Support NeoGAF

[BeOnEdge]

supposedly there was a commercial on MTV that aired for halo 2. at the end it said "sooner than you think" can anyone confirm this? i hate MTV and i refuse to watch it. here are some fun facts too taken from TXB...

On the ninth of November, the most anticipated game in video game history will be released... or so they say. With the recent internet release of the Halo 2 Cinematic trailer, Bungie and Microsoft are trying to tell us something... http://www.ilovebees.com. Nobody knows for sure what this website means, but it obviously has to do with Halo 2. All that I can say is that Bungie is genius for doing this.

This is what comes to mind when I think about this website:

(Theory info)

In 3 days, network throttling will erode. Halo 2 is currently beta testing. In 3 days they will stop.

In 17 days this medium will metastasize. Halo 2 goes gold and is mass produced.

COUNTDOWN TO WIDE AWAKE AND PHYSICAL:
30:09:23:47:042 Halo 2 is released.

Read below to find out why.
Aug 24, 1995 Microsoft inflicts Windows 95 on an unsuspecting world.
Aug 24, 1456 Printing completed on the Gutenberg Bible.
Aug 24, 79 AD Mt. Vesuvius erupts for the first time, destroying Pompei.
Aug 24, 2004 Halo 2 is released

Nobody expected any of those events. All of which took place on August 24th of some year.


The game already has an ESRB rating. The ESRB only grades final copies. That means that the game is finished. Now to be completely honest, I did not buy into any of this stuff until I realized that Halo 2 already had an ESRB rating.

 

[Hellraizah]

If this is true....

It will be true.

 

[Wario64]

I'm glad I'm not a Halo fan, cause all this ilovebees talk would make me go crazy

If you checked the other thread, someone mentioned how someone hacked one of the Halo PC files and it contained some ASCII image thingy with the date Aug. 24th...

 

[Fifty]

Maybe a playable demo comes out then

 

[DSN2K]

I think its a demo imo, I see no reason to bring it forward from Microsoft's point of view.

 

[BuddyC]

...i think the 24th will be the media blowout, giving us all the goods on multiplayer and such.

i highly, highly, highly doubt an early launch. just, no.

 

[Cubsfan23]

Didn't Peter Moore get a November 9th tattoo? I think it'll be a demo, also.

 

[Hellraizah]

From the video played in theaters :

"We're not ready
He is"

hmmmmmmmm.........

 

[Soul4ger]

It wouldn't necessarily be dumb, releasing it BEFORE GTA: San Andreas, Gran Turismo 4, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Metroid Prime 2 are on the market to compete for the dollar. But I doubt it. Halo 2 is going to sell regardless. Phantom launch would just confuse people.

*Edit* - "Olimar isn't ready. He is..."

 

[BeOnEdge]

LIVE DEMO BITCH!!!! 1 level!!!! FREE to those with live and anyone else must pay to get LIVE or buy a game for LIVE trial. MS is GENIUS!!

 

[ManDudeChild]

Why is this even a topic? August would have Halo 2 losing some steam before the holidays.

 

[BuddyC]

LIVE DEMO BITCH!!!! 1 level!!!! FREE to those with live and anyone else must pay to get LIVE or buy a game for LIVE trial. MS is GENIUS!!

i hate you.

 

[Catchpenny]

Didn't Peter Moore get a November 9th tattoo?

Ok, now I really want this to come out on August 24th.

 

[siamesedreamer]

Anyone have video feed of the Halo 2 trailor see we can see the ilovebees.com at the bottom of the logo?

 

[BeOnEdge]

if this aug 24th thing is true, multiplayer demo. this will also test LIVEs capacity for MS that way they can ramp up before full release if necessary IMO.

click here for trailer. pause and screw around at the end to see the "ilovebees" thing. you also hear bees buzzing.

http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=279561

 

[BuddyC]

if this aug 24th thing is true, multiplayer demo. this will also test LIVEs capacity for MS that way they can ramp up before full release if necessary IMO.

...

 

[teepo]

if it is a demo, i hope it's like the half-life's. having orignal content and all. best demo ever.

 

[Wario64]

Well it's gonna be a long month, eh folks

 

[The Faceless Master]

ilovebees.com ... bizarre ... very bizarre ...

 

[DarkGiygas]

On August 24th they'll announce that Halo 2 is canceled and Microsoft is teaming up with Panasonic to create the 3DO-2.

 

[DSN2K]

well if it does come out in August sadly Halo 2 will have to wait, DOOM 3 is getting my money.

 

[Hournda]

Where does it indicate that this has to do with Halo 2? All I can tell is that it mentions the Win 95 launch as having taken place on August 24 and the fact that there are lots of 7s (like in 7ruth and Reconciliation). Where is this Halo 2-ilovebees.com connection being made?

 

[Musashi Wins!]

Maybe a demo, that would be nifty.

Doom looks great but I would buy 3 Halo's before it. Don't think it's going to be an issue though.

 

[StrikerObi]

There's no way it'll release then. It'd be a Saturn flashback. Unprepared retailers = pissed off retailers.

Demo... maybe / hopefully
Info... most likely

Where does it indicate that this has to do with Halo 2? All I can tell is that it mentions the Win 95 launch as having taken place on August 24 and the fact that there are lots of 7s (like in 7ruth and Reconciliation). Where is this Halo 2-ilovebees.com connection being made?

At the end of the Halo 2 theatre trailer "www.xbox.com" quickly changes to "www.ilovebees.com"

 

[neptunes]

why would they hype up a date for new info?

 

[Agent Dormer]

well if it does come out in August sadly Halo 2 will have to wait, DOOM 3 is getting my money.

You're doing wonders for your credibility today.

 

[Fatghost]

The game already has an ESRB rating. The ESRB only grades final copies. That means that the game is finished. Now to be completely honest, I did not buy into any of this stuff until I realized that Halo 2 already had an ESRB rating.

This is interesting.

 

[BuddyC]

a downloadable, LIVE-enabled Halo 2 multiplayer demo would actually strain Microsoft's "capacity" MUCH more than the regular game. First off you'd have everyone downloading a 50 MB+ demo. Then we're talking about Microsoft somehow allowing executing code from the HD without a disc. Then you'd have the multiplayer servers, which would only add to the traffic caused by the downloading itself. Sure, they're be on seperate servers, but it would still be a mess, and probably end up wasting more bandwidth than November 9th.

I could go on and on. It's not gonna happen folks.

 

[Hournda]

I guess this is like those creepy "Cortana letters" from pre-Halo 1. They're interesting to speculate over but what practical significance did they have? (I guess we'll find out the practical significance of this site in 29 days)

 

[BeOnEdge]

There's no way it'll release then. It'd be a Saturn flashback. Unprepared retailers = pissed off retailers.

Demo... maybe / hopefully
Info... most likely



At the end of the Halo 2 theatre trailer "www.xbox.com" quickly changes to "www.ilovebees.com"

$400 console with lackluster games vs. $50 game that everyone wants. ???

 

[Agent Dormer]

a downloadable, LIVE-enabled Halo 2 multiplayer demo would actually strain Microsoft's "capacity" MUCH more than the regular game. First off you'd have everyone downloading a 50 MB+ demo. Then we're talking about Microsoft somehow allowing executing code from the HD without a disc. Then you'd have the multiplayer servers, which would only add to the traffic caused by the downloading itself. Sure, they're be on seperate servers, but it would still be a mess, and probably end up wasting more bandwidth than November 9th.

BeOnEdge is now suffering a mental breakdown.

 

[Li Mu Bai]

Whether it releases in August or November, it will sell the same regardless. HUGE. Lose steam by November? Someone tell that to Halo please. It may actually be a wise move on MS's part, the lengthier the market availability=the more potential copies sold. (esp. if Halo's sales performance is a market indicator) Also if a non-backwards compatible Xenon launches holiday '05.

 

[Fifty]

Why does it need to be a downloadable demo? They could ship it to retailers, and offer it as a preorder bonus.

 

[StrikerObi]

Oh yeah...

 

[siamesedreamer]

Shit, they'd have to ship over a million of them then. I know I have both the special edition and normal edition pre-ordered.

 

[Fifty]

Well I don't actually think they'll do it. The whole point of this thread is to speculate, so that I am.

 

[Matlock]

What if Halo 2 gets pushed back?

 

[Hournda]

Ha, I wouldn't be surprised if they're trying to pull a Passion of the Christ/Fahrenheit 9/11 and just generate a lot of speculation and buzz about the game before they release it. Smart marketing move.

 

[StrikerObi]

What if Halo 2 gets pushed back?

Peter Moore gets the date on his tatoo removed by laser and has the date changed.

Also, GAF explodes / GAFFERS cry.

 

[BeOnEdge]

BeOnEdge is now suffering a mental breakdown.

mental breakdown from what? i dont even own halo. i've just been following this whole "ilovebees" movement and felt maybe some would like to hear about the new findings. SOMETHING is gonna happen on august 24th. as far as downloading being too intense, PGR2 says otherwise. so do all the ubisoft downloads. I dont care what way the demo comes if there is one. i just think a LIVE download would be cool as hell. a big FU to pirates, a nice reward for those with LIVE and another way for MS to boost new LIVE subscribers.

 

[Lil' Dice]

Here's my crazy theory(taken from writings @ ilovebees.com):

Tuesday, August 24, 2004
*
(tries to stop thinking about it)

Time for some updates:

Aunt Margaret wants you to know how touched she is by the flood(the Flood!) of support we've gotten on this blog and via email. So touched that she wants to mix a new flavor of her honey in honor of you guys(new material for loyal Xbox customers)) — a black button(the Xbox controller's "black" button) sage variety, but I'm not sure she knows what to call it yet.

Warm fuzzies aside... the hijacked countdown has definitely gotten under Aunt M's skin. "Strong intrusive inclination" gives her the "heeby jeebies" (her words). She asked me if "the medium will metastasize" means that her computer is going to explode. I'm pretty sure it doesn't, but unfortunately for now, I don't have a more optimistic interpretation to offer her.

I hate that Aunt M is losing sleep over this.

Or that I am, for that matter. (checks timestamp. Sigh.)

I’d feel a lot more comfortable if I understood its motives better…

At least I now know from Marc (first of several) that the image glitches are caused by embedded texts of origins unknown. Not sure how they fit together.

I'm guessing from the some of the emails I've received that at least a handful of you are chewing on this problem in real-time somewhere...?(beta testers) Is there a channel I can direct other people to, so they can sync up with you?( additional XBL testers perhaps?!)

P.S. A lot of you have sent emails asking for personal information that might be relevant to the problems at I Love Bees. To be honest, I'm still figuring out how much I feel comfortable sharing at this point. I hope you can be patient with me.

In other wordds, people have been contacting either MS or Bungie about the connection between ilovebees.com and the Halo 2trailer; and they'll be informed of what's to come on August 24.

 

[BuddyC]

PGR2 says otherwise. so do all the ubisoft downloads. I dont care what way the demo comes if there is one. i just think a LIVE download would be cool as hell. a big FU to pirates, a nice reward for those with LIVE and another way for MS to boost new LIVE subscribers.

Those are all executed inside games though, and even then, only that level/car data is read from the hard drive - the game engine and everything else is off the disc. With Halo 2, you'd have a download far more sizable than any DLC, and the ENTIRE thing would have to be executed off the HD. That's technically possible, but I doubt MS would allow an even easier way for pirates to load self-executing code on the XB.

Pirates could still get the download too.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

MICROSOFT IS AFRAID OF METROID!

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!

 

[MightyHedgehog]

MS/Bungie marketing is working at a genius-level right now.

 

[KarishBHR]

Ok... my take is this:

It could be something like a demo... but it wont be the full game. MS spents money on that theatrical trailer and it has November 9th all over it. Im sorry, but they can ONLY LOSE from releasing it early... they have nothing to gain from it.

 

[BeOnEdge]

lose? LOLOLOLOLOL they'll only lose if there is no campaign mode like mario kart DD.

 

[Goreomedy]

Nobody knows for sure what this website means, but it obviously has to do with Halo 2. All that I can say is that Bungie is genius for doing this.

MS/Bungie marketing is working at a genius-level right now.

Genius? At this point, it's a cliche:

http://www.marketleap.com/report/ml_report_05.htm

 

[Infinitemadness]

Seek the truth

Behold the truth

Reveal the truth

That is the law and the whole of the law

 

[J2 Cool]

Bungie are geniuses and Halo 2 is the most anticipated game ever? Now this is not me hating on Xbox and Halo. I own and Xbox and Halo and plan to buy Halo 2. Its just not that high on my list of must have games. And I think Grand Theft Auto Vice City with the most reserved copies before its release should hold that title for now. For America anyway. Dragon Quest VII probably for Japan.

As far as media wise and the hyped given by magazines and such. I'd say its up there with MGS2 and quite a few other games. But for me anyway I think its simply a well designed fun game. Nothing Im gonna lose sleep over though.

 

[Meier]

There's no way it'll release then. It'd be a Saturn flashback. Unprepared retailers = pissed off retailers.

What if theyre not unprepared retailers? I think it'll probably be a demo or something too though.