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[Wario64]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/07/27/news_6103575.html

Other observers concluded www.ilovebees.com is a marketing scam using a bizarre approach to spark word-of-mouth and get free press (like, say, a news article on a top gaming Web site).

While the latter group is essentially right, the www.ilovebees.com hoax is more complex that recent viral campaigns like Burger King's subservientchicken.com. It hops on the trend known as the alternate reality game (ARG), where a story is told via a series of fake Web sites laden with clues that readers can use to solve the story's central mystery.

Alternate reality games have also been used to hype video games--by none other than Halo 2's developer, Bungie Software. First came the infamous Marathon Gold hoax e-mail in 1998, which the company downplayed as a practical joke. Then there were the "Cortana Letters," a series of oddly worded e-mails that started going out in 1999, purportedly from the AI named Cortana that would eventually help the Master Chief on Halo's titular ringworld. However, the wording of the e-mails sounded a lot more like Durandal, the crazed AI from the classic Marathon series.

One non-game-related conclusion can also be reached in the wake of the ilovebees.com affair: viral marketing is effective, especially when applied to an audience starved for information. For the fraction of the cost of a national TV blitz, Bungie and Microsoft have generated a monstrous amount of buzz (no pun intended) amongst Halo 2 fans. The ilovebees.com site has become a self-perpetuating phenomenon, spawning thousands of discussion threads on hundreds of forums and unquantifiable office-cooler banter. For every cynic decrying it as a marketing hoax, there are two Halo 2 and/or ARG fans spending hours trying to uncover the clues hidden inside ilovebees.com. Somewhere, an advertising executive is laughing all the way to the bank.

More in the link

 

[mrmyth]

Dumbasses. They're spoiling the game for everybody. (The ilovebees game, not Halo2)

 

[DopeyFish]

he makes it sound unfun

 

[brandonnn]

'Hoax' seems like a poor choice of words to describe it -- I'm wondering how many people will see the title and think that the entire campaign was concocted by an unrelated group of people.

Is anyone really going to be surprised and disappointed that someone's darling bee enthusiast site hasn't really been hacked by a sentient computer? Does anyone not see this as creative marketing and a game in and of itself?

 

[GhaleonEB]

IGN's is less coherent, but at least the guy sounds like he's having fun.

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/533/533929p1.html

 

[The Shadow]

He did suck the fun out of it. What a dick.

I think it's obvious to just about everyone that it's a marketing gimmick. Who the fuck would think it's really a hacked website, when the website URL shows up on the trailer?

 

[GhaleonEB]

He did suck the fun out of it. What a dick.

I think it's obvious to just about everyone that it's a marketing gimmick. Who the fuck would think it's really a hacked website, when the website URL shows up on the trailer?

They're just uptight - probably got sucked in, felt foolish and had to justify it. Personally, I haven't been this amused or intigued at something in a long time. If nothing else, like the Enkidu puzze, it will be a fun ride. Since it's official, it should have an even bigger payoff.

 

[SyNapSe]

I think it's quite fun, of course.. I would eat up just about anything Halo right now, but the whole ilovebee's thing is neat and opens a lot of discussion/speculation.

 

[dilbert627]

That's pretty interesting. Anybody remember the dataDyne/Carrington sites Nintendo had for Perfect Dark? Same idea. (although now they redirect to rareware.com).

 

[epmode]

wait, there were people that actually believed the site was legit? sigh.

 

[The Faceless Master]

this bees crap is boring the shit out of me...
show some screenshots or something...

 

[dog$]

The best fake website for advertising a videogame was Ray: The Game.

He did suck the fun out of it.

There's going to be D.., Halo 2 discussion for the next few years - this really doesn't seem like something to get worried about.

 

[epmode]

best av ever.

 

[seismologist]

this is so lame.. I thought it was a bee game. Pinobee anyone!?

 

[The Promised One]

What pisses me off about this, is that it will ultimately end up being nothing but Bungie screwing around. Sure, it's their way at weird marketing, but doing all this, making fans go through all the trouble of trying to figure this out, and then have it come to nothing, is just plain mean.

If a demo comes out on the 24th, I will lbe happy, if not, Bungie is run by jerks. But, I'll still buy Halo2 of course.

 

[Goreomedy]

this bees crap is boring the shit out of me...
show some screenshots or something...

Amen.

I can't for the life of me understand why Bungie has such a loyal following, after months of lame "process updates", a controlled multiplayer demo at E3, and now an ambiguous web game, the like of which got old years ago during the A.I. campaign.

I felt the first Halo was half-baked, so I need to see something from Bungie to convince me they've grown wiser and tackled all of those faults (beyond their word, which isn't much to me). What will single-player provide? Is it being neglected for a Live portion I have no time or desire to play?

Only three months away, and because of their pretentious secrecy and "genius" diversions which only interest the converted, this game isn't even on my list.

 

[impirius]

Gamespot's ruining the fun, but it's not as bad as in the "OH MAN I WISH I HADN'T CLICKED THAT PICTURE" thread.

 

[ToyMachine228]

TEH 0WNAG3!

 

[Mashing]

How is serves to hype up casuals gamers outside of geeky internet forums is beyond me.

I look forward to predictably stupid conclusion. And Halo 2 launching on August 24th is absurd. EVen though Halo 2 will be a hot game regardless of when it launches, it would have more impact on it's November date.

 

[Mooreberg]

Pogothemonkey.com was better because it was about a monkey.

 

[BeOnEdge]

pinobee sucks ass.

 

[Mrbob]

Amen.

I can't for the life of me understand why Bungie has such a loyal following, after months of lame "process updates", a controlled multiplayer demo at E3, and now an ambiguous web game, the like of which got old years ago during the A.I. campaign.

I felt the first Halo was half-baked, so I need to see something from Bungie to convince me they've grown wiser and tackled all of those faults (beyond their word, which isn't much to me). What will single-player provide? Is it being neglected for a Live portion I have no time or desire to play?

Only three months away, and because of their pretentious secrecy and "genius" diversions which only interest the converted, this game isn't even on my list.

And when are you gonna get sick of your tireless rambling about how average Halo was and how this hate automatically carries over to Halo 2. Bungie doesn't need to convince you of a damn thing. Your mind already seems made up. Besides, you can't please everyone all the time. Bungie needs to worry about appeasing those who love the first game (Which is growing considering the game still sells 100K a month) and not worry about the select few who don't.

 

[Goreomedy]

And when are you gonna get sick of your tireless rambling about how average Halo was and how this hate automatically carries over to Halo 2. Bungie doesn't need to convince you of a damn thing. Your mind already seems made up. Besides, you can't please everyone all the time. Bungie needs to worry about appeasing those who love the first game (Which is growing considering the game still sells 100K a month) and not worry about the select few who don't.

Tireless rambling? I've participated in, what, four Halo threads out of countless since E3 of 2003? I know it might be hard, but maybe let someone else fill the role of red-faced, "telepathic", hyper-defensive infant for a while. You've got plenty of understudies.

I'm open to Bungie's convincing. I've said that Halo 2 has the potential to be the game I wanted out of the original. My only problem is, so far, Bungie has not done a good job selling their PRODUCT to me. And that's what this thread is about.

 

[GDGF]

Reminds me of the kick ass Perfect Dark viral campaign. Someone eventually sucked the fun out of that one too.

 

[eso76]

People at GS are probably pissed because they couldn't find any clues and this made them feel stupid
I, for one, am really enjoying the idea of a collective puzzle solving (?), though i really didn't have much time to take part.

As for the demo / media blowout...i'd rather wait for the full game to release in november.
I really prefer not to be spoilt the surprise, So far bungie has been caferul not to show a lot of jf and while every halo fan is curious to discover the locations where halo 2 will take place, i'd rather have my curiosity answered when halo 2 ships, not with screenshots.

It's obvious that the problems with halo were for the most part a consequence of the relativelly short development time, so i trust the sequel will fix most if not all of them.
For those who don't trust...well, Bungie doesn't need to convince you, and especially *not before the game launches*.
It's not mandatory to pick it up on november 9th, you can always wait for playtests and reviews

 

[DSN2K]

im enjoying it.

 

[Drexon]

generated a monstrous amount of buzz (no pun intended)

:lol

 

[Chi-Town]

Saw this mentioned elsewhere concerning August 24th. In the latest(September) issue of OXM they have an ad for their Big Holiday Preview Guide. "On Newsstands August 24th".

 

[Mrbob]

Tireless rambling? I've participated in, what, four Halo threads out of countless since E3 of 2003? I know it might be hard, but maybe let someone else fill the role of red-faced, "telepathic", hyper-defensive infant for a while. You've got plenty of understudies.

I'm open to Bungie's convincing. I've said that Halo 2 has the potential to be the game I wanted out of the original. My only problem is, so far, Bungie has not done a good job selling their PRODUCT to me. And that's what this thread is about.

I didn't know the thread title was named, "How to sell Goremedy on Halo 2.". I'll have to go check again. Oh wait, still don't see it. BTW, it seems awful selfish to want Halo 2 to revolve around Goremedy and not the 4 to 5 million people who already love the original, with new ones popping up in the tune of a 100K a month. The fact of the matter is I really don't care whether you like/dislike Halo or aren't that interested in Halo 2. Go create your own Halo 2 doesn't appeal to me thread and let the few vultures huddle together. This website stuff intrigues me and I like to read peoples thoeries. But it gets annoying when I have to see useless off topic babble between posts.

 

[Incognito]

Amen.

I can't for the life of me understand why Bungie has such a loyal following, after months of lame "process updates", a controlled multiplayer demo at E3, and now an ambiguous web game, the like of which got old years ago during the A.I. campaign.

I felt the first Halo was half-baked, so I need to see something from Bungie to convince me they've grown wiser and tackled all of those faults (beyond their word, which isn't much to me). What will single-player provide? Is it being neglected for a Live portion I have no time or desire to play?

Only three months away, and because of their pretentious secrecy and "genius" diversions which only interest the converted, this game isn't even on my list.

Wow, who gives a shit about your worthless Halo posts? Why don't you troll something else for a change? And funny you use the word "pretentious" in your post, when infact, you're the most pretentious poster here. Go find a new hobby.

 

[PhatSaqs]

lol

 

[Ghost]

lol ownage