A Bizarre Mystery Indeed

UO Staff Joined: 10 Sep 2003 Posts: 524 Location: Atlanta

The Hi-Res Halo 2 Trailer. Many people have seen it. Many people have noticed something. Something that, in my catching up with gaming news, I was unaware of. Alpha pointed it out to me.

At the end of the excellent Halo 2 trailer, the XBox logo appears, as it does normally. And, as normal, the Xbox URL appears below. For a second, though, the URL changes to www.ilovebees.com.

So I went. When I reached the site, it began some sort of bizarre corruption. Pictures seemed to not load properly, text was being placed on text. A blind person using FrontPage could have done a better job making the page. Then, suddenly, it started getting weird. There were text boxes popping up randomly. I switched off of the page onto another link within the main site. More of the same. Non-sensical changes to the page. And it was all random. Each time I show up there, something different is screwed up. A visit to a blog linked at the bottom of the page only helps further the mystery. I've read theories, but nothing seems to make any sense yet. I even tried going to the links on the 'Links' page, but none of them related... Indonesian terrorists, water in South Asia, and mating habits of spiny arachnids...

So I turn to you all. The UnrealOps community, while small, is arguably one of the most intelligent fan communities I've ever been a part of. Maybe someone can make sense of all of this. Look at the Halo trailer - look at the site. Go in our forums, tell us what you think.

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2004 5:38 pm

there's a very sensible answer on gamespot, check for it in the news: "the halo 2 hype hoax"

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2004 6:49 pm

Link?

Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2004 10:24 pm

Found it

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/07/27/news_6103575.html

Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2004 6:13 am

lol, first thing i thought when i opend that website:
"WTF im gettting sucked into the 'Matrix'"

its prolly just some prank/publicity stunt
it worked.. Confused

edit:
just read the gamespot story, and i was right again, it was a publicity stunt.. sort of..

UO Staff Joined: 10 Sep 2003 Posts: 524 Location: Atlanta

The Gamespot explanation, as I said in my Theory's comment, doesn't really hold.

If it's all publicity, don't you think they would have said something by now?

Crazed Fan Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 268 Location: RC MI

Actually, the theory on Gamespot holds up very well. Many references to Halo objects.

I've never read up on the stories of Halo, but I understand they are actually fairly good and make the game deeper.

I doubt anyone would break silence until after the site has performed it's intented purpose. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to take a good look at the site and play along. Sounds like a fun game.

The author of the site, Dana?, and her Aunt don't do anything reasonably intelligent about the situation, like contact their webhost, take the site down, re-secure the site, etc. Basically they just spout fearful messages and build suspense. I wonder how they came up with the idea of screwing with a site about bees....

Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 8:26 am

well.. i cant realy talk along in this.. since i dont play Halo and all.. but its kinda like UT2004 right? the vehicles and all..
but i have no clue about the story in halo 1/2

Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 1:11 pm

Woo! Isn't there a limit to the size of avatars?

Dat's a big mofo...

Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 5:43 pm

yah there is. and since cheetahs argument is going to be "burgess has one this big"

i must point out that he reduced the size of his...

so please cheetah... lower yours too Wink

Posted: Sat Jul 31, 2004 6:26 pm

Can't you guys limit it automatically so someone can't upload an image that big?

Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2004 3:50 am

The problem doesn't come with uploading (which can be easily limited), the problem comes from externally hosted avatars, in which there are much weaker protections.

Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2004 4:14 pm

you can let PHP check the size of the avatar when the page is loaded, and block it if its to big.
i thought this was okey since it doesnt mess up the layout of the website... sorry, il change it.. Embarassed

Posted: Sun Aug 01, 2004 6:13 pm

granted you did tell me about it.

but since someone else noticed/said something i dont think we should make two different standards.... so thats why i asked you to change it

Crazed Fan Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 268 Location: RC MI

Yes, that avatar is ok by me!