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The Internet Entertainment Games

Origen 360 Revealed in Less Than 12 Hours 300

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the wild-speculation dept.
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."
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Origen 360 Revealed in Less Than 12 Hours More

Origen 360 Revealed in Less Than 12 Hours

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  • Something big is about to happen (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:06AM (#13656930)
    '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.....

  • Something big is about to happen (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Aaron England ( 681534 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:08AM (#13656934)
    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?

  • eh? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ErikZ ( 55491 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:08AM (#13656935)
    "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.

    • Re: Eh? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "Since when is a MS media campaign something "big"?"

      Indeed. But a more apt question would be "Since when is slashdot part of an MS media campaign?"

      I fail to see how this qualifies as "news for nerds" or "stuff that matters". It's a marketing campaign designed by MS to sell products - and slashdot, the largest tech news site on the planet, is giving MS free advertising. Gamespot is no better for running a story on it either, but one can assume they were paid for the attention they've given it.

      I'm not getting

      • Re: Eh? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by numark ( 577503 ) <jcolson.ndgonline@com> on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @08:08AM (#13657590) Homepage Journal
        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.

  • Quick, somebody upload a virus (Score:5, Funny)

    by LiquidCoooled ( 634315 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:10AM (#13656942) Homepage Journal
    "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.

  • Better translation? (Score:3, Informative)

    by ReformedExCon ( 897248 ) <reformed.excon@gmail.com> on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:10AM (#13656943)
    I found this online which claims to be a better translation than IGN's.

    http://www.livejournal.com/users/edg/520709.html [livejournal.com]

    It's still pretty verbose and awkward. Maybe if I were on pins and needles waiting for this thing I'd be trying to hack the website like all of you.

    Retailers must have already known if the release date was in 12 hours. Was it kept a big secret? I can't believe that.

    • Re:Better translation? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Catcher80 ( 639611 ) * <catcher80 AT gmail DOT com> on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:15AM (#13656955) Journal
      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.)

  • Um.. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Kawahee ( 901497 )
    It's already hit 00:00:00 for me. How old since this article was submitted to /.? And I don't see anything. Maybe it's just FF 1.5B

    • Re:Um.. (Score:3, Informative)

      by makomk ( 752139 )
      It's already hit 00:00:00 for me. How old since this article was submitted to /.? And I don't see anything. Maybe it's just FF 1.5B

      It does that if you don't have Flash installed - don't ask me why. Clicking on the image will take you to the Flash download page. Seems a bit silly to me, but there you go.

    • Re:Um.. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by l_bratch ( 865693 )
      It's on 46 minutes for me, I'm guessing it doesn't take into account time zone differences.
    • 17:09:46 for me. Oh noes, they're going to keep it a secret from Europe until, erm, in seventeen hours.

      BTW, I found a different bit of text on the tree. If you zoom in on the trunk, at the point where the branches, er, branch off there is "Originality is the key to a proper face." written in easily readable red text.
    • Yeah, there's a little rabbit dialogue, some country selection, blah blah blah. You pass their test for entry then you have to register, at which point you discover that if you're not from a European country you can't register.

  • link for the lazy (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    look:

    http://www.origenxbox360.com/ [origenxbox360.com] ...slashdot editors...
    • What a great example of Microsoft quality:

      The site got stuck at the "Loading" screen (rabbits and green vine). I had to reload to get it to come up.
      Being American, I, of course, clicked on the British flag and was greeted in German.
      Had to reload (again), because nothing happened after the rabbit's trip.
      Was told my "Session timed out" the first time I tried to take the test.
      Was presented with "Unable to verify the identity of www.origenxbox360.com as a trusted site" cert warning after the test.
      Was told my "S

  • In other news (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dachannien ( 617929 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:12AM (#13656949)
    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??"

    • Says one stunned Slashdot reader: "WTF??"

      /flame-proof undies on... ;)

      More like... "whoopee doo... who gives a fsck"...

    • My first reaction when I read the whole "...something big is about to happen." bit was "Oh great, now it's not just Linux fanboys who get a free ride on slashdot, apparently people who know just how great the PlayRevolution360++ soopar deluxe rad pro is even though they've never even seen one are also included"

      /Mikael

    • ...copious free traffic to three major web advertising presences...

      Meanwhile, whenever you see such intriguing ads for (say) a tv movie-of-the-week, you can be pretty sure they've been the project's main creative focus...

    • Slashdot
      not for geeks, don't matter anymore.

      It's getting obvious that slashdot is getting a cut out of those advertising profits. Too bad, it's at the expense of the value of the news slashdot provides.

      bizz model:

      1/ support linux
      2/ attract geeks
      3/ profit supporting proprietary software ads
      4/ lose geek(*) readers

      (* no, being geek doesnt mean having an ipod and a few gazillions electronical gadgets. That means being a sucker)
    • 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??"

      This is why I never read the articles... ;-)

    • Personally, I'm glad Slashdot had a blurb pointing to the Origen site - I've never heard of the site before, the site will provide some entertainment as I watch it grow, and I'm enjoying the Slashdot discussion. Besides, the Xbox360 has been so well covered, and will continue to be well covered, that everyone on Slashdot is pretty familiar with the Xbox360 as it is.

  • Care (Score:2, Offtopic)

    by nathanh ( 1214 )
    Care

  • The need for Story (Score:4, Insightful)

    by samael ( 12612 ) <Andrew@Ducker.org.uk> on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:20AM (#13656966) Homepage
    "Something Big is Going to Happen."

    All we need is a hint of a mystery and the story-creating parts of our mind go into overdrive. What could they be about to announce? How amazing could it be? The answer is, of course, that it's going to be more details to do with the XBox 360. We all know that, and we all know that in the greater scheme of things a more powerful console is to be expected, not a shocking revelation.

    But all it takes is a little bit of "What if?" sprinkled around the edges and suddenly people are drawn in, because maybe this time something groundbreaking will happen and they'll be there when it does.

  • Intriguing... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MaestroSartori ( 146297 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:22AM (#13656975) Homepage
    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 [iamthewolfman.com]. 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...
    • I always liked the dancing robot... "I dunno what is does, but it's good isn't it?"

      Cracked me up, everytime for some reason.
    • exactly! it's much like the "extreme" marketing that we have been seeing lately. Seriously, how extreme can jell-o be? Rather than speak about a product's benefits they just show people doing stupid things while the products are nearby.

      I have to link to this page [thebestpag...iverse.net] or I might catch some shit for these comments.

    • The average player of Console games has no idea what a texel even _is_. Anyone geeky enough to actually be interested in pipeline count and bandwidth can go look it up easily, but for the majority of people these numbers mean nothing - and with the architectures being so different, there's no easy way to really compare the systems anyway.

      All next-gen systems will "Look Really Pretty" and have "Games That Are Fun" - more than that passes straight over people's heads.
      • Maybe that's why Nintendo went with "Has An Interesting Input Device" with their two latest consoles. Seriously, the Revolution has caught my interest, which hasn't happened since the original Playstation. I still won't buy it (as it doesn't play PSX games, which is pretty much the only reason for me to buy a console) but I find it very interesing (as opposed to the PS3, which is just a faster PS2 and the XBox 360, which is just a faster XBox).
    • 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.

      Drug companies cannot say specifically how a drug works or detail its good effects because then they would legally have to tell you about the bad side effects.

      • Re:Intriguing... (Score:5, Funny)

        by justforaday ( 560408 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @07:10AM (#13657274)
        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...
    • As someone at a snappy ad agency (not one working on this though), allow me to explain why this concept is effective. You see, its quite simple really...the less information you provide, and the more of a possible entertainment "hook" you offer, the more likely it will be that people seek out information on what you are DELIBERATELY concealing.

      I won't even guess at the amount of webtraffic this slashvertisement has generated for them. And of course, other places will pick up the story from here and carry

    • 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.

      Uhh... As compared to the original Legend of Zelda commercial?

      "oc-oc-OC-OCtoROcks!".

      But hey, we all knew that the fruity guy playing Link symbolized a custom 6502 CPU clocked at 1.79MHz, and his choice of attire conveyed the groundbreaking 52-color palette available, from which you could have either 4, 16, 25, 52,

  • Oooh a viral marketing campaign (Score:5, Funny)

    by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:23AM (#13656979)
    I don't know about anyone else but I think I just soiled myself with excitement.
  • So this is news reporting marketing that will reveal more marketing in 12 hours. The MS PR agency is cheering, Walter Lippman is crying in his grave.

  • Anticlimactic (Score:4, Informative)

    by bbzzdd ( 769894 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:34AM (#13657006)
    I sat there and watched it count down to zero, then it jumped back to a five minute countdown. Waited for that to end, then it jumped up to five and a half hours. They could have at least synced the time at startup, not rely on the system clock and time zones. They can't even write decent Flash code :(

  • I don't gettit. (Score:5, Funny)

    by jez9999 ( 618189 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:39AM (#13657013) Homepage Journal
    I don't see no Latin message anywhere, when I zoom in the tree is just pixelated.
    • The text is written just next to the big flashing label near the white pixel over there just up from the murky thistle thingy when you look backwards using a dog as a complex lens.

      the label says: T3H 5Ux0r

      I am thinking it will have been in a previous weeks update, and has been removed now. On the other news articles the images of the countdown have different details (rabbits moved, new apples etc), so its possible that it just got hidden again.

      You just looked more carefully at a website and spent time talk

  • Ho-hum... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Lisandro ( 799651 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:40AM (#13657018)
    Something big is about to happen. Yeah, a publicity campaign. Don't get caugth in the hype!

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:44AM (#13657026)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I went to the website and I couldn't view it -- I clicked on the tree.

    It said something about "Macromedia Shockwave Flash".

    Running Macromedia's software is against me security policy, so I can't view it. I'd appreciate any reports on what you actually see.

    Also, whenever I have a letdown feeling like this (it happens whenever Slashdot posts a stupid slashvertisement from a company I despise, and then links to a useless shockwave flash site), I like to remind myself that at least I'm not Mr. Hands.

  • Elysium (Score:4, Informative)

    by randomErr ( 172078 ) <ervin.kosch@gmailOPENBSD.com minus bsd> on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @05:53AM (#13657047) Journal
    I thought this site was straight rip off of Eden until I say the various translations of the message. It seems more like a refernce to Greek mythology or paganism Here's Wikipedia's [wikipedia.org] definition of eysium:

    In Greek mythology, Elysium was a section of the Underworld (the spelling Elysium is a Latinization of the Greek word Elysion). "Elysium is an obscure and mysterious name that evolved from a designation of a place or person struck by lightning, enelysion, enelysios. ...
    Elysium in Neopaganism
    Many Neopagans today, particularly Hellenistic neopagans in the United States, have what most would consider a new-age view of Elysium. Elysium is seen as a multi-layered paradise, or Heaven, to many modern neopagans. Some believe that the outer layer of Elysium is composed of great and beautiful fields, often envisioned in imaginative descriptions as having green glowing blades of grass and bubbling springs of glowing water and wine, often made from the nectar of Ambrosia. Beyond the fields of Elysium, reserved only for the most righteous and virtuous, is the Golden City where spirits exist in a state of constant euphoria. Whether or not such beliefs are based in actual mythology often seems rather unimportant to many neopagans. Most claim that old myths are simply mortal accounts and interpretations of the divine, but the same could be argued about any current beliefs regarding Elysium. Much of what many modern neopagans believe today regarding Elysium seems to be borrowed from popular Christian imagery of Heaven.

  • For those of you wondering... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Wiser87 ( 742455 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @06:04AM (#13657069) Homepage
    For those of you wondering about the hidden message, that was only on one of the earlier versions.

    P.S. The website just changed again...

  • whoa! (Score:2, Funny)

    by t0y ( 700664 )
    The rabbit ate the fruit!!!!
    The rabbit ate the fruit!!!!

  • Origin of the Xbox 360 (Score:3, Funny)

    by The-Bus ( 138060 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @06:09AM (#13657081)
    I went to the origin of the Xbox 360 site [originxbox360.com] and filled out the forms just as described. Now I'm on my way to get my free Xbox 360! Thank you Microsoft! I will be sure to pass on the relevant information to my friends and relatives.

  • A worthwhile countdown...by accident. (Score:5, Informative)

    by screwballicus ( 313964 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @06:15AM (#13657100)
    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?" [wikipedia.org]

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • It's Live (Score:2, Informative)

    by NocturnDragon ( 820237 )
    It's live now, a tree full of flags!
  • it went live at noon GMT. If your clock showed a countdown ending in some hours that is due to the countdown being linked to the clock of your PC.
    Apparently Origen is a european only event anyway. The site is a promotion and little quiz with tickets for Origen to be won.
    • it went live at noon GMT. If your clock showed a countdown ending in some hours that is due to the countdown being linked to the clock of your PC.

      Not GMT - your post is dated 11:27AM GMT, and I'm writing this at 11:53AM GMT. I'm guessing it's some timezone that's an hour ahead of GMT - like the UK at the moment (British Summer Time), or France (I think). Apparently, the countdown I was seeing here (in the UK) was the correct one.

  • European residents only (Score:4, Informative)

    by Wiser87 ( 742455 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @06:29AM (#13657142) Homepage
    Before you guys go hammering the site with entries, note that the contest is only open to European residents.

    • Re:European residents only (Score:5, Funny)

      by PortWineBoy ( 587071 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @06:43AM (#13657184)
      Yea and only residents of certain European countries.

      Looks like they forgot about Poland.

    • Yeah, it's not that hard to catch, since there's a selection of flags on the tree which don't include, for example, the US one. I went through the contest anyway, and got the questions right, which brought me to a form, which I couldn't fill out all the way, because United States isn't an option.

      Entrants must be residents of the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal or Greece and aged 18 or over. Winners may

  • ...with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in elysium, and you are already dead!

  • Heh (Score:3, Informative)

    by Zey ( 592528 ) on Tuesday September 27, 2005 @06:33AM (#13657158)
    The message reads 'in hoc spatio arbor noster floruit, fecundus pomis Elysii ignoti, quo in loco ludent electi, ab Originis angelis circumdati'.

    Looks like the sort of generic boiler plate text that many web developers use when they want text appearing to demonstrate content but want to ensure that the text has no real content which might annoy the client or seem flippant. Why on earth /.'s editors have decided that has some sort of significance is beyond imagining.

  • If this is Microsoft's idea of "Something Big" then I fear the x360 is going to be a little underwhelming.

  • Two words: Lorem Ipsum (Score:2, Informative)

    by SWood ( 8452 )
    This is pseudo latin dummy text. Learn all about it and generate your own here:
    http://www.lipsum.com/ [lipsum.com]
  • It's just marketing.

    The least slashdot could do is get a kickback.

  • Me (Score:2, Informative)

    by TuralX18 ( 918185 )
    I think I figured it out, Set the clock to wednesday (thats what i did) and refresh, you get http://home.earthlink.net/~derekstrough/pictures/o rigen.JPG [earthlink.net] The bottom left link goes to xbox360.com - I guess its the revealing of something on xbox360.com, which is currently blank (for me)
  • ...the sound of millions of slashdotters around the world not giving a hoot.
  • Entrants must be residents of the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal or Greece and aged 18 or over. Winners may be required to provide proof of age and address.
  • You have a choice - believe in Origen or die.

    Hallowed are the Ori!

    Is this somehow referring to a SG-1 X-box game?
  • Something big is about to happen.

    And I, for one, couldn't give less of a crap.

  • Sounds very Stargate-ish to me. Perhaps a Prior [wikipedia.org] is coming to earth? Is Bill Gates a member of the Ori [wikipedia.org]?
     
      "Hallowed are the children of the Ori"

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