ilovebees is back -- or is it?

by James Ransom-Wiley { Mar 3rd 2006 at 1:30PM }

The infamous viral marketing campaign has resurfaced. However, it's doubtful that this new site will reveal any information pertaining to Halo 3 or for that matter, any upcoming Bungie title. "ilovebees2" features a black screen with lines of random letters, numbers, and symbols. There's also a timer that is counting down to the end of March—or, the beginning of April (also known as April Fool's Day)—and a 12-second audio loop that sorta sounds like a subway train. Most striking is an image that's partially carved out of by the lines of gibberish. IGN draws an interesting comparison between this image and one used to publicize Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. In addition, the ilovebees2 link has been tagged with the word "nonexistence" (a synonym for "oblivion").

IGN also points to several hidden phrases scattered throughout the page, including, "Hello?Is this message getting through?please help its dark and I cannot find a way out they are coming." And if you click the timer, you'll jump to a page with the words "nonexistence, nothing, nowhere, nullity, obscurity, out there, void," followed by "FOUR OH FOUR PAGE." Since Oblivion is now set for release on March 20 and the ilovebees2 timer doesn't expire until April 1, it's hard to believe that Bethseda, 2K Games, or Microsoft has commissioned the site. Any bright ideas?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

chris @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:41PM

it says "find the key" a little bit above and to the right of the timer as well, for what it's worth.

dasupastar @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:42PM

if you look at the carvd out image sideways, its the front half of mario's head, the nose moustache and eyes are all there

Darum @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:42PM

hmm... the audio file sounds like a guy wearing heavy leather boots walking down a stone hallway, to me...

el moco @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:45PM

you guys missed the secret screen on the main page. on the bottom left of the ilovebees2.com screen, there is a link it takes you to a black screen embedded with the pic of a ascii key in a box.......
halo 3 here we come!!!!!!

Carlo @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:47PM

On the page el moco mentioned, there's also this:

DATABASE RECORDS FOR MARCH 2, 2006

PASSWORD ENTRIES CORRECT: 0
PASSWORD ENTERIES INCORRECT : 1,048
USERNAMES CORRECT: RMORROW

So yeah. No idea what that means.

kruderand @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:50PM

Also, the word "oblivion" is hidden in the text.

Darum @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:51PM

on the page asking for a pass word, there is i line of words that keep changin. one of the things it says is "You must login in before proceeding- ******!" there are six stars, which may mean the password is six Characters long.

scott @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:53PM

it looks like one of the bad guys from marathon to me... it's been years since i played it, but look at the 'arm' on the left.

Truong @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:53PM

This is strecthing it a little bit but it kind of looks like someone riding a banshee form the side.

wombat @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:54PM

is it just me, or does it look like there's another image hidden in the text if you scroll down?

also, I dont think it's mario, because the bill of his hat is missing.

djphatjive @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:55PM

Here is the words I have found in the page

Access Denied
clues begin
contact us@
dvd
Find the Key
closely
Missing letters
your time is
clues vanishing
oblivion
never
morrow

Hello? Is this message getting through? please help its dark and I cannot find a way out they are coming pl*** terminated

convenient
oswave
convenient
whave
take head time
clues found

Anyone good at solving puzzles. I cant figure anything out. But I do thhink oblivion is not it.

el moco @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:56PM

maybe it's for bungie's new xbox live arcade project????

Razor Blade @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:56PM

If you go here: http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?r=2&q=oblivion (dictionary.com) and look at the second entry the words appear in the exact same order as they do when you click on the timer.

bqtrain @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:57PM

This is definitely for Oblivion. Check out this thesaurus entry for the word oblivion.

http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=oblivion

Here is the second entry

Main Entry: oblivion
Part of Speech: noun 2
Definition: nothingness
Synonyms: blackness, darkness, eclipse, emptiness, extinction, gone, limbo, nihility, nirvana, no-man's-land, nonexistence, nothing, nowhere, nullity, obscurity, out there, void

The important part are the synonyms "nonexistence, nothing, nowhere, nullity, obscurity, out there, void" which are the same words on the site that the clock links to.

http://www.ilovebees2.com/index.html

BOOYAH

RS @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:59PM

the page was made in front page ... I doubt this is anything but some kids screwing around.

Greg @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:59PM

I found this word in there as well : "COVENEANT"

Also, the name of the Audio file is "soon"

Could it be? Halo 3 is on the way??? I hope so!!!

Jeremy @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:59PM

maybe it has something to do with this secretly, yet to be announced game that will be told later today?

http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2006/03/03/ign-to-announce-unexpected-360-game/

logikil @ Mar 3rd 2006 1:59PM

One word got left out of that list that definitely points to something halo related:

COVENEANT

Yeah freeking ha

Aaron @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:00PM

nonexistence, nothing, nowhere, nullity, obscurity, out there, void

FOUR OH FOUR PAGE

Interesting...

_habit_ @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:01PM

I tihnk the contact thing might be "contactus@webmaster"

logikil @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:05PM

Another thing, the error pages heading is AESS Denied: The letter C is missing. This may or may not mean anything.

Dt7 @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:05PM

Frankie says:

http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=690361

(Frankie = Bungie)

Adam @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:06PM

That picture, to me, clearly is the same shot of an armored warrior walking forwards that has been used in Oblivion promos. It's from the shoulders up, and you can plainly see the shape of thelmet around his face.

DJ @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:06PM

I agree this is probably somebody just screwing around. If they were going to do something for Halo 3 they would not reuse their old ilovebees deal. They would come up with something new. I'm sure right after ilovebees.com debuted someone bought up the domain of ilovebees2 just in case. Don't even bother with this site.

Komrade Kayce @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:09PM

Its fake. Read that Frankie post, posted above. What a load of crap.

wombat @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:10PM

oh, you guys, the game's already over. it ended yesterday I guess?

http://www.ilovebees2.com/winner.html

Brett @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:11PM

It's definitley for oblivion. Look at the ascii image, and then at this picture.

http://www.elderscrolls.com/images/downloads/obliv_wallpaper2_800.bmp

though I'm not sure why they would start viral marketing for oblivion only 3 weeks before it comes out.

PiNPOiNT @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:12PM

If you goto http://www.ilovebees2.com/success.html

then you get the following

CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN INFORMATION ACCEPTED

w00t!

logikil @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:13PM

If this really is for Halo 3, why would anyone from Bungie say it is?

It would make sense for them to say its fake because they have never officially said Halo 3 is in the works.

stag @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:13PM

WHOIS data -

Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.

DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: ILOVEBEES2.COM
Created on: 01-Feb-06
Expires on: 01-Feb-07
Last Updated on: 01-Feb-06

Domain servers in listed order:
PARK19.SECURESERVER.NET
PARK20.SECURESERVER.NET

-
like as has been said, probably some kids screwing around. using domains by proxy to mask their identity. i can't imagine a legit business like m$ or bethesda using godaddy, either

PiNPOiNT @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:15PM

And if you type in any thing that would give it a 404 error, you get this eg: http://ilovebees2.com/garbage.html

nonexistence, nothing, nowhere, nullity, obscurity, out there, void

FOUR OH FOUR PAGE

Komrade Kayce @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:21PM

This site is obviously not the work of anyone intelligent or skilled, it got torn apart faster than the original ilovebees, people went all pirahna on this one.

PiNPOiNT @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:22PM

AND!!!!

if you goto this page

http://www.ilovebees2.com/winner.html

it says

BZZZ BZZZZ All WINNERS RECEIVED 35 copies given.. watch for more.

so i guess they were giving away copies of whatever it was....

JGE @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:30PM

Really don't think it was Bungie or MS as the audio file is embedded quicktime. I think MS or their affiliates would use WM? Just a thought.

Komrade Kayce @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:35PM

Plus, even if it was Bungie, it wouldnt make any sense. Theres typos and spelling errors all over the place, thats obviously the oblivion screenshot, and the guy from Bungie could have easily said he didnt know instead of saying its fake. Plus, if it IS Bungie/Microsoft, what the hell would they be doing using a Bethesda game 'theme' anyways.

No, I think its just a couple of idiots who suddenly got a lot of free publicity based on the domain name and a bunch of crappy gibberish text.

heistgonewrong @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:37PM

Sounds like a clock ticking...

Anton @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:41PM

this is a fake, look at the source code:

/*
Highligher Scroller script- By JavaScript Kit
For this and over 400+ free scripts, visit http://www.javascriptkit.com/
This notice must stay intact
*/

haha

lestrade @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:41PM

Um, it's pretty obvious that's an ASCII rendering of the main character art being used for Oblivion. Here's the render. The pose is different, but the character is the same.

This is probably a fan effort. The term "ilovebees" is contextually related to the Halo 2 ARG of the same name. Using "ilovebees2" for anything else wouldn't make sense. For the record, here's the WHOIS information for the domain:

Private, Registration ILOVEBEES2.COM@domainsbyproxy.com
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599

Johan @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:42PM

Given the keywords found, it sounds to me a lot like something you'd see in the Marathon series (sounds like some of Durandal's ramblings, actually). The image in the text even looks like a Compiler (though it is obviously generated from the Oblivion desktop picture linked above).

Also, the key in the box mentioned earlier, the box is made out of 7s. The number 7 was used constantly in the Marathon series.

Boy a new Marathon game would be awesome...(and no, Halo doesn't count, even though they are related)

montee @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:44PM

and if you move the cursor over the timer it says "WHAT YOU KNOW" where explorer tells you the status of the page you are looking at. towards the bottom left side, right above the "start" button.

lestrade @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:45PM

Sorry, I just realised that I posted the same thing as two other people, only later. Will read more closely next time!

Jonathan Cleary @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:31PM

I played with the audio file a little. When I slowed it down it didn't do much, but I sped it up all the way, sounds like someone shaking a can of spray paint or insect repellant.

Who knows? Probably just an anomaly, but it was fun to play with the sound file

James @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:34PM

Just playing around with it, found that if you try to access the page as an FTP (ftp://ilovebees2.com), you'll run into an actual FTP and not an empty void.

Interesting.

Chris @ Mar 3rd 2006 3:47PM

The countdown timer's Java code contains a message stating that it was developed by Michael Hartman with an email address at Auburn university, if anyone's interested.

Joel @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:06PM

Here are all of the words that I found and thought were pertinent. Phrases that I think are important are in brackets. (words in each line appear on the same line on the page).

[ACCESS DENIED]
[CLUES BEGINTO]
[CONTACT "US@" WEBMASTER@]
FORM
[FIND THE KEY]
PAGe5 sweeT
eYe
eye
CLOSELY P0rt13
[MISSINGLETTERS "CC"]
ouT *>>CGI>*
[YOURTIMEIS] 3YAy
eye
OFF
[CLUESVANISHING]
SPy
[Door]
Faq
[sOnY]
[OBLIVION]
[OnOff]
In Off
[NEVER]
ouT
Off On eye WakE
yesnO
[MORROW]
FOGOn
naggabag *Not important, but I like it anyway :)
[Hello?Is this message getting through?please help its dark and I cannot find a way out they are coming pl****TERMINATED]
[COVENEANT]
[TAKEHEADTIME]
[XCLUESFOUN]

Raskawa @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:11PM

COVENEANT and HAVE ME are on the same line...

A little below "TAKEHEADTIME".. not sure what that is about.. I tried pulling out strings of characters that were obviously repeated, but it did not bring anything that hasn't been found out.

-Rask

matt @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:24PM

I call either a new Marathon or a fake.

Jeeves @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:41PM

Hello?Is this message getting through?please help its dark and I cannot find a way out they are coming pl****TERMINATED

its been a while but does that sound like one of the transmissions from HALO (one) from when the marines were attacked by the flood

Tom @ Mar 3rd 2006 4:48PM

It's made with "Microsoft FrontPage 5.0". I'm not sure if someone mentioned that before, but I think it's clear that it's a website set up by MS, because everybody else would probably use Dreamweaver or (not so probably) GoLive.

Pick @ Mar 3rd 2006 5:11PM

You can view the source code of gdform.asp (the "login" handler) by going to http://www.ilovebees2.com/welcome.html and viewing the source code, if any ASP programers are reading this, you will see how the login handler works. Also look at the source code of http://www.ilovebees2.com/test.html and if you wait long enough, you will see T+ and if you click it, it will go to http://www.ilovebees2.com/coundtown.html.