving clues from the company, acting as if they were actual characters, and the game was not a game but real life. Then they'd get IM's, phone calls... etc etc. All with real life people, nonetheless. Even though Majestic's idea was an awesome, groundbreaking one, the company itself failed to pull it off correctly. It did, however, introduce the notion of merging gaming with reality.
It turns out that The Matrix has decided to pull off a huge, and I mean HUGE, online publicity stunt. This is similar to another stunt they pulled off for Matrix Reloaded, but from all the activity I've seen, it's much bigger than even that.
Anyone who eMailed MetaCortechs as a joke, or as a serious inquiry, from seeing their name on The Matrix (IT company that Neo [Mr. Anderson] worked for and was late to), recieved a shocking surprise when they got an eMailed response from them. After visiting several forums, where I discovered hundreds of people had recieved similar eMails, I learned that "the game" had begun.
The Watchowski (sp?) brothers have started an extremely immersive experience that only hones our hunger for the third installment of this great series.
Starting in late September, MetaCortechs's site became active. Within days, people began to realize how deep the rabbit hole really goes, with the WB (Watchowski Brothers) creating an authentic-looking hosting company to host MetaCortechs's site, as well as several other sites that were created by MetaCortechs "employees".
As of October 4, these are the websites that are related to this stunt:
http://www.metacortechs.com
http://www.underscorehosting.com (the fake company set up by the WB to host all these Matrix-stunt-related websites)
http://www.little-boxes.net
http://www.metadex.net
http://www.paranormaljournal.org
http://www.paintover.net
http://www.theaquapolis.com
http://www.sheismissing.info
http://www.heismissing.info
http://www.underscorehosting.com
http://www.cascadevortex.com
http://www.leiphe.net
While this is undoubtebly an incomplete list, and the WB are probably holding back some information that'll they'll be releasing the closer we get to Nov. 5 (Matrix Revolutions release date), these websites themselves contain enough information and enough goodies to keep you entertained and immersed and freaked out for days to come.
One of the more believable websites is http://www.little-boxes.net, which is the personal website of an employee at MetaCortechs. She's an archiver of weird, paranormal events, and has gone so far as to document New England's August blackout. Upon further research, she wonders why the blackout appeared to be in a perfect circle (read: EMP). If you go there and try to read the archives, you'll be prompted to enter a username and password. Enter in "Phillip" for the username, and "timaeus" for the password, without quotes. This'll allow you full access to the archives.
Note to you: While giving out usernames and passwords on a website might seem illegal to you, I assure you that this is all part of the WB's game. They WANT you to figure all this stuff out.
In case you want some more user-interaction on this awesome stunt, I suggest you visit one of the following websites, who are REAL people, like you or me, trying to play along with the WB's game. Note that all websites hosted by Underscore Hosting have a small watermark on them. That's the only way to link them to The Matrix.
http://mitglied.lycos.de/Gumpraider/metacortex/
http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~mlpatt er/matrix/
That's it for now. If you're not much of a Matrix fan, sorry. I suggest you click the banner at the top of this page, http://www.ojobojo.com, to read some great, funny stuff. For now, I'll go back to scanning the source code of all these websites for more information.
Happy Huntin',
cyber.
"The machine turns, turns and must keep on turning for ever. It is death if it stands still. A thousand millions scrabbled the crust of the earth. The wheels began to turn. In a hundred and fifty years there were two thousand millions. Stop all the wheels. In a hundred and fifty weeks there are once more only a thousand millions; a thousand thousand thousand men and women have starved to death."
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