Bungie Announcement, The Superintendent and The Cancellation? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

xepherys · 07-15-2008, 09:19 PM

So... are any of you following this? For those not in the know, the newly independent Bungie Studios was supposed to have a HUGE announcement during E3. Most people assumed it would happen on Monday during the MS Press Conference. It didn't... however www.bungie.net was changed to reflect some Superintendent stuff with a countdown timer (leading to 0700 Pacific Time... Bungie is huge on 7's).

Now, exactly 12 hours before the supposed announcement (at 7:00pm Pacific Time... damned 7's), there's a letter stating the announcement was cancelled by Microsoft, ie- Bungie's publisher. Some people are calling bullshit. Who knows? I am FURIOUS! If there is no Bungie announcement tomorrow morning, I will curl into a ball and die. Or not, but I'll be sad as hell!

At any rate, assuming there is a future announcement, my guess as to what it is is as follows:

The Superintendent might be an indication of some sort of story-driven gameplay about a lowly robot (think Wall-E) in charge of monitoring and taking care of a Halo Ring or some other portion of the Halo mythos. There is mention here of "Custodial" bots:

Quote:

Custodial

The installations are designed to be run by advanced Artificial Intelligence constructs specially purposed by the Forerunners. The highest Intelligence on each Installation is a single Monitor. The Monitor's task is to ensure that the Installation's Constructors, Sentinels and Enforcers repair, maintain and defend the ring from damage, contain the Flood specimens, and ensure that their own Installation is ready to fire on demand, including running activation simulations.

In addition, each Installation contains less intelligent constructs, known as Sentinels. The Sentinels serve virtually any purpose necessary to ensure that the Halo functions properly; they are also capable of combating small Flood outbreaks. Should a major Flood outbreak occur, heavier automations, such as the Enforcers and Sentinel Majors will be created to assist the Sentinels. In the meantime, Constructors are also created to ensure that the Forerunner structures on the Installation are kept in optimal shape, and that they are not damaged by conflict or weather.

Save for the Monitor, all automations can be constructed at specialized Sentinel Production Facilities that float high in the Halo's atmosphere. These Facilities have never been seen (except briefly in the sky above the level Sacred Icon, one can be seen crashing as you exit near the end of the level, you then fight through the remains of it in Quarantine Zone), but they seem to contain limitless materials for constructing any number of automations.

343 Guilty Spark was a noted Monitor-Custodian of Installation 04. Perhaps The Superintendent fits in with this somehow?

Of course, this could be part of a new round of Bungie ARGing. This site for 101.9 Fox FM has a Bungie-esque countdown going on. Also, the i love bees website seems to have resurfaced. This was the ARG that kicked off the viral marketing campaign for Halo 2.

At any rate, it's late, I'm retarded and need to kill this post. Please comment and keep me sane!

-X

EDIT: A few other things... Notice the countdown timer on the 1019foxfm site is different? Perhaps it is a short ARG? Perhaps it begins tomorrow with a kickoff... then the real announcement is at the end of that timer - which would be 08/07/08 (seven's again) at 7:00pm Pacific I believe (can anyone confirm this?).

Lastly, look at the text from that site:

Code:

grope:
seeker > !attach Princess
fail "msg: SPDR-5.14.3

evade evade evade

!probe extern proc 1
rogue proc

!bite rogue proc 1 recurse
clean !splotch confidence 100

the SPDR-x.xx.x message (SYS7EM PERIL DIS7RIBU7ED REFLEX... again with the 7's)... isn't that one of the line errors on the terminals in Halo 3? The ones you need to view for the achievement?

UPDATE: this thread on the Bungie forums has an interesting subject line for page 5 (the link). That is NOT the subject of the thread. Look at other pages to verify. It is definitely a viral thing, as far as I care to believe at this point. Very interesting...

ANOTHER UPDATE:

Inside Bungie Announcement from the 11th... note this at the end:

Quote:

Future Tense

As a reader, I can only imagine just how frustrating it is to not have any new information just yet. Rest assured, dear vengeful, hypertense reader many things are in motion. Many things. These numerous things include the following:

* Major changes to the Halo 3 Online experience
* Sweet Announcements
* Poignant Clarifications
* Certain-point-of-view Truths
* Things you will love
* Things you will argue about
* Things you will make angry videos about

The last two are interesting, no? Like perhaps it was planned this way?

40 views and no replies? How many visitors am I bringing here? LOL Someone has to have something to share!

UPDATE:

WTF, 123 views? No comments? I hate you guys!

At any rate, here's something new, caught by Animus on the Bungie forums. He noticed that between the 03 and 04 images (countdown screen pre-cancellation announcement and screen post- with letter) that some small text on the side had changed. I sharpened the image and blew it up. The first seems to say DEATH ANGEL in leetspeak. What does the second (new) image say?

The countdown on the 1019foxfm.net site has the following code:

Code:

TargetDate = "08/07/2008 7:17 PM";
BackColor = "Black";
ForeColor = "White";
CountActive = true;
CountStepper = -1;
LeadingZero = true;
DisplayFormat = "%%D%% Days, %%H%% Hours, %%M%% Minutes, %%S%% Seconds.";
FinishMessage = "It is finally here!";

7th of august at 7:17? too many sevens NOT to be Bungie!

UPDATE: Further proof that the 1019foxfm.net site is Bungie related:

From this wiki article:

[QUOTE]The System Peril Distributed Reflex (or SPDR, pronounced "spider") is an automated program placed in UNSC AIs to assist the AI in repair when it becomes too damaged to function properly on its own.

I Love Bees

Main Article: I Love Bees Synopsis

When a temporal rip caused Melissa to crash into the ilovebees server in 2004, her SPDR repaired her greatly and fought to remove the threat of the Seeker, a malicious Covenant AI, eventually succeeding. Before it did, however, the Seeker absorbed the SPDR's language and impersonated it.

Melissa was too damaged to tell the difference and temporarily disabled the real SPDR, allowing the Seeker to corrupt her. When the rip closed and sent her back home, the Seeker and the SPDR were left alone in the ilovebees server. The SPDR killed the Seeker and prepared the server to keep it functional for 500 years until October 9, 2552, at 06:07:00, until it could send itself and the information it had gathered to UNSC forces.

The Widow

A fragment of Melissa called the The Sleeping Princess communicated the SPDR's (whom she called the Widow) story through corrupted image files that were taken and pieced together to create the narrative of The Widow's Journey./QUOTE]

The SPDR error text can be found in Halo 3 on screens of the terminals (does anyone have a screen capture of this, perhaps?). It can be found on the 1019foxfm.net site:

Quote:

fail "msg: SPDR-5.14.3

Is it anywhere in the tiny text of the bungie.net splash screens currently?

At any rate the 1019foxfm.net text is the same as the text on ilovebees.com. I SUPPOSE it could be an homage to Halo/Bungie... who knows? I don't think so though!

ANOTHER UPDATE: The 1019FOXFM.NET site. There has been talk about whether or not it's TRULY a defunct radio station. The whois registry info from NetSol lists:

Quote:

Admin Name........... FOX FM
Admin Address........ 631 CENTER AVE
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ BURLINGTON
Admin Address........ 27215
Admin Address........ NC
Admin Address........ UNITED STATES
Admin Email.......... wdspfm@yahoo.com
Admin Phone.......... +1.3367921310
Admin Fax............

WDSP FM? The FCC registry at http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/fmq.html shows no station broadcasting even recently on WDSP. Since this domain was last registered only a year ago:

Quote:

Domain Name.......... 1019foxfm.net
Creation Date........ 2007-06-21
Registration Date.... 2007-06-21
Expiry Date.......... 2009-06-21
Organisation Name.... FOX FM
Organisation Address. 631 CENTER AVE
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. BURLINGTON
Organisation Address. 27215
Organisation Address. NC
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

I'm calling foul on there being such a station.

SOME MORE STUFF: So... there's the pg 5 thread title change (and other pages as well). Does anyone remember Iris ARG?

Quote:

At 10:26 AM PST on June 11, 2007, a mysterious message appeared in the Halo 3 forum on Bungie.net with a subject line entitled, "System Integrity Confirmed." The thread was created by a user named AdjutantReflex, whose system security role is "CompoundIntelligence."

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=11263399 - First B.net thread

AdjutantReflex's text is gold.

In response to a post wondering if this was the work of a hacker, AdjutantReflex confirmed that it entered Bungie's systems "by force," but stated that it was irrelevant because there was no hostile intent.

AdjutantReflex edited the first reply by another user, showing a system ability to edit other posts.

After exactly 100 excited and confused replies from forumgoers, AdjutantReflex locked and stickied the thread, showing that it has other moderator powers as well. The thread was open for about two hours.

AdjutantReflex then moved to Bungie.org, posting a similar series of mysterious writings in the halo.bungie.org forum.

MORE RADIO STUFF: Okay, last one for the night. GoogleMap that address. Zoom out far enough to see street view on I-40. Click the street view directly below that address. Look north (should be default)... see any broadcast antennae? I sure don't...

ADDED: New photo for text checking. Enlarged and sharpened it a bit more...

looks like maybe the text is mirror image? the end is <1DB> ?

Something like

JAE ??? H ? <1DB>

Lasereth · 07-16-2008, 04:14 AM

I hadn't heard of this until now. Hopefully there will be an awesome announcement.

ratbastid · 07-16-2008, 04:23 AM

I'm replaying the first Marathon right now. It's amazing--the technology was SO primitive, with the 2.5D map engine and the sprite-based character rendering. But the story and gameplay is SO immersive and taut. I've been up until LATE the last couple nights trying to survive the end of The Rose and G4 Sunbathing levels.

Whatever Bungie does next, I'll buy.

Incidentally, once I had the Marathon engine (which is open sourced under the name Aleph One) installed, I went to one of the old archives for third-party maps and found the ones I made back in like 1995. They range from very poor to moderately playable. I had a large single-player scenario I was working on that I guess I never submitted to the archive that is now lost to the ravages of time. Shame about that!

xepherys · 07-16-2008, 08:31 AM

I seriously think it's a Halo-universe game, but not an FPS and not Halo the way we'd think to guess.

Prophecy · 07-16-2008, 11:35 AM

Not a big surprise but MS announced today Bungie is currently working on a Halo themed game.

07-16-2008, 08:31 AM	#4 (permalink)
xepherys <3 TFP Location: 17TLH2445607250	I seriously think it's a Halo-universe game, but not an FPS and not Halo the way we'd think to guess. __________________ The prospect of achieving a peace agreement with the extremist group of MILF is almost impossible... -- Emmanuel Pinol, Governor of Cotobato My Homepage

07-16-2008, 11:35 AM	#5 (permalink)
Prophecy Oracle & Apollyon Location: Limbus Patrum	Not a big surprise but MS announced today Bungie is currently working on a Halo themed game. __________________ La Disciplina È La Mia Spada, La Fede È Il Mio Schermo, Non salti Ciecamente In Incertezza, E Potete Raccogliere Le Ricompense.

07-16-2008, 04:14 AM	#2 (permalink)
Lasereth Knight of the Old Republic Location: Winston-Salem, NC	I hadn't heard of this until now. Hopefully there will be an awesome announcement.

07-16-2008, 04:23 AM	#3 (permalink)
ratbastid Darth Papa Location: Yonder	I'm replaying the first Marathon right now. It's amazing--the technology was SO primitive, with the 2.5D map engine and the sprite-based character rendering. But the story and gameplay is SO immersive and taut. I've been up until LATE the last couple nights trying to survive the end of The Rose and G4 Sunbathing levels. Whatever Bungie does next, I'll buy. Incidentally, once I had the Marathon engine (which is open sourced under the name Aleph One) installed, I went to one of the old archives for third-party maps and found the ones I made back in like 1995. They range from very poor to moderately playable. I had a large single-player scenario I was working on that I guess I never submitted to the archive that is now lost to the ravages of time. Shame about that!