Halo ARG causes 300+ calls to unwitting college student

Only 300+?

With the hype surrounding H3, I thought it would have been in the tens of thousands. Maybe its not going to break the record.

Let's say you do have me boxed in ... and I have to put you down ...

now thats what i call a sticky situation

Nice to see the guy is taking it in good spirit.

Hmm, I hope he has a good cell phone plan... I know if they called me, those 450 minutes would be eaten up real quick.

So, is someone going to post the number?

This reminds me of the guy who made a youtube video that just said "call me to talk" followed by his cell number (that was it), and got 3,000 calls in one month.

Then again, that was on purpose.

my friend was one of the 300 people that won crackdown from the xbox live/the 300 promotion. microsoft sent emails to everyone with a phone number to confirm that they had won. unfortunately the phone number was wrong, causing some teenage girl to get all the calls. you would think that they would have made sure something like this didn't happen again.

It should be noted, this was mostly the Bungie.net guys.

Anyone from the other, more respectable forums not only waited until a decent hour to call, but also had one person call to confirm whether or not the item was in-game our out-of-game. There are obviously stragglers, just clawing for whatever info they can get who probably called before reading all the posts and the updates about the calls, but for the most part, the organized ARG centric forums kept their heads about them.

Msg# 18oo- Diversion 237- complete.
3 90 1

@mattt

I don't think Microsoft intended for it to be a phone number to begin with. It was probably a number meant for something else that people mistook for a phone number. That's just a guess though.

VanderZand?

Was someone typing birth certificates while drunk 20 years ago?

@8

oh noes, we've been chosened...

Hmm...
A MARKETING student who just so happens to have a Red vs. Blue audio clip voicemail greeting. I call shenanigans.

People are acting so silly about this whole thing, it's unbelievable what these kids are asking the "artificial intelligence" (aka some dude at a desk laughing at them giving incredibly vague responses)

Steve: I think they might fix that if it were the case. I just wish this guy had a son and named him Alexander Alec VanderZand. What do you think?

I also won the 300 Crackdown contest. Here is the e-mail that I recieved (There was no phone number at all):

Dear Winner,

CONGRATULATIONS! As the Independent Judging Organization retained by Warner Bros. Pictures Domestic Marketing ("Warner Bros."), we are pleased to inform you that your entry has been randomly selected as one of three hundred (300) Prize Winners in the "300 - CRACKDOWN" SWEEPSTAKES drawing! Your prize (pending response to this email notification) is a "CrackdownTM" Xbox 360 video game.

In accordance with the Official Rules of the Sweepstakes, you must be a legal resident of the fifty (50) United States (except the States of Florida, New York and Rhode Island and excluding Puerto Rico, all U.S. territories and possessions and overseas military installations and where prohibited or restricted by law) or the District of Columbia and be 18 years of age or older as of the date of your entry.

If you are not of legal age of majority in your state of residency, please bring this email notification to the attention of your parent or legal guardian so that you may respond together.

To confirm eligibility and acceptance of the prize, please confirm and provide the following information:

1. I confirm that I am eligible in accordance with the above-stated: (YES/NO)
2. NAME: (confirm)
3. COMPLETE MAILING ADDRESS (that you would like prize sent to) (NO POST OFFICE BOXES):
4. HOME PHONE #:
5. DOB:
6. IF NOT OF LEGAL AGE OF MAJORITY, NAME OF GAURDIAN

Please respond by e-mail to this notification within five (5) business days. As is stated in the Official Rules, your prize may be forfeited and an alternate winner selected if you do not respond to our email notification within this deadline. Also, please be aware that the Official Rules state that ONLY ONE (1) ENTRY PER PERSON, ADDRESS OR E-MAIL WILL BE ACCEPTED FOR THIS SWEEPSTAKES, REGARDLESS OF METHOD(S) OR COMBINATION(S) OF ENTRY. ONLY ONE (1) PRIZE PER HOUSEHOLD AWARDED.

Once we have received email responses from ALL 300 winners and verified eligibility, your prize will be shipped to you within 6-8 weeks.

On behalf of the Sponsor of this promotion, Warner Bros., thank you for participating and congratulations again!

Sincerely,

WEST COAST MARKETING


I don't believe the phone call mistake from that.

14. Adam:

D'oh!
That kid would get beat up more often than a kid named Richard Head.

http://www.whitepages.com/5116/search/FindPerson?firstname_begins_with=1&firstname=Richard&name_begins_with=0&name=Head&housenumber=&street=&city_zip=&state_id=

yikes. those guys got shafted!

he should of pretended he was the real deal, make all sorts of false claims like a map editor and whatnot and get everyone all over hyped. Then see if bungie stepped in and said it was not true and how hes not affiliated with them.