The PRE game fun...

By Rob
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malcolmst

Posted
Posted

I found some other information about the /biography puzzle, which might be useful. I think some of this may have been covered already but this might summarize it a bit.

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/GoldenRatio.html

shows that the sequence [1,1,1,1,...] and repeating fraction are for phi, which is used to determine the length of the side used in a golden rectangle (where, by removing a square, a rectangle with the same proportions can be found).

I think someone mentioned the pyramids in a previous post. This site says:

In the Season 1 episode "Sabotage" (2005) of the television crime drama NUMB3RS, math genius Charlie Eppes mentions that the golden ratio is found in the pyramids of Giza and the Parthenon at Athens. Similarly, the character Robert Langdon in the novel The Da Vinci Code makes similar such statements (Brown 2003, pp. 93-95).

The spiral which is shown is a Logarithmic Spiral (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/LogarithmicSpiral.html) which is formed by expanding golden rectangles (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/GoldenRectangle.html).

e can be calculated from the equation of this spiral

I have not been able to figure out much about the fractal, other than that it's clearly related to the Logarithmic Spiral. There are some Mandelbrot fractals that look pretty similar.

That's all I have so far... can't make much out of the rest of it.

Collaborator

dsteele_7

Posted
Posted (edited)

dude i need a laptop with vista ultimate and some speling program to learn fow to spel :yes:

Oookeey then... I'm just going to say this once (well I might reference it later if you persist but anyways, I digress):

Either one of two things is at play here... and it's a lack of something:

The first, and most likely I'm thinking, is Age......

The second, and still possible, but I dunno... I think it lacks a certain credibility is Sobreity.

I don't need to know from you which it is or even if I'm wrong, and please don't take this as a flame, but just be a bit more aware of how you come across in your posts.

Oh, and I'm not 100% on how the people that were selected were selected but I'm fairly certain it has to do with their activity in the community (blogging it would seem in this case) and a bit of a relationship with microsoft (as minor as it may be). Suffice to say begging on a random forum on the net is not going to do it.

EDIT: I figured I should add in the stuff that I originally intended to post.

I'm really intrigued by this ARG if it can be called that this far... I just figured I should point out that it looks like a couple (at least) of the countdowns for the events taking place on Jan 20 are taking place at the exact same time IF those times that the clocks are counting down to are their own local times... now this wouldn't really make sense seeing as how the timers are different... but if they set it up they way I think they did then the timers are just set to go to a specific time no matter what... Either way the ones I noticed that would be the same are the Toronto and San Francisco events because of the 3 hour time difference between their time zones... mind you I could be entirely wrong now that I think of it.. and now I'm starting to severely doubt myself, but I though I should point that out in case it gets some << spam >>s firing for someone else.

Oh and in regards to one of the people that got the laptop and a key with the vid that they said they were posting on MSN Video's Soapbox... I went on there and couldn't find it so I'm not sure what the deal is with that one... but I'm fairly sure it was the same video.

Edit2: uh.. that "<< spam >>" up there is supposed to be s.y.n.a.p.s.e.s not quite sure why it's considered spam but ... ya

Edited by dsteele_7
Contributor

Eldoen

Posted
Posted

One thing to remember is very few people have seen Ultimate Extras. While more people have used and beta tested and recieved Vista Ultimate already. What is Ultimate Extras??

We have seen already that some of the prices are High End Laptops. I imagine there will be some High end Desktops also in the games for windows realm coming also.

el

Rookie

inzenity

Posted
Posted

Do the laptops have hidden messages in them?

No - did a search for filenames (*Cipher*.*, *loki*.*, etc.) and nothing yet. It did come with the same puzzle-box memo though, so VPG is definitely tied with Vista's launch (but you guys have already figured that out :) )

FWIW, I received a Ferrari 5000. :D

Explorer

AnTimOnY

Posted
Posted

My random thought of the day for this puzzle: people who have the boxes, could you check them some more? maybe the boxes contain some writings on them, or dents in a certain pattern or something? The reason I think so is that the people who already had the boxes received them again(plus a laptop), so maybe the boxes contain something embedded on them.

Also, try running the paper (the "from the desk of LOKI" one) under a hot iron or something - there are a bunch of methods to reveal hidden writings. stuff written with orange juice, ofr example, gets revealed when pressed with a hot iron (just an example).

I dunno if they would do this though, seems overkill to me. :|

Rookie

inzenity

Posted
Posted

The reason I think so is that the people who already had the boxes received them again(plus a laptop)

No, my laptop package did not come with a puzzle box - just the memo.

My random thought of the day for this puzzle: people who have the boxes, could you check them some more?

I'll take some close ups of it tomorrow when I get the pics of the laptops - I'll get some pattern shots for sure; if I have time I"ll take some pics of pencil rubs against it too.

Also, try running the paper (the "from the desk of LOKI" one) under a hot iron or something - there are a bunch of methods to reveal hidden writings. stuff written with orange juice, ofr example, gets revealed when pressed with a hot iron (just an example).

Hrm... maybe.

I dunno if they would do this though, seems overkill to me. :|

Overkill: Definitely :p

Neowinian

sisterdew

Posted
Posted

Hi, i'm kinda new here

but i saw the website too and looked a bit for loki and vanishing point on google.

I've found this site:

http://202.212.249.217/

and if you look for "loki" or "vanishing point" you get a dvd in that name.

(and a lot of japanese).

Maybe it's related, i don't know...

Proficient

Brody McKee

Posted
Posted

This whole thing is overkill... but it's such a great marketing idea :D

Correct. The initial Vegas event will get new coverage as it is a crazy marketing scheme by the mega-corporation Microsoft. The following events will alsp get coverage, but probably only by the media in those countries. Either way it'll be great for Vista/MS/magic-product.

Grand Master

tomwarren Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

I received my box this morning and my laptop is due to be delivered today so I'll update you if there's any message in there. The box was v.easy to open but it's a neat little box :) Had the usual txt file, wmv movie and cipher key 4.

From what I hear most people in the blogosphere and attending CES are receiving these boxes.

Regarding the laptops, this was organised by Microsoft and AMD and sent out to important communities and bloggers to review Vista and Acer laptops. Communities could decide from Acer Ferrari 1000, 5000 and a media center machine. Look out for a lot of reviews and as soon as I recieve my unit I'll be reviewing it.

Grand Master

_sphinx_

Posted
Posted

I received my box this morning and my laptop is due to be delivered today so I'll update you if there's any message in there. The box was v.easy to open but it's a neat little box :) Had the usual txt file, wmv movie and cipher key 4.

From what I hear most people in the blogosphere and attending CES are receiving these boxes.

Regarding the laptops, this was organised by Microsoft and AMD and sent out to important communities and bloggers to review Vista and Acer laptops. Communities could decide from Acer Ferrari 1000, 5000 and a media center machine. Look out for a lot of reviews and as soon as I recieve my unit I'll be reviewing it.

Hey; I know you're not up for this, but can you explain to me how you got to the key plz. In Layman's terms.

Grand Master

tomwarren Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Hey; I know you're not up for this, but can you explain to me how you got to the key plz. In Layman's terms.

Well it's the same video/msg as everyone else who has received the box. I just received the box in the post from "Loki/one Microsoft way" the same as everyone else.

Collaborator

malcolmst

Posted
Posted

Great! thanks

Does anyone know if the videos are all the same, or is there one for each cipher?

Weird... google found one of the hidden pages.

Searched vanishingpointgame

Vanishing Point

www.vanishingpointgame.com/ - 3k - Cached - Similar pages

Vanishing Point : Antepenultimate

Getting to this page means you're paying attention. Keep it up when the countdown hits zero and you could win high-end laptops, gaming computers, ...

vanishingpointgame.com/antepenultimate/ - 4k - Cached - Similar pages

Maybe it just got the link off this forum or something :p

Collaborator

malcolmst

Posted
Posted

Has anyone noticed the sort of effect at 34. Not sure if its a dodgy download but the youtube video seems to do it.

May just me being picky, what do you think?

Yeah, I see it too.. it could just be a compression problem, but the timing makes it seem like it's intentional.

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