Alternate Reality Game for Xbox 2 E3 Unveiling

Gamespot has a heads up about a new possible Alternate reality game celebrating the Xbox 2 E3 unveiling. The game site, Our Colony, has a countdown meter running down until just a few days before Microsoft's pre-E3 unveiling of the Xbox 2 console. From the article: "The countdown will ends at 8pm PDT on Thursday, May 12, nearly four days to the hour before Microsoft's pre-E3 presentation on the evening of May 16. What will happen on May 12 remains unclear."

Comments

That didn't take long.

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot broke it before it was posted - isn't that a record?

Re:That didn't take long.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's because it's hosted on a modded XBox 2.

Re:That didn't take long.

[Anonymous Coward]

If it was hosted on an XBox 2 it would have lasted at least 5 comments. No, this is just a plain old XBox.

GameSpot page renders badly in firefox

[cipher uk]

anyone else have a problem the text overflowing the normal area over advertisements and the background making it hard to read (firefox 1.0.2/win32 Gecko/20050321)

Re:GameSpot page renders badly in firefox

[Stolethis]

Every time I got to gamespot. (Firefox 1.02)

Re:GameSpot page renders badly in firefox

[mcslappy]

i might be the only one, but i'm not seeing any problems. running 1.0.2, windows xp, no extensions.

Re:GameSpot page renders badly in firefox

[bigbigbison]

yes. I get it too. weird. don't remember seeing another site that screws up that way in firefox.

Re:GameSpot page renders badly in firefox

[Stolethis]

I get it on IGN alot too. It might have to do with the format for the ads they get from the developers.

Re:GameSpot page renders badly in firefox

[ZephyrXero]

The flash stuff flickers all over the place until the majority of the page is done downloading....after that point it works just fine. This has happened on other sites as well...

Must be for a MS Console

[osullish]

I typed in my email and clicked enter, and was greeted by the awsome site of a Default ASP.Net Error page saying the server had an unhandled SQL Server exception!

X-Box and PS3 Unveiling Together

[Rhaythe]

I for one can't wait until both the new systems are "revealed" this year at the same event. Be nice to finally put all the speculation and "well my system will do THIS" bickering to rest. Then comes the drooling fanboy bickering, and well, there's still no cure for that.

Re:X-Box and PS3 Unveiling Together

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony will keep it vague in their unveiling, emphasizing that nothing's locked down until the Japanese release - so they can play games with theoretical specs and marketing promises, ala PS vs Dreamcast. When the games come out, we'll know what each system can actually do.

Re:X-Box and PS3 Unveiling Together

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not just a marketting ploy that they have obscure specs and unveilings. It's also because they're working with hardware that's being designed as they go, meaning they make all these vague promises as to how powerful their new system will be, when they don't really know for sure themselves.

Re:X-Box and PS3 Unveiling Together

[Anonymous Coward]

Both? All three systems are debuting at E3.

Re:X-Box and PS3 Unveiling Together

[ZephyrXero]

If anyone remembers all the tech demos shown for the PS2 before it actually came out, it all looked much better/smoother than the games actually did when they came out...so don't get your hopes too high people.

Re:X-Box and PS3 Unveiling Together

[ZephyrXero]

There will probably be more than 3...we'll probably see the Next Gameboy, the new N-Gage (**shudders**) and many more from companies you've never heard of before. I actually don't think we'll see an "official unveiling" of the revolution yet though...I think we might see some teasers, but no hard facts, possibly the same with the PS3 if they are going to wait till 2006 too...

Re:X-Box and PS3 Unveiling Together

[bigman2003]

3 months ago I was very, very excited about the new consoles. And being a big Xbox fan, I was happy that the new Xbox will come out first. I would have bought one on 'opening day,' whenever that may be.

Then I finally signed up for Gamefly- something I have been wanting to do for a long time. And now I see that that the current Xbox has a LOT more legs in it. I will be keeping it for a while, because I have so many games to go through.

Normally (before Gamefly) I would buy games that interested me in the first week they came out. If I didn't get it then, it quickly went off my radar, to be replaced by the 'next big thing.'

Unfortunately I had 3 bad experiences in a row: Call of Duty, NBA Street 3 and Mercenaries. Call of Duty was crap (my opinion), NBA Street was just 'more of the same' (I loved NBA Street 2) and Mercenaries was just...well...boring to me.

But now with Gamefly I have been getting games that I would have previously avoided. I got a few games I didn't like (Super Monkey Ball Deluxe) but I also have gotten some real winners, especially Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath (I enjoyed this game more than any since Metal Arms) and Brothers in Arms. BIA was rated highly, but I was avoiding it because I don't like squad based games...but this one works for me.

So now I have the last 3.5 years of Xbox games to pick and choose from- I'm almost in gaming heaven, for only $20/ month.

The only problem is that I do feel bad about this. I used to like spending the money on buying games because I felt that I was really supporting an industry that gives me tons of entertainment. Now I know that the industry is barely making pennies from me. Less money means fewer games...and really, I don't mind paying for good entertainment if it means more will follow- so this is actually the only downside to the deal.

So my enthusiasm for the next generation has gone down, because hundreds of games that I missed have been opened up to me. Like I said before, I actually feel bad about this, because I want to support the industry. But now I guess I'll benefit by waiting until Xbox 2 drops in price.

But- I would still bought it on day 1 if it included and HD DVD player of some sort- but rumor is that it won't.

Or, if it had backward compatibility...rumor is it won't.

If the controllers are compatible, that would help. I've purchased 4 's' controllers and 2 DDR dance pads...I would hate to lose that investment.

I Love Ants?

[centauri]

So instead of a beehive, it's an ant colony. Instead of the magic number being 7, the magic number is 8. I love alternate reality games, but this one seems to be taking a few too many clues from ilovebees.com.

Re:I Love Ants?

[MBraynard]

Possibly because it's being done by the same people?

Re:I Love Ants?

[Anonymous Coward]

And even in-context it freely admits that it is a game; in direct contrast to every single ARG to date.

Re:I Love Ants?

[CoffeeJedi]

we've gotten some pretty big clues that its not 4orty 2wo, as they've been dropping hints that they're working on something BIG

Re:I Love Ants?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually the ReGenesis Extended Reality game, married to the ReGenesis tv series on the Movie Network, posted its game credits before the game even launched. The Curtain seems to be a relic of the past for these third wave ARGs...

Re:I Love Ants?

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you really need anything beyond the fact that this colony thing is horribly amateurish?

It's not like ilovebees was anywhere remotely this similar to The Beast.

Misleading

[Anonymous Coward]

Some of us still remember.

shame it wasn't an Alternate Reality game...

[*weasel]

I guess I'm the only one who was more interested in the possibility that Philip Price and Gary Gilbertson might be making another game?

Re:shame it wasn't an Alternate Reality game...

[BartulaPrime]

Hah! I had the same thought as you. I guess the series fizzled after Alternate Reality: The Dungeon. At one point, they were working on a new game, but it also died.

Re:shame it wasn't an Alternate Reality game...

[Quintin Stone]

Nope, you weren't the only one. While The City had its charm, The Dungeon was one of the greatest CRPGs of the 1980's and I'm still sad that the series died a premature death.

Re:shame it wasn't an Alternate Reality game...

[MilenCent]

That's exactly what I was thinking too. "Really? For X-box 2? This sounds unusually foresighted (and hindsighted) of Microsoft, there's gotta be some kind of--"

"Yep, it's another ILoveBees. Go back to sleep, doesn't concern you."

"Zzzzzzz..."

Re:shame it wasn't an Alternate Reality game...

[Alzheimers]

There was a possibilty of turning AR into an online MMO (appropriately called, ARO) but that got canned by Monolith. Ironicly, a lot of the features they were planning on implementing found their way into another franchise...Matrix Online.

You can read more about the strange coincidences between the two franchises here: http://www.marktaw.com/reviews/AlternateRealityThe VideoG.html

Re:shame it wasn't an Alternate Reality game...

[Anonymous Coward]

You and me, both. Sometimes, I load up an Atari 800 emulator just to watch the opening sequence.

anyone know what to type in?

[override11]

Has anyone got past their 1st screen? what do you type in?

Re:anyone know what to type in?

[jcuffe]

I was hoping it was something stupidly simple like a commented line in the source or maybe the validate function it calls is just plain text in one of the js files.

But it's not.

Re:anyone know what to type in?

[Anonymous Coward]

simply type "play"

Re:anyone know what to type in?

[HavokDevNull]

Unfiction has been playing for a bit and have already massed some information.

Re:anyone know what to type in?

[0kComputer]

Type "create" and it takes you to an account screen.

Re:anyone know what to type in?

[meehray]

Is it just me or is this REALLY old (like 2 weeks late).

Re:anyone know what to type in?

[Anonymous Coward]

I typed play

Re:anyone know what to type in?

[sho222]

There's a pretty obvious hint in the gamespot article linked from the /. summary. Good luck, though, the site gives an error message literaly every other click. It's pretty clear they are running a MSFT app server, and a poorly tuned one at that (if that's not redundant).

Re:anyone know what to type in?

[nathanmace]

Type in "play" to enter the first screen.

Re:anyone know what to type in?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just type Xbox sucks, then it takes you too a blue screen that can only be removed by rebooting your OS (oh, and saying sorry 42 times while holding shift down).

Re:anyone know what to type in?

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn man, you need to get a perspective on the passage of time (or learn to not exaggerate 110% of the time).

Microsoft Windstar SE

[Dash'n'SlashDot]

i am guessing that the latest console will be unveiled with a redesigned controller will be the size of a minivan with over 200 poorly shaped buttons that will promote back pain as you attempt a loop-de-loop in a banshee in Halo 3 by pressing 7 buttons behind you while trying to aim and fire with a flight stick located under the dash.

Re:Microsoft Windstar SE

[Anonymous Coward]

Not all of us are miniture people. Microsoft' original controllers would have felt perfect if you just drank your fucking milk as a kid.

Something....

[Smokey899]

Amusingly enough, J Allards user icon in the GDC presentation of the XBox 2 interface is him wearing an ant shirt, it can be seen in the first picture of the GDC picture pack on the XBox site.

Where the players are at.

[Anonymous Coward]

Searching for ways to beat the puzzles I found a stie who have been working this stuff for about 2 weeks.

ahref=http://www.forum.immersionunlimited.com/view forum.php?f=70http://www.forum.immersionunlimited. com/viewforum.php?f=70>

Immersion Unlimited

[NashCarey]

I have forums with player working on the puzzles. Immersion Unlimited. They have been working for a while on this an no one had a clue this was really linked to anything other than a "grassroots" Alternate Reality Game.

For more info, see here

Re:Immersion Unlimited

[sux0rbiscuit]

I play Our Colony through IU and am a member of ARGolonists. If any of you want to play with us, feel free to join. We have alot of points, and are in second now. We were in first, but got pushed down by a hacker.

Re:Immersion Unlimited

[Anonymous Coward]

The real forums for args are at this place. I Love Bees was played on it and not the site you said to play at. I have never heard of your place before. What good is it?

To Bad There's Aren't More CPUs in Their AR"

[eufreka]

Okay the premise is theoretically swarming ants...but they cannot actually support a swarm of would be players.... Probably a better (more unintended) metaphor for the new xbox (and live service) than they intended...too little,too late.

I can tell you what will happen...

[lounger540]

... on the May 12th. I'll turn 21, round of drinks for every one. Do Slashdotters party?

What were you expecting?

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft to show some originality in their viral marketing?

You must be new here....

Join our team

[nathanmace]

Login to www.ourcolony.net with the password "PLAY". Then join our colony with the number "91589558".

The more people we have, the better chance we have of winning. Join the UC IT Colony today!

Re:Join our team

[Saige]

To hell with that...

68263719

Be part of a group that contains a female slashdotter. Can this "UC IT Colony" compete with that allure?

Re:Join our team

[nathanmace]

Let's find out. What is your colony's name and current rank on the Colony site?

Alternate reality game from Microsoft...

[Anonymous Coward]

In the game, does Linux take over the world?

Perfect Dark Zero

[kdark1701]

Finally, Perfect Dark Zero will be revealed! Now I must start construction of my Joanna Dark costume to be worn when I go out and buy the game + system.

while(1);

[guaigean]

Am I the only one growing tired of a new console being released all the time? Maybe it's great and all, but really, why doesn't someone just build an upgradeable console or something? Everytime they come out, I have to replace the box, the controllers, etc. I'd be a lot more willing to shell out for em if I could swap parts at some point rather than having to spend $250 every 6 months for a "NEW" or "BETTER" system, which is bound to be outdated soon with no possibility of playing old games as well.

Re:while(1);

[BS405397]

Umm, good idea. That's called the PC I believe.

This is the whole reason why people aren't gaming nearly as much on PCs anymore. PC owners hate constantly dropping cash on a $500 video card just to have the latest games look their best. This is also the reason why developers are putting games out with greater frequency on various consoles. With all the various possible combinations of hardware that they have to test for and find a "happy medium" on releasing their game for it's incredibly difficult to meet a reasonable development cycle let alone have an end product that can be as tightly optimized as a console game. This is the whole philosophy behind consoles! Reducing variables for developers means increased number of games for the masses to enjoy (or not). Unfortunately, this also has lead to a lot of crappy games cranked out on overly tight schedules by development studios trying to boost their yearly income reports *cough* EA *cough*, but as a long time primarily PC gamer (since the Apple II and C64 days) I've found myself rarely playing games on my PC anymore in favor of trying to keep up with the good release on my PS2, Gamecube, X-Box, and now the PSP.

Although it seems like a new console is always coming out the lifespan of each console is about 5 years. Look back, we're right on track with that on this console generation.

You know time seems to speed up as you get older, right? I can feel it whizzing by, myself.

Re:while(1);

[JocksRPeople2]

Why do you think it is that they come out with these new consoles? Because they can charge you extra for the RF cable, controller, memory cards and other gadgets, bells and whistles. The same reason they don't put manuals that are worth a damn in any game they produce, to get you to buy the aftermarket "guide." Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft could give a crap about the consumer.

Re:while(1); I feel the same way.

[Anonymous Coward]

That is very true. It would be much easier to replace parts then to buy a whole new system. For nintendo gamecube I would like to play Zelda 64 but they made it so I can't. I hate having to spend useless money on something to get a, in your words, "BETTER" or "NEW" system with no possibility of having to play older versians. You are not the only one out here, there are probobly thousands who feel that way.

Re:while(1); I feel the same way.

[RoloDMonkey]

Actually, you can play two of the Zelda 64 games if you get the Zelda Collector's Edition Disk for Gamecube. I have it, and it has provided months of entertainment.