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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."

26 of 300 comments (clear)

  1. Something big is about to happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    '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."


    Oh Lordy, Bill Gates is going to announce he is the new messiah.....

    1. Re:Something big is about to happen by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or maybe it's just PR-department leaving a trail of slime as usual and nothing even medium sized is going to happen.

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    2. Re:Something big is about to happen by sprouty76 · · Score: 4, Funny

      He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy.

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  2. Something big is about to happen by Aaron+England · · Score: 4, Insightful
    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.


    Like Slashdot is about to be spammed?
  3. eh? by ErikZ · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Something big is about to happen."

    Since when is a MS media campaign something "big"?

    I guess no one at Gamespot read that one Slashdot article on how Microsoft is going to spend 100 million on their ad campaign for the X-box 360.

    Too bad. One would think that Gamespot would pay more attention to game related news.

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    1. Re: Eh? by numark · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The thing is, Microsoft's ad campaigns related to game releases have often been games within themselves. Before the release of the movie AI: Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft designed and ran a multi-month interactive game taking place in the AI world and involving phone and real-life contact with characters from the game. They did the same thing with the Halo 2 release, with the famous "I Love Bees" game that was extremely well received by many. Say what you want about Microsoft's business practices (hey, I'm usually not a fan), but one thing's for sure: they do know how to hire people who are good at designing immersive games. That's why cryptic games like these from Microsoft tend to receive a good deal of press, because of what they may turn out to be.

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  4. Quick, somebody upload a virus by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

    "It's like in chess. First, you strategically position your pieces, and when the timing is right you.. strike. They're using this signal to synchronize their efforts and in approximately, twelve hours ..the countdown will be over. {and then..} Checkmate!"

    Somebody better send Jeff Goldblum an Apple mac, quickly.

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  5. In other news by Dachannien · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In other news this morning, Slashdot has reportedly provided copious free traffic to three major web advertising presences in one fell swoop. Says one stunned Slashdot reader: "WTF??"

  6. Re:Better translation? by Catcher80 · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.)

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  7. Intriguing... by MaestroSartori · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Disclaimer: I work for Sony, blah blah blah.

    I find it very intriguing that recently console ads have gone so far off at a mad tangent that they rarely mention consoles at all. Things like the mentioned tree-ad, the older PS2 "Third Place" David Lynch stuff, even my own personal favourite I Am The Wolf Man. I know it's all about brand recognition, getting talked about etc. but it seems like all of this happens at the expense of any sort of substance - none of the ads mentioned above contain any information whatsoever about what the consoles are, what capabilites they claim to have, what kind of games they run, or even who might like them. Just snappy ad-agency ideas to try and get the name stuck in your head...

    1. Re:Intriguing... by justforaday · · Score: 4, Funny

      Exactly! It's like those ads a few years ago where the older guy would be out in the backyard repeatedly throwing a football through a tire swing, with his wife watching from the kitchen window with a big smile on her face. "Ask your doctor if Viagra is right for you." I finally ordered some from an email I got. I still can't get the damn football through the tire though. Fuggin false advertising...

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  8. Oooh a viral marketing campaign by DrXym · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't know about anyone else but I think I just soiled myself with excitement.

  9. Advertising? by koi88 · · Score: 4, Funny


    Something big is about to happen.

    Oops. I must have clicked on the ad. Or what is the "news" from Microsoft's PR department doing there?

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    1. Re:Advertising? by lortho · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.

    2. Re:Advertising? by shokk · · Score: 4, Funny

      I wish I had read this earlier. I clicked on the fruit and was instantly transported to Narnia where I was molested by Tumnus. And then I had an epileptic seizure from the flashing purple lights. Definitely not the experience I was hoping for when I woke up this morning. All that and I found out that I had to live in Europe to enter the contest...they can keep their prizes.

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  10. Re:Better translation? by myspys · · Score: 5, Funny

    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 SO wish i understood just 10% of that

  11. I don't gettit. by jez9999 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't see no Latin message anywhere, when I zoom in the tree is just pixelated.

  12. Ho-hum... by Lisandro · · Score: 4, Informative

    Something big is about to happen. Yeah, a publicity campaign. Don't get caugth in the hype!

  13. On the Internet.... by pandrijeczko · · Score: 4, Insightful
    ...someone somewhere wants your money.

    It's an advertisement - just use Adblock in Firefox and it won't be there any more.

    Then get on with life.

    Nothing to see here.

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  14. Re:Better translation? by DrXym · · Score: 5, Funny

    Romanes eunt domus!

  15. Re:Better translation? by Paua+Fritter · · Score: 5, Funny

    +V ridiculus

  16. Re:Better translation? by tristanj · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  17. A worthwhile countdown...by accident. by screwballicus · · Score: 4, Informative

    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?"

  18. European residents only by Wiser87 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Before you guys go hammering the site with entries, note that the contest is only open to European residents.

    1. Re:European residents only by PortWineBoy · · Score: 5, Funny
      Yea and only residents of certain European countries.

      Looks like they forgot about Poland.

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  19. Re:Better translation? by macthulhu · · Score: 4, Funny
    Yes, but what he's forgetting is:
    Etiam vulputate enim vel est. Sed feugiat, leo quis accumsan porta, diam risus consectetuer orci, ac commodo tortor metus quis lectus. Cras mattis turpis ac est. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas.
    Ok... I'm kidding. I just figured tossing some lorem ipsum action in there would make me look smrt too. Now my active indicative 3rd singular hurts.
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