Curse

Wrath Of Dragons · Mar 20, 2010, 05:55 PM // 17:55

So, I made it back to GDC this year. I went a couple years ago during my last semester of college and had a lot of fun so my friend and I scraped together a bit of cash and went over to San Fransisco. Looking at a report, it looks like there were about 18500 attendees this year...which from personal observation I determined about 90% were males aged between 23 and 40. The rest were exhibitors.
Here they are all waiting to get in.

Right as they opened the hall up to people:

The main exhibit hall and career area were actually in one massive building...I grew up in small towns, so when I am in an underground room that spans between the Moscone North AND South hall, the street in between, AND goes partly under the park by the mall....
And every inch of floor space was filled.

(Nox headphones = awesome. Might get some when they come out. Uber comfy/light/small)

I of course couldn't pass up an opportunity for a zombie inoculation. So I stopped by a booth entirely dedicated to zombie prevention. Zombrex. Some sort of marketing thing, i'm sure. But it was a good laugh. And there was no company brand on anything there...except Zombrex. Who knows...maybe this is a real company just getting the drop on the whole end-of-the-world-due-to-zombies thing.

There were a tone of exhibits, and one of the more interesting ones was basically a giant trackball that you could walk in, attached to VR goggles and a gun. It was a simple FPS, just demoing a product but it was a really cool setup. And I had the hardest time staying upright in the damn thing. Stupid gravity. Stupid momentum.

Dumbass friend and his commentary. (why is the sound so bad...)
Man I sucked at that. Good times.
Clickeh

Here we have Game Developer Awards:

Actually a fun presentation...usually awards ceremonies are so dull. Uncharted 2 won EVERYTHING.

And lastly, I went to a presentation by GW2 art director Daniel Dociu (to me art is just pretty pictures, but there were some cool concept art pics there)
After the presentation, I assaulted our esteemed Community Manager, Regina Buenaobra. And grossly mispronounced her last name, I'm sure. We talked for a couple minutes and then before I left , she handed me a flier: (scanned image)

She said "I'm not going to tell you what it is..I'll let you figure that out for yourself."
She was at a nerd convention and thought someone wouldn't know what the code in the corners was?! Terrible, really. So I of course whipped out my phone as soon as I left the room and scanned it. Thanks Regina!

I will let someone else post the result of the scan, or just post it back here later. Let you figure it out yourselves. I checked...the scanned image I posted was good enough quality for the code to work.

Commander Ryker · Mar 20, 2010, 07:22 PM // 19:22

That is so cool and I'm seriously jealous that you were there. So what kind of cool stuff did you get?

Snograt · Mar 20, 2010, 07:44 PM // 19:44

Nice report, Wrath.

"Zombrex" is some sort of marketing madness for Dead Rising 2, apparently.

(Also: Hi, C_R - where ya been?

)

JR · Mar 20, 2010, 08:49 PM // 20:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wrath Of Dragons

I will let someone else post the result of the scan, or just post it back here later. Let you figure it out yourselves. I checked...the scanned image I posted was good enough quality for the code to work.

Did you get any further with it than the first result, or is that were it stops?

Neo Atomisk · Mar 20, 2010, 10:30 PM // 22:30

waiting on what the corner codes say.
OBEY.

JR · Mar 20, 2010, 10:35 PM // 22:35

The barcode gives you this URL:

http://www.guildwars.com/white_mantle/

For reference, it's a QR Code. If you crop it out of the flyer and put it through an online barcode reader you get the URL.

The barcode on the color version is just an inverted version of the one on the paper flyer, and has no significance.

Source for the image:

Not sure what significance the date has.

Neo Atomisk · Mar 20, 2010, 10:58 PM // 22:58

I'd imagine march 16th was the day that the "Obey" page became active.
But this is an intresting picture.

JR · Mar 20, 2010, 11:04 PM // 23:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neo Atomisk

I'd imagine march 16th was the day that the "Obey" page became active.
But this is an intresting picture.

The GDC ended on the 13th, and that is where Wrath got the flyer... So I'd assume the page was up then too.

Konig Des Todes · Mar 20, 2010, 11:21 PM // 23:21

Unless it was March 16 from a previous year. I wouldn't doubt that at all, given the site it is on. Could be modified concept art of an old GW1 White Mantle (Dorian, for instance).

Neo Atomisk · Mar 20, 2010, 11:56 PM // 23:56

oh, my bad. mmm.
March 16th... possibly a release date for something?

It appears that the codes on the "Obey" page are different then that one in the flier... can someone decode?

Easter egg hunt, anyone?

Gmr Leon · Mar 21, 2010, 12:18 AM // 00:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by JR

The barcode on the color version is just an inverted version of the one on the paper flyer, and has no significance.

Neo, the color version won't be any different according to JR.

JR · Mar 21, 2010, 12:26 AM // 00:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gmr Leon

Neo, the color version won't be any different according to JR.

It's also not at a high enough resolution for any scanners to be able to read it, which confirms its insignificance.

[EDIT: Also - http://www.guildwars.com/shining_blade/ ]

Neo Atomisk · Mar 21, 2010, 12:37 AM // 00:37

oh, reading fail, my bad. where'd you find the shining blade one?
and does that barcode have any significance?

JR · Mar 21, 2010, 12:52 AM // 00:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neo Atomisk

oh, reading fail, my bad. where'd you find the shining blade one?
and does that barcode have any significance?

TedTheShred found that on the GuildWars2Guru thread - he also clarified that the barcode on it is again insignificant. It just leads back to the same page.

Trub · Mar 21, 2010, 12:54 AM // 00:54

heh.
Looks almost like one of those 'foldable' back covers from Mad Magazine ehh?
The Shingblade one looks like the 'Dragon' shaped '2' for GW2...

Mister_Smiley · Mar 21, 2010, 01:21 AM // 01:21

I posted this on Gw2 forum as well but here is a theory, It has to do with the 5th year and that maybe there will be a costume of Both the Shining Blade and White Mantle..

Another is that it is the next GW2 trailer we will get.

Wrath Of Dragons · Mar 21, 2010, 03:48 AM // 03:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by JR

Did you get any further with it than the first result, or is that were it stops?

There is something after the white_mantle link?
If so, damn. What? Never been good at puzzles.....

Edit:
And yes, the link was active on the 13th, the day I got the poster

JR · Mar 21, 2010, 11:34 AM // 11:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wrath Of Dragons

There is something after the white_mantle link?
If so, damn. What? Never been good at puzzles.....

Not that I've found. The only out of place thing is the date embedded in the source code - there's no other clues.

Regina Buenaobra · Mar 21, 2010, 05:33 PM // 17:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wrath Of Dragons

She said "I'm not going to tell you what it is..I'll let you figure that out for yourself."
She was at a nerd convention and thought someone wouldn't know what the code in the corners was?! Terrible, really. So I of course whipped out my phone as soon as I left the room and scanned it. Thanks Regina!

It was great talking to you!

I assumed many tech-minded people would be aware of QR codes and how they work, given that they're becoming much more popular over here in recent years, with the growing use of smartphones. Having said that, not everyone really knows what they are or what they can do, so I wanted to make sure I gave you a small prompt.

QR codes have been extremely common in Japan for many years. For instance, when I was in Japan last year, I ate a cheese burger and the wrapper had a QR code on it, which led to a website with nutrition information about the burger.

**cosyfiep** · Mar 22, 2010, 06:35 AM // 06:35

yes those codes have been around for years (when I lived in japan they had them...that was 5+ years ago....never had a phone that could 'do' it so ....sometimes if I squint I can make some of them out)...got plenty of them here.....on lots of things.