valve sure knows how to keep the masses distracted with pointless shit. Terrible company, but damn impressive to watch their marketing guys at work.
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Haha - people forgot the Dec 25 Snafu real fast - this is true
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Here's some more pointless crap for yas. Probably means nothing, but our "Top Men" are working on it ;)
The backgrounds used on the main store page match some of the pages in the comic:
http://imgur.com/a/OsgJY
http://8ch.net/v/src/1451761967660.mp4
https://a.pomf.cat/dyoihy.mp4
https://a.pomf.cat/eekwpk.mp4
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update 11
Via bruteforce, a new wav file was found using Trading Card 6 (Sending a Message)'s clue
(In retrospect, "F" is the 6th letter in the alphabet - adding it to Trading Card 6's clue gives us 794E2CEA991F)
http://store.steampowered.com/wintercomic/794E2CEA991F {794e2cea991f.wav}
"I've been to Lima four times, stayed at all the best hotels. I used to go to dance halls and tango with Mary Carmen until the sun came up. thud The bravos and accolades would echo and echo until the boys in uniform shut us down."
Filter for NATO phonetic alphabet clues and you get LLLLHTBEEU (anagram of BULLET HELL [the code word that led us from Undertale to Ikaruga])
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Hey, maybe shorten the thread title eg alternate reality game to ARG and add New Wav found.
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k done
too bad this new revelation leads us no where new :(
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heh.. yeah, time to level up the Red Herring badge? lol
Spectrograms:
http://puu.sh/mhqDt/362525965e.png
http://i.imgur.com/q8JkeZK.png
Can't quite make anything out yet. Looks like some numbers in there.
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So now we have the autograph with dots from card 2 left :/
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It's a fish trying to dodge three bullets. OMG. Red Herring! Bullet hell! lol
XD
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Oh, is this maybe how we were supposed to get the Undertale password? I mean, is this just an older clue that was solved after accidentally solving something later? (As far as I know, Bullet Hell was just a lucky guess before, right?)
I kinda seems like that's all there was now ...
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Yep! It was the step we skipped over by sheer luck(?) lol
Was told the code was listed in the tag in undertale
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Here's the bruteforce page if anyone is interested (incase you missed it in the Google doc I posted before):
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And people were complaining that this sale had no special "activity".
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This is pretty crazy.
I feel like there might be a different route to the Blitzen Incident search
I mean, after all a red herring is a distracting clue, so maybe it's not the real reward
Also, maybe this is a stretch, but on the google doc thing it mentions reindeer ave and a date (forgotten road?)
Idk, I'm not great at this stuff.
Also, who knows, maybe the attack has something to do with this, lol. Conspiracies.
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Hahahaha - I'll admit I thought it did too, but then I remembered the real-world people whose info got leaked
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Maybe the video of "The Holiday Express" really have the clue, I think that the phrase "Put them on the right track" is not a coincidence, and in the video we can see many number and letters.:
yy4y4y in the cubes (00:29)
m7 in cubes again (01:03)
1753A train number (01:08)
k4 f7 in the message (01:18)
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"Rooty toot toot..." :o
Yeah I've seen ppl wonder about this too haha
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In the description says "under the Christmas tree (comic p3) and across the piano (comic p4), uncovering secret routes and finding hidden treasures" Is maybe some code in these pages? also in page 5 is a letter for Santa and ask for a wagon (train wagon?), and if you search for reindeer (reindeer ave) the first result is http://store.steampowered.com/app/265210/
Well tomorrow I will try look for more coincidences
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that might just be because "reindeer" is a word used in the description
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More about the "Reindeer Ave (pag 5) but also with that "Monte liked to play reindeer games" and in steam we can found some games or dlc with rendeers, and in the "FaceRig Winter Holidays Avatars 2015" (http://store.steampowered.com/app/420821/) in description exist some interesting info "The evil elf also joined the gang after being kicked out from Santa's workshop for spying for the Grinch."
This have some connection with the Zippi's crime? is a revenge?
Edit 1: is the unknown elf in the photo?
Edit 2: The bad elf from FaceRig only have 4 fingers and in the comic's page 5 the dactilar fingerprints table only appears 4 too, could be circumstantial but...
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The last wall paper yet to be revealed is called "Kind Lies And Goodbyes". I think this points to Holly being the culprit. https://www.reddit.com/r/steamsaledetectives/comments/3z7amg/the_holly_deception/
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Aha! It was Professor Plum with the Candlestick all along!
Holly is a naughty girl
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Video summary (doesn't have all the clues but covers the main things).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxPTsj5iHMM
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These people are all nuts I tell you. Delusional bunch, lol.
The most insane, far fetched theories somehow gain merit. I guess this is how most religions started.
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Anyway, signature and body is probably what we should be working on.
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First of all I want to say huge THANKS for those people who discovered ARG badge. But here are facts for which I care or not:
- It would be awesome if somebody find clue about next ARG badge level (if it even exist)
- I can't care less about HL3 or any other Valve's product
- I don't give a duck about Gaben's comic and any other useless things related with him and his company
P.S. I probably sound very arrogant, but I am still very mad and disappointed how Steam ruined whole trade system starting from winter last year to this winter (first with items from market locked 7 days - worst region locks - last step with mobile auth)!
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The Mobile Auth has certainly made trading a pain. You find someone with the cards you want, you start the trade, then the yellow banner comes up... which is okay when cards don't expire, but for the Holiday cards.... it's such a pain.
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omg so much yes. New system making it a pain for a lot of people (especially those without cell phones)
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Yep. Quite a few people outright state in their trading topics, that they won't accept offers from someone without the mobile auth... which means I'm often unable to trade cards with them.
But I refuse to buy a smartphone just because steam and / or some of its users want me too. I'll stop trading before doing that.
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You don't need a smartphone. I built an android computer to do it for me, but I helped a friend set it up in a virtual machine too.
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I have mobile auth and will still trade with those who don't. But not with holiday sale cards since time is important.
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That's understandable w/r/t the holiday cards, and I don't hold that against anybody. Also, thanks for trading with non mobile auth users :-)
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I don't have a cellphone or any suitable mobile device. I just did some jiggery pokery and made a machine running Android out of an ancient computer I had sitting around. I can do the "mobile auth" but only when I am at home... no more trading on the fly like I used to. Also means I can't login from work anymore without using the one-use only codes...
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If you use SteamTrade Matcher you can identify those with mobile authentication before trying to trade.
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90% of the time yes, but there are still those that don't show the symbol that you get the yellow banner for.
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IMO Valve should implement this on their own but I doubt they'd want to split the community more (even though the mobile auth and escrow started it). I've been using the trade forums quite a bit to get my holiday badge. A little yellow icon or yellow text for people who cause trade holds would be so helpful. I won't trade with them anyway even if i go through all the steps before finding out, so save me a little time and effort, Valve.
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Yes we all know this ;) but thanks.
There were also crazy theories linking Red Herring to the Monkey Island game.
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Awesome, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing any rewards
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I think this is the only badge, since there were only two strings related to the winter sale in the translation database (or whatever it's called) - I did a search too and again, only "ARG?" and "Red Herring" came up. Not sure if the search is over, but I think the most we could get is a coupon or maybe some extra info on some game? (don't know if we can level up the badge, it doesn't even say Level 1 ...)
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I really did not expect all this crazy stuff haha. I would never be able to solve any of the puzzle if I was given the task...
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I hope the solution is revealed, even if we don't make the deadline (if it exists)
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So now we have theories linking the card 2 artwork to the Orion constellation.
https://www.reddit.com/r/steamsaledetectives/comments/3za311/the_stars/
https://www.reddit.com/r/steamsaledetectives/comments/3zaejm/the_stars_part_2/
Card 2 art for reference:
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Not sure :o [winter sale still has a lot of hours left yet]
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My theory about the zippy's crime: The bad elf
but, which is the word for the search field?
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If you look at page 5 in languages other than English you will notice a lot of things have not been translated and are just swiggles to represent text (such as the street name). So they are unlikely to be important.
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oh man.
:o
A few sleuthy people have discovered clues and hints in this year's winter sale
and have found breadcrumbs left behind by Gingerbread Jake.
Follow along to see what was decrypted!
(Now with Red Herring Badge)
Gotta say, it's pretty damn impressive how people are decrypting the clues;
even more impressive is seeing people work together to solve them!
update 1:
go to Hitman: Codename 47
type search; push enter
input the code from the winter sale comic cover's barcode (now removed): 94050999014715
update 2:
inputting the code you get from update 1 {ic/4f21ca7} into winter comic url gives you this
4f21ca7 {filename 1fce82a72c633.wav}
A man saying "I was on the right track, I could feel it. Tomorrow, I was going to search again" The .wav is from the 24th
update 3:
"The Blitzen Incident"
http://store.steampowered.com/search/?term=blitzen yields Grim Fandango
type search; push enter
input the club code from winter sale comic: "HOT TODDIES AND MASERATIS"
now we're in Undertale Hmmmm.... o_o
update 4:
"Bullet Hell" is a tag on Undertale's app page.
on Undertale's page
type search; push enter
input "bullet hell"
now we're at Ikaruga
update 5 interesting Valve employee activity:
The Valve employee ChrisK/FireSlash has the "Red Herring" badge with the description "ARG?"
On his profile there is a (presumed) hash: 2cdeda75c0afb5c4a7a45dfe978315f6.
His last played games are: Undertale, Ikaruga and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault Online
update 5a:
ChrisK's profile went private for a little while, then went public again- this time with his badges all hidden/wiped xD (maybe GitS is the next pitstop)
update 5b:
ChrisK's badges are back now - he has modified his profile to say "This is just a profile" lol. Red Herring, perhaps, but Undertale -> Ikaruga is still pretty intriguing
update 6:
Trading Card 7 (Taffy) has Dungeon Master Symbols "Lo Ya Gor Ku"
Inputting it into a winter comic url gives you this:
LoYaGorKu {filename: loyagorku.wav}
rough translation:
忘れられた道が障害と報酬につながります" (wasurareta michi ga shougai to houshuu ni tsunagarimasu)
"Forgotten road will lead to failure and reward "
update 7:
Spectrogram analysis of LoYaGorKu {filename: loyagorku.wav} yields 1v7531
On Ikaruga
type search; push enter
input "1v7531"
Red Herring ARG? Badge unlocked.
via combatbeard: what is this
Doesn't seem like we're through
Seems like this is the failure (dead end) and reward for following the forgotten road (Blitzen incident)
direct link to badge: http://store.steampowered.com/actions/d3708146fc0c5d593
If you're having problems getting the badge, you might have to disable enhanced steam
update 8 theories:
holiday profile backgrounds have changed with possible hints to some islands and we might have some coordinates.
Left of the penguin: http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/items/425280/af2ef83209f1503662d1b95939abeea8ca415c59.jpg
http://imgur.com/039ikx7
http://i.imgur.com/gphhdh6.png
http://i.imgur.com/x69M31r.png
http://imgur.com/w1K1q5t
There is also the "Twinkle" train theory (search twinkle on steam) http://store.steampowered.com/app/222621/
Watch video. From description: "Save Christmas
Take on a series of fun and entertaining missions, over the mantelpiece, under the Christmas tree and across the piano, uncovering secret routes and finding hidden treasures."
Other thoughts: http://i.imgur.com/xc1b2zm.jpg
update 9:
Looks like this might squash some HL3 rumours:
https://i.imgur.com/jURjHBq.jpg
update 10 theories:
Binary code in the last comic page. Look at the lights
The backgrounds used on the main store page match some of the pages in the comic:
http://imgur.com/a/OsgJY
http://8ch.net/v/src/1451761967660.mp4
https://a.pomf.cat/dyoihy.mp4
https://a.pomf.cat/eekwpk.mp4
update 11
Via bruteforce, a new wav file was found using Trading Card 6 (Sending a Message)'s clue
(In retrospect, "F" is the 6th letter in the alphabet - adding it to Trading Card 6's clue gives us 794E2CEA991F)
http://store.steampowered.com/wintercomic/794E2CEA991F {794e2cea991f.wav}
"I've been to Lima four times, stayed at all the best hotels. I used to go to dance halls and tango with Mary Carmen until the sun came up. thud The bravos and accolades would echo and echo until the boys in uniform shut us down."
Filter for NATO phonetic alphabet clues and you get LLLLHTBEEU (anagram of BULLET HELL [the code word that led us from Undertale to Ikaruga])
update 12 theories
Possible link to The Holiday Express?
https://i.imgur.com/170yL6x.png
Zippy's body
http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/clusters/sale_winter2015_comic/397a5a0d/fbe2b441_day_2_english.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/SuiMZQL.png
http://i.imgur.com/7YnQ3UQ.png
update 13 theories and "What We Know So Far"
The last wall paper yet to be revealed is called "Kind Lies And Goodbyes"
Is Holly the culprit?
We also have theories linking the card 2 artwork to the Orion constellation.
https://www.reddit.com/r/steamsaledetectives/comments/3za311/the_stars/
https://www.reddit.com/r/steamsaledetectives/comments/3zaejm/the_stars_part_2/
Card 2 art for reference:
http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/items/425280/52a2cf1ccae204c6c035eada743f224a4384bc76.jpg
http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/items/425280/f21020505f5ecd896fa63dd8691edfbf64a2d5d7.jpg
What we know up to this point:
https://youtu.be/uxPTsj5iHMM
update 14 theories
Signature links to Andy Warhol:
https://www.reddit.com/r/steamsaledetectives/comments/3zcltn/possible_lead_on_the_signature/
update 15:
With the Winter Sale over, nothingtoseehere.js and
http://store.steampowered.com/wintercomic/are gone ...Wonder what the solution to the ARG was :(http://store.steampowered.com/wintercomic/ is still alive! :D
There may be hope yet; but without the nothingtoseehere.js secret search script, I wonder if a solution is still possible
update 16 theories:
Potential link between Gingerbread Jake's clue map and a map of the North Pole
http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/368533069678560219/DD60621E3A7379BABE5F2D18FF3D608A67AB152A/
https://www.reddit.com/r/steamsaledetectives/comments/3zdqnr/day_5_map_with_pin_locations/
https://www.reddit.com/r/steamsaledetectives/comments/3zexk0/the_reallife_aurora_borealis_icebreaker/
update 17 theory
https://www.reddit.com/r/steamsaledetectives/comments/3zg9ug/shiny_murder_theory/
What a tangled web they weave
Subreddit
Steam Sale ARG Wiki
Summary
A visual chronology of things that are known
NorthPole Noir MindMap
Known & debunked hints/clues
Bruteforce page
Thank you for helping with the updates:
combatbeard
m3rc
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