Let the Viral Fun Begin...

[KEEZY]

Master Chief's Non-Authorized Activity
Halo 3 viral campaign kicks into high gear.

March 27, 2007 - A seemingly innocent update on bungie.net brought back memories of Halo 2's ilovebees viral campaign. Info on the M12 Warthog was sandwiched around a 3D imagining of the vehicle. Opening the quicktime, which offers a 360 degree view of the Warthog, reveals a cryptic message.

If you slowly rotate the Warthog to the left, flashes of the following message appear:
"x.xx.713>ghost.713/non-auth/activity ongoing"

Get your thinking caps on Halo-heads. This appears to be a command prompt, with partially-hidden ISP. What's the significance of 713? Could it mean that something is happening July 13, the last day of E3? Perhaps a new trailer is coming or maybe Master Chief is going to visit the IGN offices that day. Mail us your theories!

The Bungie update did come with some substance. The M12 profile puts an emphasis on the Warthog's ability to make quick and accurate turns if the driver uses the hand brake. It's also noted that because the Warthog instantly powers down when the driver exits the vehicle, that a Spartan could leap out of the vehicle and use the forward momentum to gain speed on foot.

Don't get too comfortable with the idea of driving just the M12 Warthog exclusively. As the carefully-crafted profile explains, the M12 is just one of several Warthog variants. There is also the transport-ready M831 TT, the tread-bearing M864 A and the M914 RV equipped with towing wench. There's no guarantee that these Warthog variants will show up in Halo 3. In fact, they could be planned for the upcoming real-time strategy game, Halo Wars.

Bungie's latest post is proof that in life nothing is certain except death, taxes and cryptic Halo marketing.

Source codez

x.xx.713>ghost.713/non-auth/activity ongoing ,eh?

713 is the area code for Houston. Also, isn't that where the new H2 maps are being made?

Anywho, x.xx.713 is a strange address (if that is what it is). IP addresses have 4 parts, not 3.

It starts...

[Wondermonkey]

713 is also old school beeper code for "Can you pick up tacos?"

It's possible maybe in Halo 3 Master Chief will have a beeper...

and a Member's Only jacket.

Bitchin!

[Peench]

Is the handbrake the X button? I still think that should be the "blow up keezy button." But I'll leave those theories for the proper thread.

Interesting. I'm thinking that a Starcraft Ghost will show up in the Halo Universe. Think about it, the Starcraft game that was mostly finished 2 (or 3) E3's ago (and looked pretty cool then) has never surfaced. Perhaps the Starcraft Ghost has been working hard on hacking into the Halo universe. Perhaps their unauthorized access is on the surface of breaking through.

[TheRedBaron]

thats some pretty cool stuff, dude

[Jon Liu]

Starcraft Ghost has been scrapped, permanently.

[KEEZY]

Hey... didn't they release another one of those 3D pictures? Did it have secret hidden messages?

[Quo]

the M12 is just one of several Warthog variants. There is also the transport-ready M831 TT, the tread-bearing M864 A and the M914 RV equipped with towing wench.

I need more info on this towing wench. She's obviously very strong. Perhaps she's from the Spartan II program. Is she naked? And why does she tow only the M914 RV? Is this some girly car, like a VW Cabriolet?

[grife]

you beat me to it, I could use me a towing wench preferably large but still attractive, that way you get both the towing ability and something to look at all the while.