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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » Old News & Rumors
[TRAILHEAD] The Darkest Puzzle
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AnonymousOtter
Veteran


Joined: 05 Feb 2011
Posts: 80
Location: UC, CA
sub_urge wrote:
anyone saw this? http://www.gieson.com/ ?

there's a "copyright" symbol at the bottom-end of the counter... i think is just the website of the counter maker or something... but it's a weird site thou

EDIT: i found the original pic: http://www.gieson.com/Library/projects/mp3/new_york_commute.html

it's a really weird site


Good catch. Sadly, I don't think it's strictly important to what the ARG's going to be about. Like you said, it looks to just be the website of the counter maker.

The Little Syria hint is our biggest lead. I believe we should work off of that first.
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 6:22 pm
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Niccolò S. Riva
Greenhorn


Joined: 04 Aug 2011
Posts: 8

 		Hi. I'm new to this forum, but not the genre, so I reckon I'll stick around to see where this leads us. This one seems to be just starting up and I'm quite intrigued by the theme.

The site has been proxy'd, and I can only assume the designer of the timer is oog. His website leads nowhere, as far as I can see.

Of the top of my head/a few google clicks:

Dark Cloud was a game released in 2001 - perhaps just coincidence, it was a Japanese RPG, and not very mainstream
Cloudmakers themselves originated in 2001, they did, in fact, start investigating 9/11 and the paper seems to echo a lot of what the fb page says, up to the part about Dark Cloud.

Apparently http://arg.igda.jp/2011/08/arg822.html has some more pictures, including a QR code to the timer website. The floppy disk definitely looks interesting.

Let's see if we can get anywhere before time zero. Is anyone close enough to Manhattan to be in Little Syria at that time?

PostPosted: Thu Aug 04, 2011 8:17 pm
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d3333n
Boot

Joined: 18 Jul 2010
Posts: 17
Location: The Netherlands

I found something on Jackie Chan Nosebleed.
http://jackiechan.wikia.com/wiki/Nosebleed

And Dreamtheater
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Scenes_from_New_York

VIA PIA:
http://adland.tv/ooh/1979-pia-new-york-16-h-30-wtc-twin-towers-plane-crashing-press-ad


Interesting!

PostPosted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 11:13 am
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enaxor
I Have No Life

Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Posts: 2395

 		Great finds D33333n. I think this is what the last side of the QR code was referring to. Third paragraph under history.

Coup Massive Party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Coup
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 12:32 pm
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thebruce
Dances With Wikis


Joined: 16 Aug 2004
Posts: 6899
Location: Kitchener, Ontario
Niccolò S. Riva wrote:
Apparently http://arg.igda.jp/2011/08/arg822.html has some more pictures, including a QR code to the timer website. The floppy disk definitely looks interesting.


iiinteresting... so that japanese site received a rabbithole... for reference here's the Google translate of their article (very rough Laughing )

Quote:
Information Bureau in your mailbox ARG, received a single mail with attached image dubious. Written e-mail link http://www.thedarkestpuzzle.com/ in, "THE DARKEST PUZZLE" along with characters, and quietly carved when the countdown clock. Let us introduce the contents of the mail.

September 11 terrorist attacks occurred in New York, ARG players gathered in their online forum called the cloud maker. I was issued a proposal that would not form a team player in order to identify the perpetrators of terrorism, the members rejected the proposed center as soon as - "This is not no game (This Is Not A Game)". However, after "The Darkest Puzzle" tries to solve this problem come to be known at this time "Dark Cloud" is a claim to a small number of players has risen. Past decades, all members of the disappeared Dark Cloud. Find them, I want to lend force to solve the mystery of this dark.

Along with this article, was also attached the following image.





Proceed left and the end date is August 22 this countdown. Really, what kind of experience is waiting for? The best personal interest, like with this invitation, I is that whether this volume can be localized in Japanese .... Check it out! Article yuan
(+a few known links)

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PostPosted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 12:48 pm
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Niccolò S. Riva
Greenhorn


Joined: 04 Aug 2011
Posts: 8

 		I feel it's time for some good, old-fashioned, conspiracy story-telling:

The weird coincidences of the two album covers and the Jackie Chan movie are nothing new, there are a few other creepily 'prescient' pieces of pop culture, that allegedly anticipated the 9/11 attacks. You can read all about that on various blogs and amateur websites: http://septterror.tripod.com/coincidence.html

The superficial relevance for us is obvious, but perhaps not very significant. From the introductory text on fb, we are dealing with some sort of conspiracy, powerful enough to make a group of 'investigators' disappear even 10 years after the event. Let us assume that the 4 phrases around the QR are not just interesting peripherals, but actively contribute to the conspiracy being unravelled - so on to find a connection between the 4:


Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Dreamtheater released 'Live Scenes from New York' with Elektra Entertainment, who are today a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. Before 2004, however, they were sister company to Warner Bros. Records and therefory subsidiary of AOL Time Warner.

The Coup's 'Party Music' was released on 75 Ark records, distributed by Tommy Boy Entertainment. Warner Bros. Records were, in 2001, central distributors of Tommy Boy Entertainment, so essentially AOL Time Warner was also responsible for this release.

'Nosebleed' with Jackie Chan was initially bought by New Line Cinema, who came up with the concept of the movie. New Line Cinema is also owned by Time Warner.

The merger between AOL and Time Warner occured January 2001. Time Warner were significant contributors to George W. Bush's first re-election campaign.

Now, in 2001, Time Warner was lead by overt supporter of jewish causes Gerald Levin, who was succeeded by his own recruit Richard Parsons in December 2001. Parsons has deeply rooted connections to the Rockefeller family, having serving on the staff of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and President Gerald Ford. He later went on to join Time Warner, on a recommendation of Nelson Rockefeller's brother Laurence. Parsons also has connections to George W. Bush and currently sits with David Rockefeller on the board of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.

The rest neatly fits into the prevailing conspiracy theory that the Government and Big Oil somehow staged the attacks as an excuse for a war on terror. Money, oil, politics, power, etc. Perhaps a large (liberal) media outlet fit into their plan, and the anticipatory signs in pop media were simply another scare tactic. Or perhaps the good media guys were trying to use their influence to warn the public?

---

Now, I don't believe in conspiracy theories, particularly not this one I made up on the spot, but I assume finding out what Dark Cloud found out will be a part of our hunt. Still, in my mind, this was the most obvious connection between the hints. Perhaps these initial clues are irrelevant in later stages, and my ambition to formulate this little story was mostly a result of my own boredom, but who knows?

For the sake of correctness I'll point out: 'Nosebleed' was actually bought by MGM in 2000, before the attacks. Also being a distributor for a label is not quite the same as exerting control over them. Still, influence may be enough, and the initial concept for 'Nosebleed' was under Time Warner rule.

I can't really find a substantial connection to Pakistan International Airlines except the 30 year old ad and perhaps that the company started expanding more rapidly in the past decade.

I should also mention that the airplane puzzle is a fairly accurate silhouette of a Boeing 767, the same machines involved in the 9/11 attacks.

Can we get something out of the pictures in the facebook group? What are the two towers in the 5th picture?

PostPosted: Sat Aug 06, 2011 7:11 pm
Last edited by Niccolò S. Riva on Sun Aug 07, 2011 6:09 pm; edited 1 time in total
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enaxor
I Have No Life

Joined: 25 Feb 2003
Posts: 2395

 		The Darkest Puzzle also has a Twitter account.
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10/05/2007, 04/23/2009, 07/02/2015
The world is a much dimmer place.

PostPosted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 2:38 pm
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Gimme20dollaz
Unfettered


Joined: 13 Nov 2010
Posts: 643

 		Still think this is in poor taste.

PostPosted: Sun Aug 07, 2011 5:24 pm
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AnonymousOtter
Veteran


Joined: 05 Feb 2011
Posts: 80
Location: UC, CA
Gimme20dollaz wrote:
Still think this is in poor taste.


1.) Read my rant about your comment earlier. It's spoiled, so you'll have to wave your mouse over it to read it.

2.) I hate to be rude, but at this point, I don't think anyone really cares whether or not you like the ARG. It's interesting to us. Stop spamming.


Anyway...

Good catch on the Twitter account. I believe most everything is going to come off of there, or the Facebook. Twitter seems to be preferred, though.

Someone who knows Japanese want to ask Japan SIG-ARG to cough up the contents of the floppy?

And, since the four phrases are all we have to work with, I think we should build discussion off of those first, find connections. I'm sure the Masters gave us enough to work with for now....
_________________
Fool me once... die with a vengeance...

If I wanted to play head games, I would have downloaded Sudoku for my iPhone...

PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 12:15 pm
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keysofsoloman
Boot


Joined: 27 Jul 2011
Posts: 43
Location: Montreal

 		In response to the speculation regarding the four 'clues' bordered on the QR code, I have to agree that it is not an unworthy topic to investigate. Good work on the linking of the Coup, Dream Theatre, and Nosebleed to Time Warner however I think it is unlikely that The Darkest Secret would take any chances with the possibility of being sued into oblivion for defamation with such a dark, albeit fictional, claim.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
I do however think that there may be a possible relevance to the choice of pop-culture coincidences. Given the nature of the Coup as a politically active, anti-corporate and anti-capitalist critic, specifically in regards to US foreign policy on terrorism, false-flag campaigns and coups I doubt we could seriously consider them in anyways linked to the events of 9/11.

The previous is applicable to Dream Theatre, in the sense of this groups critic of NWO, and quasi-esoteric organizations and themes.

Nosebleed stands out in the capacity it allegedly follows a working middle-class window washer who learns of and prevents a terrorist attack on the Statue of Liberty (possibly the WTC).

Rather than trying to find any workable direct correlation between these groups, perhaps we are being introduced to a grass-roots, counter-intelligence agency that pre-existed DarkCloud (read: Wikileaks and Fight Club have a baby). Perhaps these album covers and movies (and possibly future fictious pop-culture references) were a part of a network of communication.


Anyways, we should all be on the look-out for an appearance of any *new* 9/11 conspiracy sites. Also, it is probably a good idea to brush up on 9/11 conspiracy in general as I imagine we are going to get lots and lots of overlap ...

PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 8:18 pm
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jaeger138
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Joined: 20 Aug 2009
Posts: 372

 		I'm not so sure there's too much to talk about with these phrases. Personally, I think they're just a setup for the narrative of the game, foreshadowing if you will.

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
All four phrases link to things that possibly could have predicted 9/11. I doubt it's a link to Time Warner, but then I'm not sure they're linked in any other way than what DarkCloud was investigating and what they uncovered, which of course we have yet to find out. I don't think we can assume anything from this except that we are being told we may be looking at these four things and others like them. I mean, there are so many things that 'predicted' 9/11 that they could have picked any four to put around the QR code. Anyone seen the wingdings font that, if a specific sequence of keys is pressed produces two towers, a plane and a skull and crossbones? There's so many examples of these 'predictions' I think they just referenced ones they found to be intriguing that would get us and other players excited and interested.

I could be completely wrong of course, but that's just my two cents on the matter. Personally, unless we get more clues I'll be saving my thinking hat for when they start rolling in good and proper. Until then...


...I'm in.

PostPosted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 8:35 pm
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Greystone
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Joined: 02 Jan 2008
Posts: 373

 		OOT:

When it comes to foreshadowing of 9/11 there is a 1998 movie highly ignored but yet well produced and should have done better at the box office.
"The Siege' with Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington, and Annette Bening. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133952/
If you have not seen it I recommend it or re-watching it knowing.

Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist I have to say this to those who disagree with this type of ARG. If you don't like the content, Don't play, Don't comment, just go someplace else and bury your head in the sand because you can't handle what happened and the truth.
Conspiracys are real in everyday life right down to the average work place. We can only combat and defeat the evildoers by looking for the truth. To expose real conspiracys you need to do 3 things in order to overcome them. QUESTION, RESEARCH, and EXPOSE. BTW this is the very basis of what we do as ARG players.

PostPosted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 9:27 am
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keysofsoloman
Boot


Joined: 27 Jul 2011
Posts: 43
Location: Montreal

 		SIG-ARG
I contacted SIG-ARG and have been told that they received only images of the QR code and the 3.5" disk. So the real one probably has not been released. I guess we'll have to wait...

PostPosted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 3:48 pm
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_june
Boot


Joined: 27 Feb 2008
Posts: 47
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

 		This looks super interesting. I'm not sure I have the puzzle solving skills to be of use, but I'll be lurking.

PostPosted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 5:11 pm
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keysofsoloman
Boot


Joined: 27 Jul 2011
Posts: 43
Location: Montreal

 		YOUTUBE VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/user/thedarkestpuzzle

I found this video...any thoughts?

PostPosted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 7:16 pm
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