f13.net

Several such fliers were also plastered around the Sony Metreon in San Francisco right around the time of the PSP launch. The fliers are a classic example of a "teaser" campaign, where a cryptic billboard or flyer stirs interest in a product or service--in this case, ourcolony.net.

Another similarity between ourcolony.net and ilovebees.com is the prominent countdown clock on its home page. The countdown will ends at 8pm PDT on Thursday, May 12, nearly four days to the hour before Microsoft's pre-E3 presentation on the evening of May 16. What will happen on May 12 remains unclear. But, during his keynote at GDC last month, Chief XNA Architect and Corporate Vice President J Allard confirmed Microsoft would use the May 16 presentation to unveil its next-generation Xbox. Unconfirmed reports also say Allard sported a t-shirt with an ant logo on it while at GDC, though no such logo was visible during his keynote address.

That said, there does appear to be more than one direct connection between ourcolony.net and Microsoft. First, one of the distorted images on the ourcolony.net home page features an Xbox power button. When compared to a current-generation Xbox's power button, the pattern is unmistakable, although it is now set against a shiny white background.

But whereas Ilovebees.com was a narrative-driven mystery, ourcolony.net appears to be a competition. After successfully guessing the password to enter the site (Hint: it rhymes with "hay") a message from someone called the "Gamem8ker" asks visitors to form a "colony" or team. "It's colony against colony and to the winner, well, the winner gets all," reads a message from the Gamem8ker.

How does one win? Do the still-unnamed viral-marketing firm's legwork and spread the word about ourcolony.net. After starting a colony, players of the not-an-alternate reality who recruit five to the colony game will get their first "challenge," and will receive more challenges as they recruit more members to join the ad campaign/game. "You're not going to make it to the end if you try to solo this, there's strength in numbers," reads Gamem8ker's message.

The second connection to Microsoft has to do with the rewards doled out to colonies that win challenges. According to posts in the ourcolony.net forums, challenge-winners receive partial pictures of what looks like a white version of a redesigned Xbox controller. Currently, only two images are currently available--both in a folder marked "thesecret" on the site's directory. The first looks like a thumbstick above a D-pad. The second shows the D-pad in more detail, just above a curved edge in what appears to be the middle of a controller. When combined and compared to a current-generation S-controller, the images exhibit a distinctly Xbox-ian layout and feel, although the start and back buttons appear to be missing. As the ourcolony.net competition progresses, it is almost certain that a more pictures of the controller--and perhaps its console--will surface.

The ourcolony.net-Microsoft connection is also circumstantially backed up by the fact most colonies already involved in the game are linked to the Xbox in some way, either in the form of Xbox Live clans or Xbox fan sites.

While obvious, the connection between ourcolony.net and Microsoft is not official--and likely won't be before E3. When presented with the images from ourcolony.net and the sites similarities with ilovebees.com, a Microsoft spokesperson would only give the following statement: "We’re aware of the fact that ourcolony.net has captured the imagination thousands of gamers across the world, and that these gamers have taken control of the site and are making it their own."

Challenge
LAST " " 0761537082

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Did you try anything from the last quote on the back cover of the book?

The back cover is available on Amazon for viewing and the last quote on it is by Dawn C. Chmielewski from the San Jose Mercury News.

Edit: I tried a combination of a lot of shit from the last quotes on the Amazon "Look inside this book" shit. Unfortunately, it skips from page 6 to the index. Looks like we might have to find the book as the back cover revealed nothing.

Analog nub.

Edit: I can not access the web site. So uhhhh. Yea.

Edit: Ok, so I got in. We just have to wait for the next challenge I think. That link is just telling us to "imagine a chrome plated analog nub." Or something equally stupid. Either way, not a challenge  :cry:

Think you're better than the rest of these "n00bs" playing the game and want your shot at running it? this is your chance to show me you're better than them. If your challenge is good enough, I'll use it and make sure everybody knows you're a step ahead of them and the game.

There's only a few rules to remember when you're making up your challenge

keep it clean
don't break the law
don't hurt anyone
someone's gotta be able to solve it
There's no guarantee I'll use whatever it is you come up with, but if i do use it the reward will be sweet.

Make your own challenge and tell me what it is. or build your own and gimme the URL.

Our Symbol (http://www.ourcolony.net/downloads/symbol.zip)

Rules
Welcome to the colony. I'm glad you're here. Maybe you've been playing the game for a while now or maybe you've just begun. Since you've made it here I can give you a few hints on how the colony works.

Grow your colony and work together
Answer right and answer first
This is global, get people around the world in your colony
Make it your game
Show our symbol and share
Keep what I've said in mind as you play and soon enough, you'll be leading Colony.

Hm.  Is there a "log in" button somewhere that I missed?  Or do I just keep re-registering?

Colony leader board
Rank Score Name
1 120 f13.net
2 6934 TeamXbox
3 4055 yay
3 4713 ARGolonists
4 3846 lljk
5 2734 TeamXbox
6 2536 XBW
7 1930 Aglami
8 1800 GAF Horde

Your memory is lost, your aura is high, your life within
an inch, you have one weapon left to finish off the enemy
what is it? If you read closely you should know the answer

Up for anything as she marches to the beat of 11 drummers. No that's superficial.

Now it is blank.

ready for more secrets?

if you aim to find the truth, you will uncover a real caty in our midst

ready for more secrets?


if you aim to find the truth, you will uncover tom canty instead of edward

(to err is human, without the colony, you would have been misled by the error)

It is "The End" when Alpha, Delta and Omega are destroyed.

Over on the Team Xbox forums, “McNasty04” has made a startling discovery:

“After reading the description of the supposed design of the next xbox. I noticed something when I went to look at something on xbox.com. Something about the design of the site caught my eye. In the article the person talks about how it will be able to stand on its side and is concave in the middle aka “sucking in its cheeks”. Could the xbox 360 design have been in front of our faces this whole time? I am just merely brining this up because I found it interesting and thought it might interest a few of you.”

(http://www.ourcolony.net/images/gamem8ker/112798.jpg)

Is it music?

Binary maybe? || = 1, |  | = 0 ?

That video streamed amazingly well.

Also, looks like the system is backwards compatible. Well, at least seemingly so from some of the screenshots on the monitors.

I have a feeling that if they can't do it through software, they'll do it through hardware.

The PS2 has the Emotion Engine.  Which is actually just its CPU and API.

Oh and Xbox 360 will be backwards compatible via emulation.

It will be a good trick to take stuff burned to a disc in IA-32 and make it usable on a Power-PC architecture and not take too much of a performance hit.  Sure, it's just a VM and that stuff is done all the time, but there is a reason it's hardly ever a good idea to do it with any kind of recent game.

I wouldn't hold my breath.

Next Xbox 'backward compatible'? Microsoft still hasn't said (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/224103_xboxback13.html)
Friday, May 13, 2005
By TODD BISHOP
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Even as Microsoft took the wraps off its new Xbox 360 video-game console last night, the company left a major question unanswered: Will the new Xbox play games made for the old?

The issue, known as backward compatibility, is a key one for game developers and console owners hoping to bring their existing libraries of games along with them to the next generation. One of the reasons commonly credited for the success of Sony's dominant PlayStation 2 is its ability to play games that were originally made for its predecessor.

But as recently as last week, a Microsoft executive said the Redmond company hadn't yet determined whether the new Xbox 360, set for release this year, would be backward compatible.

"We don't know yet, as scary as that is," said Peter Moore, an Xbox corporate vice president. He cited "a host of technical issues" for the uncertainty, without being more specific.

There are fundamental technical differences between the first Xbox and the Xbox 360 in such areas as the central processing unit and the graphics processing unit. In both cases, Microsoft switched to different suppliers in the new console -- IBM for the central processing unit and ATI for the graphics chip.

"We completely changed the processor and the GPU," explained Chris Satchell, general manager of Microsoft's XNA game development platform. "You can imagine that can cause some challenges."

Although Microsoft didn't make any announcement yesterday on the subject, Moore said it should know the answer to the backward-compatibility question by Monday, the day of its briefing at the E3 game conference.

Microsoft plans to continue making the current Xbox even after releasing the new one. But in a research note this week, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter predicted that a lack of backward compatibility would "dramatically reduce demand for current-generation Xbox games" and cause sales of the original Xbox console to "rapidly decline."

Pachter wrote that the situation may come down to whether Microsoft is able to license patented technology from one of the processor vendors for the original Xbox, letting it use that technology to enable backward compatibility in the Xbox 360.

It's not clear how much a lack of backward compatibility would affect Xbox 360 sales. In reality, most people end up preferring games specifically made for a new console even if they're able to play games on it that were made for the earlier hardware, said Michael Goodman, senior analyst with the Yankee Group research and consulting firm.

But it's the type of issue that could help Sony and Nintendo in the public-relations battle over the next-generation consoles, particularly if their upcoming machines are backward compatible.

"If you have the capability, and your competitor doesn't, you hype it," Goodman said. "If it pops popcorn and your competitor's doesn't, then you hype that fact."

If they don't know by now, there is very little chance it will be backwards compatible.

I'm guessing the problem lies in emulating the nVidia chip specifics of the Xbox.

Xbox 360 picks up Final Fantasy XI, will be backwards compatible (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05/16/news_6124746.html)
[...]
Along with a firm release date and price point, the other big question surrounding the 360 was backward compatibility. However, Microsoft would only say that the console will be "backward-compatible with top-selling Xbox games." This ambiguous wording could mean that Microsoft will select which titles will run on the next-gen console. However, it could also simply mean that Microsoft is merely being prudent in case some original Xbox titles don't work on the 360, as was the case with some older PlayStation 1 games and the PlayStation 2.
[...]

It looks like the Xbox 360 will be backwards compatible, kind of, maybe, sort of: