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I Love Bees Anthology DVD Legally Available Online

Posted by Zonk on from the buzz-buzz-buzz-buzz-bzzzzz dept.

celerityfm writes "In case you missed some or all of the I Love Bees alternate reality game promoting Halo 2, Elan Lee (one of the creators of I Love Bees) recently announced the approval of electronic distribution of the I Love Bees anthology DVD that was originally given away to the most hard-core I Love Bees game players at the end of the game! The DVD contains very interesting stuff for any I Love Bees or Halo fans out there as it contains the entire 5+ hour audio story plus behind the scenes looks and other extras. So with that in mind: Gentlemen, start your bittorrents!"

36 comments

  1. Not wishing to sound niggardly.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    but has there *ever* been any interest in this by anyone who posts to Slashdot? Every 'I love bees' story is greeted with 'wtf, why should we care'... Why do we keep posting this crap?

    1. Re:Not wishing to sound niggardly.... by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      I wouldnt be surprised if Bungee is paying /. to propigate this too.

      This "I love bees" garbage is the new era of advertsing. Stealth, no one person, dont say product outright. And if you make people question what "it" is, they'll probably care later on.

      --
    2. Re:Not wishing to sound niggardly.... by centauri · · Score: 1

      It's free, it's well done, and it's science fiction theater? What's not to like?

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for Durga.
    3. Re:Not wishing to sound niggardly.... by Bastian · · Score: 1

      Not to mention that way back when /. started its subscription service, they made it clear that they would allow advertisers to pay them to post articles. Nobody seemed to complain too loudly back then.

    4. Re:Not wishing to sound niggardly.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stop being such a cynical bastard?

    5. Re:Not wishing to sound niggardly.... by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 1

      That was a "news" post on April 1. None were all too sure if it was really true or not...

      Guess it is.

      --
    6. Re:Not wishing to sound niggardly.... by g_adams27 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > This "I love bees" garbage is the new era of advertsing.

      Garbage?

      For those who participated in it, "I Love Bees" was great fun. You got to solve puzzles, run around answering pay phones to open up more of the story, occasionally talk to the live actors themselves in-charachter, and work with other people piecing the plot together. In the end, ILB was a 5-6 hour drama taking place in the Halo universe, all leading up to the events of Halo 2. If you didn't care about Halo, you probably still could have enjoyed the fun of the game. And if you had any interest in Halo, then it really got you interested in Halo 2.

      Was it marketing? Of course! No-one was blind to that. But if you think that should immediately disqualify the game from being any fun, let me ask you this:

      Have you ever downloaded a game demo? Did you enjoy playing the 1 or 2 levels they provided for free? Did it make you interested in buying the game?

      Well, guess what? You were the victim of marketing! You poor fool - you didn't realize that you were just a pawn of the cynical megagame corporations! You may have thought you were having fun playing a little 1-2 level game, but in reality, you were being used!!!!

      Or not. Maybe you were just taking advantage of a freebie given out by a company hoping you'd like it and would then buy the full game.

      That's exactly what happened with "I Love Bees". Some of us who played will buy Halo 2. Others who don't really care about computer gaming won't. But everyone had fun. And in the end, it doesn't matter if Microsoft was behind it, or Bungie, or just a couple of guys in a basement. It was fun. That is all.

    7. Re:Not wishing to sound niggardly.... by g_adams27 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      > It's free, it's well done, and it's science fiction theater? What's not to like?

      Exactly! Nobody who played "I Love Bees" for any length of time was unaware of its Halo 2 association. And nobody was scandalized to learn that Microsoft/Bungie were behind it.

      So what? Microsoft and Bungie put out Halo 1, and I actually paid money to play it! Does that make me a_pawn of faceless corporate overlords? No, it just means they put out a fun game, and I agreed to give them money so I could play it.

      So if that was a reasonable transaction, how much better a deal was it to play "I Love Bees" for $0.00 ? I had fun, they got publicity for Halo 2 - everybody wins!

    8. Re:Not wishing to sound niggardly.... by Thenomain · · Score: 1

      You know, I'm going to risk Karma and says this, in part because I believe in some of what the parent poster was trying to say:

      I Love Bees is not marketing garbage. In fact, of all the ways of marketing a game, ILB seems to be the best I've seen. Not only did you have puzzles, hidden puzzles, live character interaction, and a story about it, but you also had an in-depth, ongoing radio drama that was, on the whole, separate from the puzzles, and separate from the game ILB was supposedly shilling for.

      ILB did not make me the least bit interested in buying Halo 2. What ILB and Halo 2 have in common is a little back story. What ILB did do is make me more interested in Bungie (for their increasinly well-thought-out world) and 4ourty2wo (for their high-quality radio drama).

      That is: I Love Bees is a stand-alone product relating to an increasingly growing world.

      Is this marketing? Yes, but marketing like books are for a movie, or previews are for a game. The draw from one product to another is the one you make.

      Just sit back, listen, and enjoy it.

      --
      This now concludes our broadcast day.
    9. Re:Not wishing to sound niggardly.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps I am missing the well done part. All I saw was some bad dialogue on a web site (something about an axon archive). Is that dialogue all you were running around ansswering payphones to unlock, or is there more hidden away somewhere?

      It's fine if you liked it, but I thought it was horribly written. It read like a bad action movie (which immediately made me think of Quake, then Halo... so I guess it worked in that respect).

    10. Re:Not wishing to sound niggardly.... by centauri · · Score: 1

      Compared to a lot of other science fiction radio programs I've heard it's well-done. Compared to Shakespeare, maybe not. Anyway, it's free and if the acting and specific dialoge isn't Oscar-level, the story is at least somewhat original and interesting.

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for Durga.
  2. Huh? by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 2, Informative

    This anthology has been on suprnova for at least 2 days. It just moved from the front page yesterday.

    The torrent link

    --
    1. Re:Huh? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 1

      And now they actually have permission to distribute it. Thats the news here.

  3. NO! by Wylfing · · Score: 4, Funny
    I've said it before and I'll say it again. Downloading DVD movies off the Internet takes food off the table of Hollywood stuntmen. Do not participate in this crime!!!

    --
    Our intelligent designer has never created an animal that we couldn't improve by strapping a bomb to it.
    1. Re:NO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You didn't read any of the articles did you.
      This is a LEGAL download. They people at ILB's gave the DVD away, but since they didn't make enough for everyone, they anounced that it is OK and LEGAL to dstribute it.
      Read before you post please

    2. Re:NO! by ricotest · · Score: 2

      And when it comes to slashdot, get a sense of humour before YOU post please :)

  4. How much did this ad cost? by EnronHaliburton2004 · · Score: 0, Troll

    C'mon editors, fess up. Nobody here really cares about "I Love Bees"-- just look at the numer and quality of posts to each story.

    Yet Bees it is the the most frequent topic posted by you guys.

    Fess up, this is an advertisement. How much did they pay you?

    --
    94% of Repubs and 21% of Dems voted to renew the Patriot Act
    1. Re:How much did this ad cost? by celerityfm · · Score: 2, Interesting

      They didn't pay me anything and I am not affiliated with I Love Bees/etc :P

      I was just surprised that this hadn't been posted to /. (another poster pointed out that its has been out for a few days and I acknowledged that with "recently announced") so I threw the story in to the submit queue after seeing it posted on Shacknews.

      The bigger news is that this is, to my knowledge, the first time a mass produced DVD has been allowed to be distributed electronically in its entirety. The fact that the creators endorsed Bittorrent is yet another story in and of itself.

      Right?

      --
      ...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
  5. ihatebees.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They even registered http://ihatebees.com.

    1. Re:ihatebees.com by hunterx11 · · Score: 1

      But not http://www.ilovebeer.org :)

      --
      English is easier said than done.
  6. What is Gabbo? by Beyond_GoodandEvil · · Score: 1

    Who is Keyser Soze?

    --
    I laughed at the weak who considered themselves good because they lacked claws.
  7. legally? by venom600 · · Score: 1

    Games: I Love Bees Anthology DVD Legally Available Online

    I have to chuckle to myself when I read article titles like this. The times we live in.... :)

  8. A credit to the editors-- by celerityfm · · Score: 1

    Originally my submitted story began "Attention Neal Stephenson!" The link pointed to the /. interview where he mentions that he is a fan of I Love Bees.

    I guess the editors actually DO edit story submissions, despite the volume of comments suggesting otherwise :) Cool stuff.

    --
    ...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
  9. Is there any way... by HaloZero · · Score: 1

    I could get this sans BitTorrent? I believe my university, within the last few days, has opted to block the BitTorrent tracker ports, due to an extremely high volume of contraband moving across that channel. I'm disappointed, mostly because I rely on torrents for my linux distribution ISOs, and game demos, among other things. I'm also disappointed because this ILoveBees DVD is a completely legally downloadable media. When downloading the World of Warcraft open beta client yesterday, my traffic was absolutely horrible.

    That being said, any suggestions?

    --
    Informatus Technologicus
    1. Re:Is there any way... by afd8856 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yes. You can always try another university.

      --
      I'll do the stupid thing first and then you shy people follow...
    2. Re:Is there any way... by EnronHaliburton2004 · · Score: 1

      Hey they are blocking the standard BitTorrent tracker ports, can't you just change ports?

      Or are they blocking the port for outgoing traffic to an external IP?

      --
      94% of Repubs and 21% of Dems voted to renew the Patriot Act
    3. Re:Is there any way... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      You can change the port numbers to whatever you want them to be. here is a link to change the bittorrent ports for windows. http://dessent.net/btfaq/#wincmdline

      if you use linux you need to locate a file called download.py, it's generally located at file:/usr/lib/python2.3/site-packages/BitTorrent do a search for minport or maxport and change the number there to something else.

      if you use macs...well... it's easier than the last two, just go to the preferences and change the ports.

    4. Re:Is there any way... by Ape_the_Dog · · Score: 1

      You could even buy it when it comes out on DVD.

    5. Re:Is there any way... by Ape_the_Dog · · Score: 1

      Never mind. Misinterpretation on my part.

  10. Double double by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yawn yawn.

  11. How about a Slashdot Ilovebees category? by British · · Score: 1

    ...then we can filter out the bees stories like those wacky JohnKatz articles.

  12. Ok so I'm stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Could someone please tell me what is exactly on the DVD? Is it a culmination of all the audio files only or does it include all the webpages from the princess, operator, etc.

    I originally was following all of this, but then school started up, and I got dreadfully behind. The webpages make up a huge portion of it, so I'm just wondering if this DVD is fairly comprehensive or if it strips away all the problem solving that went on.

    Thanks all.

    1. Re:Ok so I'm stupid by celerityfm · · Score: 1

      Here is what you seek- They go over all the items on the DVD in semi-detail.

      But basically yes its a culmination of all the audio files, in order, and includes screenshots of webpages and other relevant stuff. I'm still DLing the DVD (on hour 25 now, but I've uploaded 3.5gb to the cause atleast).

      Hope that webpage helps you on your decision to invest the time to dl this thing. Get it while its hot and seeded!

      --
      ...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
  13. I recommend it, but... by inkless1 · · Score: 1

    I was really, really into ILB for a quite some time. Back when the story was a real puzzler, it was a lot of fun in a sort of new media meets Agatha Christie kinda way.

    Once the Axons went hot, that all changed. The few puzzles that remained were complicated for a single person, but for the ARG community they were solved before most people knew they existed. There wasn't much left to the game except people who had the time/inclination/gas money to go answer pay phones.

    Eventually live conversations were introduced, but by that time I had lost all interest. I pretty much knew it was just a spectator sport at this point.

    That said, the production values and the writing are top notch. Viewed as one part performance art and one part radio play, ILB is pretty fascinating. It's only as an interactive game did it come up short in the end. I do recommend it, and it got me interested in ARGs overall - but I'm not ILB is really an ARG in the end.

  14. Does ARG have to = puzzles? by misuba · · Score: 1

    I think we're artificially limiting the popularity and growth of one of the most exciting new art forms in decades if we chain it to logic puzzles.

    Obviously something needs to engage and challenge the individual audience member, and hard, abstract, barely-justified-by-the-story braintwisters are of course the first thing that would occur to, well, game developers... but are there any other possibilities?

    Is there any way to attach game progress or story progress to, say, having to interact with and figure out a character? (Or, for that matter, another player?)

    --

    If you don't pretend to be anyone, are you?

    1. Re:Does ARG have to = puzzles? by inkless1 · · Score: 1

      An ARG I think needs puzzles. Otherwise it's an ARS (Alternate Reality Story). If not puzzles, some kind of game content.

      I don't think an ARS is such a bad thing, I think ILB was a very good ARS.