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Siren ARG

Keihart

Keihart

Member
So i was having a hard time finding the websites so i thought it would be a cool thread topic

Did you know that Siren (the PS2 game) had some ARG going on, with some info on the game being tied up to websites to pretend as if the whole premise of the game was happening on the real world?
Here are some of the websites that i was able to find again, took me a minute, they are not available anymore unless using the way back machine.

I'll add some screenshots of 2 of the websites to ilustrate.
There is one website that i couldn't find again, there used to be a website with a "live" stream video of the island, you would occasinally see some weird things while usually being a normal looking landscape of a village.

Occult Land Collection This is a site with a lot of info about where Hanuda, the game village is and whatnot, it's a like a forum (wayback machine link)
FvAunFF.png


otzBHVc.png

JpaBRMW.png


Urban Folklore Society A site written from the POV of someone investigating the rumors about the village, references some info from the previous website , while also referencing news papers and whatnot. (waybackmachine link)
NbConrs.png


edy1VoG.png


8YFkFDa.png

gefzc2z.png
 
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Keihart said:
I don't get who you are referencing.
Click to expand...
I realize my brain went crazy and mixed a lot of stuff.

I was referencing the whole "Abandoned" game made by BlueBox games studio headed by Hasan Kahraman. Which according to some would be a complex ARG made by Kojima teasing a new Silent Hill game.

I somehow mixed "Siren" with "Sirenhead" which I always associated with Silent Hill (but is not). In addition Hasan was on the PSN playing a game called "Sirenhead" than no one can access I think.

ANYWAY ! I am crazy and stupid on this one so here's the explanation xD
 
Keihart said:
There is one website that i couldn't find again, there used to be a website with a "live" stream video of the island, you would occasinally see some weird things while usually being a normal looking landscape of a village.
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Apparently it was the camera they set up on this video at 8:30?

 
SlimeGooGoo said:
Apparently it was the camera they set up on this video at 8:30?

Click to expand...

i think it is, we are getting closer now ...
Will Ferrell Lol GIF by NBA


That video is for the PS3 release and i remember watching the website around 2005 or 6...good lead tho, might be worth taking a quick look through the PS3 in game archives.
 
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Damn I wish there was a new Siren more than a Silent Hill,the newer resi games stole so much of the PT aesthetic and really nail that western horror vibe so having an AAA Eastern horror game would be a nice change of pace.
 
since we are on the topic of Siren, this is a cool video of a village that inspired the look of Hanuda


im still looking for the "live" footage video.
playing do a barrel roll GIF
 
A Youtube comment on the video linked above

当時はもう一本続きのストーリーが公開されてたのと宣伝ホームページに羽生田村の電話番号が公開されてて実際に屍人とテレビ電話で通話できるという非常に凝ったつくりでした

At that time, another story was released and Hanyuda Village's phone number was released on the promotion homepage, and it was a very elaborate structure that you can actually talk to the corpse by videophone.
Click to expand...

Their marketing department was really inspired.
 
SlimeGooGoo said:
A Youtube comment on the video linked above



Their marketing department was really inspired.
Click to expand...
wow, that sounds pretty cool.
This ARG went way deeper than i ever expected and knew at the time.
i haven't found any videos or posts detailing it, so i guess it has been lost in time unless someone gathers all the pieces.
 
Keihart said:
it totally looks like it, do you have any clues as to where it was supposed to be hosted?
Going by the date, i guess it was totally for the PS3 game and not the previous entries.
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Apparently it's from that IP address: 203.216.142.184/

羽生蛇村を求めて

このサイトは伝説の羽生蛇村を調査し、その謎を解明することを目的としています。
web.archive.org

From the description:
羽生蛇村ライブカメラ
羽生蛇村にまつわる奇妙な噂を解明するために、我々の撮影スタッフが最も超常現象が起きるといわれる場所にライブカメラを設置しました。また撮影スタッフによる羽生蛇村特別取材番組が予定されています。

Hanyu Snake Village Live Camera
In order to unravel the strange rumors about Hanyu Snake Village, our filming staff installed a live camera in a place where the most paranormal phenomena are said to occur. In addition, a special coverage program of Hanyu Snake Village by the shooting staff is scheduled.
Click to expand...

Here are some more videos

And this website with some pics
 
SlimeGooGoo said:
Apparently it's from that IP address: 203.216.142.184/

羽生蛇村を求めて

このサイトは伝説の羽生蛇村を調査し、その謎を解明することを目的としています。
web.archive.org

From the description:


Here are some more videos

And this website with some pics
Click to expand...
very cool shit dude, i guess searching on japanese was the right call.
Thanks.
Some of this crazy shit feels like a dream after some time when it gets deleted from the internet and if it wasn't all that popular it becomes hard to find.
 
Siren totally works fine in the PCSX2 emulator. Siren 2 works great in it as well.

I guess you can still get Blood Curse from the PS3 store. I remember downloading all of mine in case the store goes down.
 
Damn, back when the internet was 1.0 and all pages looked really rudimentary and real information wasn't so widespread, an ARG like that must have really brought the horror of the game into our world, so to speak, in a much more frightening and believable way. Today you can't do something mysterious like that without it being figured out in 10 mins by the online community.
 
DragoonWalker said:
Damn, back when the internet was 1.0 and all pages looked really rudimentary and real information wasn't so widespread, an ARG like that must have really brought the horror of the game into our world, so to speak, in a much more frightening and believable way. Today you can't do something mysterious like that without it being figured out in 10 mins by the online community.
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There is this old, rickety ghost sightings site out there too that is spooky because it is so low tech. I will have to find it again.
 
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Yeah. I can't find that ghost site. It had stories of ghost sightings throughout the United States. I guess the site finally died.
 
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Krathoon said:
Yeah. I can't find that ghost site. It had stories of ghost sightings throughout the United States. I guess the site finally died.
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That's too bad. I use to frequent a few myself but I don't know the names anymore. They might be on the internet way back machine somewhere. It's hard to find anything with Google anymore, the way it searches has changed and often doesn't even look for the text you put in.

I feel like there's good potential to create a horror game that's entirely based around internet 1.0, kinda like Hypnospace Outlaw but horror.
 
So i was talking with a friend who is a bigger fan of the franchiese than me and he confirmed that there are 2 versions of the page with he video of the camera looking at the village.
There is the one that S SlimeGooGoo helped me find, the one for the PS3 game, and there was also one made for the original game. And it kinda totally makese sense since the PS3 version is somewhat of a remake.
This is gonna be hard to find if even possible, im still intrigued.

I guess ill replay the first game and see if any of the archives has some URL with some link to, i really cant recall how were you supposed to find this particular site.
 
What surprises me is how much effort japanese fans dedicated to Siren fan sites.
Back then though people put a lot of effort in making their websites look and feel different and thematic.

Here's one with some interesting links (doesn't have the live cam of the first game though)
 
SlimeGooGoo said:
What surprises me is how much effort japanese fans dedicated to Siren fan sites.
Back then though people put a lot of effort in making their websites look and feel different and thematic.

Here's one with some interesting links (doesn't have the live cam of the first game though)
Click to expand...
Yeah, old internet was really cool, there was some real charm on personal sites instead of social media.
The site was not just a recollection of photos, but usually way more expressive in some other ways.
 
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I've found a Gamefaqs thread made about the subject around the time New Translation released on the west, im making my through way it, it's 13 pages long.

here

S8bEeb0.png
 
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After reading the gamefaqs thread i've found that the IP of the cameras website was originally linked to http://www.hanyuda.com/.
Searching on TheWayBackMachine it gives me some info that might or might not confirm the previous online campaing.
Seems like the website was indexed and crawled at some point around the release of the first game and then again at the release of the PS3 game, sadly, there are no working snapshots on TheWayBackMachine from the 2004 version.
TmWIoFQ.png



The 2008 version is saved tho, it looks pretty cool
PcVUsFl.png

bGr81Hh.png


Edit: added a translated version, you can see the text mentioning the live feed, on the IP version of the webpage there are no images saved but the text it's the same, which kinda confirms that they were the same at one point.
Right now the http://www.hanyuda.com/ takes you to a PSN or PS Store page only.
 
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So does this mean we will be getting a new Japanese developed Silent Hill together with Siren too ? What a time to be alive for survival horror fans
 
Found another interesting fan site, has a list of interesting links
forbidden-siren.ru

Forbidden SIREN - Секретные сайты

Вся информация о секретных сайтах из хоррор-игры Forbidden SIREN для PS2. Shibito.com, Occultland.com, Hanuda-Incident, Hanudagreetings, и другие тайные вебсайты.
forbidden-siren.ru forbidden-siren.ru

Also, the actor of the first game did a stream of him playing the game in 2020


Rickyiez said:
So does this mean we will be getting a new Japanese developed Silent Hill together with Siren too ? What a time to be alive for survival horror fans
Click to expand...
Dog Stop Right There GIF
 
SlimeGooGoo said:
Found another interesting fan site, has a list of interesting links
forbidden-siren.ru

Forbidden SIREN - Секретные сайты

Вся информация о секретных сайтах из хоррор-игры Forbidden SIREN для PS2. Shibito.com, Occultland.com, Hanuda-Incident, Hanudagreetings, и другие тайные вебсайты.
forbidden-siren.ru forbidden-siren.ru

Also, the actor of the first game did a stream of him playing the game in 2020



Dog Stop Right There GIF
Click to expand...

That's a pretty good list, it has almost all the sites i've found, gonna check them out later on the way back machine.
I read about the VA of Kyoya Suda playing the game on a youtube comment but didnt search for it, interesting.
 
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