AdjutantReflex Welcomes You to Halo 3 ARG?

[fitbabits]

ARG, for those who don't know or care, is short for Alternate Reality Game... Think ilovebees and Halo 2 and you're on the right track.

Anyways, the nice people over at Hushed Casket (http://hushedcasket.com/node/2051) reckon they've uncovered the very beginnings of a Halo 3 ARG.

Over on the Bungie.net forums a special user has registered and posted cryptic messages. The username is AdjutantReflex. That user has a special "class" assigned to it by a Bungie.net forum administrator. Most people on that forum are classified as "member". VIPs and Bungie employees have special classes that identify them as something other than an average user. AdjutantReflex has this kind of marking. That user is part of the "CompoundIntelligence" class.

AdjutantReflex's first post on the Bungie.net forum reads "This will be a good place to begin" in a yellow-colored font. The first post was made at 06.11.2007 10:26 AM PDT. Its subject was titled “System Integrity Confirmed”. Shortly after that post was made someone under the same username made a post on the popular HALO fansite halo.bungie.org. Here is that post that reads "Another good place" with the same subject line from the Bungie.net post.

Later on in a follow-up post on H.B.O. forum the AdjutantReflex. posts “I am a facilitator. I will serve you. But not yet.”
All signs point to yes. So June 14th at 1am PDT...

[MrBibbz]

hrm.. mind games are fun

[Mdot23]

Stumbled upon this yesterday in the B.net forums and HBO. Interesting, but I don't really have time to stalk out each post. Hopefully some sites will sum up all the info and keep it up to date.

Side note: I bought the new GamePro yesterday with H3 on the cover. Beside the Halo info, it is by far the absolute worst piece of gaming journalism I have ever read in my life. I honestly cannot understand how they are still in publication. I felt like killing myself for the simple fact that I contributed to their cause by purchasing the magazine. I feel like suing them for my $5.99. Hell, they're writers go by fake, made up names. /rant.

[Kamalot]

As far as I'm concerned, ARG stands for AAAARRRGGGH! I'm glad SOMEONE enjoys these BS-Fests that companies use to dick around consumers, but I'm not wasting my time biting on that fish hook.

I got plenty of other things to waste my time on; like playing games, getting paid, posting here, and getting laid.

[digitalErich]

How does a purely voluntary game "dick around consumers?" If you are talking about the mystery and clue finding aspects, that is the whole point of the game. Do mystery writers dick around their readers by not revealing every detail?

[MaiXu]

I wish Chris Nolan would just stop dicking around with his audience and tell me who the fuck Sammy Jenkis is already!

[Kamalot]

How does a purely voluntary game "dick around consumers?" If you are talking about the mystery and clue finding aspects, that is the whole point of the game. Do mystery writers dick around their readers?
Don't mystery writers usually publish an entire book instead of trickling out clues over time to intentionally keep people in the dark?

If they want to unveil press information about a game, that's fine. If they want to make me jump through hoops to get it, I'm not buying. Like I said earlier, I'm glad SOMEONE enjoys these things, cause they seem completely wasteful to me.

[Montolio]

Stumbled upon this yesterday in the B.net forums and HBO. Interesting, but I don't really have time to stalk out each post. Hopefully some sites will sum up all the info and keep it up to date.

Side note: I bought the new GamePro yesterday with H3 on the cover. Beside the Halo info, it is by far the absolute worst piece of gaming journalism I have ever read in my life. I honestly cannot understand how they are still in publication. I felt like killing myself for the simple fact that I contributed to their cause by purchasing the magazine. I feel like suing them for my $5.99. Hell, they're writers go by fake, made up names. /rant.I feel your pain Mdot23, I was sucked into that as well. Worst yet, Luke Smith over at bungie.net even posted about it on the main page encouraging people to grab the issue. First time I've been burned by him - sigh. Stay far away all.

No, there wasn't any arm-twisting or guns pointed to heads, I just got sucked into the hype. I just don't expect pure crap to be pimped on that site.

[MaiXu]

Oh yeah, and I personally hate these ARGs myself. If I could get over that fact that the whole thing is just one big commercial, maybe I could enjoy it ...

[Mdot23]

I feel your pain Mdot23, I was sucked into that as well. Worst yet, Luke Smith over at bungie.net even posted about it on the main page encouraging people to grab the issue. First time I've been burned by him - sigh. Stay far away all.

No, there wasn't any arm-twisting or guns pointed to heads, I just got sucked into the hype. I just don't expect pure crap to be pimped on that site.

Exactly. I don't mind spending the money for some Halo info, I'm a self proclaimed fan boy of the series. But I was truly and honestly shocked that this magazine is still in publication after browsing through the issue. I'm even more surprised that Bungie would associate themselves with such trash (I know, it's money and it's in MS's hands, but still).

[Kamalot]

Oh yeah, and I personally hate these ARGs myself. If I could get over that fact that the whole thing is just one big commercial, maybe I could enjoy it ...
Exactly.

The only game you are really playing is 'Fall into the marketing department trap."

[digitalErich]

The only game you are really playing is 'Fall into the marketing department trap."
I honestly don't think anyone is going to finish an ARG and think "hey, you know now I'm going to buy this."

Just like the Lost one and with basically all other ARGs, there are two types of people that I think play them. People already well invested in the product and want that extra little bit of info/fun and people that are into ARG games, but could care less about whatever it's tied to. There are actually quite a few people that fall into that second category.

A game is a game. If it has an interesting system to it (not sure if this one does yet), I don't care if there's a "You win" or a "Buy more Ovalteen" at the end of it. Yes, they are marketing, but not mass marketing.

[Furtive]

I wish Chris Nolan would just stop dicking around with his audience and tell me who the fuck Sammy Jenkis is already!

I didn't want you to think your reference had gone unnoticed. Thats absolutely one of my favorite movies.

I find ARGs interesting but I defiantly don't have the time to sink into them. The NIN Year Zero one that just ran was very interesting and rewarded people with early release MP3s too. So long as there is a nice wiki started up to sum up all the work someone else did, I'm in.

[Sl1pstream]

Can't be 42 as they're doing Year Zero right now. Not interested then.

[Paltry]

I wonder if this could just be a little juke for releasing Marathon on xbl.

[Rommel]

ilovebees was brilliant and at times moving. I hope they hired the same people.

[MacDuff]

people who don't like ARGs are doing it wrong

I doubt ILB will be coming back in any way, but this sounds intriguing.

[Sl1pstream]

ilovebees was brilliant and at times moving. I hope they hired the same people.

While I'm sure 42 can do a few ARGs at the same time, they're currently working on the NiN ARG and, according to wikipedia, The Dark Knight. 3 at the same time would be a bit much, especially since they're not that big.

[MaiXu]

The Dark Knight? As in, an ARG for the new Batman? Cool ...

I think I could only enjoy an ARG if they told stories that actually impacted the advertised product. I kept checking in on ilovebees, and the message I kept getting was that it was some tangential nonsense that really wouldn't mean anything or tell a story important to Halo or Halo 2. So I was able to ignore it and not miss out.

I'd love to see something like an ARG for, say, a Peter Jackson film. On where I imagine Jackson himself would help write the story and make it actually worth your while.

[Mason]

Oh yeah, and I personally hate these ARGs myself. If I could get over that fact that the whole thing is just one big commercial, maybe I could enjoy it ...
On the other hand, ILB had a way more memorable and interesting plot than Halo 2 did. Those little radio dramas did more to flesh out the universe than two full games. I get that you can only fit so much exposition into a shooter, but Bungie hasn't exactly been swinging for the narrative fences, either.

[Zeal]

I don't even have the time to follow these stupid ARGs anymore.

[MrMeatshake]

i've been following this since yesterday. not much there, yet. but ilovebees was SO well written, i'm very interested!

[EvilTheBadger]

Yeah, I agree ilovebees was an excellent story, I have the greatest respect for the effort 42 put into it. I could care less if it had anything to do with Halo at all (if I remember correctly, they rarely even mention a "halo" in the entire story arc), I was just along for the ride. A lot of the puzzles were way out of my range, but that didn't stop me keeping up with the unforums' solutions or having a go myself. I love stories that screw with your mind.

I've only followed one other ARG since, which was hansofoundation.org. I immediately lost interest in that when certain puzzles started linking to soft drink commercial sites, completely breaking the immersion for the sake of advertising. I think ilovebees was geared entirely towards the fans, which is why it was so successful.