I received a message at Facebook from someone claiming to know me, by name - well, her father knew me - but he was recently killed in Friar’s Point, Mississippi. This girl said her father told her to find me, that I was trustworthy and if she was ever in danger, to contact me for help.  Just me.

She was sent a photograph of a terminal that included me in a list of people being observed - myself on par with her. Others on the list are friends who I’ve discussed this with.  She’s now eerily stopped communicating.  And now I’m not sure how much to write here…

But, if you’d like to help, please do!  Jacob Aaron’s death is still a mystery (as is his apparent connection to me) - discussion at Unfiction

—-

Secondly, I recently joined an Applicant Program (made a nice avatar, right :) for an organization called IngenBio - a program that filters individuals who are apt for employment at this pharmaceutical research firm.  It’s going well so far.  I received an introductory package last week containing a dogtag, a security badge, and a vial of an experimental cure-all “panacea” they’re developing.  Ingen partnered with Harcos Inc. recently - makers of “Mana Energy Potion“, an energy drink sold in the US (an interesting product; very.. fantasy/gaming market related; and a very, very strong drink! wow). They’re developing a distribution plan for Ingen’s nearly-complete panacea ‘potion’.

This package was the first step in the application process. Everyone in my control group (#15) got a package. Now, the fact that we received this experimental medicine itself is rather strange… especially if it’s not yet complete (or even legal?).  But I drank it anyway.  :P  With this package we (applicants) received access to a private intranet at Ingenbio.net.  Wrapped around the neck of the potion was a code that needed to be provided in the program to advance to clearance level 2.  So it looks like only the best of the best will actually make it to full employment there.  We each got a letter from Harlan Griffin - CEO of IngenBio - congratulating us, but apparently not everyone managed to enter that advancement code.  We don’t know if they decided not to continue, or if they couldn’t figure it out, but Harlan wasn’t too impressed with them. It’s like level 1 was a test - everyone’s been given the instructions to get to level 2 now.

Anyway, the spooky part - years ago, a man named Leonard Kendall (avatar, right) died in a big explosion at the facility. He left behind a number of video logs, where it seems he was the one developing this cure-all. At first for good, but he felt soon that Harlan wanted to weaponize it, so he took his research underground (well, an offsite-lab). His primary goal was now to save his daughter Ivy who was diagnosed with cancer. That was the lab that exploded.

Eerie: in the package was another code, inside the drink, in morse code, which when entered in the intranet updated a sound file in the list of documents we have access to (a sound file of Kendall saying, in Russian, “Fight - Survive - Infect”).  The ‘new’ file was actually an overlaid spectrogram discovered by fellow-applicant MrToasty, containing an image of some kind of Ivy plant.

Spooky: We have reason to believe we’re being watched. Some applicants in our control group have been marked as a “suspected agent” for whatever reason. We do know that a couple of FBI agents recently tried to infiltrate the facility, but they haven’t been heard from since.  I don’t think we want to be suspected as agents :P.  Rather, was Kendall on to something?  Can we trust Harlan?

Apparently Griffin will be re-opening IngenBio’s Applicant Registration again soon.  So if you want to get in and try for a prestigious position at Ingenbio, watch the registration page for updates, or follow the discussion at Unfiction.

A mysterious Bungie.net user named IIIIlll or otherwise known as “The Superintendent” posted two news article recently, including segments of audio log transcripts from ONI (UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence).  Of course, the community analyzed the logs to no end.  But this latest update had everyone refreshing bungie.net’s homepage seconds before the counter hit zero.

The Superintendent has a history of cryptic, vague posts at Bungie.net’s forums. Recently, Bungie had planned to unveil an annoucement, but Microsoft, being their publisher, pulled the plug on their plans just before it was to happen at E3. That didn’t set too well.  So this countdown was eagerly anticipated, to say the least.

On hitting zero, a news article was posted including links to a teaser trailer for what is believed to be a new Bungie game.  Not a very ARGish result in itself, but the trailer does contain many, many, many scenes and frames with text and numbers for people to document and analyze.  Speculation and theories are already running rampant about the time period and the visual content of the trailer. Suffice to say, The Superintendent AI has the starring role in the trailer.

The trailers can be downloaded here:

Quicktime Small

Quicktime Medium

Quicktime Large

Windows Media Player Small

Windows Media Player Medium

Windows Media Player Large

I also managed to export a full frame-by-frame compilation from the high definition trailer, and uploaded the significant frames with visual/transcribable content to flickr, available here

Of significant note are a few frames bearing resemblance to some teaser images posted to bungie.net over the past months of the Superintendent.  Mainly, one phrase has been kicking up a dust storm.  Reported at ComputerAndVideoGames.com, the phrase “Maddie, where are you?” appears to be possibly be connected to the (very real) search for a (very real) missing girl.  A post by Shishka, a Bungie.net “overlord”, indicates it’s “an unfortunate coincidence, but a coincidence nonetheless“, confirmed by Sketchfactor of Bungie.  The phrase was connected to a bebo.com profile with a title of the same phrase, raising awareness for Maddie.
Quite a coincidence it is!

Current speculation is that the trailer is taking place between Halo 2 and Halo 3, from the perspective of New Mombasa as the Covenant Prophet Regret opens his slipstream portal in its skies (recall in the game, the Covenant ship exited slipspace bringing with it tatters of New Mombasa buildings and general destruction - her we get to see how that immediately left the city).  It appears that the Superintendent is an Urban AI located at New Mombasa - perhaps much like a Halo Wall-E!

A date also appears in mangled text in later frames - 01/06/09 - which may refer to January 6, or June 1, 2009.  There’s also a set of numbers that resembles a 1-800 number that appears, but it resolves to a real bank and may likely also just be a coincidence.

Who, or what, is “Vergil”?
And what’s special about “Level 9″?

With so much content, much of it random and undoubtedly insignificant, there’s probably going to be a lot more coincidental connections reported while the trailer is ripped to shreads by the community.  That said, if you still haven’t watched the trailer, GO NOW

So this is in all likelihood not another ARG promotion, but for any Halo fan, there’s certainly more Haloverse campaign goodness on its way…  PREPARE TO DROP

• Frame-by-frame discussion can be found at carnage.bungie.org or at args.bungie.org
• A detailed analysis by Pailkilla05 is readable at podtacular
• An easier Youtube version of the trailer is available
• Visit halo.wikibruce.com to read up on Iris and other recent ARGish/viral campaigns in the Haloverse.

That’s all.

If you live in Philly, can you help put together the pieces of this puzzle?
Or is this just “Kitby”’s idea for a ‘Project 365′?

**UPDATE

Kitby has posted a photo of the instructions that were found with that puzzle piece:

Each task has had a relatively hidden ‘cheat’ that allows the player to tweak the rules in their favour, and achieve is much higher, if not perfect score.

Tonight’s 5th task once again had a ‘clue’ hidden in the video message viewable once logged in. (though not technically a cheat, it is a hint for a difficult question)

SPOILERS BELOW—————-

(skip to the end if you just want to see the answer and not the process)

In the lower right of the video message is a small white square that flash erratically.  A keen eye would notice that it’s actually morse code.

I managed to get the solve with a little bit of work, but mostly using a combination of short cuts and batch routines, as described below.

I opened the video in an editor, and exported the frames from the relevent range of the video with the morse code, but clipped to the lower right 20×20 pixels (the rest is unneeded).  I sorted the resulting image file list by size (since there would be only two unique ‘images’ thus effectively grouping the ‘dotted’ images apart from the plain).  This made it easy to select and batch rename all the ‘dot’ images for easy reading in sequence.  Once renamed, I re-ordered the file list back to the frame order, transcribed the ‘dot’ and ‘dash’ regions of frames (dashes composed about 4 or 5 frames, where dots were 1 frame each), then ran the result through a morse translator (quicker than doing it all manually), and finally made a few letter/word spacing adjustments, and here’s the result:

- .... . -.-. .... . .- - .. ... .. -. - .... .
T H    E C    H    E A  T I  S   I  N  T H    E
... . --.- ..- . -. -.-. . -... ..- -
S   E Q    U   E N  C    E B    U   T
- .... . ... . --.- ..- . -. -.-. . .. ...
T H    E S   E Q    U   E N  C    E I  S  
- .... . .- -. ... .-- . .-.
T H    E A  N  S   W   E R

• THE CHEAT IS IN THE SEQUENCE BUT THE SEQUENCE IS THE ANSWER

Oh what fun!  :D Now how does this apply to the task…

Question #7/10 is always based on the same formula, the trick question for which this clue is intended.

There is another interesting point, however - the numbers in question 7 appear clickable, where none of the other questions’ numbers are. But clicking doesn’t appear to do anything.
(will update as more info comes in.)

* UPDATE:

An analysis of the flash source code has revealed the purpose of the clickable numbers in question #7, posted over at spoilerTV.  The question shows 3 numbers in a sequence - consider them button 0, 1, and 2 respectively. In short, the example below explains their function:

What is the next number in the sequence?
11, 21, 1211, ______

The answer is 111221. So if you get this question you click button0, button0, button0, button1, button1, button0 (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 1). BAM! There’s your 100% regardless how you did on the previous 6 questions.

So, there is indeed a cheat for Task #7, and the clue’s full meaning has been revealed - “The cheat is in the sequence, but the sequence is the answer.”

• Join in the Lost/Dharma discussion at Unfiction (one of many online communities!)

Someone is.
Recently, ARGN received a mysterious message on its tipline (download and listen here) with an computer-emulated whispering voice saying:

Alone in the darkness. Send your mailing address to 1003@iamblind.org

The email address we’re not sure of yet, because all attempts to email it have resulted in bounced responses.  Perhaps someone else might be figure out an alternate transcription of the email address?

The website, however, contains the single phrase, barely visible: “I am blind”.  Placing your mouse pointer over the phrase causes another sound bite to be played.  This one sounds like a recording in a crowded area such as a mall, where a number of voices are overlaid of people answering this simple question:

The last thing I want to see is…

What does it mean?  One theory is that it’s a viral campaign for the upcoming movie Blindness, releasing Sept 26th.

The final response, however, feels eerily significant:

I would try to remember each day, and maybe if I was successful enough, maybe it would be like I could see again.

• Join in the discussion at Unfiction

Not many have detailed online component resources, approaching the franchise from the extended reality campaign direction.  Taking that into account, I’ve created fringe.wikibruce.com to help organize and track online components, how they’re connected to the TV episodes, and linking to general-Fringe-lore websites for detailed canon information.

Also, other major ARGs have completed or are winding down. Gotta keep active :)

If you haven’t seen Fringe, the pilot (and subseqent future episodes) is downloadable via Fox.com/fringe (US only) and via CTV.ca (Canada), and available on Hulu.com.

Visit the extended online components, currently known at www.MassiveDynamic.com, www.GlowingMonkeys.com, and www.ImagineTheImpossibilities.com

Other significant Fringe-related sites:

• Official Fringe website @ FOX
• FringeTelevision.com
• Fringepedia.net
• Fringe Eastereggs
• And now Fringe ERE Wiki

Massive Dynamic is a technology coropration that has developed a number of items in the show in various areas, including weapons testing, robotics, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals. It’s also located in Toronto, Ontario disguised as the Royal Ontario Museum.
… er… well, that’s the outer appearance they used for its office architecture in the pilot episode.

• Fringe premieres tonight on Fox and CTV at 8:00pm Eastern.
• Go and explore what may very well become an immersive extended experience at MassiveDynamic.com
• Take a look at the Fringepedia wiki to get caught up on all things Fringe

*UPDATE:

With the official airing of the Fringe pilot came a number of changes to the show’s content, including a new Massive Dynamic office facade, and some updated mysterious content, such as text on the kayak in Dunham’s dream sequence, writing on a gravestone in the same sequence, the well-known Fringe objects appearing very quickly before commercials, and much more, all hidden in the show.  A new website was also discovered - www.glowingmonkeys.com - written on a poster attached to a street light outside the new MD building.

• To see a great collection of what’s been found, visit the fan site eastereggs.fringetelevision.com.
• Also visit the new ERE Wikibruce wiki at fringe.wikibruce.com

Read the interview with Susan Bonds and Alex Lieu about The Dark Knight over at Creativity-Online.  Find out some hidden secrets and the way things were from ‘behind the curtain’ during the campaign’s run.

42 Entertainment is also currently known to be running the ARG for Sony’s upcoming PS3 game Resistance 2 (aka “Project Abraham“)

• Visit the Dark Knight ARG wiki at batman.wikibruce.com
• Jump in the Resistance 2 ARG by catching up at fallofman.wikibruce.com

Without going into details, August 24th was the day that athletes, Agonothetai, from various parallel worlds would perform the necessary deeds open a portal and return to their home worlds, bidding farewell to ours.

To get to that point, they enlisted the help of many, many people in our own world - to learn the Lost Sport of Olympia, to train, and compete with the other worlds, and in doing so bring our worlds closer together, uniting them and allowing the portal to open and send them home.

By August 24th, the closing ceremonies, five teams around the world had trained and qualified to compete in the final olympic sport:
* Team London, Team Tokyo, Team Wellington, Team San Francisco, and Team Salvador.

While the world was focused on the closing ceremonies in Beijing, these teams ran 3-circuit and 7-circuit labyrinths - a blindfolded runner, and a number of individuals forming a living ‘wall’ to guide the runner and keep him/her on route (yes, they can be disqualified!). They competed for the fastest times, and claim to gold, silver, and bronze placements.

Preparations

The allies - the other-world athletes - were coached for their final training and big day by four-time Olympic gold medal athlete Edwin Moses. Once in Beijing, the group of them sent a greeting to the world, kicking off the Multiverse Olympiad ( Watch!). Edwin offered them advice and encouragement, and helped them prepare for their final tasks ( Edwin and Ariadne at the Bird’s Nest).

Messages from Edwin for each competing team can also be watched online ( Team London, Tokyo, Wellington, San Francisco, Salvador) along with introductions of each team’s athlete roster ( Team London, Salvador, Salvador, Tokyo, Wellington)

The night before the closing ceremonies, the allies camped at the Great Wall, saying their farewells, and mentally preparing for the trip home. ( Noriko, MeiHui, Diego, Markus, Markus, Monica).
James Mutters - a man from our own world who fell in love during a previous Olympiad to a girl who returned to her own home and has now decided to join the allies and travel in an effort find her again - helps the team create their 7-circuit and 3-circuit labyrinths on the great wall, ready to compete with the other 5 cities ( at the 7 circuit, making the 7-circuit, the rope protractor).

Game day arrives

Twitter is a-flutter with activity as each competing team organizes and synhcronizes their competition run. Below is a sample of the excitement and competition that ensued…

ariadnelost) chalked and ready to go! a little nervous but excited!!
mrjudkins) Us too!
DavFlamerock) Multiverse Olympics here we go. Time to do the ultimate synchro.
redbanshee) Good Luck Multiverse Athletes!!!
ariadnelost) it thunderstormed last night & made our wall very wet & slippery! we’re practicing now but about 10 seconds off our best time
ariadnelost) @unagisune696 good luck in tokyo! noriko is so proud of you for camping all night at the park!!
ariadnelost) 5 minutes everybody!!! first 3 circuit race!! GOOD LUCK!!
Ari0ck) we’re ready in san francisco
lauraehall) The Multiverse Olympics are about to start… excited and actually kind of emotional. ;_;
rangerd) SF trial 1 3 circuit 9.56 sec
mrjudkins) 8.88 seconds for Wellington!
ariadnelost) trial 1 3 circuit 14.19 seconds for team beijing!
mrjudkins) 9.31 sec for wellington
rangerd) SF trial 2 3-circuit 10.91sec
ariadnelost) trial 2 for 3 circuit 14.28 seconds
mrjudkins) last 3-Circuit labyrinth Wellington: 9.1 Seconds!
rangerd) SF trial 3 3-circuit 8.56
ariadnelost) 11.22!!!!!! our best time yet. good enough for bronze??? team tokyo team salvador CHECK IN!!
DavFlamerock) YES 8.56 is our best time! WE WIIIIIIIN
mrjudkins) Whoah! Congrats for the 3-Circuit Time SF!
unagisune696) 8s43 for 3rd run!
lauraehall) how’s Team London? Amazed at Wellington’s 9.1 vs. SF’s 8.5 vs Tokyo’s 8.43… it’s on!
mrjudkins) Whoah! Go Team Tokyo! 3-Circuit Gold Winners!
ariadnelost) CONGRATULATIONS TEAM TOKYO! lets see what omphaputer says if we beat other worlds you win gold, SF silver, NZ brone
ariadnelost) great job team london!!! best time in europe! new europe world record!!!!
ariadnelost) team london set new european record with 22.07 s
ariadnelost) getting ready for 7 circuit way slippery we are sliding everywhere wait til you see video
rangerd) SF trial 1 7-circuit 53.00 sec
mrjudkins) 36.25 seconds from Wellington 7-Circuit Run 1
ariadnelost) 1:00.72
mrjudkins) 38.1 seconds from Wellington 7-Circuit Run 2
ariadnelost) trial 2 for 7 circuit 1.02.84 slip slip slip!!!
rangerd) SF trial 2 7-circuit 48.91 sec
ariadnelost) wiping wall sludge off shoes last try!!
ariadnelost) yay 54.19
mrjudkins) Wellington Last 7-Circuit Run = Fault! Ran through the wall at the last turn!
rangerd) SF trial 3 7-circuit DQ
ariadnelost) congratulations team wellington!!!
ariadnelost) unless salvador kicked our ass
ariadnelost) unlikely though you set a crazy world record NZ!!!
ariadnelost) looks like NZ gold SF silver Beijing bronze??!!! hopefuly omphaputer updates soon. any friends online to check??
ariadnelost) i can’t wait to see videos!! ours are awesome. sad other allies won’t get to see videos tho
mrjudkins) We’re online now - will try
ariadnelost) noriko is so proud team tokyo more proud than if we won
DavFlamerock) darn Tokyo. WHY. I wish for foul play… but .08 seconds. Wow.
ariadnelost) amazing job team london you are so awesome can’t wait to see your in the dark laby!!
ariadnelost) kai is going to leave us now at the wall he will post videos we will stay to help the allies travel home tonight. PLEASE POST VIDEOS ASAP!
ariadnelost) nervously awaiting omphaputr updates
DavFlamerock) proof of synchronization between Wellington and SF: Both of us ran thru the wall on the last turn.
mrjudkins) we are talking about our synchronicity! ha!
ariadnelost) WOW!! gaea wins!!!!!!! EVERYTHING!!!!111
ariadnelost) UPLOAD VIDEOS to JAMES’ DROP BOX FOR kAI tO PICK UP
lauraehall) @mac_monkey Looks like NZ gold, Tokyo or SF silver, Beijing bronze? Not sure what the Japan time was but apparently they did really well.
lauraehall) @mac_monkey That’s got 12 hrs to go! :) Also SF and Wellington were so synchronized they both ran thru wall at the end of the lab! So cool.
ariadnelost) kai called he is back and uploading our videos
unagisune696) Congratulations NZ team! 36.25 sec for 7-circuit is unbelievable!
mrjudkins) Team Wellington’s videos are uploaded! Now to go grab some lunch… Thanks to all for a great global event!
mrjudkins) @unagisune696 Thank you unagi! Hearty Congrats from us too for that amazing 3-Circuit Time! Hope you all went out for a great breakfast!

After all the excitement, videos began trickling in of each team’s races.

• Official compilation of each competitive race and results
• Beijing (3 circuit, 7 circuit)
• London (3 circuit, 7 circuit)
• Salvador (3 circuit, 7 circuit)
• San Francisco (3 circuit, 7 circuit)
• Tokyo (3 circuit, 7 circuit remains unrun)
• Wellington (3 circuit, 7 circuit)

According to the official Omphaputer results (across each of the multiverse worlds), the final standings were:

• 3 Circuit Medal Results:
  Gold: Gaea|Tokyo
  Silver: Gaea|San Francisco
  Bronze: Gaea|Wellington
• 7 Circuit Medal Results:
  Gold: Gaea|Wellington
  Silver: Gaea|San Francisco
  Bronze: Gaea|Beijing

In the end, another friend from our world and key to making so much of this possible for the allies, Kai bids the team farewell as he heads back to Beijing for the closing ceremonies. ( saying goodbye)

Closing ceremonies

As the world watched, the allies waited.
But even as the world watched, the strangest thing happened - Kai and the allies could be seen in the stadium during the olympic ceremonies! But… they were supposed to be at the Great Wall awaiting their passage home! Kai reported on this phenomenon via twitter with his theory:

kaitown) whoah. the most insane thing happened @ the closing ceremonies. the power of the bird nest omphalos & the synchronisation…
kaitown) i was alone in an empty row where the allies would have been & the megascreen showed EVERYONE here with me. vision of a parallel world???

As the Codex explained, every choice we make results in a new parallel ‘reality’ where our parallel selves make a different choice. Perhaps what we saw was an effect of the multiversal synchronization, allowing us to see a world where the athletes had decided to stay rather than travel home. Alas, in our reality, the athletes had decided to travel home.

They had each recorded their farewells, to each other and for us, the night before. ( Diego, Monica, Lucie, Markus, Ariadne, MeiHui, Noriko, Kai, Ariadne, Larissa, Noriko)

And finally, while tens of thousands of people simultaneously performed the ‘flare’ - the official Olympic cheer created by the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee - the portal was opened, and our allies traveled home.

Watch the final images of the allies as their trip is completed -

Goodbye athletes! Diego, Markus, Lucie, MeiHui, Noriko, and James! Until we meet again! And best of luck James, in your search for Toria :)

And that ends the Alternate Reality Game, Find the Lost Ring, created by Jane McGonigal and San Francisco’s AKQA, officially partnered with and sponsored by the IOC and McDonalds.

• Official Lost Ring websites:
  findthelostring.com, thelostring.com, thelostgames.com
• Visit the Lost Ring community wiki at olympics.wikibruce.com