Island of Rhodes Unfolds
There's more to this GOW teaser site than we ever thought possible. WAY more.
Published: April 12, 2007
It's been a hell of an unfolding these past several hours: what first seemed to be a hoax countdown soon revealed itself to be a series of making-of videos (albeit malfunctioning), but now we've come to find the Island of Rhodes teaser site to be more intricate than imaginable.
Several dogged users on forums like GameFAQs came to find that on the site's history of Rhodes section, there was actually a hidden puzzle in the background. Several Greek letters (ten in all) can be seen etched into the rock and edifices, and although your mouse won't detect them as links, they indeed can be interacted with. The trick is to click the letters in order to spell out "KRATOS." Be aware, though, that the Greek letters are not necessarily representative of the English keys (Rho, for example, looks like a "P" in Greek, but that's your "R". Sigma is "S", etc.). We're compiled a visual capture of their locations, though you can solve it on your own if you feel daring enough. Here's a list of the Greek conversions if you need 'em.
Solve the puzzle, and you'll progress to a new helping of making-of videos, these ones relevant to the Pegasus flying scene. But what's this? Another "Proceed" button sits in the top right. Click on that bad boy, and you'll be hit with yet another puzzle. This time, it's tile-sliding, where you'll be tasked with rearranging a GOW2 still correctly in less than three minutes, or else the puzzle will refresh itself to a new picture.
Sound difficult? Yeah, we're still struggling with it ourselves (but if you want to be super cheap and just skip to the good stuff, you can double-click the "Progress" button to bypass the puzzle altogether [UPDATE] Cheaters be damned! SCEA has removed the double-click trick, but in return has beefed the puzzle countdown up to five minutes to make the tile-shifting a bit more manageable). This brings you to another series of making-of videos, a subsequent puzzle (which involves deciphering Roman numerals) before revealing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Ready for it? It's an ultra-secret code to unlock an HD Mode (it's not 720p, but rather full-size 480p) in God of War II as well as an entirely new countdown, this one leading us to midnight PST on April 24. This one we think is actually legit folks, as a new GOW logo progressively peels back as the days and hours wind down. "Chains Of" something seems to be the subtitle for Kratos' newest PSP/PS3 outing.
So there you, have it folks. The Island of Rhodes boils down to a crafty series of puzzles and rewards, and a hell of an Easter Egg for fans considering the URL itself was disguised in a hit combo sequence. If you still find yourself stuck at the initial countdown, break out the CTRL+F5 and you should be on your way. We'll keep you posted!
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Original story from 12:30AM, 04/12/07
[UPDATE]
Perhaps some folks at SCEA aren't so mischievous after all. Following the PST countdown on the website (which also ticked down to midnight, make the clock timezone-specific), the timer was once again refreshed to two additional days, but some tinkering with the site reveals what we'd all been waiting for... kind of.
It looks as though the Island of Rhodes has something of a bug issue for going on, but visitors who try some F5 handiwork (or perhaps just view the site in another browser) will come across a revamped age gate and -- what's this? -- a loading bar.
Once complete, the site brings up an in-browser video player, along with several selectable video feeds attributed to a handful of GOW2 team members, including the game's director Cory Barlog (Jaffe is nowhere to be found). Problem is, none of the videos work.
Connection errors aside, the site does link to another suggestive page, which offers a historical description of the Isle and just a few lingering questions regarding how the Colossus of Rhodes, a mighty statue that stood guard over the city, was destroyed (earthquake, or something more?). A box to the left also yields downloadable wallpaper of Kratos atop Pegasus in three standard flavors: 1024x768, 1200x1026 and 1600x1200.
Given the team's recent documentary outing in the "From Myth To Legend" series, who can say at this point if the site is more likely additional GOW2-related footage than it is an entirely new game announcement. We'll continue to keep you posted, if and when the site is fully functional.
---
It seems like the perfect viral campaign for a franchise that most anyone is willing to sit up and take notice to. First, slip a hidden URL address in God of War II that pops up for those vicious enough to pull off a 999,999 hit combo in the game. Then, have that site reveal nothing more than an ominous countdown to (presumably) Kratos’ next big epic adventure (seeing as he's hauntingly staring us down in the background). And indeed, www.islandofrhodes.org has had the Internet abuzz for the past few weeks as its clock ceaselessly winds down to the time of midnight PST on April 12 (or 9PM, April 11 for you Pacific folks).
And like the suckers we are, here we sat, waiting anxiously, as hours turned into minutes and minutes minutes into mere seconds, seconds before we may finally see what could potentially be the next God of War game. And then, finally, the clock struck zero.
…only to refresh the countdown with an additional two days tacked onto it.
Damn you, Sony. This had better be worth it.
Several dogged users on forums like GameFAQs came to find that on the site's history of Rhodes section, there was actually a hidden puzzle in the background. Several Greek letters (ten in all) can be seen etched into the rock and edifices, and although your mouse won't detect them as links, they indeed can be interacted with. The trick is to click the letters in order to spell out "KRATOS." Be aware, though, that the Greek letters are not necessarily representative of the English keys (Rho, for example, looks like a "P" in Greek, but that's your "R". Sigma is "S", etc.). We're compiled a visual capture of their locations, though you can solve it on your own if you feel daring enough. Here's a list of the Greek conversions if you need 'em.
Solve the puzzle, and you'll progress to a new helping of making-of videos, these ones relevant to the Pegasus flying scene. But what's this? Another "Proceed" button sits in the top right. Click on that bad boy, and you'll be hit with yet another puzzle. This time, it's tile-sliding, where you'll be tasked with rearranging a GOW2 still correctly in less than three minutes, or else the puzzle will refresh itself to a new picture.
Sound difficult? Yeah, we're still struggling with it ourselves (but if you want to be super cheap and just skip to the good stuff, you can double-click the "Progress" button to bypass the puzzle altogether [UPDATE] Cheaters be damned! SCEA has removed the double-click trick, but in return has beefed the puzzle countdown up to five minutes to make the tile-shifting a bit more manageable). This brings you to another series of making-of videos, a subsequent puzzle (which involves deciphering Roman numerals) before revealing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Ready for it? It's an ultra-secret code to unlock an HD Mode (it's not 720p, but rather full-size 480p) in God of War II as well as an entirely new countdown, this one leading us to midnight PST on April 24. This one we think is actually legit folks, as a new GOW logo progressively peels back as the days and hours wind down. "Chains Of" something seems to be the subtitle for Kratos' newest PSP/PS3 outing.
So there you, have it folks. The Island of Rhodes boils down to a crafty series of puzzles and rewards, and a hell of an Easter Egg for fans considering the URL itself was disguised in a hit combo sequence. If you still find yourself stuck at the initial countdown, break out the CTRL+F5 and you should be on your way. We'll keep you posted!
------
Original story from 12:30AM, 04/12/07
[UPDATE]
Perhaps some folks at SCEA aren't so mischievous after all. Following the PST countdown on the website (which also ticked down to midnight, make the clock timezone-specific), the timer was once again refreshed to two additional days, but some tinkering with the site reveals what we'd all been waiting for... kind of.
It looks as though the Island of Rhodes has something of a bug issue for going on, but visitors who try some F5 handiwork (or perhaps just view the site in another browser) will come across a revamped age gate and -- what's this? -- a loading bar.
Once complete, the site brings up an in-browser video player, along with several selectable video feeds attributed to a handful of GOW2 team members, including the game's director Cory Barlog (Jaffe is nowhere to be found). Problem is, none of the videos work.
Connection errors aside, the site does link to another suggestive page, which offers a historical description of the Isle and just a few lingering questions regarding how the Colossus of Rhodes, a mighty statue that stood guard over the city, was destroyed (earthquake, or something more?). A box to the left also yields downloadable wallpaper of Kratos atop Pegasus in three standard flavors: 1024x768, 1200x1026 and 1600x1200.
Given the team's recent documentary outing in the "From Myth To Legend" series, who can say at this point if the site is more likely additional GOW2-related footage than it is an entirely new game announcement. We'll continue to keep you posted, if and when the site is fully functional.
---
It seems like the perfect viral campaign for a franchise that most anyone is willing to sit up and take notice to. First, slip a hidden URL address in God of War II that pops up for those vicious enough to pull off a 999,999 hit combo in the game. Then, have that site reveal nothing more than an ominous countdown to (presumably) Kratos’ next big epic adventure (seeing as he's hauntingly staring us down in the background). And indeed, www.islandofrhodes.org has had the Internet abuzz for the past few weeks as its clock ceaselessly winds down to the time of midnight PST on April 12 (or 9PM, April 11 for you Pacific folks).
And like the suckers we are, here we sat, waiting anxiously, as hours turned into minutes and minutes minutes into mere seconds, seconds before we may finally see what could potentially be the next God of War game. And then, finally, the clock struck zero.
…only to refresh the countdown with an additional two days tacked onto it.
Damn you, Sony. This had better be worth it.