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Origen 360 Revealed in Less Than 12 Hours
MJXG writes "Gamespot has posted an article related to the adver-teasement Microsoft has set up at Origenxbox360.com. It seems that the counter will be hitting zero in less than 12 hours. It is speculated that once the zero-hour is reached, the site will open up with puzzles and riddles which may give away information or even prizes pertaining to the 360. Also from an article on xbox.ign.com, "In a somewhat shocking discovery, there is a Latin message written into one of the tree's lower branches. To view the message, zoom in a few times on the furthest left root near the bottom of the tree. The message reads 'in hoc spatio arbor noster floruit, fecundus pomis Elysii ignoti, quo in loco ludent electi, ab Originis angelis circumdati'. We consulted the IGN annals of ultimate intelligence and wisdom and came up with the following rough translation: 'In this place may our fertile tree bloom with fruits in strange elysium, where in the place of the chosen, angels surround the origin'." Something big is about to happen."
Just incase no one wants to visit someone's LiveJournal (gag), I'm posting the guys translation here:
in hoc spatio arbor noster floruit, fecundus pomis Elysii ignoti, quo in loco ludent electi, ab Originis angelis circumdati.
"In this space our tree hath bloomed, (made) fruitful by the fruit-trees of unknown Elysium, in which place the select play, having been from the beginning surrounded by angels."
(Latin geeking: you have to assume factus in the second clause; quo and loco are paired despite not being contiguous; and although Originis and angelis look like they should go together, they don't - they just happen to be the same case and number. Floruit is perfect active indicative 3rd singular - not a present subjunctive as IGN believes - ludent is present active indicative 3rd plural (IGN left this word out entirely!), and circumdati is a perfect passive participle in nominative plural. It agrees with electi.)
I sell out to The Man every day.
Something big is about to happen. Yeah, a publicity campaign. Don't get caugth in the hype!
If you want to learn Latin, Textkit is the place to go. They have lots of out-of-copyright books to download for free, and helpful forums. I recommend "Latin for beginners" by Benjamin L. D'Ooge.
A countdown to September 27th, 2005, noon?
Well, I suppose it's worthwhile enough to have a countdown to the 100th anniversary of the publication date of "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?"
Before you guys go hammering the site with entries, note that the contest is only open to European residents.
Well, it's live, and it turns out to be nothing but a very simple, very silly, overhyped contest. I'll spare everyone the wasted time with a summary:
1) Watch two rabbits exchange some trite, self-promoting dialogue about what a magical and wonderful thing this 'Origen' is.
2) Watch one of the rabbits eat some glowing fruit and trip out (not nearly as interesting as it sounds).
3) Answer 3 true/false questions about the xbox360.
4) Enter your info so they can send you lots of xbox spam.
5) Find out this is being run by Microsoft UK and that you have to live in Europe to enter the contest anyway (sucks for us non-Europeans).
Hardly the intriguing puzzle that people were hoping for - sorry to disappoint.