What are Bohemia up to?

PogMoThoin

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=14129
http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=118336



Hacking viral, they are about to announce something, maybe a dlc. Find the place in the game map and you'll find the real stash as Chernarus is based on a real place

PogMoThoin

Clue number 2:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=14142

PogMoThoin

Its been discovered that there are strange numbers all over the image



Link to better higher resolution image

PogMoThoin

The guys on the Bohemia forum have figured that its the shape of a submarine on the image if you follow the numbers. But there are also random letters and blue horizontal bands if you look at the image in photoshop

PogMoThoin

Image decrypted, turns out the letters, one along each blue line spell out ASTUTE, a Royal Navy Sub. Still no idea how this ties in with the first clue

Gonzovision

Another expansion would be nice.

PogMoThoin

More puzzles folks, he found the stash





High res image

FrDougalMcguire

The black text on the sign translates to "dial movement Chernarus consists of red stars" if that means anything!

PogMoThoin

The map found in the stash contains all this info:

SDREAM / Estimate #081206
Appendix 18
PHASE 5

97 NAV
91 NAV
17 AB
4 NAV
32
33
31
5 NAV
12 NAV
Source: SDDUSTER via LCIGNITE (07/06/02), MKSEARCH Run 5
Ref. to p. 215-248; reliability disputable - SDREAM #000019

The world will change!
613

PogMoThoin

Estimate #081206 could be something about an expected patch build number for release date of whatever this is about.

Theres only over an hour left to the next clue, they're hacking every 42 hours as said in the first clue.

Someone figured out that SDREAM, SDDUSTER, LCIGNITE seem to be CIA codes for assets. SD stands for Iran and LC for China.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_cryptonym
MKSEARCH: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKULTRA

PogMoThoin

Ok, latest clue through Armaholic

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=14153

And tonight Armaholic, but probably more community websites, was hit by the PBHB hacker group.
After flooding the server trying to disable our protection a user registered and tried to upload malicious files to our server. Luckely the new CMS system we use nowadays counters such malicious insertions and soon I was alerted of the attempt. I quickly checked what this person was doing and I found him trying to upload a masked file. I was able to intercept the file and afterwards, as I was pretty tired of their "presence" on Armaholic, I denied the entire range of IP's they used this evening to acces Armaholic.
I personally have to admit I have no idea what the picture means, but since everything they do is shared with the community I feel obligated to do the same so the community can continue with their search for the truth behind these events.
The picture is clean and presents no danger to click and view.

http://www.armaholic.com/datas/users/camouflage_4.jpg

Seems to be a 3d image in the camoflage

PogMoThoin

If You download the image and check its properties you find a link

http://www.arma2.com/bin/null/thecode/Thecode.jpg

The chinese letters stand for Persia
http://translate.google.com/#en|zh-CN|persia

bandit197

Whatever it is it better be good, making us wait like this.

PogMoThoin

They've a habit of doing things like this, they gave hints of an announcement before Take On Helicopters was announced. Eagle Wing was a suprise free Christmas present

AAN News is their spoof news channel: http://www.aan-online.com/
They always had bulletins promoting the games, you remember the trailers?

ION is their spoof PMC page: http://www.ion-inc.com/

PogMoThoin

Two other sites were hacked withe the same camoflage image
http://www.armedassault.info/index.php?cat=news&id=5117&game=1
http://www.ofpec.com/intel_depot/index.php

Someone decrypted the code in the images by overlaying and offsetting the 3 images

Simtech

Maybe the world will change on the 13th of the 6th. A release date?

Maximilian

lol wtf are they up to?

PogMoThoin

Ok, I'm reading down through the thread and posting answers as I find them

It was suggested that the 3 codes from the image read downward were youtube reference codes, they led to songs on youtube. This was confrmed as correct when AAN posted the following:
http://aan-online.com/en/p8h8-attack/34-extended-scope-of-cyber-attacks.html

As previously reported by AAN, an Iranian hacking group P8H8 has in recent days targeted the official website of popular military game Arma 2 with a series of digital defacements which have left the developers and security experts baffled, both by the means in which the hacking group are carrying out the attacks and more specifically the reason for the attacks and the mysterious information being left behind following each attack.

The codes were identified as video reference codes for the popular video sharing website Youtube, the codes equate to three different videos: Tom Waits "Black Wings", Rihanna "Breaking Dishes" & Bruce Springsteen "The Wrestler". One of the available hypotheses appears to point to exact time stamps during the videos.

Stone, man and wheat are the lyrics being sung in each song at the exact moment in each video

The answer turned out to be miller, stone, man and wheat are all references to a miller

Enter http://www.arma2.com/bin/null/miller as URL

PogMoThoin

There's a wiki, it probably explains it better than I can

http://armaenigma.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

PogMoThoin

Todays clue:

Zipper5 posted the following

Okay guys, I just got this really weird phone call. The guy was speaking what I think was Farsi, and after eventually getting it through to him that I couldn't understand him he told me in broken English that I should check my email.

I have an email in my spam folder from p8h8@p8h8.info and a message saying "We are watching you." I have no idea what this is about.

When You go to http://p8h8.info/ and input your email you get sent an ascii image, each one being different. It took the folks on the forum a while to piece together all the images until they came up with this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9367994/hacker.gif

It looks like a ball or bullet going through a wall.

Zippers email also had some strange text which Google translate says is written in Persian and translates to: "Which of us is our".
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/6994/p8h8email.jpg

This is almost certainly not building up to something small. BI are going to a lot of trouble with this promo. Too much for some small DLC. It looks like its pointing to features in a new game

What we know/think

China will be featured as as conquering force
HMS Astute may be involved
Naval insertions of spec ops teams may be present
Possible new bullet physics or destructible environment

Maximilian

Yeah it sure can't just be some dlc.

dreamers75

Xeno is coming out of retirement and releasing Domination 4

PogMoThoin

The animated gif shows some sort of physics or PhysX example of a ball breaking a wall. It could mean PhysX, destructible enviromnments or better bullet physics though. Someone spotted the latest Nvidia driver has an Arma3 profile meaning BIS have tested something new. I'm getting excited

Maximilian

I had been thinking maybe it might be a full blown sequel but I figured not as it would be a bit too soon and they still have to finish that helicopter game and carrier command. I'm really intrigued now.

dreamers75

Maximilian wrote: »

I had been thinking maybe it might be a full blown sequel but I figured not as it would be a bit too soon and they still have to finish that helicopter game and carrier command. I'm really intrigued now.

Arma 2 years old this summer, thats ages for a sequel in EA land.

PogMoThoin

Its still ongoing, I'm not as in touch as I was last week but supposedly the reveal is at E3. Its most definitely looking like its a new game and they're listing features
http://armaenigma.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

PogMoThoin

Lots of talk that Lemnos (Greek Island) is the new map, the latest clues point to it with an image looking exactly like it.
http://armaenigma.com/index.php?title=Saturday,_May_14th_2011,_18:00_CEST
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemnos
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Lemnos+greece&aq=&sll=-37.853098,145.003274&sspn=13.57257,22.038574&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Lemnos&ll=39.888665,25.279541&spn=0.412528,0.688705&t=h&z=11

Check out the nice airfield in the middle. 477.3 km2

dreamers75

Map or game?

PogMoThoin

Hopefully an expansion pack like Arrowhead, so that all the mods would work as is. Thats all the game needs with a little polishing and a few new features. A full new game ala Arma 3 would need the community to do lots of work on porting the mods, like there was with Arma 2.

They've said they'll eventually be bringing the new chopper dynamics and features from Take on Helicopters into Arma. Clues point to submarines and physics, they may add some of the VBS2 features like underwater and PhysX

PogMoThoin

Its been confirmed that

the attacks are in connection with an upcoming announcement of a kind on Thursday 15:30, 19 May, 2011 CEST.

http://www.aan-online.com/en/p8h8-attack/36-p8h8-attacks-hindered.html

PogMoThoin

Its Arma 3 fellas
http://www.bistudio.com/index.php/english/games/arma3

Arma 3, the latest installment of the tactical military simulation game from independent developers Bohemia Interactive, creators of the award-winning mil-sim series Arma.

Storyline

Survive, Adapt, Win
After years of intense warfare against Eastern armies, Europe has become the last stand for the battered NATO forces. On the verge of being driven into the sea, NATO command embarks upon a most desperate measure. In the hope of seizing what seems to be a well-guarded military secret, Operation Magnitude is launched. A small group of Special Forces and Researchers are sent to a Mediterranean island deep behind enemy lines. However, the mission is compromised and the task force destroyed, leaving Cpt. Scott Miller washed ashore upon the hostile island. In his effort to carry out the mission, he will face the dangers of modern warfare, an unforgiving environment, and the consequences of his own decisions...

Survive in the rich & authentic environment
Adapt to the unsurpassed experience of modern ground combat
Win the open-ended & story-driven campaign
Combining the strength of its predecessors with radical engine improvements, Arma 3 provides a unique experience of sandbox-oriented combat gameplay in the most detailed environment of the series.

Key features:

Single-Player Campaign - evolve from a lone prey into a military commander in the open-ended & story-driven campaign.
Vehicles & Weapons - control multitude of aircraft, vehicles and ships with the accurate simulation, shoot from anything from pistols to the sophisticated weapon platforms.
Customizable Soldier Load - choose your uniform, assemble your weapon kit, change your loadout, get encumbered.
Physical simulation & improved animations - take advantage of PhysX™ supporting the vehicle simulation, in-game interactions and the revamped animation system.
Rich & authentic environment - explore the unsurpassed modern ground combat experience set on the authentic Mediterranean island modeled from the real geographic data.
Multiplayer Gameplay - challenge both cooperative & competitive scenarios with full support of dedicated servers for both Windows and Linux.
Completely extensible & moddable - design & create countless customizable scenarios using the intuitive & easy-to-use mission editor.
Ingame Screenshots

PogMoThoin

http://www.arma3.com/

Directx 10 and PhysX and the engine gets a full overhaul. We'll be needing new pc's

Directx 10 I'm glad of, although I'm suprised they didn't jump to 11 like most other devs.
PhysX I'm impressed by, its going to split the community or force everyone go with Nvidia. The effects cannot alter gameplay or they'll omit all Ati users.











The island was correctly guessed as Lemnos off Greece

cctoide wrote: »

No idea if I was beaten to the punch, but I believe I've found the location of the first screenshot:







(edit: 39° 53'57.80"N, 25° 4'16.28"E in case it's unreadable)

Being set in the future gives BIS a chance to have some fun as regards futuristic weapons and prototype toys, its the first time they've done this.

Gonzovision

Looks stunning and I'm sure it will be. I think Arma 2 is still easily the best looking game, if they can sort out the dodgy movement animation, I'd be happy. Wonder when we will be playing it smoothly though?

Havermeyer

That looks pretty pretty. Definitely going to need a new machine.

dreamers75

gonzovision wrote: »

Looks stunning and I'm sure it will be. I think Arma 2 is still easily the best looking game, if they can sort out the dodgy movement animation, I'd be happy. Wonder when we will be playing it smoothly though?

Around the time its set :pac:

PogMoThoin

There's no mention that its not directx 11, just that the requirement is dx 10

Maximilian

looks awesome

TheMooseInNam

Oh great... by the time I've figured out how to play ARMA2... the next one will be out

Better give up the day job and start concentrating

Pdfile

TheMooseInNam wrote: »

Oh great... by the time I've figured out how to play ARMA2... the next one will be out

Better give up the day job and start concentrating

within a month i got my little bro ( 13 ) to play like a boss so im sure theirs hope for you yet. :pac: