All week, the splash page to Blizzard’s homepage has been graced with a slowly deteriorating icy fortificaton. While it’s doubtful this is or will be an ARG, it’s certainly raised quite a viral stir.
Friday, the splash image updated to clearly show two ominously glowing eyes in the center, along with the 5th (and final?) symbol or rune, each now glowing and much more visible. The runes have been appearing one by one throughout the week, each believed related to various Blizzard franchises or games.
- The first rune (top of the splash page) depicts a viking “Helm of Awe“, which may be a reference to The Lost Vikings.
- The second has been identified as the Hel rune from Diablo II.
- The third rune may represent the Arcane Sanctum from Warcraft 3.
- The fourth rune is identified as the Akilae Tribe symbol from Starcraft 2.
- The fifth is the Frostmourne rune from Wrath of the Lich King.
For more fun, also in the source code for the splash page are located some commented (unused) CSS codes:
/*.tundra {background:url(_images/04.jpg) no-repeat 0 0} */
/*.harbinger {background:url(_images/08.jpg) no-repeat 0 0} */
/*.cavern {background:url(_images/15.jpg) no-repeat 0 0} */
/*.cold {background:url(_images/16.jpg) no-repeat 0 0} */
/*.icy {background:url(_images/23.jpg) no-repeat 0 0} */
/*.evilpenguin {background:url(_images/42.jpg) no-repeat 0 0} */
The images referenced here are named with the numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 – otherwise recognized as the Lost numbers, part of the Valenzetti Equation. All the pieces put together form the image of an… evil penguin.
Fans over at Diablofans.com have been speculating head over heels about the entire significance. Of course a main theory is that this is all heralding an official announcement of the development of Diablo 3, though some think Starcraft 2, and others think the WoW expansion Wrath of the Lich King.
Blizzard will be holding a special event on Saturday, June 28th in Paris called the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational. The event is for all things Blizzard – MMO gaming, competitions, meet and greets with the developers, artist performances, and much more. It’s believed that the secret behind this splash teaser will be revealed in an announcement at that event.
UPDATE: Sure enough, it was announced on Saturday – Blizzard.com/Diablo3
Tags: blizzard
Categories: Video games, Viral General
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