282 replies to this topic

[Drew]

Just a theory, but it seems to me like the Superintendent is an AI of some sort going through the stages of rampancy. The reference to Durandal in the video that cocop posted is what tipped me off, but who knows.

[Anpheus]

Sweet, I recognize the language of the markup on the right side of the blue image. It's XAML. XAML is this lovely way of describing how something looks in a way that blows CSS out of the water.

It's part of Microsoft's new .NET initiative, and is the language used to describe WPF in case anyone wants to know more trivial technical details.

The important thing is that figuring out what is described by the XAML is as easy as retyping the text and then putting it in a XAML diagram tool.

Pre-post edit: Well that's fun, it's pretty damn hard to parse, uses custom objects they made with non-standard rules, etc. I frankly can't make a lot of sense of it. For example, the Path objects have a start, but no end. You can turn the consecutive path objects into lines if you just append the M bits, but then what do you do when there's a path following a polyline, preceding a regular line?

I tried a number of different interpretations, but I don't think you get anything interesting out of it.

Pre-post edit #2: It's a good thing I'm tenacious and a masochist. And have lots of mountain dew still in my cup because I figured that tish out. And it's fuckin worthless.

<Canvas Width='500' Height='500' xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation' xmlns:x='http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml' >
	<Path Shape.Fill="White" Width='500' Height='500' Stroke="#231F20" StrokeThickness="2" Stretch='Uniform' Data='M2204.66,849.468 A 5.535,5.535 0 0 0 2204.66,838.398 A 5.535,5.535 0 0 0 2204.66,849.468 M2226.794,810.726 2232.332,488.588 M2226.797,816.26 A 5.535,5.535 0 0 0 2226.797,805.19 A 5.535,5.535 0 0 0 2226.797,816.26 M2226.798,816.26 2226.798,821.794 2204.66,832.863 2204.66,838.397 M2204.759,783.045 A 5.535,5.535 0 0 0 2204.759,771.975 A 5.535,5.535 0 0 0 2204.759,783.045 M2204.66,783.053 2204.66,788.537 2226.798,799.656 2226.798,805.19 M2232.332,788.588 M2204.66,849.466 2204.66,855.001 M2160.385,849.468 A 5.535,5.535 0 0 0 2160.385,838.398 A 5.535,5.535 0 0 0 2160.385,849.468 '>
	</Path>
</Canvas>

To view it, google for xamlpad and just copy-paste that in.

It's some circles and lines.

Edit again: Found this on red image.



Don't Blame Stosh repeated thrice.

Edited by Anpheus, 27 August 2008 - 03:10 AM.

[Cocopjojo]

Nice going, Anpheus. "Don't Blame Stosh." I wonder who put that in there, lol.

[Syracuse022]

It's some circles and lines.

Morse code?

[Anpheus]

Nah, it's not morse. Even if it was, the number of symbols is way too low to encode anything interesting. Morse code requires 3 dashes/dots per letter, and there are only 3 circles and a few lines.

[PRO_KING]

If this thread is still about the super intendant I found another desktop



I don't know what these mean, or if there's any clues in them, but they sure are cool.

[Rtas 'Vadum]

http://www.bungie.ne...y...s&cid=15526

Shit just got real.

All over my new shorts too, ugh........

[UNSC Trooper]

By the looks of it, this thing might deal with a city under Covenant siege. The name "Tokyo Rules" is interesting as well.

Edited by UNSC Trooper, 20 September 2008 - 04:13 AM.

[Cerious]

Tokyo Rules: www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/h_comp46.htm

[UNSC Trooper]

Tokyo Rules:

www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/h_comp46.htm

Yeah, that's what I found interesting about it. Why would someone name a Prowler after a set of UN rules? However, I do think it might well be related: The UN, as far as I can tell, only controls Earth. Criminal justice? A city on Earth being placed under Martial Law, perhaps?

Too much speculation. :tongue:

[GhaleonEB]

I'm just giddy at the Halo references alongside the Superintendent. A new Halo game from Bungie....it could go in a million different directions in terms of story, setting, focus and genre.

[txlonghorn]

I'm just giddy at the Halo references alongside the Superintendent. A new Halo game from Bungie....it could go in a million different directions in terms of story, setting, focus and genre.

Yeah, I was telling niterider the other day my excitement level for anything Halo, that isn't made by Bungie, just isn't there.

[Cerious]

A city on Earth being placed under Martial Law, perhaps?

Too much speculation. :tongue:

That's what I was thinking. The Superintendent is an Urban Infrastructure AI according to the transcript. Something happened to cause it to send an alert to the COMM.DUTY.OFFICER or Communications Officer on duty. In this case I don't think term 'Prowler' was referencing a vehicle as much as it may have been a type of alert or action dealing with the UN's Tokyo Rules doctrine.

Can't wait to get more information.

[Rtas 'Vadum]

<\\> UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE
<\\> TAC-OPS LOGISTICS DATABASE [ONI.SEC.PRTCL-1A]

<\ * PRIORITY! * RESOURCE RE-ALLOCATION REQUEST

>> SENT: [DARE.V.500341(S1)]
>> RECEIVED: HEAVY CRUISER “SAY MY NAME” [SMN.ACTUAL]

\ PARTIAL VTT TRANSCRIPT AS FOLLOWS...

[SMN.ACTUAL]: “The situation on the ground isn’t my concern.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I understand, Admiral. But I need --”
[EXPLOSION (4.0098s)]
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNINTELLIGIBLE > PANIC(?)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Empty archer pods six through twelve!”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Ready the MAC, and come about!”
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNINTELLIGIBLE > INSUBORDINATION(?)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “It may have passed us, Lieutenant, but it’s still in range.”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Come about. And shoot it in the ass.”
[EXPLOSION (2.3482s)]
[STATIC (3.8761s)]
[SMN.UNKNOWN]:[UNINTELLIGIBLE > COMPLIANCE(?)]
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Admiral, about my squad?”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ve forwarded their NCO’s name to your --”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Enough, Captain!”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive this attack..."
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “I will deploy per my orders from Fleet HQ!”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Sir. I don’t report to Fleet.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “And the men I want? Now they don’t either.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Please. Read my request.”
[STATIC (2.8179s)]
[EXPLOSION (3.0194s)]
[STATIC (7.4501s)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Didn’t think you S1 types ever left your cave.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “Desperate times...”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “Alright, Captain. You’ve got your squad.”
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “If I survive the attack."
[EXPLOSION (2.9016s)]
[SMN.ACTUAL]: “And right now? That’ll take a genuine act of God.”
[DARE.V.500341(S1)]: “I’ll see what I can do.”

\ ~ REQUEST COMPLETE
\ DATABASE CLOSED \>

http://www.bungie.ne...y...s&cid=15547

So, S1 could refer to Section One, which makes sense... or it could refer to Spartan Ones, which would be absolutely effing badass.

Edited by Rtas 'Vadum, 23 September 2008 - 12:15 AM.

[Cocopjojo]

I think the most likely possibility is that S1 stands for Section One of ONI. We know that ONI is being referenced with these transmissions - heck, the first line in each transmission says "UNSC OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE." And the line itself - “Didn’t think you S1 types ever left your cave" is a dead giveaway (IMO) that they're talking about Section One and not Spartan Is. He says "S1 types," not "S1s," so "Spartan 1 type" doesn't make a lot of sense.

And the part about never leaving their caves is typical of how the rest of the UNSC thinks of ONI. Chief Mendez, in The Fall of Reach, refers to them as "damned spooks." That term, "spook," is used pretty often, actually, in reference to ONI personnel.

Here's an excerpt from The Fall of Reach:

Naval Intelligence officers had come aboard the Iroquois immediately after the battle. They congratulated Captain Keyes on his performance... and then copied and purged every single bit of data they had intercepted from the Covenant planetside transmission.

Of course, the ONI spooks left without offering any explanation.

So the rest of the UNSC doesn't think highly of them, and I think that sentiment is shown pretty heavily from the Admiral in this latest transmission.

[Rtas 'Vadum]

My memory is a bit shady, so what are the people in Section One responsible for? I think Section Two was referenced as being involved in cover-up of the covenant war's deadly effect on humanity pre-Halo 2 (the Graphic Novel mentioned this I believe), but I can't really remember and the book isn't handy.

[UNSC Trooper]

I think Section One is the primary branch of ONI responsible with intelligence-gathering. (However, that's just speculation.) Section Two deals with propaganda and public announcements. Section Three is a whole different story. They're the cover-up spooks.

[Cocopjojo]

http://www.bungie.net/defaultsi.aspx

A countdown on Bungie.net (very similar to the one from E3) is ticking off the time until 10am EST tomorrow morning. 12 hours from now.

It says "Alert Status Again!" Lol.

Also, someone on B.net got a message when they logged into Halo 3 -

http://www.bungie.ne...postID=26471492

[vociferous]

ODSTs?

That's the word on the street. No one knows for sure, but obviously this ancillary evidence supports the concept of a squad-based game being dropped into a city in peril, the AI metropolitan coordinator awry. Before this game was supposed to be announced, back at E3, a lot of people in the press (here and here, for example) were calling it out a certain way.

Of course, the notion is that this game will be an ODST-centric, third person, squad-based shooter similar to GRAW or Gears of War. It'll be a far darker and more serious take on the Halo universe as opposed to the trilogy's cartoonish portrayal. The game seems to rely heavily on cooperative play (possibly up to 8 players) in urban combat and is set during the war against the Covenant, who may or may not be the source of the superintendent AI coming undone. Everyone is pegging this title as a Fall '09 release, but no one knows for sure.

Watch me be wrong. We got till tomorrow at 10am est to find out.

[Merguson]

Notice in the background that there are a bunch of words. One of them says, IT WON'T BE A LETTER, and THERE WILL BE A PAYOFF. Nice.