Halo 2 Website Puzzle Confounds

redune45 writes "The Halo 2 Theatrical trailer ends with the normal Xbox logo, but it also briefly replaces xbox.com with ilovebees.com. Going to ilovebees.com it appears that the site has been 'hacked', adding to the mystery. The 'owner' of the site set up a separate blog with a post talking about the error. There is a huge thread on the Bungie.net forums on the same issue. The WHOIS information for this site shows that it was first registered on June 14, 2004. But no obvious clues other than that are available. What is going on here?" There's at least one Wiki set up to gather clues. We also mentioned this in an earlier Halo story.

Other Forums

[jaybird144]

You can also read a LOT of information on this website at the unfiction forum dedicated to it [unfiction.com]. Really interesting stuff.

Not Hacked

[figleaf]

It is unlikely the server was hacked.
Must be a marketting gimmick.
Can't tell for sure though

The server runs Apache on Red hat.

From HTTP Header:
Server: Apache/1.3.19 (Unix) (Red-Hat/Linux) mod_ssl/2.8.1 OpenSSL/0.9.6 DAV/1.0.2 PHP/4.0.4pl1 mod_perl/1.24_01

Pictures!

[hot_Karls_bad_cavern]

Here. [unfiction.com]

On the first screen of ilovebees.com

[herrvinny]

There's a black square overlaying the ilovebees main page, it says:

HALT - MODULE CORE HEMORRHAGE

Control has been yielded to the SYSTEM PERIL DISTRIBUTED REFLEX.

This medium is classified, and has a STRONG INTRUSIVE INCLINATION.

In 3 days, network throttling will erode.

In 17 days this medium will metastasize.

COUNTDOWN TO WIDE AWAKE AND PHYSICAL:
30:13:38:28:985

Make your decisions accordingly.

I'm using IE 6, I don't know if it'll show up on Firefox. Perhaps a preview of what we'll see in Halo 2? (Computer system on the fritz, etc?)

Re:On a different page

[whataboutMike]

this is found on another page, half hidden:
net:
!attach
act | store recurse

system peril distributed reflex

!restore master-sector
recurse


and on another:

MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY
All lost! To prayers, to prayers! All lost!

What, must our mouths be cold?

Arachne hung herself, you know. Take a hint already.

Re:audio track?

[herrvinny]

There is something else hidden in it, or at least it sounds like it. There's some kind of "computer" type sound in the back, something along the lines of the sound computers made in the movies of the 70's and 80's....

Not exactly.

[Luke727]

While Fileplanet might remind you of Real, it is really not as bad as you make it out. The only thing I dislike about Fileplanet is that you need an account to download anything. And you have to wait a long time to download during peak hours. Other than that, there's nothing misleading or shady about it. Go to the link provided in the article blurb, click the Download button. After you've logged in, you are presented with a two lists of locations from which to download. The first list is for subscribers (as it clearly indicates), and the second list is for the free public servers (as it clearly indicates). It tells you the current load and (approximate) wait time for each server. Sure, there are some really fucking annoying flash ads (don't worry, Slashdot will get these soon), but there's nothing trying to force you to subscribe. It's not burried away at the bottom of the page in tiny text like Real Player used to be. I think it's amazing that they still have public servers. Do you know how many terrabyes they go through in a month (hell, probably in a day)? It must cost a small fortune, and I can still download anything and everything (well, they occasionally have a limited-time exclusive for subscribers) to my heart's content and not have to pay a dime. I don't have to click on any ads or view forced pop-ups or pop-unders. The only thing I have to give up is time. They do make you install a download manager applet to download stuff from them, though. And the public servers are capped at 100KB/s, but I almost always download at the max speed. I think Fileplanet provides a great service with a minimum hassle.

Re:fileplanet

[autopr0n]

Once you figure out how to host lots of downloads for free, without annoying advertising, give them a call, I'm sure they'd love to hear from you because that 90s business model just didn't work after VC funding ran out:

It's called bittorent.

Re:perhaps, but...

[Nadsat]

Detectives will love this discovery: The Yahoo group dedicated to documenting "The Beast," now displays the message: "*** LATEST NEWS **** Welcome to followers of ilovebees.com!"

http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/cloudmakers/ [yahoo.com]

I believe CAP mentions the impact of honeybees as well, though not so directly: www.CAPitALLism.org [capitallism.org] ;)

Re:crashes my browser

[opello]

it's the embeded wav files ... dunno why but they crash mozilla, firefox, and opera (haven't tried konq, epiphany, or others ... links2 and w3m work though :)

Old hat for long time Bungie fans

[Arcturax]

Those of us who have been with Bungie since the old days when they were a Mac only shop will recognize this as the classic strange humor of the Bungie team. Anyone who has played the Marathon trillogy will recognize the ramblings of a rampant AI which fills the site in several places.

So this isn't a truely hacked site, but one they have made up to look that way.

Re:Fox Plaza is not 2370 Market...it's 1390 Market

[mrdavedog]

Alright, so I walked down there, it's a group of three stores a few feet away from the corner of Market and Castro. One of the stores is indeed a UPS package store with Mailbox service.

I took a few pictures with my cell phone in case anyone is curious.

http://homepage.mac.com/davedog [mac.com]