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Ilovebees Update 22/09/04 Feature
Arron Hanley
27/07/2004
777 axons have now gone hot; what next...
Update #11 22/09/04 09:41 GMT âCritical Threshold Achievedâ
Hold the phonesâ¦777 out of 777 axons have now gone hot, and www.ilovebees.com has now moved on to the next stage of the ARG story. At the top of the page, the message, âCritical threshold achieved. Authorized personnel be ready for axon spike rendezvous,â has appeared and underneath certain axon co-ordinate boxes, the names of people have emerged. They include:
- Xnbomb, Col.
- Mike Was, Cmdr.
- Man-Alive, Sgt.
- Weephun, Lt.
- Chappy, Mstr. Chf.
- Shad0, Lt. Cmdr.
Meanwhile, on Danaâs blog, it appears that the names of the ânew crewâ are in fact real-life playing members of the ARG community. Why these six were chosen has not been determined yet, and the role that they have to fulfil is also a question that has yet to be unsolved.
Most of the other axon boxes on the new page have been cancelled, which means that we may never know what information their sound-clips contained. We also donât know what form the next stage of the game will take. The sound-clips for the third set of axons are available to listen to below, but we are still waiting for two more axons to go hot for all of the fourth set of clips to be unlocked.
With Halo2 still around 7 weeks away from being released, the game hasnât quite ended yetâ¦
Update #10 09/09/04 19:08 GMT âI Found Something For Youâ
New developments on the ilovebees situation today made things slightly easier for ARG and Halo fans alike, currently following arguably one of the finest marketing ploys seen in the last century.
Within the introductory "Transmitting" warning box, appears highlighted characters that read:
"i found something for you"
By following the link a list appears that contains links to all of the compiled sound clips thus far. The three concurrent storylines have been broken up in each of the two updates, with the next update likely to happen within a week.
Update #10 09/09/04 12:37 GMT âTRANSMITTINGâ
The Axons continue to get hotter and hotter. This week, the second set of sound clips have been made available (the ARG guys are really working hard on this one).
There is still no reference to Halo 2 at all, but the three story lines that were started in the last set of clips are continued here.
TVG has compiled the clips into another WMA file so go the bottom of the page if you want to listen to the continuing story.
Meanwhile on ilovebees.com, the next set of GPS co-ordinates have been posted, with the phones once again waiting to be answered. The new co-ordinates can be accessed from here.
TVG will keep you updated on the continuing saga, and hopefully the link between ilovebees and Halo 2 will start becoming clearerâ¦
Update #9 31/08/04 11:47 GMT âTRANSMITTINGâ
One week after Axons went hot, and the first set of sound clips were made available, another long list of phrases including, âblue_then_redâ, âpanic_buttonâ, and âcreepyâ have appeared on ilovebees.com â“ this time though, three phone boxes must be answered in order to unlock the clips.
The phones will start ringing once again from 06:07 PDT (14:07 BST), and the unveiling of the prelude to Halo 2 will continueâ¦
With only 140 out of the 777 axons being âansweredâ, itâs a safe bet to assume thereâs going to be a few more weeks of this to come â“ thank God for ARG fansâ¦
TVG will bring you the latest on ilovebees.com, and a second compilation of sound clips when they become available. TVG has compiled the sound clips from the first set of phrasesin to a single audio file, click on the link below to listen to itâ¦
Update #8 26/08/04 10:27 GMT âTRANSMITTINGâ
ââ¦and the hour grew near. The sky darkened and the people held their breathâ¦â
Itâs now the second day after the countdown ended, and we can now safely say that ilovebees.com has a definite link to Halo 2. Hereâs the rundown so far:
If youâve been following the updates on TVG, youâll know that the GPS co-ordinates pages changed so that seven co-ordinates were linked to a keyword such as âjerseyâ and âyes_or_no.â Each co-ordinate also had a set time underneath itâ¦It turns out that they were co-ordinates for phone boxes, dotted around that US that rang at the designated times.
For each keyword to be unlocked, at least two phone boxes had to be answered. When this occurred, the keyword would release a wav file that seems to provide pieces of a Halo 2 back-story.
All of the wavs have been unlocked, and TVG has linked them up together so the story so far can be heard.
A meter can also be found at the top of the GPS co-ordinates screen, marked out of 777 (the Bungie magic number). At the moment, the meter is at 103 â“ we still donât know what has to happen for the meter to fill, or indeed what will happen when the meter fills upâ¦
On her Blog, Dana, the niece of Aunt Margaret, has set up an overview of what we know so far, which seems to officially link the bees saga to the anticipated sequelâ¦hereâs what sheâs got:
âIn early July, an AI named Melissa crash landed, badly damaged, onto the server that hosts my aunt's website. The AI tried to orient and repair itself. The result: It turned 'I Love Bees' into a holy mess.
Now we're investigating the mess. And we need all the help we can get.
Here's what we know so far:
Melissa, a.k.a. "The Operator," used to run communications on a ship. The ship's purpose: to spy on an enemy known as "the Covenant."
The Operator has started communicating again. It's constructing hundreds of "roads" out of the 'I Love Bees' server. The roads all lead to payphones. And the phones are ringing.
We don't know why it's broadcasting, but the Operator is giving us GPS coordinates for the phones, and times to show up. So we are. We're collecting its fragmented messages and trying to put them back together.
Here's what else we know:
When the Operator crashed on the 'I Love Bees' server, it didn't come alone.
It came with two autonomous programs:
1) the SPDR, designed to repair damage to the Operator, and
2) the Pious Flea, designed to... well, we're not sure yet.
The SPDR brought the Operator back to life. But now the Operator is taking orders from the Pious Flea. So when the SPDR tried to eliminate the Flea, the Operator killed it.
We don't know much about the Flea, except that it wants "to seek, behold, and reveal the truth."
There is one other voice we've found on the site: The Sleeping Princess.
The Sleeping Princess uses Aunt Margaret's email account and error pages to share secrets and play games with us. She also likes to hide text in images. We're not sure where she came from.
That's what we know so far.
We don't know what's going to happen next.â
TVG will be keeping an eye on this continuing saga, and will bring you the latest news as it happens.
Update #7 24/08/04 14:32 GMT âMake your decisions accordinglyâ
If you can manage to get on to www.ilovebees.com youâll surely notice that a lot has been happening in the last few minutesâ¦
The front countdown message has now changed to:
Authorized personnel can check rendezvous info here.
Unauthorized personnel should know
that I have full license to use any means to protect the security of these transmissions.
I believe that punishing even minor transgressions with shockingly excessive force is the best deterrent.
I am relentless, and I have absolutely no conscience
when it comes to executing my mission.
Make your decisions accordingly.
Whilst the links page now correlates the GPS co-ordinates and timings into 60 different groups, each headed with a cryptic title. Keen-eyed followers will also note that certain groups are now being marked as "CONNECTED Axon Hot", whilst gauges above them begin to fill as the timer counts down to each of these groupings...
Jersey is currently complete (2/2), try clicking the link and youâll uncover a strange sound snippet, which unsurprisingly has continued to leave us in the darkâ¦
Intriguingly these all total up to 777 (the magic number), which is currently being counted down to as you read this...
Whilst attempting to log onto the site weâve uncovered an error page, which has some juicy details and promises to answer some of the questions that people have been asking.
Sadly weâre still left clueless at this stage as to exactly what is happening besides these random events; TVG sends out a call to anyone located near to the GPS co-ordinates within America to discover whether or not anything is actually occurring or whether this is the biggest scam ever to hit the planet.
Update #6 24/08/04 12:58 GMT âAxons Go Hotâ
Well folks, this is itâ¦August 24th 2004, the day that Axons go hot and the whole ilovebees.com saga comes to a head â“ we hope. The countdown has now reached zero hour, and we are waiting for the time to hit 6:07PDT (14:07BST), which is when something is supposed to happen at the first GPS co-ordinateâ¦
But the question that everybody is still asking is, âWhat is going to happenâ¦?â
Wellâ¦we still donât know.
Dana, the niece of ilovebees.com owner âAunt Margaretâ has submitted another entry to her blog, in which she talks about being taken round the back of a shop in Shanghai to see pirate DVDsâ¦how this relates to the whole ilovebees.com situation is anyoneâs guess.
She also says that the people who have e-mailed her saying that they will be at the co-ordinate sites are being very brave, and that she doesnât know if she would have been as brave had she been in the US when the clock struck 0.
Her comments seem to suggest that the series of GPS co-ordinates that have popped up on the ilovebees site are vitally important, and hopefully, some dedicated people around the US will actually go to the various locations.
TVG is manning battle stations just in case it turns out to be a Covenant invasion...
Update #5 11/08/04 12:36 GMT âThe Medium has Metastasizedâ
Itâs been awhile since we last checked out the continuing ilovebees saga, as yesterday marked the completition of the second milestone â“ the medium has metastasized, although nobody still knows what this exactly means.
As expected the website has become even more illegible, with yet more dialogue from the three transcripts running throughout. Whilst links to Halo2 remain strenuous at best, the suggestion that this all correlates to the main storyline is beginning to become more attractive.
As those who have been following the situation closely will know, one particular transcript describes a Halo sounding reconnaissance that have stumbled across something of paramount importance. One particular theory is that they have stumbled upon something of great magnitude (The Queen) and are going to re-animate, bring back to life and that this will occur in 12 days â“ August 24th.
Further links to Halo include that of the three novels written and text describing the Spartans â“ children taken at an early age by Dr. Hasley to become soldiers like the Master Chief.
Whilst the third and final stage has been counted down since the beginning, a new timer described as âAxons go Hotâ has appeared, which also displays the same date â“ a quick dictionary check reveals an âAxonâ to be: âThe usually long process of a nerve fiber that generally conducts impulses away from the body of the nerve cellâ
Equally as bizarre is the listing of dozens of number ranges within the âLinksâ page; quite exactly what this means is anybodyâs guess at present, although the most common suggestion is that these are GPS co-ordinates possibly, with certain inconspicuous locations in America currently solved.
If you visit the site you may come across strange hidden sound files, murmuring descriptions and interspersed with people chanting âI love beesâ â“ again extremely bizarre and currently thereâs no firm explanation behind this.
One thing is for sure is that the idea of a rushed release date of a demo has been debunked, with sources close to the subject denying that such a plan is in action.
Weâll have more information soon.
Update #4 29/07/04 01:10 GMT âWarn HQ about Troyâ
The day has passed by with few developments in the continuing ilovebees ARG, granting time to reflect on whatâs happened so far.
SPOILER
Certainly the military conversation spoken about in previous updates provides the closest reference to Halo 2, and suggests that an opening will feature an attack on a UNSC space colony known as Troy. It appears that the dialogue comes from members of a recon team, whoâve stumbled upon something of paramount importance â“ so much so that they question the risk of millions of lives on Troy/Earth???.
Further dialogue that appears to relate to Halo and between characters named ONI tech Kowalski and Midshipman Arrelts, concerns the intriguing suggestion of a new AI (along lines of Cordana and Guilty Sparks 343) that is referred to as The Operator and The Queen throughout the various transcripts. This particular conversation ends on a cliffhanger with revealing suggestions about The Operator -
SPOILER
...So August 10th when the next scheduled stage takes place should be an interesting time!
The popularity of the game has ensured a large number of hoax websites have been set up, with the intention of throwing people off the trail; breaking the ARG rule of profiteering, the CafeShop links have been denounced as fake â“ they got me!
Update #3 28/07/04 00:30 GMT
As the timer predicted, today saw events develop within the iovebees saga, resulting in a closer understanding of what is occurring and the disappearance of a key character.
Aunt Margaretâs website has been bombarded with yet more seemingly undecipherable text, whilst literally dozens of website addresses appear throughout the site. Despite featuring over 200 links to external sites, these have been intriguingly claimed to each fall under certain groups based on a common sentence, which allegedly goes on to form a larger plotline.
Thanks to the strong effort from the ARG community following the situation, the random text that arises throughout the website has been broken into three sectors, one of which has been described as the âmilitary conversationâ and appears to chronicle the reconnaissance efforts of a Human military force who are on the verge of a major discovery.
Elsewhere the rather more obscure snippet makes constant references to a Queen and a Widow, in a story that depicts the Widowâs efforts to resurrect the fallen Queen â“ interestingly this appears to link to the computer syntax that also appears.
Back in the ârealâ world the disappearance of Dana continues to be a mystery, although some disturbing webcam screens of her have appeared, each of which contained hidden sentences.
Itâs an interesting drama for anybody who likes a touch of mystery and intrigue with their daily gaming dosages, although itâs link to Halo 2 continues to be mysterious; anybody with an interest should check out theilovebees Wiki Wiki Guide - it can get a little âtenuousâ to say the least, although they seem to be ahead of the game.
Update#2 âPhase 1 Completeâ 27/07/04 18:05 GMT
The ongoing ILoveBees drama appeared to take a step towards the end, with an updated comment from Dana within her blogspot.
The update mysteriously claims:
âIt saw me. It knows me now.
â” seen and skinned. I'm sorry. I'm out.
I dragged you into this. Yes. But forget about it. It's over.
I donât want www.ilovebees.com to be my problem anymore.
I don't want it to be your problem either. (And you can stop trying to hack into my email, voicemail, and web site... good grief.)
Tsi Tian, everyone. Thanks for the help and support.
I'm done.â
Whether this is an end to the situation remains doubtful, with many suggesting that this will be the second stage of the game and perhaps marks the first checkpoint in the countdown timer that features on www.ilovebees.com .
Naturally we could all be caught in a web of deceit, and this is just a normal family whoâve come into some problems with their honey business.
Weâll have more as it develops.
Update#1 27/07/04
The www.ilovebees.com situation continues to develop, with yet another product being added to Margaretâs merchandise listing at www.cafeshops.com.
This time around thereâs a new T-Shirt, which when enlarged reveals the following logo and tagline The 7th Comb. Again itâs a reference to the obsession that Bungie have with the number 7, whilst some have been quick to label it the title of a new level.
Weâve also discovered a new listing for Margaretâs honey business at www.cafeshops.com, listing what appears to be a wider selection of bee related merchandise â“ although at present we canât be sure whether this is part of the game, or a hoax set up by somebody wanting to throw people off the trail.
Weâll keep investigating and bring you more as it develops.
26/07/04
Yesterday we posted news of the intriguing link between www.ilovebees.com and Halo 2; having spent the entire evening consuming large dosages of caffeine, Iâve become completely embroiled in the I Love Bees âARGâ.
ARG??? You may be sayingâ¦
Well it seems that many are labelling the event as an Alternative Reality Game (ARG), which for those who donât surf the net 24 hours a day, is a detective styled game, in which players must unravel the clues laid down on the net â“ Microsoft launched one to great success for the release of Stephen Spielbergâs AI.
So where did it all start?
Whilst the release of the Halo 2 Trailer on July 16th focussed a global attraction towards www.ilovebees.com, the games origins actually stretch back a day earlier when veterans of the ARG scene were sent jars of honey that contained letters, each of which spelt out âilovebeesâ.
Despite gaining the attention of a few ARG fanatics excited at the prospect of a new adventure, it wasnât until the release of the Halo 2 Trailer in cinemas across the US that things really seemed to start.
A visit to www.ilovebees.com reveals a seemingly innocuous website for Margaret Effendiâs honey business, hosting what appears to be a nasty virus attack.
The âattackâ has appeared to completely destroy the website, with corrupt images and strange text inserted within the main body.
These appear to create sections from classic novels including The Tempest, Gulliverâs Travels and Robinson Crusoe; whilst loading the corrupt images with NotePad slowly revealed snippets about a Queen and a Widow that soon became a fully-fledged story!
A pop-up appears on the main page, describing itself as System Peril Distributed Reflex (SPDM which many have been quick to label Single-Player Demo Release). However itâs the warning after that provides the most reliable clues:
In 1 days, network throttling will erode.
In 15 days this medium will metastatize.
COUNTDOWN TO WIDE AWAKE AND PHYSICAL:
Forums have been literally set alight with rabid accusations of the meaning behind this, with the most popular suggesting that this infers a) The game will be complete in 1 day, b) The game will be manufactured by 15 days, c) The game will be released on August 24th.
Whilst weâd be surprised to see Halo 2 release moved forward, itâs worth remembering that there was chatter last year suggesting an âearlierâ release and the 24th pops its head up a few more times into the mystery as youâll see.
Whilst we wouldnât like to say anything is for certain, we can be pretty confident that August 24th will hold something special for Halo fans. Amongst the garbled mess of www.ilovebees.com you can make out the blogspot of Margaretâs niece and resident Webmaster Dana Awbrey.
Within Danaâs âdiary of eventsâ, there makes reference to the importance of August 24th; citing the release of Windows95 to an unsuspecting audience, completion of the Guttenberg Bible in 1456 and finally the first eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD â“ there can be no doubt that August 24th is a historic date to say the least.
Certainly thereâs been a great deal of attention and speculation mounted at this stage, with many websites seeming to continue the tangled web; one of which that we recently discovered features a listing for Margaretâs Honey merchandise at www.cafeshops.com, closer inspection reveals â9 billion RIPâ - surely a description of the Covenantâs deadly attack on Earth!!!
âGuerrilla Marketingâ along these lines has certainly become popular after its introduction to the mainstream with the release of the Blair Witch Project; you simply need to check the forums of Bungie to realise its appeal.
Weâve got the work experience guy chained to his desk to ensure weâll bring you any further developments on the trail; if you wish to join the mystery, youâll be glad to know itâs not yet too late, simply visit:
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