unforum

[SC Tr0jan]

Hey, guys. Just got home from the Jones Beach event and figured people might like to know the basics of what transpired. It was pretty cool. Got there around 4. Met up with some other dudes who got there as early as me and my friends did. We walked to the coordinates (at least to where we were lined up with them on thebeach). We met up with some other guys, not sure if it was nyone on these boards. ONe of them had a video camera so that video is probably up somewhere.
By the time sunrise rolled around there was a huge crowd. THere were pockets of a few dozen people scattered all alone the beach for at least half a mile. Id say AT LEAST 50-60 people were at the event. Right around 6 as the sun started creeping over the horizon we found the spot where things were going down. All around a lifeguard stand thing there were green bottles half buried in the sand.
Upon closer examination they were plastic bottles of Arcadia Merlot. They had a label that had rapture on it, said it was bottled in 1958 and that it was a product of rapture. Inside the bottle, which was complete with a cork and wrap surrounding the cork, were 3 posters wrapped up tightly. One says Welcome to Rapture and stuff and the other two are Plasmid related hyping up the various ways to make things easier and your life better in Rapture. The people there for the promotion were pretty strict about taking more than one, so i don't know how many extras are around out there. They are really cool and seeing them all buried in the sand was pretty sick. Not the best swag in the history of ARGs but a nice addition to any collection for sure.
All in all it was a good time. Nothing huge and really no furthering of the story. It was a lot of fun hanging out with everybody for a few hours watching a beautiful sunrise. The bottles were really cool. If no one else does I'll post some pictures of them later (after a nap). And one of my friends who I dragged along might not want his so I'll keep you guys who couldn't make it updated on that front.
Also, as far as i know, despite his messages, Mark was a no show at the event, haha. Unless something happened after we left, the entirety of today's event was just finding the bottles in the sand.
Anyone else have any questions just lemme know.

[krystyn]

At the beach now. Someone just gave me popcorn! Awww.

Waiting...

Eta: there's like 100 people here

[2K Elizabeth]

I've been following your thread covertly for months now, but since I met a couple of you at Jones Beach this morning I wanted to register and thank you guys -- not only for coming out today and making my morning amazing, but to everyone on the forum. This is one of my favorite places to come and read (and not just about my own work) and I think you guys are fantastic.

Thank you for your support.

[FSURobbie]

[jubeus bacca]

Didn't get a bottle T_T

[FSURobbie]

We should check out those posters to see if there's any hidden messages. I figure there has to be something, unless the whole point of finding the bottles was so Mark (whom I'm assuming found one as well) would realize that Rapture exists.

That's the only scenario I can think of for having these bottles and there NOT being a hidden message of some sort in them somehow. Otherwise, how do they advance the story? Unless it was just a sweet swag give away from the PM's...

[Skelton]

[krystyn]

Echoing the Terms of Service sentiment, only because I'd be remiss if I didn't.

So I got to Santa Monica before the appointed time, and waited on the beach with at least 80 other people. This number grew to about 150 or maybe a bit more by the time the joggers came by and told us that the bottles were actually all the way up by the Pier!

People took off running, but I was still half asleep and feeling a sense of dread, so I walked at a steady pace, and when I got there, people were already walking back with bottles in their hands.

I did not get one. It was pretty disappointing, but knowing now that the material in the bottles doesn't seem to lead to anything else, I am finding ways to get over it. Sort of. I really <3 Bioshock, man. Two guys I chatted with let me take a pic of their bottles, so that was nice. Everyone there was really nice, btw.

It was nice to watch the sunrise over the beach houses, and to see the Pacific such a silvery color, and to dig my bare toes into the sand and actually feel the water rush over my feet, but I guess I could have done that any day.

Meh. Oh well. I also did a lot of walking, because I was taking the coordinate seriously and working from that point to the beach. I parked at Ashland and Nielson, cut through the walkways down to the beach, then there was the mad rush where I walked all the way to the Pier, took the steps up, sat on a bench and watched everyone else go back to their cars with their sweet, sweet bottles, and then walked back along the beach to the car before 8AM hit, so that I wouldn't get towed.

Those joggers were nice, though. They came right up to me and asked me if we were waiting for something, looking for bottles, and I said yes, and they pointed, and that's when everyone began running. One of them asked me, "Am I awesome, or what?" I laughed and said, "Totally," she chuckled as I watched everyone take off northwards.

Sigh.

Maybe I'll go back to bed and hope I get a do-over on today. I am so bummed!

ETA, so I don't double post: I will say that I was actually pretty disappointed that there was this big thing about "Mark" and other contacts/colleagues of his being at these locations, and that this was pretty much just a tidy piece of fiction that never materialized. That was disappointing, too. You have this bad-ass environmentally poignant location of a beach at dawn, when ANYTHING could happen, and it turns out to just be us, a bunch of videogame fans, lookin' for stuff. Bleh!

[Kero Trigger]

Going with the above, I was also at the Jones Beach event. There was a lot of disorganized groups of people, and being bored, we started walking down the beach. Eventually we hit the lifeguard post a little after 6AM, and managed to snag one of the last few bottles for ourselves. We hung out for almost 40 minutes to see what else would happen, but when the 2K people had left we decided it was really over.

There was a girl who had stumbled upon 4 stones that had cryptogram symbols on them with chalk that was pretty nifty, but from what I read on the 2K forums it looks like those were a hoax. There was also another guy yelling about finding numbers in his bottle, but no one else had any idea what he was talking about. Seeing as he ran away shortly after I'm guessing he was lying as well, but only time will tell.

[jubeus bacca]

[krystyn]

Maybe if I Groundhog Day it, I can skip the part where I had to drive all the way from Glendale - although, I have to say, the traffic was pretty freaking sweet that early in the morning!

[Will 2.0]

I got back a while ago from Jones Beach but I passed out for 4 hours.

The bottles include 3 posters.
I can only get a couple of pictures up because the internet is horrible here and keeps disconnecting on me. Pictures are up at Kotaku if you want to see them there too.

The experience was epic.
When I arrived at 4:30 in the morning at the parking lot we were supposed to meet at, the parking lot was blocked off and we were the only car. Then others showed up and I guess it didn't seem like illegal parking anymore.

After everyone got out and started talking to each other, security came and opened up the parking lot and everyone parked in many different directions in the lot. Then everyone got out and started running towards the beach and we got there around 5:20 AM so nothing was happening yet.

All of us were trying to figure out where exactly we need to go so we can do...well we weren't sure of that either so we just walked along the shore of the beach. Farther down I noticed a lot of people gathering so I ran towards it and there's a boat on the shore next to a lifeguard tower with bottles buried all around it. Luckily my two friends and myself got to snag one.

Great experience.

[MickeyG42]

[motorman]

The bottles include 3 posters.
I can only get a couple of pictures up because the internet is horrible here and keeps disconnecting on me. Pictures are up at Kotaku if you want to see them there too.

Thanks the best pictures i've seen so far. Unfortunetly I couldn't make it myself looks like I missed out on some posters and a bottle of arcadia.

[krystyn]

*is SoCal newb*

*looks up Lancaster*

Holy crap, yeah. I think your sleep-in was well-warranted!