Easily one of my top ten games gets a totally awesome E3 trailer. Judging by the video, I like where they’re going, with the run down, partially destroyed areas overgrown with plants…looks sweet.
Also interesting that Gabe Newell announced this at Sony’s event, saying the PS3 will have the best version.
Normally it’s not a big deal when someone updates a game and adds a single new achievement (Transmission Received), but it’s Valve and Portal might be one of my favorite games of all time. I also love a crazy video game mystery, which it turns out this update is. Along with the achievement Valve also added in a bunch of radios through out the game, probably in reference to the achievement, with Morse code and what sounds like a bunch of random noise. Not that interesting, but then people decoded the Morse code (the sound files are all called Dinosaur 1, 2, etc. so that’s what they are referencing):
1-Dinosaur 1
INTERIOR TRANSMISSION ACTIVE
EXTERNAL DATA LINE ACTIVE (Presumably the telnet number)
MESSAGE DIGEST ACTIVE
2-Dinosaur 5
9-E-J-0-7-D-3-7-2-B-B-6-8-2-6-B-D-8-1-D-3-5-4-2-A-4-1-9-D-6
(Which sanitysama says is “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”)
3-Dinosaur 12
SYSTEM DATA DUMP ACTIVE
USER BACKUP ACTIVE
PASSWORD BACKUP ACTIVE
4-Dinosaur 17
B-E-E-P
B-E-E-E-E-P
B-E-E-P
B-E-E-P
B-E-E-E-E-P
B-E-E-E-E-P
B-E-E-E-E-P
B-E-E-P
B-E-E-E-E-P
B-E-E-P
B-E-E-P
And if you turn all those Beeps into individual morse code it spells LOL.
- The other 22 are all images after decoding with SSTV software. Click for a Steam Forums thread with all of them.
- Some of the images clue letters/numbers; each has a number out of 32 in the bottom right of it. Putting these together leads to an md5 hash of a BBS number. Figuring out the login is what we’re currently stuck on.
Getting interesting, but not amazing. It started to get really good when another poster decided to run the stuff that sounded like random noise (not the Morse code) through a program called SSTV (I don’t know what that is) and got a bunch of random images.
dinosaur2 – http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/2862/dino2.png
dinosaur3 – http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/5395/dino3.png
dinosaur4 – http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/8126/dino4.png
dinosaur6 – http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/474/dino6t.png
dinosaur7 – http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/804/dino7.png
dinosaur8 – http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/4015/dino8.png
dinosaur9 – http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/1900/dino9z.png
dinosaur10 – http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/6002/dino10.png
dinosaur11 – http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/5893/dino11.png
dinosaur13 – http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/2015/dino13.png
dinosaur14 – http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/6633/dino14.png
dinosaur15 – http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/2716/dino15.png
dinosaur16 – http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/3671/dino16.png
dinosaur18 – http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/5874/dino18.png
dinosaur19 – http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/8443/dino19.png
dinosaur20 – http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/8295/dino20.png
dinosaur21 – http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6334/dino21.png
dinosaur22 – http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/6657/dino22.png
dinosaur23 – http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/4641/dino23.png
dinosaur24 – http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/1385/dino24.png
dinosaur25 – http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/4139/dino25.png
dinosaur26 – http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3913/dino26.png
So, that’s pretty awesome, Valve didn’t put in random noise it’s actually images. And someone far smarter then me figured it out. Even better, some of the images had numbers and letters on them. Combined, they formed an MD5 hash, which normally you shouldn’t be able to decode (that’s the point), but somehow someone figured it out (Googling the hash is a good start for common passwords). Turns out it’s a phone number, specifically a number to a computer running BBS that you can Telnet to. The number is (425) 822-5251 which (apparently someone looked this up, too) is located in Kirkland, Washington. Don’t call it from a standard phone, it won’t do anything, and you’ll just clog up the machine for people trying to figure out the login. No one is sure yet what the login / password is.
I more amazed that people figured all of that out in less than 24 hours.
Lucasarts, at least in recent years, has focused primarily on Star Wars and Indiana Jones games. They used to do other stuff, especially in the mid 90’s (their complete list of games is here). Perhaps attempting to branch out again, Lucasarts unveiled a new 2D platformer on GTTV today. Lucidity is part 2D platformer, part puzzle game and will be download only, available on the PC and through Xbox Live. Instead of controlling the main character, Sophie, players alter the level so that Sophie can get across it (Sophie is A.I. controlled). Looks pretty interesting, I can’t wait to see more. The game will be released on Xbox Live later this month, no word on the PC release date.
A few more shots, below.
[ Gametrailers TV ]
I haven’t done a “Now Playing” in like a year and a half, so I figured “why not randomly do one today”. Yesterday, I upgraded to a DSi and have been playing a ton of PiCTOBiTS and BOXLIFE, as well as some Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswakers on XBLA. Gamestop had a pretty good trade in deal (though I’m pretty sure it’s still a rip off) for the DS and DS Lite trade ins, $40 for the DS, and $70 for the DS Lite. Since we had two DS’es and a DS Lite laying around, the DSi upgrade was pretty much free. Sure, I could have probably get more for them on eBay, but I didn’t feel like dealing with that this week.
PiCTOBiTS and BOXLIFE are both downloaded puzzle games (DSiWare) that you would normally have to pay for, but Nintendo has a pretty cool promotion going on right now, you receive 1000 points for free, enough to buy both games (that offer ends 10/05/2009). Both are amazingly fun and addicting (PiCTOBiTS soundtrack is great), below are two game play videos…
Normally, I’m not really into puzzle games, they just aren’t my thing. Ever since Tetris and Dr. Mario I just haven’t been able to get into them. So, when I picked up Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I knew it had RPG elements, I just wasn’t sure how it would all come together. Well, it all came together awesomely. In fact, so many people liked it that a sequel is now headed our way. Puzzle Quest: Galactrix is set in the future. Instead of round pieces like in the previous game, Galactrix uses hexagonally shaped pieces which play differently then in the original. Also, gravity plays a large role in this game, affecting how pieces move.
Portal is my favorite game of 2007. So many things combined together to make the game great. I really liked how it’s a FPS where you aren’t running around killing everything in sight but instead solving puzzles. That and the amount of character they put into GLaDOS.
Well, turns out Portal 2 is on the way.
![http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3913/dino26.png](http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/3913/dino26.png""){kind=link}