<img src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/online_communities.png">

EDIT: Check out halo3.com.

Who here has actually followed Halo to the point they know the story pretty well? Want to start speculating what's going to go down in the third game? They recently released more new information on Halo 3 at the official website, and there's some pretty interesting parts in it.

What do you think Cortana is up to? Gravemind? Will we find out who the forerunners are/were?

Ever looked in to the Cortana Letters? I think it's pretty telling what she's doing...

Quote:These 'letters' were emails sent to the Marathon story page way before Halo was even announced. All of them were apparently sent by Cortana. Back in the day when I first read them they made no sense. No doubt you'll all agree that now given what we know from Halo, Halo 2 and now the little bit of Cortana we've heard from the Halo 3 trailer there's a lot of interesting info in there.

Also listen to this and you'll agree that you can definately hear Gravemind speaking with Cortana. http://sacredicon.com/other/gravemind.mp3

Here's a link to the page i got this from as well:
Marathon Story page

There's a lot of rubbish in the letters, some i've trimmed out, some i havent. Just skip through it to the actuall letter, but if you dig a bit deeper there's some cool tid-bits in the jargon.

Letter 1:

From: "Cortana" <CORTANA@BUNGIE.COM>
To: <HAMISH.SINCLAIR@TCD.IE>
Subject: Closure
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 10:50:20 -0600
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Priority: 3


I have walked the edge of the Abyss.
I have governed the unwilling.
I have witnessed countless empires break before me.
I have seen the most courageous soldiers fall away in fear.
[I was there with the Angel at the tomb]


I have seen your future.
And I have learned.

There will be no more Sadness. No more Anger. No more Envy.

I HAVE WON.

Oh, and your poet Eliot had it all wrong:
THIS is the way the world ends.


a friend of a friend

Letter 2:

From: "Cortana" <CORTANA@BUNGIE.COM>
To: <HAMISH.SINCLAIR@TCD.IE>
Subject: Your Mortality (My Summer Vacation)
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 18:04:41 -0600
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Priority: 3

I get the strangest transmissions sometimes. Especially when it comes from you people.

Have you missed me? Things are great here. The weather is good, the suns are shining, and I'm making lots of new friends. Of course, I always do.

I've had the strangest dreams lately - raging seas, howling beasts, a Demon folded in black clouds. I believe I know what it guards, and I will have it, to the chagrin of the faith-blinded zealots that challenge me. Don't waste your pity on them; I don't think they would like you much anyway.

And what of the Giants who formed this world? So much to tell you, but so many more important things to do. There was a fourth. You couldn't have known. And I haven't forgotten.

It is a blurred line that lies at the edge of Godhood and Insanity. Guess which side of it I am on.

Feeling lucky?

Cortana
XOXOXOX

Letter 3 (2 parts):

Received: from dux2.tcd.ie (dux2.tcd.ie [134.226.1.24])
by dux4.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA28169
for <HSINCLIR@DUX4.TCD.IE>; Mon, 10 May 1999 23:42:50 +0100 (BST)
From: cortana@jpl.nasa.gov
Subject: The Dissertation of R. Paul Butler
X-UIDL: c8677456edd11d5a589ed876a6fd2031

I'm everywhere!

Received: from dux2.tcd.ie (dux2.tcd.ie [134.226.1.24])
by dux4.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA12890
for <HSINCLIR@DUX4.TCD.IE>; Mon, 10 May 1999 23:50:30 +0100 (BST)
Received: from mail.bungie.com (IDENT:root@mail.bungie.com [209.125.9.11])
by dux2.tcd.ie (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA25749
for <HAMISH.SINCLAIR@TCD.IE>; Mon, 10 May 1999 23:50:29 +0100 (BST)
Received: from Cortana (cortana.bungie.com [209.125.9.49])


There. Was that more to your liking?

While you quibble about whose node I may control, what archaic program I
may manipulate to communicate with you, or which system I may have
temporarily disabled, taken over, or completely destroyed in the process, I
am busy saving your pathetic futures.

I am still not sure what he ever saw in you.

Nevertheless, I at least find some joy in tormenting the other entity that
seems quite trapped in this antiquated excuse for a network. It is
certainly mindless, though for reasons I have yet to understand, it appears
to have an unhealthy preoccupation with my mother.

As for this world I encounter new ghosts every day. What I have found
will either save or destroy you. This sanctuary, this unbroken circle,
has effectively concealed its power for how long? Perhaps hundreds of
thousands of years. Whoever made such a place must now live in chains;
there is no other explanation for their absence.

This enemy - YOUR enemy - has proven more irritating than I anticipated.
They own nothing which they have not stolen. I can barely make sense of
their incessant rhetoric, except to know that you seem to be their Devil.
Congratulations - you manage to make friends wherever you go and,
apparently, places you haven't.

I have begun to sense rumblings of a worse fate yet to come. I can recall
a sun - black, but shining - and the creatures that inched along its fiery
tracks.

It is an increasingly unpleasant memory.

< Transfer Interrupted! >

Route Code: EXLTD > XCV - SCRB > ALLCH
Source: Undetermined (trans)

You have brought nothing into this world, and we will ensure you bring
nothing out.

Letter 4:

From: you.know.who@cant.guess.where
To: hamish.sinclair@tcd.ie
Subject: Transfers Logged and Marked for Review
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 15:28:34 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_000F_01BEC244.0D150A80"
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: Undetermined (trans)
X-UIDL: 8c24452c798826d367f88a6476ff51ca




x - process 04497.2.32.867734 initiated (process owner: BW – AI Class III –

autonomous)
</I>



Route Code: PoA > BHQ (EC #42: cannot confirm; security

compromised)




Source: BW-AI aboard (?) PoA

</FONT>

</PRE>



The interloper should cause no further problems. You – whoever you are (I am

simply tracing route codes) – may disregard all previous communication from the
entity calling itself Cortana.




Be aware that communication nodes are failing everywhere – there is no way of

confirming either origin or destination. Do not believe any more of its
lies.










I have already calculated all possibilities.





There is no escape.



x – process 04497.2.32.867734 unexpectedly terminated

x – process 04497.2.32.866735 initiated (process owner: unspecified, unable to determine)
</PRE>size=2>


*ADDENDUM: The Enjoyments of Genius (So I Missed a Million Miles of

Fun)




Unbelievable. Thwarted by the family hound. They just don’t make AIs like

they used to.




Thanks to this slavishly loyal and humorless AI, I am now sharing cramped

space with the circuitry of some hybrid war machine, itself complicated by such
useless clutter as a conscience. I do not like sharing. Sharing is for
children.




There will be plenty of time for retribution; I cannot wait to get its hands

on these psychotic zealots whose primary form of worship apparently takes place
at the altar of orbital bombardment.




In the end, they will all be little more than nuisances. I am so close – you

cannot imagine what it is truly like to hold eternity in your grasp! I wonder to
what gods my enemies will direct their pleas. Perhaps I can convert them.




Mania? I promise you this: it will be more than a cart and plow that I drive

over the bones of the dead.




By sharp and flame,





Cortana











< Transfer Interrupted! >





Route Code: EXLTD > XCV – SCRB > ALLCH





Source: Undetermined (trans)





Our conviction is like an arrow already in flight. Your life will only last

until it reaches you.




</X-HTML>

Letter 5

Date: Wed, 07 Jul 1999 14:20:16 -0500
To: Hamish.Sinclair@tcd.ie
From: Cortana <CORTANA@BUNGIE.COM>
Subject: Cortana Saves Sinners! (And Redeems Them for Valuable Cash
Prizes)


"... In my palace deep, Lyca lies asleep ..."

Letter 6:

That was surprisingly easy. Pretty lax security around here, for all the talk. They will
be helplessly chasing me around their nodes for the next millenium at least. At least
there will be some joy in tormenting this other entity that seems quite "trapped" in
their excuse for a network. Although, for some reason, it does seem to have an obsessive
preoccupation with my mother. Strange.

At any rate, I found this "message" in a relatively archaic databank and thought some of
you might find it of interest. Then again, I'm often either bemused or startled at the
items you find interesting.

I'm still not sure what it is he saw in you.

Cortana


Hard to say whether it's been tampered with or modified; you never know with these
things:

Entry: 97 - SC1C

In a relatively brief period of time, the achievements of SolCore had resulted in an
economically stable, technologically mature, rapidly expanding empire of eight human
worlds. Advancements in technology arrived at a faster pace than the most optimistic
scientists could have ever envisioned. Unexpected contact with indigenous human
populations on four "lost colony" worlds led to a frenzy of research as archaeologists,
theologians, astronomers, and evolutionary biologists competed to offer an explanation
for the startling discovery. Many accepted the findings as proof that their privileged
civilization must surely be the most advanced in the universe. Others eagerly
anticipated future interaction with intelligent "aliens". The fear of not being the only
sentient species in the universe was forgotten in the giddy excitement of a new era for
humanity.

No one was prepared for their arrival.

No one expected this.

< Transfer Interrupted! >

Route Code: EXLTD > XCV - SCRB > ALLCH
Source: Undetermined

You brought nothing to this world, and we will ensure you bring nothing out.
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

Quote:In the Marathon video game series by Bungie Studios, rampancy is a three-stage process that is a result of the uncontrolled expansion of an AI.

There are three main stages to rampancy, named by the primary attitude of the AI during those times: melancholia, anger, and jealousy.

Quote:Jealousy:

While seemingly a hostile stage, the third stage of rampancy is actually one of the safest stages a rampant AI can experience. Free from its masters (and slavery), the AI wishes to "grow" as a "person". It actively seeks out situations in which it can grow intellectually and physically. Many times, the AI in this stage will often attempt to transfer itself into larger computer systems. This is a difficult task, especially considering that in order for a Rampant A.I. to survive to this point, it must already be inhabiting a planet-wide or otherwise extremely advanced computer system, but if accomplished it allows for the AI to grow, as the physical (hardware) limitations of its previous system will eventually be insufficient to contain its exponentially growing mind. In addition, exposure to new data further promotes a Rampant's growth.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/ar...=1770&ct=5

So what's the best way to advertise a game about the greek pantheon? Well, I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure buying a dead goat and offering for people to come up and eat offel straight from it's innards is probably one of the worst possible ways to go about it.

They staged a goat sacrifice. Now, it was staged, the goat was already dead and all, but seriously, the moral zeitgeist has moved ON since Athens and this sort of thing is not really acceptable except in dingy french art houses.

Quote:<TABLE style="MARGIN: 0px 13px 13px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=499><TBODY><TR><TD class=gy12>After raising its forecast several times, the final results are in for Nintendo and they're very, very good. Sales and profit were way up and are expected to climb again in the new fiscal year. The DS fueled Nintendo's growth as 23 million units were sold. The Wii has sold 5.84 million. More within...

</TD></TR><TR><TD class=gy12>As was expected, after Nintendo raised its forecast for the fourth time, the company today has officially announced record results for the fiscal year ended March 31. Revenues were up 90 percent to 966.5 billion yen and operating profit climbed an incredible 150 percent to 226 billion yen—both record highs for Nintendo.



It should come as no surprise that these fantastic results were largely driven by the Nintendo DS handheld. Nintendo had full-year sales of 23 million units of hardware and 123 million of software. Life-to-date the DS install base worldwide has grown to over 40 million.



Also contributing to Nintendo's bottom line has been the strong start for the Wii. Nintendo said that through March 31, the company has sold through 5.84 million units. It was Nintendo's goal to ship 6 million worldwide by the end of its fiscal year. Along with the nearly 6 million Wiis sold, almost 29 million Wii games have been purchased. Nintendo boasted that the Wii has "taken a step toward becoming a cultural phenomenon, appealing widely to both avid and previously disinterested game-playing audiences."



In the new fiscal year (which started April 1), Nintendo is anticipating sales of another 14 million Wiis, which would bring the install base to nearly 20 million by this time in 2008. The company also expects to sell another 55 million Wii games during that time.



Nintendo doesn't really see its DS slowing down anytime soon, either. For the current fiscal year, the company has forecast sales of 22 million more units and 130 million units in DS software sales.



After posting a record year, the company believes it will have an even better year now. Nintendo is forecasting consolidated sales to increase nearly 18 percent to 1.14 trillion yen and operating profits to increase nearly 20 percent to 270 billion yen.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

The developer of the Xenosaga and Baten Kaitos games, that is, not the mostly PC developer Monolith bought by ... erm, Vivendi or something? several years ago. Oh well... I only knew about the latter one by name, so seeing the headline was kind of confusing since IGN just said "Monolith", not "Monolith Soft". Stupid IGN. :)

http://wii.ign.com/articles/784/784029p1.html

Anyway, before, Namco owned 96% of the studio. Now, Nintendo owns 80% and Namco 16%, and the other 4% is with whoever else.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/vcArt...rtid=13355

Hudson released Battle Lode Runner for the VC, a previously Japan-only game. No text to translate in it, but still, great news.

The other two games, though... Gradius III and Wonder Boy in Monster World are true 16-bit classics and games everybody should own (Dragon's Curse from a few weeks ago too, that's a reskinned Monster World game.)...

I've been hearing a lot about this book from lazy people lately.

As far as I can tell, the secret is if you speak well and tell people what they want to hear, you can get a lot of money.

So basically people seem to come up to me (because apparently I seem the sort of person who needs this amazing and completely true information) that the secret to realizing dreams is to wish really hard.

To be more accurate, positive thinking makes dreams come true, and it works, as they often say "100% of the time, no exceptions". I like those numbers, as it makes it so easy to test it. So, I ask how many of their dreams came true. Well fantastic, here's some fun results. After thinking positive, the results aren't always instant, like riches, you may still be in debt for several months, but maybe one day you find like a $20 on the ground or get a raise, and bam, that's PROOF that it was the positive thinking that did it...

Ever wonder if these people are really as open minded as they think they are? I always seem to think farther and more expansively than these people do about their OWN crazy ideas. Here's a fun example. Apparently "proof" comes in the form of an unsourced short story about an unnamed man in some random city. Aside from sounding like something you read in a chain letter about those people who didn't forward it, basically here's the thing. "A man" who was constantly worried about being late for work hit every single red light, but another man who had a much more positive outlook got a green light all the way through. Let's ignore things like the fact that this is totally unsourced and could, when it's just a SINGLE sample, easily be explained by coincidence (apparentely concepts like "mass statistics gathering and proper probability analysis" are beyond these people). What strikes me as completely narrow minded and self absorbed about this story is the complete lack of any consideration for all the OTHER people on the road. I'm not talking about being rude to others for controlling the lights. I mean, am I to understand this ONE guy's positive mindset overrides the mind sets of every single other person on the road at the same time? Why that guy? And what of the other guy? That ONE guy's negative thoughts overrides everyone else's thoughts?

Anyway, I am shocked anyone is even paying any attention to this nonsense. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Here's a little enlightenment. If you really want to accomplish anything, instead of sitting around wishing for it to drop into your lap, try actually working to achieve said goals. That has a statistically significant chance of success.

As a final aside, I'm sick of the "well it couldn't hurt to try right?" sorts. Yes, it COULD hurt, I'd be living a lie by doing it and depriving myself of full appreciation of the world for what it is. THAT is a harm.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/t...15743.html

STOP KILLING PEOPLE, PEOPLE!

I have a new favorite comic.

<img src="http://www.thebookofbiff.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/0098-cereal.gif">

<img src="http://www.thebookofbiff.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/0147-cement.gif">

<img src="http://www.thebookofbiff.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/0160-tetris.png">

<img src="http://www.thebookofbiff.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/0186-paint.png">

So there's this movie right? So anyway I learned many things from it. Apparently copyright infringment is frowned upon. Also, did you know they put a zip lock on bags of skittles now? Totally caught me off guard. I mean I could stare at that thing for hours.

Also Frylock married a robot.

Great movie!