With the kids sing out the future. Shadow of Microtransactions, Nioh, ... :) (SOLUTION)

Hopefully Steamgifts will let me paste this whole thing in... :)

Ok, let's start with the easy part. The pity puzzle "https://www.youtube.com/watch?pity=okgYK&v=cu1yijNTeus" - pity=okgYK should lead you to https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/okgYK/fox-hime if you've ever tried a puzzle before. So if you didn't find this giveaway, maybe READ THE PUZZLE GUIDE again. :) And good luck with the rest of this thing... :)

Anyway, here's your puzzle. Two thousand digits of pi, plus some line noise because like I said, I couldn't remember how the script worked. Oh well. :(

Here's a hint for the future: don't believe everything anything you read in a puzzle, especially if I wrote it. :) Let's try again:

It's 1909 characters (I counted!) that look like digits of pi, but I don't know for sure. It starts out right, but I didn't memorise 2000 digits of pi. Maybe check somehow? And there are some letters mixed in, that are obviously not digits of pi. Maybe that's the "line noise"?

Oh, right, "line noise"? Assuming you're old enough to remember what that looks like from the bbs days, how does creating a puzzle by hand add line noise to your digits of pi? I mean, come on. :)

So now what? Well, you could start by getting rid of everything that looks like a digit, and seeing what's left. This will work to find the first giveaway, but (spoiler!) you'll be wanting those digits back later. But for now, it's good enough, and gives you:

goODluCkrEadIngthIshumaNsIwAsgOinGtotRolltHATPuZzLeSoLvinGScriPtbUtiaMlAzYsOscREwiTFeELFrEetOtrOlLYOurSelFTHougHITSTOOHARDD⓪Y⑦jwii???

Ok, it looks like words, but it's hard to read. So try this:

goOD luCk rEadIng thIs humaNs I wAs gOinG to tRoll tHAT PuZzLe SoLvinG ScriPt bUt i aM lAzY sO scREw iT FeEL FrEe tO trOlL YOurSelF THougH ITSTOOHARD D0Y7jwii ???

Or, with punctuation, "Good luck reading this, humans! :) I was going to troll that puzzle solving script but I am lazy so screw it. :) Feel free to troll yourself, though. :) ITSTOOHARD = D0Y7jwii :)

Which should lead you to http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/D0Y7jwii which points to the first giveaway, i.e. https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/Ca1E9/middle-earth-shadow-of-microtransactions

Cool, solved one! Only three left! :)

Now, for this next part, maybe you get the idea, and maybe you don't. It's tied up with the 112 (I counted again!) goofy mixed-case letters, somehow. If you get lucky, you might wonder if that mixed-case business is hiding a message, i.e. maybe it's encoded in base 2? Let's see what we get from:

goODluCk rEadIngt hIshumaN sIwAsgOi nGtotRol ltHATPuZ zLeSoLvi nGScriPt bUtiaMlA zYsOscRE
wiTFeELF rEetOtrO lLYOurSe lFTHougH

Or, if you want me to spell it out:

goODluCk rEadIngt hIshumaN sIwAsgOi nGtotRol ltHATPuZ zLeSoLvi
00110010 01001000 01000001 01010010 01000100 00111101 01010100

nGScriPt bUtiaMlA zYsOscRE wiTFeELF rEetOtrO lLYOurSe lFTHougH
01100010 01000101 01010011 00110111 01001001 01110010 01110001

Or, if you really want me to spell it out, try ASCII:

32 48 41 52 44 3d 54 62 45 53 37 49 72 71
2 H A R D = T b E S 7 I r q

Which should lead you to http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/TbES7Irq which gives you the second giveaway, https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/5H4sH/nioh-complete-edition-ren-wang-complete-edition

Cool, that's two solved, only two left! :) These things sure are easy when you know the answer! :)

So now let's go back to that big "digits of pi" thing. Do you remember where I said maybe check somehow? Well, if you compare 1909 real digits of pi to our "digits of pi", obviously the text message characters are wrong digits - but some of the numbers are wrong, too. What's up with that?

Oh, and while we're on the subject, what's up with 1909? Hmmm, did you want a hint for that part too, before I explain it? :) Well, 1909 is the product of two primes, 83 and 23. So maybe it's something to do with public-key cryptography? Umm, nice idea, but no. Let's worry about that part later. :)

So, we have:

3141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067
3141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067

9821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819
9821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819

64428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648g56o33O503486104543D764821339l50726024914u37
6442881097566593344612847564823378678316527120190914564856692346034861045432664821339360726024914127

3C14k77r96E16a05588174881520920962829253d92I16n643678925904g001133054t54882046651h385I45s50h42u12m09
3724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609

4330572703657595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527248912279381830119491
4330572703657595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527248912279381830119491

29a43673362440N666430s50213I594639w12473719070A079860943702770s49217176293176752384673g18467669404O3
2983367336244065664308602139494639522473719070217986094370277053921717629317675238467481846766940513

20004i81270n526357G82778577133t757789609173636o78721468440901224953430146549585371050792279689258923
2000568127145263560827785771342757789609173637178721468440901224953430146549585371050792279689258923

542019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960t087072113499999R73729780499o005973l83281l9963185
5420199561121290219608640344181598136297747713099605187072113499999983729780499510597317328160963185

95024459t653469H73A36T15P1308253345u850352619311880Z10100031377z875289L58752e208381420617176S691472o
9502445945534690830264252230825334468503526193118817101000313783875288658753320838142061717766914730

36L81v33i0428755468731159562863882353787593751957781857780532171226806613001927876611195909216420198
3598253490428755468731159562863882353787593751957781857780532171226806613001927876611195909216420198

n280952572010654G48632788659S715338182c068230301952035r118529689i67736225994P2891240t217752834791314
9380952572010654858632788659361533818279682303019520353018529689957736225994138912497217752834791315

b55748572425U415069596t829533116861726i558890751a83817546373M493931925506040092770167113900984882401
1557485724245415069595082953311686172785588907509838175463746493931925506040092770167113900984882401

2858361603563707660104710181942955596198946767837l594482553797747A58z61Y50s85O364620s14668c159069491
2858361603563707660104710181942955596198946767837449448255379774726847104047534646208046684259069491

R033136770289E01521047521w1056967i240580381501934T13F34e23E09L558763F24748r473263915E992726042690e27
2933136770289891521047521620569660240580381501935112533824300355876402474964732639141992726042699227

967823546t1636009341721641219924586315030286182974555706749838505494588586926995690927210797509302O6
9678235478163600934172164121992458631503028618297455570674983850549458858692699569092721079750930295

5321165344t772r37559602364O966l39911988183L897753Y763698074265O35278625518u7417575r72890977771S939e0
5321165344987202755960236480665499119881834797753566369807426542527862551818417574672890977772793800

0816470609l615F24919217320T214773H501414419734o85481613612u73525521334757418494684385233239073941433
0816470600161452491921732172147723501414419735685481613611573525521334757418494684385233239073941433

34547762416862518983569485562099219222184272550254g46H97T617904O56016534668O598H52723279178A985784R7
3454776241686251898356948556209921922218427255025425688767179049460165346680498862723279178608578438

38279679766D24541009538D4786360959⓪81Y65⑦251251j51173929849w609i12848862693i604240?652850222105?118
382796797668145410095388378636095068006422512520511739298489608412848862694560424196528502221066118

63067441?8
6306744278

As you can see, compared to the real digits of pi, some of our "digits of pi" are +1, and some are -1. Hopefully the previous part of the puzzle, with 112 mixed-case characters hiding a message in base 2, will give you the idea. With 128 (I counted again!) wrong digits, calling every "+1" a 1, and every "-1" a 0, we get:

01010100 01001111 01001111 01001000 01000001 01010010 01000100 00111101
01101010 01101011 01011000 01101010 01110101 01010101 01100011 01101100

And if you got this far, you know ASCII when you see it:

54 4f 4f 48 41 52 44 3d 6a 6b 58 6a 75 55 63 6c
T O O H A R D = j k X j u U c l

http://www.itstoohard.com/puzzle/jkXjuUcl gives you https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/5Z5FJ/ken-folletts-the-pillars-of-the-earth - cool, only one left! Almost finished! :)

Oh, by the way, this final itstoohard thing contained an actual hint! :)

Sorry, there's no hint. Instead, here's a pity jpeg for anyone who waited a whole day for nothing. :) And the picture https://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/images_blogs/wiredscience/2013/10/new_panels.jpg :)

A bit of googling should lead you to the source of that image, i.e. https://www.wired.com/2013/11/arecibo-50th-anniversary/ - it seems to be a picture from the Arecibo radio telescope, in 1974. Hmm, is that a hint? Spoiler: yes! :)

Now, you might get lucky and stumble across something called the "Arecibo message", and you might not. If you do, and you noticed previously the "2000 digits of pi" were actually 1909 characters, maybe the reason for 83 * 23 = 1909 makes sense now.

But here's something funny - none of the three solvers needed that hint. Here are their explanations, which probably make more sense than mine:

nickchanger: I counted the spaces and the same numbers repeated all the time but they didn't make sense as a cipher so I realized it will be a picture :p

Ryzhehvost: After making a file - it still made no sense to me, but I noticed that some markings go one after another, and some other have space between them... it looked like pattern, so I decided I need to check it. Find&Replace marked places as @@, unmarked as spaces, copy&paste to notepad, change window width... bingo!

nhahtdh: I'm not surprised that you can encode all those GA into the puzzle, and I know that the last piece of information lies in the position of the differences, but only thought of turning it into an image recently.

So don't feel bad, I never would have solved this part, either. :)

Here's the idea: compare the real digits of pi to our "digits of pi", call each correct digit 0, and each incorrect digit 1. But this time it's not a message in base 2, it's a bunch of hmm, monochrome pixels, in an 83*23 rectangle. Maybe having 1909 characters helps with that idea, or maybe you just resize your text editor until the message appears by magic. :) Assuming Steamgifts doesn't screw it up, let's see how it goes:

...................................................................................
...................................................................................
...................................................................................
.......@@.@@.@@...........@@........@@..........@@..@@.@@.@@.@@.@@.................
.......@@.@@.@@...........@@........@@..........@@..@@.@@.@@.@@.@@.................
...................................................................................
....@@..........@@.....@@....@@.....@@..........@@..............@@.................
....@@..........@@.....@@....@@.....@@..........@@..............@@.................
...................................................................................
....@@..............@@..........@@.....@@....@@..............@@.....@@.@@.@@.@@....
....@@..............@@..........@@.....@@....@@..............@@.....@@.@@.@@.@@....
...................................................................................
....@@..............@@..........@@........@@..............@@........@@..........@@.
....@@..............@@..........@@........@@..............@@........@@..........@@.
...................................................................................
....@@..............@@.@@.@@.@@.@@.....@@....@@........@@...........@@..........@@.
....@@..............@@.@@.@@.@@.@@.....@@....@@........@@...........@@..........@@.
...................................................................................
....@@..........@@..@@..........@@..@@..........@@.....@@...........@@..........@@.
....@@..........@@..@@..........@@..@@..........@@.....@@...........@@..........@@.
...................................................................................
.......@@.@@.@@.....@@..........@@..@@..........@@.....@@...........@@..........@@.
.......@@.@@.@@.....@@..........@@..@@..........@@.....@@...........@@..........@@.

Or, if you prefer:

.@@@....@...@...@.@@@@@......
@...@..@.@..@...@.....@......
@.....@...@..@.@.....@..@@@@.
@.....@...@...@.....@...@...@
@.....@@@@@..@.@...@....@...@
@...@.@...@.@...@..@....@...@
.@@@..@...@.@...@..@....@...@

Which is pretty hard to read, now that I look at it on here. Hopefully it isn't quite so painful in your text editor/whatever. :) Anyway, let's assume you can squint and make out the characters "CAX7n". :)

So that's the final giveaway, https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/CAX7n/little-busters-english-edition :) Thank you to everyone, and congratulations to the winners! :)

Original Message:

I suppose cartoon fans can guess what's hiding in here. And yes, I know it's not the same thing, so you don't have to tell me. :)

For people who hate reading, or puzzles, or anything that comes between you and your profitz: click here for free stuff!

Pity "puzzle" hiding in the youtube video: have pity! And if that video's blocked, try this one: have pity!

And, hmm, well, I was going to make a puzzle last year but it got boring so I bailed. Sorry.

If you like, imagine I kept working on that puzzle for months, piling it full of loot, just for you. Spoiler: nope.

Today I found a few of the leftover pieces and threw this crap together. And I couldn't remember how the script worked so I did it by hand, and probably screwed the whole thing up. Oh well.

For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'

Anyway, here's your puzzle. Two thousand digits of pi, plus some line noise because like I said, I couldn't remember how the script worked. Oh well. :(

3141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067
9821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819
64428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648g56o33O503486104543D764821339l50726024914u37
3C14k77r96E16a05588174881520920962829253d92I16n643678925904g001133054t54882046651h385I45s50h42u12m09
4330572703657595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527248912279381830119491
29a43673362440N666430s50213I594639w12473719070A079860943702770s49217176293176752384673g18467669404O3
20004i81270n526357G82778577133t757789609173636o78721468440901224953430146549585371050792279689258923
542019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960t087072113499999R73729780499o005973l83281l9963185
95024459t653469H73A36T15P1308253345u850352619311880Z10100031377z875289L58752e208381420617176S691472o
36L81v33i0428755468731159562863882353787593751957781857780532171226806613001927876611195909216420198
n280952572010654G48632788659S715338182c068230301952035r118529689i67736225994P2891240t217752834791314
b55748572425U415069596t829533116861726i558890751a83817546373M493931925506040092770167113900984882401
2858361603563707660104710181942955596198946767837l594482553797747A58z61Y50s85O364620s14668c159069491
R033136770289E01521047521w1056967i240580381501934T13F34e23E09L558763F24748r473263915E992726042690e27
967823546t1636009341721641219924586315030286182974555706749838505494588586926995690927210797509302O6
5321165344t772r37559602364O966l39911988183L897753Y763698074265O35278625518u7417575r72890977771S939e0
0816470609l615F24919217320T214773H501414419734o85481613612u73525521334757418494684385233239073941433
34547762416862518983569485562099219222184272550254g46H97T617904O56016534668O598H52723279178A985784R7
38279679766D24541009538D4786360959⓪81Y65⑦251251j51173929849w609i12848862693i604240?652850222105?118
63067441?8

Good luck... :)