THE OPERATION BLUEBIRD BANNER ON UCHIKOSHI'S TWITTER IS OLD!
4infinity.co
What we know so far:
Another update from yesterday, the most recent letters added were C, Q, and D. CQD was the distress signal sent by the Titanic. Remember that at the beginning of 999, you are told you are on the sister skip, the Gigantic.
LET THE HYPE COMMENCE!
4infinity.co
What we know so far:
teaser: http://4infinity.co
Reveal at Anime Expo on July 3 link
Countdown Clock
Times Worldwide
AX2015 GAF thread
[thanks IchigoSharingan, Funyarinpa, Yasumi]
Hype-Waiting-Room
Still accepting patients as long as there's room.
SHORT RECAP
Things we know:
- this is just the longest "announcement of an announcement" ever, not some intricate ARG
- the numbers are a counter, counting down in real time to the end of the teaser on July 3 13:00 PDT
- until now, one word or number has appeared on the site on a weekly basis (always connected to a tweet or RT by Aksys using #4infinity) [update 06-25: first break in the pattern, second word/number in a single week]
- on July 3, Aksys is holding a panel at the Anime Expo 2015 (LA Convention Center) between 13:00 - 14:00 PDT
- it's been well over three months and there's never been a single denial by Aksys/RSG/Uchikoshi that the teaser is related to the ZE series; but all of them have hinted at this being related to ZE.
- The teaser site and Kotaro Uchikoshi are connected
Things we don’t know:
- what is this site teasing? (all we know is that it's related to Aksys' 10th anniversary, the name of the panel is still "TBD")
- what is the meaning of the words and numbers (only 34.0419 and -118.2687 are solved, the rest is still speculation)? Why are some static while others move? Why the capitalization of some words? Why different scrolldirecton/scrollspeed?
CHRONOLOGY
MARCH
- 03-18-2015 (Wed)
FB post by Aksys, first mention of the teaser site: http://4infinity.co
showing what we now know is a counter
On the same day, pictures A and B are discovered on the site via search function. They are removed by Aksys within a few days and parts of the site that could be accessed before are now locked.
(picture A, old)
(picture B, old)
- 03-20-2015 (Fri)
the counter changes for the 1st time (after 2+ days, we don’t know how long the site has been up)
GAF member blacksark tweets at RisingStarGames (European publisher for the last few Aksys games, including VLR):
- 03-27-2015 (Fri)
After one week, the counter changes for the 2nd time
- 03-31-2015 (Tue)
the word “ring” is scrolling from right to left above the numbers, then the word “salt” is displayed under the second Zero in the counter, then the word “salt” changes to “ring”, the scrolling word above disappears
Tweet by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
APRIL
- 04-01-2015 (Wed)
Kotaro Uchikoshi (Infinity Series, 999, VLR) tweets:
solved by GAF member GSR:
- 04-03-2015 (Fri)
After another week, the counter changes for the 3rd time
- 04-09-2015 (Thu)
new moving word: “coin”, moving left
Code:<h1><marquee behavior="scroll" direction=“left">[B]coin[/B]</marquee></h1>
Tweet by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
- 04-10-2015 (Fri)
After another week, the counter changes for the 4th time
- 04-13-2015 (Mon)
new static word: “ice cream”
Tweet by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
- 04-14-2015 (Tue)
start of this thread, I’ll try to update it whenever something happens
note: the information up to this point is gathered from previous discussion on GAF about 4infinity, thanks everyone who participated in those threads: 1, 2, 3, 4
- 04-15-2015 (Wed) [thanks grim-tales]
Someone on twitter asks Kotaro Uchikoshi (on his English twitter account) if he knows what the site is teasing. Uchikoshi responds with a cryptic answer:
lots of other twitter users keep bugging him about it, Uchikoshi responds again 2+ days later, praising people who made the connection
“ice cream => I scream”
(note: the Japanese word for ice cream is アイスクリーム (aisukuriimu) which sounds very similar to “I scream” when spoken out loud by someone pronouncing it in Japanese.)
- 04-17-2015 (Fri)
After another week, the counter changes for the 5th time
- 04-22-2015 (Wed) [thanks CrimsonFist, Funyarinpa]
new moving word: “firefighter”, moving right
The layout of the site was also slightly changed.
Code:<h1><marquee behavior="scroll" direction="right" scrollamount=“5">[B]firefighter[/B]</marquee></h1>
Tweet by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
- 04-24-2015 (Fr)
After another week, the counter changes for the 6th time
- 04-30-2015 (Thu) [thanks redhood56, grim-tales]
new static word: “shotgun”
Tweet by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
MAY
- 05-01-2015 (Fri)
Uchikoshi responds five times to questions from fans on Twitter regarding ZE3/4infinity
tweet 1&2
tweet 3&4
tweet 5
After another week, the counter changes for the 7th time
- 05-04-2015 (Mon) [thanks CrimsonFist, Nachos]
new static word: “Gab”, with a capital G
{gabidle or trivial talk, (vb) (intr) to talk excessively or idly, esp about trivial matters; gossip; chatter}
Tweet by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
- 05-06-2015 (Wed) [thanks grim-tales]
Uchikoshi retweets a tweet with a link to a blogpost written by a fan of the Zero Escape series in which the teaser site is explicitly mentioned (including a picture of the counter).
He also retweets a tweet with an image of a "Funyarinpa" in which ZE3 is mentioned
- 05-08-2015 (Fri)
After another week, the counter changes for the 8th time
- 05-13-2015 (Wed) [thanks CrimsonFist]
new static number: “1/216”
tweet by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
- 05-15-2015 (Fri)
After another week, the counter changes for the 9th time
- 05-21-2015 (Thu) [thanks grim_tales]
Rising Star Games responds to a question regarding ZE3 on twitter with lyrics from the song "Boss Of Me" by "They Might Be Giants" (aka. Malcolm In The Middle Theme Song)
- 05-22-2015 (Fri) [thanks Prelude., kuroneko0509, DrgnAK]
For the first time since the start of the teaser, a new “word” shows up on the same day as the counter change (both happened within minutes of each other)
- new moving number: “34.0419”, moving right
Code:<h1><marquee behavior="scroll" direction="right" scrollamount=“10”>[B]34.0419[/B]</marquee></h1>
update: 05-23-2015
solved by Gaffer DrgnAK
- RT by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
note: Sanabu Washizuka works for Aksys (Localization Specialist, Project Lead) Linkedin
he’s listed in the credits of Magus and VLR
- after another week, the counter changes for the 10th time
- 05-23-2015 (Sat)
Uchikoshi retweets another tweet in which ZE3 is mentioned
- 05-28-2015 (Thu) [thanks kuroneko0509, CrimsonFist]
new moving number: “-118.2687”, moving left.
Code:<h1><marquee behavior="scroll" direction="left" scrollamount=“2”>[B]-118.2687[/B]</marquee></h1>
already solved:
update: according to the AX schedule, the panel will take place in room 411 / LP4
tweet by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
- 05-29-2015 (Fri) [thanks grim_tales]
After another week, the counter changes for the 11th time
JUNE
- 06-01-2015 (Mon)
RSG retweets an image which can be interpreted as “(Operation) Bluebird (will succeed) in 2015”
- 06-02-2015 (Tue)
the schedule for Anime Expo 2015 is announced
update: revised AX schedule, Aksys panel 13:00 - 14:00 PDT (the panel begins at the exact minute that the counter will end according to the source code)
there's a chance the panel will be live streamed
- 06-04-2015 (Thu) [thanks CrimsonFist, kuroneko0509]
new moving word: “CUT-HERE”, moving right, first word in all capital letters.
Code:<h2><marquee behavior="scroll" direction="right" scrollamount=“9”>[B]CUT–HERE[/B]</marquee></h2>
note: all of the other moving words use header1, this is the first word to use header2
RT by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
note: Karen McOscar works for Aksys (Localization Editor) Linkedin
she’s listed in the credits of Magus and VLR
- 06-05-2015 (Fri) [thanks redditor MrOverreaction]
After another week, the counter changes for the 12th time
This is the third time a major change has happened on the site. The counter is now displaying three pairs of numbers. The first pair stands for months, the second pair for weeks, the third pair for days.
thanks to the source code, we now know for sure when the teaser will end
Code:"expire":"2015/07/03 13:00”,”exp_days”:”27”
- 06-06-2015 (Sat) [thanks PurpleMaster, GSR, grim_tales]
- After one day, the counter changes for the 13th time (the exact time when the counter changes every day depends on your timezone)
another confirmation that from now on, the counter will change on a daily basis.
- this is how the counter will probably go down until the announcement:
From now on, I won't mention every single counter change in the OP. Please check 4infinity.co if you want to know what the counter displays right now in your timezone.
- Uchikoshi responds multiple times to a question on twitter about the Bootstrap Paradox and how it relates to VLR. The most interesting response is this one, where he specifically mentions his next work:
- 06-09-2015 (Tue)
- Uchikoshi responds multiple times to questions on Twitter.
the most interesting reply is this one, in which he mentions his next work again:
- new static word: "shift"
- Tweet by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
- 06-11-2015 (Thu) [thanks Funyarinpa]
RSG tweets about “an exciting week ahead” (this is probably a reference to either E3 or the Steam Summer Sale). People tweet at RSG and ask them if it’s related to 4infinity. The interesting part is RSG’s response to a tweet with all the ZE/4infinity hashtags.
- 06-17-2015 (Wed) [thanks CrimsonFist, Irru]
new static word: "portrait"
Tweet by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
- 06-22-2015 (Mon) [thanks Irru]
new moving word: “psychopath” , moving left
Code:<h1><marquee behavior="scroll" direction="left" scrollamount="7">[B]psychopath[/B]</marquee></h1>
RT by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
note: Frank deWindt II works for Aksys (Director of Production at Aksys Games) Linkedin
he’s listed in the credits of Magus and VLR
- 06-23-2015 (Tue)
RSG respond twice to a tweet asking about 4infinity and ZE3
- 06-25-2015 (Thu) [thanks CrimsonFist]
new moving number: “50 m”, moving left
Code:<h1><marquee behavior="scroll" direction="left" scrollamount="3">[B]50 m[/B]</marquee></h1>
note: this is the first time that more than one word/number has been added in a single week
tweet by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
- 06-26-2015 (Fri) [thanks jonjonaug]
The “final evolution” of the counter, it now shows
in real time.
note: the exact time shown still depends on your timezone, if you want the counter to display the exact time left until the announcement, set your timezone to PDT/ location to LA or just check the Countdown Clock right on top of the OP.
- 06-29-2015 (Mon) [thanks spinz]
new static, capital letter: “C”
RT by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
note: Noba Nakayama worked on Magus and is listed in the VLR credits (Localization Lead)
and this is it the first result when you google her
- 06-30-2015 (Tue) [thanks Irru, CrimsonFist, D-Man, Nyoro SF]
- new static, capital letter: “Q”
- tweet by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
- tweet by Uchikoshi, the capital letter “D” written in morse code "-.."
- two very cheeky tweets by Aksys
JULY
- 07-01-2015 (Wed) [thanks kuroneko0509, Funyarinpa]
new static, capital letter: D
note: this is the same letter from yesterday’s Uchikoshi tweet, it's the "missing link" between Uchikoshi and the teaser
tweet by Aksys mentioning #4infinity
- 07-02-2015 (Thu) [thanks CrimsonFist]
Uchikoshi tweet, talking about his popularity in the West
- 07-03-2015 (Fri)
The Aksys Games Panel of <Title TBD>!
Watch here: http://www.twitch.tv/aksys_nation
Another update from yesterday, the most recent letters added were C, Q, and D. CQD was the distress signal sent by the Titanic. Remember that at the beginning of 999, you are told you are on the sister skip, the Gigantic.
LET THE HYPE COMMENCE!
