The complete songlist for Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80s has been revealed! The game will be released July 24 for PS2 only. Click "read more" to see the full setlist.

Two new forum posts at Bungie.net from the Adjutant Reflex account.

In a new thread titled "Veins of Ice and Poison", one post and one reply from the Adjutant Reflex account has been made:

(first)

|n|n|nROGUE PROCESS ghost.713>
  X.XX.713> POS/NAV < @ > <53LPH54.6JG62.1740><1………>
  X X5 > CONFIRM SECURE QUARANTINE - > qghost.713
  
  I do not require charity or alms
  But I did choose poverty
  And other darkness too
  Will you wait for me?

(second)

Adjutant Reflex is ended. This is a convenient Matrix. For now.

So we have more cryptic messages from MSBungie. What in the world do they mean?

Parting note: Two major entertainment events are happening in the next few weeks - summer movies and E3.

Next week marks the busiest movie week of the summer. Could we see a HALO trailer before the Transformers movie next week? I Love Bees was kicked off with a HALO 2 trailer before the movie I, Robot which opened in July of 2004. However, I just don't think we'll see something at the movies. E3 is coming up.

E3 starts July 11th. All eyes will be on the video game industry that week. New games will be announced. We will likely see HALO Wars multimedia. Will we see any presence of the Iris ARG at E3? I would be surprised if we didn't. Microsoft will have a presense. A HALO property will have a presence.

OMG I almost forgot event: Marvel is releasing HALO Uprising - a new comic book series. What a great way to reach the ARG fans! We've already seen an online comic. Will we see something hidden on a page of the HALO Uprising comic?

For the first time since June 19th, Adjutant Reflex has made a forum post. Over a Bungie.net the following was posted:

A pulse

Can you feel it?
Beating at the heart of the Universe.
Skin too thick to be sure.
It's alive though.
I'm certain.
What do I do with life?

The post was made at 06.28.2007 10:17 PM PDT. Adjutant Reflex's avatar has not changed.

Was this Adjutant Reflex who previously had been overtaken by some entity? Perhaps AR is back to guide us to the next guide.

Microsoft's HALO 3 marketing campaign known as Iris has been idle for over a week now. Perhaps this posting by AR is a sign of things to come sooner rather than later.

The 100th and final episode of RedvsBlue is now available for everyone to watch.

General Info
Who: THX - Up to 34 people can comfortably fit
What: Halo 1 LAN
When: July 28, 2007: Be There At 11AM
Where: Rayne's Houze outside of Huntsville, Alabama - PM Mintz for Directions if you do not have them already.
Why: It's been a while since the last LAN. It's time to fire it up again. Keep your thumbs warm. Bring your controller.

It is interesting how internet users find our website. Most all of our traffic comes from Google searches. How people end up here is sometimes quite funny. I am afraid that my leet search engine optimization skills have owned your internets.

Allow me to further assist you. If you came here and didn't find the information for which you were looking, take a look below. You'll find my replies to your search terms. All of these searches occured in the last 12-hours.

• "halo 3 countdown timer" – 16807. 2401. 343. 117. 49. 7.
• "valhalla military ranks" – I’m sorry.  The military of Valhalla could not be reached for a comment.  They were called up to restrain coupon-trading women marching in support of calling their newest mode of transportation the "Person Cannon".
• "running red alert 2  at 1280 1024 resolution" – Holy crap!  Should I alert the authorities? Hmm. I seen me a mermaid once. I even seen me a shark eat an octopus. But I ain't never seen no phantom Russian submarine. All clear.
• "What Will Play halo 2 vista" – That’s easy. Most fanboys.  Well, fanboys of HALO…that are big PC gamers…that have a high end PC…that figured out which version of Windows Vista to buy…that adopted Windows Vista…who didn’t read any of the reviews that the game is getting…then randomly discovered HALO 2 Vista on the store shelves of Circuit City …then got HALO 2 Vista to actually work…and doesn’t care about Games for Windows – Live lack of features.  That's the profile of the average one that will play HALO 2 Vista.
• "halo3.com" – Cool website.  Looks different lately, though. Odd. Will investigate.
• "top ten pc games" – 1. Solitaire. 2. Freecell. 3. Pinball. 4. Minesweeper. 5. World of Warcraft. 6. Spades. 7. Pokemon Kitchen Extreme. 8. Pokemon Bathroom Adventures. 9. Pokemon City. 10. Counter-strike.
• "cool songs to play on the guitar" – She'd like to hear "More Than Words" by
  . Stud.
• "20gb xbox 360 hard drive only showing 2gb available" – It appears your console is in standard working order.
• "create a spartan for halo 3" – I’m already working on it. Got Moljinor?
• "play games and earn gold to use to get prizes" – What in the world are our schools teaching these children?  How about:  get a job and earn cash then get a bank account?
• "Playing halo 2 vista on xp" – Are you really?  That’s so last week.  Besides – you sound like you should be posting this to Twitter.
• "can u wear the spartan helmet in the halo 3" – I’ll go ahead and answer this one.  Yes.  Why yes, you can wear a Spartan helmet…if you are a cat and have opposable thumbs.
• "shadowrun requirements" – 1. Open mind. 2. Don't read any reviews of the game. 3. Lots of free time. 4. Like deep first person shooters.
• "weapon slide glitch" – How many meta games does Gears of War have?
• "halo 3 claymore grenade" – mod much?
• "Linkin park Min to midnight" – Rumor has it that Gearbox Software produced this album. We are sorry, too. Suggest you throw this one up on eBay as soon as possible.
• "reporting crank calls on cell phone" – This is definitely the place to come. But only if you are getting hundreds of calls each day.
• "my friend cant join my halo pc game" – That’s because your friend should be playing "Brothers in Arms" or "Alien".  Right, Randy?
• "xbox live open up nat settings in netgear router" – XBOX Live set you up the bomb.  Make you time.
• "youtube master" – I've been called a lot of things in my life but never...
• "catan available games for windows" – While it is not available on Games for Windows, it is available for Games for Coffee Tables. 
• "society of the ancients" – Good folks.  They like drinking goats blood (I herd).  Rowdy at times though.  Stares at the moon. Oh, seriously.  I herd.
• "XBOX 360 monitors" –  Monitors what? Complete sentences please.  Direct objects are your
• "can x2900 crossfire run on nvidia sli" – Yes, but only if you run one x2900 card. Running two x2900's in Crossfire mode is not possible on an nVidia SLI chipset. Advice: Get the GeForce 8800GTX for your SLI motherboard or buy DFI's LAN Party motherboard. It supports Crossfire.
• "how to detect aimbots on halo" – Look for the guy out on the open that's jumping up and down with the sniper rifle.
• "how to make free xbox live " – If only we knew how to make the XBOX 360 live.
• "top bands not to make guitar hero 80" – Thanks for the news tip.
• "1:1 pixel mapping" – Just buy the damn monitor, people!
• "stretch image across 3 monitors for xbox360" – Brag much?
• "halo 3 arg" – Pimps at Sea releasing already?
• "how to sabotage a vehicle" – ...

How to sabotage a vehicle? See you in court...

Bioshock is the next generation first person shooter from 2k Games coming this August. Set in an underwater bathysphere in 1960 BioShock promises to present the gamer with decisions he's never faced in a video game before. A complete description of BioShock is outside the scope of this article, but on the BioShock website 2k Games promises "No encounter ever plays out the same way twice. No two gamers will ever play BioShock the same way."

Merely one feature that separates BioShock from the FPS background noise is the use of genetic enhancements. The same thing that contributed to the demise of the citizens of Rapture plays a key role in your journey to liberate or condemn the failed social experiment and its inhabitants. Plasmids and tonics are the two types of genetic enhancements available in BioShock (at least the two types we know about so far). It appears you can find them in vending machines scattered throughout Rapture, much like cigarettes in the 80s. Genetically enhancing yourself is done Mr. Brownstone style by injecting the dose of glowing goodness into your arm from a syringe. Yummy! What are plasmids powered by? Eve, of course, the fictional derivative of Adam (a substance collected from dead bodies by the creepy little sisters you've seen in the trailers).

2k Games has released a ton of information (including videos) on many of the plasmids available in BioShock. Click "read more" for pics, vids, and descriptions of the plasmids we know about so far.

Just a quick note to everyone who is following our coverage of the Microsoft's spiral marketing of HALO 3 - a.k.a. Iris. You haven't missed much in the last couple of days besides a lot of speculation. However, with all of the revelations we were given this week, how can we complain? A wealth of information was given to us as we unlocked one "server".

We've got four more to go. There has GOT to be some juicy stuff waiting for us to discover.

So what is it? Have WE been given the clues to unlock the next secret and are overlooking them?

Or do we need Microsoft to make the next move?

I think we need Microsoft to make the next move. Perhaps they'll release ANOTHER clue in a newspaper advertisement this week. Circuit City again? Best Buy? Oh my. Don't tell me I'm actually going to look through a K-Mart advertisement this weekend.

The Hushed Casket was featured on Attack of the Show on the G4 cable network on Wednesday the 20th. J-DOGG passed along these pictures today. Thanks for capturing these, J.

I think we may have also been on there last week when we lead with the HALO 3 ARG story. I saw some traffic coming this way from the AOTS website then.

Good work everybody. And welcome to the new visitors!

Update: Sweet goodness sugar!

Thanks for
YouTube link, Nappy.

Server #1 at HALO3.com has been unlocked. We have also been given a new IP address and Flash-based website. Are we being given clues as to the beginning of the Flood? Check out the image below that was hidden on the new Flash-based website. A lot is going down on the new page. Recap of tonight's events:

1. The countdown has stopped.
2. New countdown page at http://206.16.223.65/.
3. Countdown timer was removed and replaced with text box and 4 letters and numbers.
• 
4. Visitors could submit text back through the web form.
5. Keys were given out to some users.
6. I tried and got a bunch of errors.
7. Now the page refers us to: http://206.16.223.61/E5h2JK/flash/web/index.html
8. An .mp3 was embedded on the key entry page.
9. .mp3 is of a weird voice set to background "sounds".
• One possible translation done by BoonIsha on the UnFiction forums :
• This is how it all begins
  
  Just in time to do the dance again on the knife's edge of oblivion(probably wrong)
  
  To relive what the Halos had hoped to destroy and more
  
  For two enemies now stand where before there's only one
  
  A fate we escaped, and a fate you may relive
  
  I had almost convinced myself that no one was listening
  
  That the waves of the past would roll through once again
  
  But a chance remains to change the Universe anew
  
  Learn of our past
  
  Take these keys and dip from the wells of history
  
  Perhaps through others of us you may find how to save us all
10. I guess someone figured out the code to unlock the page?
11. Seems like 100 "keys" were given out.
12. Once they were given out then:
13. Server 05 Open
• 
14. Click on your country and type in your birthday and you can play.
15. You'll see a rotating machine (a Sentinel?).
16. Clicking on the machine will stop the rotation.
17. You can then drag the machine to rotate Left and Right.
18. Note that a glyph can be seen on the back.
19. More icons can be seen on the surface of the machine.
20. Clicking on the icons allows you to initiate downloads from the website.
21. Let the machine rotate until it is pointed straight and you and stop it.
22. Click on the icon in the upper right.
23. Be amazed as you watch the Flash movie play.
24. Glyph. Starry Night? A monitor? The "bacteria background" from the countdown page. A spinning moon or planet? A HALO? More?

Watch the video on YouTube:

Transcript submitted by CP:

THIS IS MY FINAL ENTRY, AND I AM LEFT WITH ONE HOPE



THAT ONE DAY, SOMEONE, ANYONE IS AROUND TO WITNESS THIS WARNING



If you are that witness, and it seems that we pinned all of our hopes on

this single suicidal plan



KNOW THAT A THOUSAND OTHER PLANS WERE TRIED AND FAILED



Millions of brave and ???ored souls died trying to avert this desperate

terrible solution



KNOW THAT ENERGETIC AND TENACIOUS AS LIFE IS



IT HAS AN ANTITHESIS JUST AS POWERFUL



IT IS THAT THING THAT WE MUST OBLITERATE

Here are some screen captures from the Flash movie:

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 
9. 
10. 
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
    
    Thanks luigi8922
18. Thanks Keeper of the Flame (CP) for these last few images.

Are there more downloads than I've found? I've found four (two images and two text files):

1.  Slide_Ref070107.jpg
• 
• Notes. Uploading this image to my Flickr account automatically added a title and description to this image.
• Title: BC3779-001
• Description: SEM of Streptococcus pyrogens bacteria,causes sore throat x2,000
2. StarImage1.jpg
   • 
   • click for larger version on my Flickr page.
3. Log5_Transcript.txt
   • THIS IS MY FINAL ENTRY, AND I AM LEFT WITH ONE HOPE
     
     THAT ONE DAY, SOMEONE, ANYONE IS AROUND TO WITNESS THIS WARNING
     
     {//}
     
     KNOW THAT A THOUSAND OTHER PLANS WERE TRIED AND FAILED
     
     {//}
     
     KNOW THAT ENERGETIC AND TENACIOUS AS LIFE IS
     
     IT HAS AN ANTITHESIS JUST AS POWERFUL
     
     IT IS THAT THING THAT WE MUST OBLITERATE
4. Array_Recorder_Data.txt
   • Halo array –System Data Recorder
   • [<array-sdr.> 3 minutes 5 seconds]
     
     {c-match-reconfirmed}. Sphere secure to .1889 of passing fleet. Offensive tactics confirmed.
     
     Feint tactics in limited push.
     
     <Array sync commence>
     
     Sys//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
     
     //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////{online}
     
     Index: {check}
     
     {D-com} There is no peace left. No place where the parasite cannot reach. You were right about it
     
     all. Let us hope the final measure is not too late.
   • [<array-sdr.> 1 minutes 12 seconds]
     
     Confrm: Array burn radium {check} 3.0
     
     Confrm: Array sync …1…2…3…4…5…6…7…{check}
     
     Commence…_{ }
   • [<array-sdr.> 60 seconds]
     
     Commence…_{check}
     
     Confrm: -00-00-00-59-0999-
     
     {c-match-line-hold} acceptable losses confirmed
     
     {D-com} It's done. By my hands. The pyrrhic solution is ignited. All I have left is the quiet of
     
     space to lull me to sleep. I will dream of you.
   • [<array-sdr.> 49 seconds]
     
     Authorize -00-00-00-48-0999-
     
     Array Authorized…_ Array Authorized…_ Array Authorized…_ Array Authorized…_ Array
     
     Authorized…_ Array Authorized…_ Array Authorized…_ Array Authorized…_ Array Authorized…_
     
     Array Authorized…_ Array Authorized…_ Array Authorized…_ Array Authorized…_ Array
     
     Authorized…_ Array Authorized…_{check}
   • [<array-sdr.> 23 seconds]
     
     fire: -00-00-00-22-0999-
     
     Confrm: wpnt {auth}
     
     Core sequence <%> <%>
   • [<array-sdr.> 11 seconds]
     
     fire: -00-00-00-10-0999-
     
     {c-match-burn} effectiveness of enemy core fleet negligible
     
     {D-com} I feel no peril.
   • [<array-sdr.> 5 seconds]
     
     fire: -00-00-00-04-0999-
     
     <enter reversion sequence to deactivate>
     
     {D-com} No pain. No remorse. Is that normal?
     
     
   • [<array-sdr.> 0 seconds]
     
     fire: -00-00-00-00-0001-
     
     Reversion Sequence…{negative}
     
     Array Authorized…_{Activate}
     
     Rings online…_{Activate}
     
     <Fire>
   • [<array-sdr.> 7 seconds]
     
     +00+00+00+07+0001+
     
     

Wow. Lots of information on this new site. Who's found more clues?

A few weeks ago when I went to my local EB games to pre-order the limited edition of Bioshock for Xbox 360 I perused the bargain bins as usual. I found a new copy of Quake 4 that was marked $29.99 and had been clearanced to %50 of that price. Having been a fan of Quake 3 Arena for PC I decided to finally purchase the title and give it a shot, as I had never done during it's initial release. I am very pleased with my purchase, and I can't think of another $15 better spent on a game. Furthermore, it came with a bonus disc containing Quake 2. Click "read more" for details.

Major news in the HALO 3 alternate reality marketing game yesterday. Adjutant Reflex, the persona of some HALO-related character who has been posting messages and clues in the Bungie.net website, apparently has been terminated. Some old posts from Adjutant Reflex have been deleted entirely. However, a post made from AR's account yesterday reads:

Adjutant Reflex is terminated.

Attempt no further communication.

I am utilizing its matrix.

Everything is within protocol.

Tomorrow, things may be clearer but I will not be here to witness the clarity.

I am for another place and another time. On my terms.

Be seeing you.

Additionally, Adjutant's Reflex's profile has been updated to read:

This entity has been terminated, its matrix comandeered.

Finally, Adjutant Reflex has a new avatar in his profile. The avatar is named "MB05032_09_25_07.gif". We know what "09_25_07" means. That's the official launch date of HALO 3. What we don't know is if "MB05032" has anything to do with the story. It probably means something. But what?

The countdown timer from http://206.16.223.65/ has stopped. It is stuck on

001 012 034 053

Do those numbers mean anything? Perhaps. A user on the Unfiction fiction forums notes that when you read those numbers as Lat and Lon coordinates they point to a huge volcano just west of Kenya in Uganda. The location is very near the places near Kenya where HALO has some roots.

With the countdown stopped, we wonder if in fact anything will happen tonight at midnight. Midnight will usher in the 21st of June - a date in which the countdown appeared to be counting down to until it stopped. The 21st of June is also the summer solstice - a day in which has significance to the mysterious Society of the Ancients.

What's the next step in this ARG? Will the countdown start? Have we discovered everything there is to discover? Or are we overlooking clues that will lead us to unraveling more of the viral marketing campaign? Is this the last of Adjutant Reflex?

The first casualty in the newly named "Iris" marketing campaign for Microsoft's HALO 3 is a college student from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Michael VanderZand, a marketing and advertising major at Grand Rapids Community College, has received hundreds of phone calls and text messages on his cell phone since the "alternate reality game" began due to misinformation that spread like wildfire around the internet last week. Oh how ironic that this guy is a marketing and advertising major!

Bungie Studio's newest star is "Adjutant Reflex" - the persona of a mysterious being who has been making cryptic forum posts on Bungie.net's website. "Adjutant Reflex" is an official part of the Iris marketing campaign. However, Michael VanderZand's cell phone is not.

As soon as Adjutant Reflex began posting on Bungie's website last Monday, fans began looking for leads - anything - that would reveal more information about the persona, the alternate reality game, or HALO 3. It didn't take long for fans to discover a gamer profile on XBOX.com that had what looked to be a 10-digit telephone number as its motto. Unfortunately for Michael VanderZand, the digits resembled his cell phone number. At the time, many websites (even this one) were full of messages reporting that a gamertag (now removed from XBOX.com) was linked to Adjutant Reflex's persona on Bungie.net.

In actuality the 10-digit number in the XBOX.com profile was missing the last three digits. Those missing digits were replaced with "XXX". This made the XBOX.com profile even more mysterious - something that fits in well with the culture of Micrsoft alternate reality games. Fans began dialing numbers that fit the profile. It made sense. The last HALO alternate reality game, named I Love Bees, involved phones booths from around the country.

On Wednesday, after the alternate reality story spread around major gaming-related websites, a fan discovered a peculiar and static-filled voice mail recording that fit within those 10-digits in the XBOX.com profile. It greatly reminded them of the voice messages that were released during the I Love Bees campaign. To boot, the voice mail recording just happened to be HALO-related. Michael VanderZand had a voice mail recording with snippets from a Red vs. Blue episode (Red vs. Blue is a video comic series filmed inside of the HALO video game). He is a huge fan of that series.

The signs were leading fans to believe that VanderZand's number was indeed related to the Iris marketing campaign.

It was Wednesday and VanderZand was in a business ethics class. After class he checked his cell phone and he had missed dozens of calls. He then began getting more and more phone calls - all from different area codes.

He began taking some of the calls. Finally Michael spoke with someone who explained how they obtained his phone number. "I end up telling the story to a guy in New York City who is on a 3-way conference call with his friend in California. So the three of us (East coast, West coast, Great Lakes) are trying to figure this whole thing out." After a chuckle, Michael began to wrap his head around this whole ordeal.

The calls kept coming. Michael even went online to the websites that were reporting that the phone number was possibly linked to the alternate reality game. He posted that the phone number was his and that he was not related to "Adjutant Reflex" or the HALO 3 marketing campaign.

The internet users didn't listen. The crazed fans ignored his posts and didn't want to believe that it wasn't true.

VanderZand stayed up late that night wondering what to do. He even called the XBOX support line hoping they could help. The calls kept coming through the early morning as he was trying to study for a final exam.

Days after Michael's nightmare began the XBOX.com profile was removed. However, callers are still finding VanderZand's number thinking they are on the heels of the next great discovery in the Iris alternate reality game.

Michael was kind enough to allow us to interview him. His step-by-step account of the time of his phone number being spread around the internet can be found below. You'll also learn more about Michael and what he does throughout the day:

Q: What is your name?
A: Michael

Q: What is your cell phone number?
A: ...

(Just kidding.)

Q: Where do you live?
A: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself.
A: I’m 20 years old. A college student at Grand Rapids Community College majoring in Marketing and Advertising. I work at Blockbuster part time to pay for classes. I plan on moving to Seattle in 2 years when I get my degrees.

Q: So, when did you realize that something was fishy with your cell phone?
A: It was about 5:30 PM on Wednesday and I was in Holland (about 45 min out from Grand Rapids) for a business ethics class. I started getting calls I did not recognize. When I answered there was no reply for most of them. One caller justsaid “wrong number - sorry.” I thought it might be some friends of mine testing out another online phone dialing site (they've done that before).

So I turn my phone off for class and when I check it 3 hours later I see that I missed some 30 calls. Wow! The most calls I’ve missed in one period was 28 in 8 hours so this was weird. I also noticed that they were from some 12 or so different area codes. I went home and called my buddies to see if they were responsible but they didn’t know anything. So I began answering some of the calls.

After about 5 hang ups (coward shut-ins) I managed to get one of them to tell me why they called. They directed me to Unfiction.com and a thread entitled ‘the ‘Vic’ incident’. He told me that my phone number was given on a gamer tag that people were associating with the new Halo ARG.

This is when I realized that my voicemail was still an old badly recorded Red vs. Blue clip of Vic’s answering machine where he says ‘Hey there, Vic, no solomio, not in the casa right now, etc".

Then people started putting loads of research into my voicemail recording. They put my answering machine message on Megauploads.com. So tried cleaning it up so they could hear me and my buddy talking during the static. I don't think anyone was able to figure out which episode it was from or riddle out that he was saying ‘no solomio’.

So as the guy was explaining this to me I started laughing. So did the guy that I was on the phone with.

I asked him to post that it is all a big ugly coincidence and he did while we were on the phone. The problem? People didn't believe the post. They wanted to believe that my phone number had something to do with the ARG. Crap. I realized that people wanted to believe this. While on the phone with that guy, I missed 5 more calls.

So I hang up and answer more calls.

I end up telling the story to a guy in New York City who is on a 3-way conference call with his friend in California. So the three of us (East coast, West coast, Great Lakes) are trying to figure this whole thing out. Then he leads me to digg.com and HushedCasket that had a lot of information about the ARG.

Meanwhile, I still don’t know if this is some joke or if Bungie just didn’t do its research well enough before releasing this info.

So I get off the phone with these guys and start looking for a number to call to reach Bungie. The only one I can find is the XBOX customer support line.

I figured I could call them and they might be able to redirect me to someone with the ARG or give me a number to call.

Finally I was able to get through to someone at XBOX. The guy on the other end (it's like 12:30 am at this point) gets a huge kick out of the story because he plays HALO also. I’m pretty sure I made his night just with the story. He couldn’t help me, though. That’s when I decided to try to post my own responses on these sites.

The easiest was Hushed Casket. Then I looked for the thread on G4 because that is where one of the guys said he got my number. But I couldn’t find it the original post so I made a new thread under the tag kir_kanos.

Finally I just said "screw it!"

I needed to get to bed. I had to wake up at 6 AM to work on a final and get to class. Luckily I have an MDA III Pocket PC phone so I just turned the phone part off and was still able to use the alarm.

But, just before I went to sleep I changed my voicemail - just to screw with all the idiots that didn’t check the posts.

I changed it to another Red vs. Blue clip about players screaming for information about HALO 3. I don’t know how many calls I missed that night but when I checked my voicemail in the morning my inbox was full!

Q: Holy cow! That's amazing. Do you know who first posted your number?
A: No idea.

Q: Just to check - you didn't have anything to do with your number being posted right?
A: Not at all.

Q: So how many calls have you gotten since this all started?
A: Over 300.

Q: What's the strangest call you recieved?
A: The strangest message I got was a kid who asked if I was AdjutantReflex (he didn’t know how to pronounce it). He claimed to be a Reclaimer, then left me his full name, email, phone number and gamertag. Wow! Oh, another memorable call is a guy that just said "hey Vic, what’s happenin". That guy sounded drunk.

Q: Any females calling?
A: Sadly, no. No females are this obsessed with the ARG, I guess.

Q: What are your thoughts on this whole ordeal?  Bitter?  Excited?  
A: Well, this is kind of freakish. But I’m not bitter at all. Some of the gamers who called my phone and had me tell them it was some kind of joke weren’t to happy. But I think this is all hilarious. I always knew that horrible recording would come back to bite me in the ass.

Q: How is your cell phone plan holding up? Are you going ot have a large bill this month?
A: Don't know for sure yet. I only got a few text messages. When I did answer calls they were either short calls or during my night time free minutes. So, I don't think the bill will be too bad.

Q: What kinds of custom answering machine greetings have you had on your phone? It's odd that out of all the phone numbers in the world, the fans picked one that had a Red vs. Blue recording on it.
A: I always liked the one of Vic, but I have been meaning to change it to the ones from the special features on the Red vs Blue Season 3 disk.

Q: Are you following the Alternate Reality Game that lead so many people to call your number?
A: I haven't had much time with summer finals and school work. For my advertising class I have to make an 80-page marketing/advertising report about Starbucks.

Q: Are you a fan of HALO?
A: HUGE fan.

Q: How much have you played?
A: I've played about once a week for 6 hours or more since HALO 1 was released. And I'm quite good just for the record.

Q: What's your gamertag?
A: 'AlDS baby'

Q: Are you looking forward to HALO 3?
A: HELL YES!!! I played the beta - got in on "Rule of 3" program so I wouldn’t have to buy Crackdown. I can’t wait for the finished product!

Q: Do you have anything to say to the people that have been calling you?
A: Most of you wouldn’t even respond when you got a live person on the phone. I even replied in a monotone voice “Are you calling about the Halo ARG?” and still some just hung up! How do you expect to get anywhere if you don’t even have the balls to respond?

Q: What are some of your favorite websites that you visit most frequently?
A: http://www.banginpromotions.com/, http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/index.html, http://stage6.divx.com/, http://www.technewsworld.com/, http://news.com.com/, http://www.megatokyo.com/, http://www.gamefaqs.com/, http://www.501st.com/.

Q: Do you have a MySpace account?
A: Yeah. I just started earlier this summer. It's at: www.myspace.com/vicrvb. (Yes I made that custom URL after this all started).

Q: Parting thoughts?
A: Sure, this is actually the second time my number has been on the internet in a HALO-related prank. The first time it was a thread posted by this guy on gameFAQs that told people to call my number to reach the "Halo Coach" because "I’m the best". I got the first call at 4 AM (again before a morning class) by a guy who wanted me to give him some pointers.

Had it not been that late I may have. The ‘I’m the best’ part gave him away as it was a running joke. Luckily that thread got buried pretty quick.

Q: Where can we reach you in the future? Any plans to pop up in any more pranks?
A: I should be starting a blog fairly soon (later this summer) that will discuss a variety of topics from the latest in the HD DVD vs. Blu Ray battle to Halo news etc. I will be posting updates about that in my MySpace profile. Also any Halo enthusiasts can reach me by gamertag (given above). Keep in mind I can only keep 100 friends. Also, everyone has started calling me ‘Vic’. To be honest I really don’t mind.

(end interview)

A marketing major? A huge HALO fan? A huge Red vs. Blue fan? The stars must have aligned for that one to happen! Speaking of astronomy...I wonder if he is interested in the Society of the Ancients?

Here's hoping that Red vs. Blue hooks him up with some free swag for his troubles. Good luck, Michael.

Microsoft announced that the HALO 3 marketing event is to be called "Iris". In mythology, Iris is the "messenger of the gods". In the HALO3.com/comic/, we learn that "the gods" built a machine in Africa. We also know that the file name for Adjutant Reflex's avatar is "chrysopteron.gif". Chrysopteron is another name for a "Golden Winged" Iris according to Wikipedia.

Adjutant Reflex made two new posts at Bungie.net in a thread titled "That Old Life":

• An older life is here with us. He is not as helpful as I. His motives are oblique and his alliances opaque.
  He plays with time even as he hides in its folds.
  He outranks me and anyway, is stronger.
  I can't prevail.
  I will seek one of you out and leave my legacy in a small space.
• He has had millennia for reflection, but what image does he see?

HALO Nation waits for the next trigger in the HALO 3 marketing game. It appears that the countdown timer on http://206.16.223.65 will trigger the next web event. Signs points to the countdown ending on the summer solstice on the 21st of June. This date should have special meaning to the Society of the Ancients. Look for breaking events at http://societyoftheancients.com. There is a small chance that they will begin accepting email applications for SOTA. Microsoft could then use the collected email to communicate with HALO Nation.

Timeline of major events as of this publishing:

• A user on Bungie.net called Adjutant Reflex recently started posting cryptic messages in the Halo 3 Forum. His class is "Compound Intelligence" which must be custom assigned by an administrator. Whoever/whatever AR is, it is operating with the facilitation of Bungie.net. (06.11.2007)
• A mass email was sent out by Micrsosoft from XBOX.com featuring a cryptic poem, an image of a Forefunner-like glyph, and a link to HALO3.com. Copy of the email. 06.14.2007
• halo3.com has a new image in Master Chief's visor. The glyph is visible in his visor. (06.14.2007)
• Adjutant Reflex changed to a new forum avatar at Bungie.net. That avarage is of that same glyph as seen in the email. (06.14.2007)
• halo3.com was updated to show an image of five servers that are not yet unlocked. (06.14.2007)
• halo3.com/comic was discovered. The URL was spotted in a Circuit City flyer that was supposed to ship out this weekend. Probably discovered prematurely. (06.14.2007)
• Reading the comics will reveal numbers which lead to an IP address: http://206.16.223.65 (06.14.2007)
• http://206.16.223.65 has a countdown timer that possibly will expire on ???? (06.14.2007)
• http://206.16.223.63 was discovered and is a website for the Society of the Ancients (SOTA). That page has a glyph as seen in the viral email. You may access the page by going to http://societyoftheancients.com as well. Probably discovered prematurely. (06.14.2007)
• SOTA holding rallies around the world in major cities: New York and London confirmed (06.15.2007)
• Adjutant Reflex joins Chapter on Bungie.net called "The Brute Ghostbusters" created by Bungie employee Luke Smith.
• More rallies in Chicago, Mobile, AL, San Francisco (06.16.2007)
• Circuit City ad being read in newspapers around the US (06.17.2007)
• Adjutant Reflex makes new posts at B.net (1, 2). (06.17.2007)
• Micrsoft declares this marketing event as named "Iris". (06.18.2007)
• Adjutant Reflex makes new posts at B.net (1, 2). (06.18.2007)

I haven't played a flight simulator in years, but I used to love them. Back in the days when a PC didn't have to be good to run games I destroyed many a SAM site, enemy radar, and plenty of MIGs. I know virtually nothing about Ace Combat 6, but if it is worth its salt I think it could reinvent the genre. Online dogfights via XBL? What about a squadron vs squadron team battle? Online coop? The cutting edge graphics available on the 360 are just the tip of the iceberg, and the game is Xbox 360 exclusive.

This week Circuit City has a sweet deal on the only two GFWL games out there. Not only is Halo 2 PC discounted $10 to $39.99, but Shadowrun is free with purchase of Halo 2. Obviously, both are PC versions.

The only thing I am sad about is how it took the domain expiring for us to realize this. We are back, however. Sorry for the inconvenience.

It barely feels like a year ago me, Twilkey, Hitman, Haphazardly, and several other imporant staff members started this website. It sucks it had to be found because the domain expired, but whatever. It's back.

I'd like to thank THX for its support, and for some of the members stopping by our corner of the intarwebs.

Some interesting stats:
292 members.
Over 2 million hits.
Around 2.5 terabytes of data transferred the year we have been open.

It feels somewhat strange, but oh well. Time flies, I guess. Thanks to all who use our services and bandwidth. Hopefully the years to come will bring more great changes and more bandwidth usage.

SOTA in San Fran. Found on Flickr.

SOTA at a Cubs game

Some minor ARG developments yesterday. Things are definitely slower now than they were. I think this is because we discovered the Circuit City ad too early - which opened the door to finding other websites.

The Society of the Ancients were busy yesterday rallying in other cities. They were spotted at a Chicago Cubs game, in San Francisco, and Vancouver B.C. There are unconfirmed reports that they were rallying in Boston (believable) and Mobile, Alabama (not so believable). Check below for YouTube footage of rallies in San Fran and Vancouver.

San Francisco Street Performer backed by SOTA protesters:

Vancouver, CAN posted by Avery Fane on YouTube

This last video was posted by Avery Fane. This is the guy with the mysterious MySpace profile and blog entries. He's actually got a blog entry dated before we discovered the Society of the Ancients website. However, blog posts on MySpace can be back dated. Still, he offers up cryptic information that seems legit. Then again, he has posted a MySpace blog stating "I am not your messaih [sic]". As of right now, there's no way to tell if he is a legit player or not. Since he posted that "messiah" blog and since he has said that he is not official in comments, I don't think we should consider him a character in the ARG - regardless of the Iris, wings, and Occam's Razor references. But, you may recall that an I Love Bees character used Blogspot to update us on her life.

Next, it was confirmed that the countdown time will reach "zero" on the Summer Solstice. This year the Solstice will take place at 18:06 on June 21. It should be noted that there are usually celebrations held at Stonehenge on the day of the Solstice. The Society of the Ancients have a portion of their website dedicated to Stonehenge.

So what happens with the countdown reaches "zero"? Will SOTA hava presence at Stonehenge. Will we see them rallying at other places? Will SOTA begin accepting applications via email?

By the way , the Circuity City ad that reveals the link to the HALO 3 comic is landing on doorsteps around the U.S.

The following images were sent from "Keeper of Flame" to rapture via my person website this morning. It simply had a link to a Flickr account.

The Society of the Ancients have a presence in London. We know that they've hit Times Square in New York. MTV has new coverage here. I wonder if we'll see them in other cities?

It seems that HALO fans and ARG fans are ahead of the game. Literally. We discovered the totally cool HALO 3 comic via someone that got glimpse of a Circuit City ad that is supposed to run this weekend. That ad leads us to the comic that leads us to some numbers that lead us to an IP address: http://206.16.223.65/.

That IP address is owned by Microsoft. Actually, there's a whole block of IP addresses owned by Microsoft. For instance http://206.16.223.11/ is for the game Conker. http://206.16.223.26 is for Games for Windows. http://206.16.223.45/ is for HALO 3.

So, it would make sense that there could be one or more sites related to the ARG in that IP range.

http://206.16.223.63 is in the range and is mysterious. It's the homepage for the Society of the Ancients (SOTA). You can tell that it is related to the ARG if you go to the "evidence" page and see the "sign". The sign is a glyph that we've now seen in several places.

But discovering another page by brute force is kind of lame. We weren't supposed to know that site as an IP address.

It appears that we were supposed to learn of SOTA today via Flyers handed out in Times Square by people wearing yellow shirts. Below is a copy of the flyer posted by a user on the Neogaf forums.

It's the URL "societyoftheancients.com" that we were supposed to discover. Not the IP address.

SOTA today. HALO3.com/comic/ tomorrow. And we are already ahead of the game.

What's next?

It seems that the countdown timer on http://206.16.223.65/ will end sometime on June 21st (thanks for breaking the code, Nathan). Perhaps something will happen then. As for Adjutant Reflex. That user has not posted since yesterday. We aren't used to going this long without a post.

However, Adjutant Reflex did join a Seventh Column Chapter at Bungie.net. The chapter is called "Brute Ghostbusters" and was founded by new Bungie employee Luke Smith. Membership is by application only at this point in time. The motto of the group is:

"Daily(ish) notes from Bungie's Luke Smith about what's going on: at Bungie; with Halo; and other nefarious, mildly- interesting nonsense. Also, there will be shenanigans."

Have we found too much too soon? Does MSBungie have enough in store to keep us busy between now and the 21st? I'm betting that they do. This ARG is getting complex. Just look at the HALO3.com/comic. The artwork is deep. The story is deep. The animations are deep. A lot of time when into that. A lot of time has gone into hidding the "glyphs" on different websites. I bet we'll be busy this weekend looking for more "glyphs".

If you think about it, we might can look at this ARG from the perspective of us (the fans) being inside the HALO story. Forget about what we know about HALO and its future. If we were a part of the HALO story (being just ordinary humans on Earth), we might find mysterious artifacts and think of them as "alien" or "unknown". I think that MSBungie wants us to believe that they were "Forerunner" or "Covenant" technology and that we are in the HALO timeline right now.

This episode is ten times better than the first episode. The first part is really funny and I was rolling from beginning to end.

Microsoft has started an Alternate Reality Game (ARG). They have done this with HALO 1 and HALO 2. The ARG for HALO 2 was commonly known as "I Love Bees" as ilovebees.com as discovered in the last frame of a HALO 2 marketing video. Adjutant Reflex is a user on the Bungie.net forum and opened this ARG by posting on the HALO 3 forums at Bungie.net. Adjutant Reflex's account can only be setup by a Bungie forum administrator and has the group class of "Compound Intelligence" separating him/her/it from the rest of the users.

A Circuit City ad was set to be released this weekend in newspapers from around the country. However, someone found the ad early and noticed that HALO3.com/comic was an URL hidden in the ad. You can also notice a "glyph" icon that's now associated with the ARG. HALO3.com/comic was probably discovered prematurely which means some things in the ARG may currently be out of order. However, that ARG may very well not be broken as it appears to be very deep.

Will something happen on June 21st? Nathan has decoded the Flash .swf file of the countdowntimer on http://206.16.223.65/ with this explaination:

Here is the code snippet:

super();
var self = this;
endTime = new Date(2007, 5, 21, 0, 0, 0, 0);
function onEnterFrame()
{
var _l2 = new Date();
var _l3 = this.endTime.getTime() - _l2.getTime();
this.showTime(_l3);
} // End of the function

It seems end date is 5 21, June 21st (counting from "0" as January).

Timeline:

• A user on Bungie.net called Adjutant Reflex recently started posting cryptic messages in the Halo 3 Forum. His class is "Compound Intelligence" which must be custom assigned by an administrator. Whoever/whatever AR is, it is operating with the facilitation of Bungie.net. (06.11.2007)
• A mass email was sent out by Micrsosoft from XBOX.com featuring a cryptic poem, an image of a Forefunner-like glyph, and a link to HALO3.com. Copy of the email. 06.14.2007
• halo3.com has a new image in Master Chief's visor. The glyph is visible in his visor. (06.14.2007)
• Adjutant Reflex changed to a new forum avatar at Bungie.net. That avarage is of that same glyph as seen in the email. (06.14.2007)
• halo3.com was updated to show an image of five servers that are not yet unlocked. (06.14.2007)
• halo3.com/comic was discovered. The URL was spotted in a Circuit City flyer that was supposed to ship out this weekend. Probably discovered prematurely. (06.14.2007)
• Reading the comics will reveal numbers which lead to an IP address: http://206.16.223.65 (06.14.2007)
• http://206.16.223.65 has a countdown timer that possibly will expire on ???? (06.14.2007)
• http://206.16.223.63 was discovered and is a website for the Society of the Ancients (SOTA). That page has a glyph as seen in the viral email. You may access the page by going to http://societyoftheancients.com as well. Probably discovered prematurely. (06.14.2007)
• SOTA holding rallies around the world in major cities: New York and London confirmed (06.15.2007)
• Adjutant Reflex joins Chapter on Bungie.net called "The Brute Ghostbusters" created by Bungie employee Luke Smith.
• More rallies in Chicago, Mobile, AL, San Francisco (06.16.2007)
• Circuit City ad being read in newspapers around the US (06.17.2007)
• Adjutant Reflex makes new posts at B.net (1, 2). (06.17.2007)
• Micrsoft declares this marketing event as named "Iris". (06.18.2007)
• Adjutant Reflex makes new posts at B.net (1, 2). (06.18.2007)

Glyphs:

1. In the viral email from Microsoft
2. In Adjutant Reflex's avatar on Bungie.net forums
3. In Master Chief's visor at HALO3.com
4. In the background of the Circuit City advertisement
5. In the comic at HALO3.com/comic
6. In an image on the societyoftheancients.com evidence page
7. In Times Square at a SOTA protest
8. In London at a SOTA protest
9. At various rallies around the globe.

Confirmed URL's

• Adjutant Reflex's profile at Bungie.net: http://www.bungie.net/Search/default.aspx?q=AdjutantReflex&g=5
• Homepage of HALO 3: http://www.halo3.com/
• Hidden URL in Circuit City ad: http://www.halo3.com/comic/
• Decoded numbers from comic: http://206.16.223.65/
• By manually changing above IP address: http://206.16.223.63/ aka http://www.societyoftheancients.com/

Fake URL's

• Gamertag FNC013575663331 on XBOX.com
• AveryFane's MySpace page. He says "I am not your messaih" here. Says he's a fan of SOTA but not related to ARG.

Authentic forum topics by Adjutant Reflex

• System Integrity Confirmed @ bungie.net
• System Integrity Confirmed @ halo.bungie.org
• Archive/Resource Estimate @ bungie.net
• Who? @ bungie.net
• Stop it @ bungie.net
• That Old Life @ bungie.net

Images of the glyphs

1. 
   From the mass email from Microsoft
   
   
   
2. 
   an updated image in the visor of Master Chief and halo3.com
   
   
   
3. 
   Adjutant Reflex's updated avatar at Bungie.net
   
   
4. 
   Circuit City flyer that was leaked early
   
   
5. 
   Comic at halo3.com/comic that was hidden in the Circuit City ad
   
   
   
6. 
   From the societyoftheancients.com which is an IP address owned by Microsoft
   
   
   
7. 
   Flyer handed out on June 15 by "protesters" in yellow shirts in Times Square
   
   
   
8. 
   Protesters in London

Helpful resources

• args.bungie.org - HALO fans searching and playing the ARG
• unfiction.com - ARG fans playing the game
• WikiBruce

Go here for our update on the Society of the Ancients: http://hushedcasket.com/node/2063

Just when someone finds one IP address (206.16.223.65), someone goes out an find another (206.16.223.63). The Society of the Ancients have a homepage. Who knew? Looks like 1996 was the last time that page was updated.

There is relatively a lot of information on the site. One thing that jumps out at us? Another glyph. This glyph is probably the same "sign" that Adjutant Reflex said was scattered (around the intertubes). We've seen it in MC's helmet visor on HALO3.com. We've see it in the viral email sent out. Now here. Click on the "evidence" link and you'll see this image:

Text with that image: " This was just sent to me from a SOTA member traveling through Tanzania. The rock painting (as of yet undated) was pointed out last month by a local safari guide."

Tanzania? Definitely on the right track. Digging around the site you'll find a PDF file. In that file is a reference to societyoftheancients.com.

This IP address is owned by MSFT:

CustName:  Microsoft Corporation

Address:  1 Microsoft Way

City:    Redmond

StateProv: WA

PostalCode: 98052

Country:  US

RegDate:  2005-07-01

Updated:  2005-07-01

Update:

• Something happening in Times Square, NY? SOTA flyers being handed out by people protesting?
• Image of the SOTA Flyer:
  
  
  
  

Whoa cool. We are finally lead to another website via clues on HALO3.com. And the new site (an IP address) looks like it IS owned by Microsoft. Supposedly, Circuit City will reveal the URL in an ad this weekend.

Going to http://halo3.com/comic reveals a Flash version of the comic below. The comic is actually interactive in that you can click on some parts of the last comic screen. When you click on that screen, some of the etchings become more clear - revealing numbers. Putting those numbers together leads you to an IP address with a countdown.

With numbers revealed:

Click on the last comic for a while and you'll see the new numbers. Note that the Flash comic strip slides left and right. The numbers probably mean this IP address:

http://206.16.223.65/

That IP address leads to a background image and a Flash countdown.

The Flash:

The background image:

Text from the webpage:

MessagePart1: Iris Initiated - Vio Transmit + 3 588 000       Searching Re-route...... /confirmed/

MessagePart2: System Bypass In Progress. - Realignment Proceeding

Notice that the clock does not have the digits 7, 8, or 9. Each unit on the clock counts down from 6. Odd. Anyone able to do the math to figure out when this timer hits zero?

Anyone able to make anything of the comic?

What does it say about Humans, Forerunners, and even the Arc?

Anyone finding any more clues?

While we want to keep all comments condensed to the original thread for continuity, now's a good time to recap the Adjutant Reflex situation.

Colin Powell once said "Tell me what you know, tell me what you think, and never confuse the two."

Here's what we know:

• A user on Bungie.net called Adjutant Reflex recently started posting cryptic messages in the Halo 3 Forum.
• His class is "Compound Intelligence" which must be custom assigned by an administrator. Whoever/whatever AR is, it is operating with the facilitation of Bungie.net. (It's official).
• Its text always appears in gold on bungie.net.
• This appears to be an alternate reailty game (ARG) similar to what Bungie did with ilovebees.com for Halo 2. If so, it is designed to give us clues and lead us to information about something, presumably Halo 3.
• Other Adjutant Reflex user names have appeared in such places as halo.bungie.org, digg.com, AIM, XBL gamer profiles, etc. None have been confirmed to be legit except Bungie.net postings. The XBL gamertag is confirmed to be a fake.
• Adjutant Reflex recently posted on Bungie.net: "This process is relative only to this location. No other suitable location was found. One other was attempted. Bandwidth restraints prevented its use. I will stay here."
• At approximately 1:20 AM PDT this morning (June 14th) the following email went out from xbox.com:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Master Chief's visor on Halo3.com has a reflection of the same Forerunner glyph.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This glyph was not there before a recent change to the image.  Pic of the visor before the ARG:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• AR posted coordinates on Bungie.net that plot in Voi, Kenya, just northwest of Mombasa. This was in response to a random user's comment: "I know about Voi." This could mean nothing...or everything.
• "Road to Voi" is a song on the HALO 2 Vol 2 soundtrack.
• HALO3.com has hidden information: "//updated archive information pending review by installation systems./" in several places now.
• Full transcript of comments at args.bungie.org

Here's what we think: