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Sunset Overdrive ARG - DetectiveGAF required!

B

BraXzy

Member
Microsoft are currently running an ARG for newly released Sunset Overdrive. Some people have come across this, and there was a small thread on Reddit and it got mentioned in the OT but not many people have picked up on this yet. MS ran a similar promotion for Titanfall earlier in the year which I won
inb4shill
. The prizes were insanely awesome so it is definitely worth trying your hand at cracking this!

Here's what we've got so far:

More up to date stuff here: RECAP PART ONE / RECAP PART TWO / RECAP PART THREE

There was a glitch in a recent TV ad, the same set up as last time. This time in the glitch there was Morse code hidden within. For those not fluent, it translates to O V E R C H A R G E D R I N K . C O M 4 0 4 P A G E
zRHHByO.png
Click to expand...

It's the 404 page of the fictional energy drink from the game. If you go to that page, you'll notice that a glitch comes up and theres a few clues knocking about. There is the long code at the top, the thing bottom left and the mention of Rupert Kane.

H0ZRfxE.png
Click to expand...

Rupert Kane is the CEO of the energy drink company from the game. He was mentioned by FizzcoSays, a Twitter handle set up for a character from the game. Specifically, a LinkedIn page made for him.http://t.co/lpYb6sgWvG The code is mentioned here again along with mention of Book Ciphers. I'm not an expert so I'm pretty stumped with this. There's also mention of hiring Gareth Keenan who is a character from The Office UK but I think this is a red herring.

One last thing. Someone on Reddit found that if you changed the link of the GIF from the page from new to old it showed some letters with corresponding numbers top right which suggests each of the numbers represent a letter. It can't be times because there are impossible ones like 4:100. The only thing if they are indeed letters, there's only one that repeats.

Lets crack this code!
 
A

Azlan

Member
So I am guessing we really need to figure out what book the cipher is using. The A 2:3, B 6:1, C 13:21 must just be examples so you know it is the correct text or not? The first number is always relatively low so it must be line or paragraph number and the second number must be page number.
 
M

MattyG

Banned
Does the retail game come with an instruction manual or anything? If the code is something similar to a book code, I'd assume they'd want to pick a text that everyone who has the game has access to.
 
B

BraXzy

Member
Azlan said:
So I am guessing we really need to figure out what book the cipher is using. The A 2:3, B 6:1, C 13:21 must just be examples so you know it is the correct text or not? The first number is always relatively low so it must be line or paragraph number and the second number must be page number.
Click to expand...

MattyG said:
Does the retail game come with an instruction manual or anything? If the code is something similar to a book code, I'd assume they'd want to pick a text that everyone who has the game has access to.
Click to expand...

Maybe if the second number is indeed page number is it the official guidebook or something? I can't find any sort of clue that hints at what kind of book it is using.
 
C

chuckycem

Member
This looks fun. I do not have the game or even a XO but is there a "University of Sunset City" in the game?
I would definitely check it.
 
J

jesu

Member
How many ways can you traverse a traversal?

G u e s s y o u  r e n o t a s d u m b a s y o u l o o k ! I h a v e t o d i s a p p e a r , b u t y o u n e e d t o k e e p g o i n g . I  v e g o t a h u n c h t h i s i s j u s t t h e s t a r t .

( a ) m ( b ) 8 ( c ) o ( d ) 6 ( e ) 5 ( f ) 4 ( g ) c ( h ) 2 ( i ) 1 ( j ) 6 ( k ) 6 5 ( l ) c ( m ) o ( n )
Click to expand...
 
R

--R

Banned
Wait wait. This is only the start. Look at the properties of the image.

"Guess you’re not as dumb as you look! I have to disappear, but you need to keep going. I’ve got a hunch this is just the start.

(a)m (b)8 (c)o (d)6 (e)5 (f)4 (g)c (h)2 (i)1 (j)6 (k)65 (l)c (m)o (n)m"
 
P

Piston Hyundai

Member
I hate to say it, but lol @ the wallpaper being 900p

--R said:
Wait wait. This is only the start. Look at the properties of the image.

"Guess you’re not as dumb as you look! I have to disappear, but you need to keep going. I’ve got a hunch this is just the start.

(a)m (b)8 (c)o (d)6 (e)5 (f)4 (g)c (h)2 (i)1 (j)6 (k)65 (l)c (m)o (n)m"
Click to expand...

RVe8ccs.png
 
P

Piston Hyundai

Member
Whoever took that van photo needs to upgrade their iPhone from a 5s to a 6

also of note: the counter at the top of the page, and the graffiti'd up van photo being in a tif format while all the others are jpgs
 
V

vulva

Member
Piston Hyundai said:
Whoever took that van photo needs to upgrade their iPhone from a 5s to a 6

also of note: the counter at the top of the page, and the graffiti'd up van photo being in a tif format while all the others are jpgs
Click to expand...

the counter's just a counter
var count="9792";while(""+count.length<12){count="0"+count}$.each(split(count,""),function(e,t){$(".nums").append($("<span>").addClass("digit digit"+t))})


van photo is presumably a tif because of some photoshop editing
 
P

Piston Hyundai

Member
You can click up to 7 of those @s as a form of a password. No clue how to figure out what it is, but I'm assuming it has something to do with the mq4y stuff.

just spitballing here, but there are seven van photos on that website, including the hidden one I posted earlier
 
B

BraXzy

Member
Here's my problem with the map site. It either:

1) Doesn't have anything to do with geographical locations

or

2) Was badly designed because the grey box with the @'s in scales to your resolution. Your image has your box covering most of the globe, whilst mine only really covers the US.

c87c767ecf3c535049470414c737d066.png
Click to expand...
 
P

Piston Hyundai

Member
crash7800 said:
For contenxt, this is the last ARG they ran:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKwskqLIVI0
Click to expand...

The lousy thing about ARGs like this (and why I usually don't participate in them) is that one person is rewarded for the work of a whole group of people. Someone could just swoop in at the last second and get stuff without really doing a whole host of work.

I mean, I guess some of the reward is being part of solving the mystery. Not for me, though. I say screw that, I want to play Sunset Overdrive because it looks dope. Of course, that's assuming the reward is anything similar to the Titanfall one.

BraXzy said:
I can't tell if these are important, or if they are just unused, old versions of the van mock up? The graffiti is the same which makes it seem like a collection of vans they uploaded and then picked one to use as the Fizzco one?
Click to expand...

I was thinking that, too, but why would the one that hasn't been worked on as much and is clearly older be number 8 instead of 7?
 
blazeuk

blazeuk

Member
Piston Hyundai said:
The lousy thing about ARGs like this (and why I usually don't participate in them) is that one person is rewarded for the work of a whole group of people. Someone could just swoop in at the last second and get stuff without really doing a whole host of work.
Click to expand...

The Titanfall one was awful at the end too, it turned into a guessing game of who got to the number fastest just by quickly trying 1, 2, 3 etc. Completely ruined what was a really good ARG.
 
N

Nuborn

Member
blazeuk said:
The Titanfall one was awful at the end too, it turned into a guessing game of who got to the number fastest just by quickly trying 1, 2, 3 etc. Completely ruined what was a really good ARG.
Click to expand...

That last part was such a downer, time to get the gears grinding again for this though.
 
B

BraXzy

Member
blazeuk said:
The Titanfall one was awful at the end too, it turned into a guessing game of who got to the number fastest just by quickly trying 1, 2, 3 etc. Completely ruined what was a really good ARG.
Click to expand...

I can't complain about that but it was a shame how it was a guessable answer. This one so far has been trickier and I think they've learnt a fair bit from last time. I feel like we've only just scratched the surface of all this stuff. Think about how many things we had to go through on the TF one.

"If you want to purchase a van, you know where to find us."

Reckon this line has any kind of relevance or just to add text to the pretend site?
 
B

BraXzy

Member
Right so..


  • We've found the glitch, in the glitch is Morse code.
  • Morse code leads to the 404 site (http://overchargedrink.com/404).
  • The 404 site gives us a long code which when decrypted using a book cipher (method unknown) we find an image.
  • In the image properties is a URL (http://m8o654c21665.com) which leads to the @ page.
  • It also gave clues to finding the van site (http://petrolpatricksvans.com).
  • One of the van images is a TIFF which when opened in Photoshop shows a hidden layer revealing "mq4y".
 
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