After Last Night's Fun, Do You Feel More Positive About Valve?

[CptStern]

more positive about Valve

Less positive about some in this community who would slam someone because they didnt ask the questions they wanted answered

the whiteboard stuff was cool

 

[blahblahblah]

I'd have to say that I had a huge amount of fun last night. Valve doing that for us as fans was something I will never forget, Thanks guys (I'll buy a couple of more copies of HL2).

They must be laughing so hard though.

Has anyone pointed out that they probably set up that whiteboard (well, yeah, they did) because of that whiteboard we had a 37 page thread over? Man, they're closer to the community than I thought, even though someone e-mailed them the link. But to remember that..... that's just.... awesome.

Man these people rock.

Yes, that was great fun last night. We should create a thank-you thread for Valve and then send an email to them. Just to let them know that we appreciate stuff like that.

 

[The Mullinator]

more positive about Valve

Less positive about some in this community who would slam someone because they didnt ask the questions they wanted answered

I feel the exact same way about both Valve and the community.

 

[brokenjago]

Yes, that was great fun last night. We should create a thank-you thread for Valve and then send an email to them. Just to let them know that we appreciate stuff like that.

What ever happened to the "Give Valve Pizza" thread in the off topic forum?

I agree completely.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

Yes, that was great fun last night. We should create a thank-you thread for Valve and then send an email to them. Just to let them know that we appreciate stuff like that.

sure.. i think that would be nice
perhaps that would also set the stage for another puzzle? :E

 

[RogueShadow]

Ynfg avtug jnf tbbq, yrg'f qb vg ntnva.

 

[Kitfox]

maybe there is a secret message in the ascii gordon !!!111!!

 

[RogueShadow]

maybe there is a secret message in the ascii gordon !!!111!!

It is possible. But whatever it is, it isn't no rot13.

 

[denlife7]

I told my gf all about it... now she has had it confirmed how much of a geek I am

 

[Burn]

edit: Nevermind, read page 2 and AT LAST someone posted what happaned..

Very funny thing of valve to do. Pitty I missed it.

 

[CptStern]

I feel the exact same way about both Valve and the community.

thanks, I'm sure a lot of people here would agree...

btw tell that baby to stop giving me the finger, if he has a problem we can take it outside

 

[ferd]

"you have passed the 1st test"
I recon there will be more

 

[Frank]

How the **** do I see that ACSII thingie?

 

[Demonmerc]

why should we feel positive?...wheres the sdk?where is the multiplayer?wheres the benchmark?wheres the release date?

The stunt is definitely not a sign HL2 is done... Just because some employees may have finished their jobs completely doesn't mean the rest of the team has.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

How the **** do I see that ACSII thingie?

View the source of the page

 

[The Mullinator]

thanks, I'm sure a lot of people here would agree...

btw tell that baby to stop giving me the finger, if he has a problem we can take it outside

I've tried telling him to stop but he just kicks my knee and just keeps on sticking up his middle finger. You could try taking it outside but any baby with an attitude like that one will probably fight pretty dirty.

 

[CptStern]

I've tried telling him to stop but he just kicks my knee and just keeps on sticking up his middle finger. You could try taking it outside but any baby with an attitude like that one will probably fight pretty dirty.

ya I'm afraid it'll bite my kneecaps

 

[freeorangeshoes]

i didnt know what had happened, and you all were making it sound so cool. 'most fun ive had in ages'. 'valve really cares about us! sniff sniff'. 'gabe newell is santa'.

whooopdeeedoooooo! now, if the release date was in there somewhere, then it would be cool. as it is, its a pretty lame waste of time.

 

[MultiVaC]

I like how they put the first hint on the whiteboard, because the know how much we love whiteboards.

 

[PvtRyan]

I like how they put the first hint on the whiteboard, because the know how much we love whiteboards.

Yeah, I feel they really tried to point out they DO follow the community. They witnessed the whole whiteboard overanalyzing thingy when games.telenet.be visited Valve, and parodised it with this. Truly awesome :E

 

[Fishlore]

I don't like Valve. I don't hate Valve. I'm completely indifferent. Afterall they're just video game developers developing a video game for god's sake. They aren't curing cancer here. They're not doing anyone any favors.

I don't know what they did last night and truley couldn't care less. I just hope they didn't waste a bunch of time they could have used finishing up the game and getting it to market.

 

[ACLeroK212]

I don't like Valve. I don't hate Valve. I'm completely indifferent. Afterall they're just video game developers developing a video game for god's sake. They aren't curing cancer here. They're not doing anyone any favors.

I don't know what they did last night and truley couldn't care less. I just hope they didn't waste a bunch of time they could have used finishing up the game and getting it to market.

i doubt it took their whole staff just to come up with a couple decoded messages and an ascii image.

i'm sure there's more than enough work being done on the game yet, they're probably just as excited about finishing it up as you are.

it's a shame people have to get so upset at valve like this just for trying to do something for the community.

 

[STELTH]

I don't like Valve. I don't hate Valve. I'm completely indifferent. Afterall they're just video game developers developing a video game for god's sake. They aren't curing cancer here. They're not doing anyone any favors.

I don't know what they did last night and truley couldn't care less. I just hope they didn't waste a bunch of time they could have used finishing up the game and getting it to market.

In this day and age with massive conglomerates controlling the video game market, to have a developer do this is rather rare. Valve is one of the few companies who REALLY goes out of their way to do things for the community.

 

[celerityfm]

Not sure if this belongs in a new thread or not, but regarding the second test, did anyone consider the password, 437N452 as being a clue for the second test?

When I look at that, I see latitude and longitude coordinates. Except 437N is far too high a latitude (90N is the highest), so dropping the 4 from the first coordinate we get 37N. Assuming we follow the same procedure for the second coordinate (dropping the 4) then we are left with 52. Assuming positive longitude, we end up just north of Iran in the Caspian Sea. (woot!). Assuming negative longitude, we end up in the Atlantic ocean, far far east of Virginia. (see for yourself: http://www.mapquest.com/maps/latlong.adp)

Now, hold your breath, Half-Life 2 is supposed to take place in Eastern Europe right? And clearly from the docks level there is a major body of water around City 17 right? Well suprise, people have already been speculating that the body of water seen in the docks level is, say it with me, the caspian sea! http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23692&page=2#post480864

So. There are only 2 countries in Eastern Europe that border the caspian sea, Russia and Azerbaijan. The closest country to those coordinates is Azerbaijan. The capital of Azerbaijan is a major port called Baki, which is on a pinnensula in Azerbaijan that juts out into the caspian sea. To top it off, I shit you not, there is a town juuuust to the east of Azerbaijan called ZIG.

Could Azerbaijan be the true location of City 17? Is this what Valve is trying to tell us? IS THIS THE SECOND TEST!?! To find the true location of City 17?

Now, for great justice, can anyone else verify all of this and make sure I'm not crazy?

 

[RogueShadow]

Your either a total genius, or a total nutcase.
I prefer genius!
Good find!!!

But dropping the 4 is just a guess. Maybe you should drop the last numbers and use them as minutes or something?

 

[wbcheater]

did you guys notice that the last 3 digets of the pass word are on the board picture to the far left... lets look on the board for more clews

 

[Striker]

Bah them and there secrets!! i hate secrets!!!

 

[Ownzed]

when i go to the secret page, its asks you to login? I don't know what to put, I tryed my email addy and password...didn't work. What do I put? :|

 

[celerityfm]

Ownzed you should put

username: valve
password: 437N452

into the webpage at http://www.half-life2.com/secret/pwn3d/

You may have to enter it twice, and once there don't forget to take a look at the source code for an extra fun bonus

And RogueShadow, thanks and also GOOD IDEA. When I plugged in 43 degrees, 7 minutes 0 seconds north by 45 degrees, 2 minutes 0 seconds east guess what I got? Part of Western Russia in Eastern Europe, the part that borders the caspian sea! Maybe its in Russia after all, I mean, the people in that other thread I linked said that the architecture and signs and such in city 17 suggested a russian influence, whilest Azerbaijan is more turkish. So maybe my first guess was incorrect. The coordinates hit very close to a road that runs between the towns of Mergist and Nizhniye Bereski. But these coordinates aren't in the water nor are the on the water.. perhaps the game concentrates on the area in and around city 17, which could include the coastal areas of european western russia that border the caspian sea.

Unfortunately this just leaves more questions then answers... :rolling:

 

[FoxDie]

Very clever of you to think of that RogueShadow :thumbs:

Stelth, nice sig

 

[RogueShadow]

No biggie It's a lot better than dropping the first number haha.

 

[Daegon]

did you guys notice that the last 3 digets of the pass word are on the board picture to the far left... lets look on the board for more clews

Nice thinking, but those numbers on the left are the password, just cut off. ne0n emailed valve and asked for the rest of the whiteboard. ROT13 only changes letters, not numbers or symbols. So the numbers on the board are the last numbers of the password. they are one and the same.

 

[SFLUFAN]

"And RogueShadow, thanks and also GOOD IDEA. When I plugged in 43 degrees, 7 minutes 0 seconds north by 45 degrees, 2 minutes 0 seconds east guess what I got? Part of Western Russia in Eastern Europe, the part that borders the caspian sea! Maybe its in Russia after all, I mean, the people in that other thread I linked said that the architecture and signs and such in city 17 suggested a russian influence, whilest Azerbaijan is more turkish. So maybe my first guess was incorrect. The coordinates hit very close to a road that runs between the towns of Mergist and Nizhniye Bereski. But these coordinates aren't in the water nor are the on the water.. perhaps the game concentrates on the area in and around city 17, which could include the coastal areas of european western russia that border the caspian sea."

Outstanding work! The picture becomes a bit clearer now with the dock parts of HL2 being part of the Caspian sea area. Isn't the Caspian Sea shrinking anyway? That would tie nicely into the dried out parts as well.

 

[celerityfm]

Something else to note about the Caspian Sea (learn something new every day): it is the lowest point in Europe at 91.9 feet below sea level.

And as far as why I chose to drop the 4 from the password to make out latitude and longitude, I dropped the four because it repeated ::shrug::

Hope we figure out that second challenge soon fellas.. either that or.. HL2 COME OUT ALREADY!!!

 

[RogueShadow]

Something else to note about the Caspian Sea (learn something new every day): it is the lowest point in Europe at 91.9 feet below sea level.

And as far as why I chose to drop the 4 from the password to make out latitude and longitude, I dropped the four because it repeated ::shrug::

Hope we figure out that second challenge soon fellas.. either that or.. HL2 COME OUT ALREADY!!!

Reasonable enough. That's why team's work good, we think different.

 

[PvtRyan]

Wow, good finding guys!

http://oceanography.asu.edu/Student Projects Webpage/Fall 2002/project_mike.htm

Towns once located on the coast are now as far as fifty miles away from the shoreline, the salinity of the water is heavily increased, and the fishing industry is destroyed. As if these problems were not enough, the receding sea is beginning to expose a land bridge to an island used by the Soviet Union for chemical and biological agent testing. Although the facility is closed, the remains of lab equipment had been simply buried and could become easily accessible.

So the sea is drying up.

Another vital industry in the Caspian Sea basin is the production of oil. Six oil basins have been identified and American oil companies have signed agreements for the rights to use this oil.

Anyone remember the "Northern Petrol" sign in the coastline vid?

 

[Sp00fman]

note about the whiteboard. i think merc screwed up by not getting the whole board on the picture so valve had to tell us the password. We could have brute forced it but i dont think valve would have liked it.

BTW. good theory. but im not so positive yet, why just leave out some numbers?
If i devide and multiply a bit with the password it i could justify any location in the world as "THE" spot.

 

[NJD2003]

Damn that Caspian Sea stuff actually makes a bit of sense.

 

[celerityfm]

PvtRyan woah those are some juicy bits! Scary about the land bridge hehe. And Northern Petrol seems to fit damn well.

Sp00fman- Well as RogueShadow pointed out its not necessary to drop numbers from the password for this to work. Its pretty straightforward:437N452 translated to 43 degrees, 7 minutes NORTH by 45 degrees, 2 minutes east centers over the Russian province(?) of Ingushetia close to the western border of Chechnya. Now, we all know that the shit was hitting the fan big time in Chechnya when they were developing half-life2 (its STILL hitting the fan!).. and no other city in Chechnya got as much attention as its.. capital(?), Grozny.

Is Grozny City 17?

Grozny, city in southern European Russia, capital of the Republic of Chechnya, located on the Sunzha River. Grozny is situated in the northern foothills of the Caucasus Mountains in one of the richest petroleum-producing areas of Russia. Pipelines and railroads link the city with the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. Manufactured goods have included oil-field equipment, refined petroleum, and chemicals. Grozny was founded as a fortress in the early 19th century. In early 1995 the city became the focal point of a war between the Russian government and the secessionist Chechen leadership. Nearly the entire city was destroyed by the fighting, and tens of thousands of residents were forced to flee their homes. By April 1995 the population of the city had been reduced to an estimated one-third of its prewar total. In May 1997 Chechen and Russian leaders signed a peace agreement in which both sides agreed to postpone a decision on Chechnya's political status until 2001, but that was cut short when the second Chechen war began in 1999 and subsequently Grozny was occupied by Russia until 2003, when Chechens voted to make Chechnya a separatist republic within Russia (editor's note: oh shi, the reason for the half-life 2 delay!?). But it is not completely independent and the separatists are still fighting to this day.

Now these coordinates lie within the Caucasus mountains (remember seeing mountains and cliffs in the videos?) and certainly we've got the mysterious Caspian sea right there just to the east to set the stage for this Western Europe combine government (Russia's answer to the Chechen rebels?).

I've gone off the deep end I know, but atleast I've got some sources:

• Incredibly informative Chechnya Timeline
• Awesome map of the caspian sea
• Map of 437N452
• Map that helped me determine that the coordinates were in Ingushetia
• Wikipedia entry for Chechnya
• Wikipedia entry for Grozny
• Got more Grozny information from here

Right? Oh well, still no answers, no cool asciis or secret webpages. See what you've done to us Valve? You've made us learn about history and geography! GG. :thumbs:

 

[ThePDW]

To me, it would make sense to have a "City 17" located in Russia, there are some very sparsely populated areas of Russia and it's population is dropping.

My 2 cents...