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Giant Bomb Mailbag: Numbers Station Edition

Instead of weird food or drinks, we receive... a mystery!


No Caption Provided
A nondescript manilla envelope showed up at the Giant Bomb offices this morning, and since its recipient wasn't here to open it, I took it upon myself (sorry Brad!) to rip into it, only to discover a mystery within! A mystery that neither Vinny or I were able to make any immediate sense of, which is why we now bring it to you, the infinitely smarter Giant Bomb audience.

Inside the envelope, which featured no return address, was an unmarked 1GB USB drive, which itself contained just two files: a 4KB README.txt file, along with a 1.5MB station.mp3 file. I've quoted the contents of the README file below, and you can listen to the MP3--which seems pretty clearly patterned after numbers stations--here.

Cryptography


Isotope


Philanthropy


Hydrogen


Ember


Rebirth      

Additionally, we found the following text code embedded in the MP3 file.

00000000 00000210 00000825 000000000037474B 00000000 0016FDA0 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000    

Through a little audio editing snoopery, Vinny figured out that the backwards voice near the end of the MP3 file is saying "Don't believe everything you see." Aside from this clue, and the fact that the words in the README file make the obvious acronym CIPHER, I can't make much sense of this. It seems pretty clear to me that this is the first step in some kind of game-promoting ARG, but the question remains, what game could it be for? The fact that the voice reads the letters "NOD" might suggest some sort of Command & Conquer connection, though with C&C4 already out, it seems like an unlikely candidate. The only other game that jumps out at me as a possible connection is Fallout: New Vegas, mostly because of the nature of the vocabulary featured in the README file.
 
I imagine this same package is showing up at other game publications today as well, so let's see if we can't be the first ones to crack it wide open! Get to it in the comments below! 
 
UPDATE: It would seem that with some simple character shifting, folks were able to figure out that the letters and numbers being read decoded into a website address, www.gknova6.com. This is just the second step in the puzzle, though, as there's more numbers station fun to be had there. Keep it going, folks! 
 
UPDATE #2: The goodly folks at Joystiq have taken this the rest of the way, and though there's still no official confirmation, the signs seem to point very directly towards Fallout: New Vegas. Thanks for playing!

328 Comments

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pbhawks45

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Edited By pbhawks45

This is a stretch here, but the stamp on that envelope is of Richard Wright, a famous author who lived in Chicago. I Am Alive is supposed to take place in Chicago, yes?

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iToastage_FM

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Edited By iToastage_FM

Richard Wright, the dude on the stamp, is a 20th century author, tackling issues of race in the USA. 
 
If anybody knows anything more on him, pray tell,  but if i had to guess its most likely to do with fallout:new vegas 

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Edited By LeadNinja
@hd24 said:
" Hydrogen isotope?!? What game has Hydrogen bombs? "
Fallout also has burning embers and then rebirth when survivors start to rebuild the world.
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MisterD

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Edited By MisterD

Those numbers are hexadecimal, no?  No idea what they mean.
 

 00000000 00000210 00000825 000000000037474B 00000000 0016FDA0 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000        

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Osiris

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Edited By Osiris

  Interesting, i'm sure there will be some people speculating interesting stuff soon enough :P     

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deactivated-5c7ea8553cb72

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That is a little creepy...but awesome in a strange way.

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Crimsai

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Edited By Crimsai

Yeah, I thought it was M.O.D (Ministry of Defence?) too. I thought Portal 2 too but I'm not sure why.

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fireb0x

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Edited By fireb0x

The audio file puts these letters out: 
 
M (or N) - O - D - Z - Z - Z - J - M (or N) - Q - R - Y - D (or B) - 3 - F - R - P (or E) 
 
I tried matching up those letters with the numbers you gave that were embedded in the mp3: 
 
 00000000 00000210 00000825 000000000037474B 00000000 0016FDA0 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000  
 
If you count "0", and skip the letters that appear in both the embedded text and the audio, you get a matching number of letters and numbers (9). 
 
I tried matching them up in order of appearance and then putting them in numerical order, but got nothing. I also tried just putting letters into the numbers based on when the letters came out. For instance "o" would go in place of anywhere the number 2 came up because it was the second letter to be said.
 
Maybe this will tip something else off though...

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hd24

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Edited By hd24

Hydrogen isotope?!?
What game has Hydrogen bombs?

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williamhenry

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Edited By williamhenry

Obviously its announcing the long awaited release date for Duke Nukem Forever.

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MeatSim

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Edited By MeatSim

Mystery and intrigue!

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matthew

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Edited By matthew

Dude . . . no idea . . . MOD*dingdingding*ZZZJNQRYD3FRE

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dtat

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Edited By dtat

Hmmm...a mystery for sure! I would say it might have to do with Fallout: New Vegas, but I agree with Metal_Mills that this reeks of Valve craziness! Maybe a new Half Life? 
 
Edit: I'm pretty sure they're saying M.O.D. not N.O.D.
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Skrattybones

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Edited By Skrattybones

I'm just gonna dump everything I come up with here, too. Then you all can see how crazy I am. Yaaaay!
 
 
-- 
 
I'm pretty sure the letters are "M.O.D" not "N.O.D" 
 
It reads like this: 
 
M O D / Z Z Z /  J M Q R Y D 3 /F R P 
 
There's an effect between each set of characters. 
 
-- 
 
That hex code turns into: 
 
Decimal: 62 
Binary: 00111110     
 
The binary turns into "> ", which is HTML code which is the HTML code for "greater than". What's neat is that the decimal code for Greater Than is ">". 
 
So.. does "greater than" mean anything?     

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sakarot

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Edited By sakarot

Creepy and kinda awesome.

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dhuff

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Edited By dhuff

The fist bit of voice is a quote from Julius Caesar. Not sure what that means...

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BarrenMind

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Edited By BarrenMind

Metal Gear something something

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readymix

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Edited By readymix

the way the stamp is stylized made me think of GTA4. 

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Animasta

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Edited By Animasta

I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't some portal 2 thing.

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Gamonman

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Edited By Gamonman

This is either a clever new way of adveritising games, or 4chan.

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Joeyoe31

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Edited By Joeyoe31

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABE !

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Zalanth

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Edited By Zalanth

Well this is kinda cool. I'm stumped yet interested.
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dhuff

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Edited By dhuff

Maybe it's just the 2010 Census. I think the voice sounds a bit Ed Begley Jr-ish.

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metal_mills

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Edited By metal_mills

 This can only be one thing...Valve!

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DanielJW

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Edited By DanielJW

Hydrogen is an element! I've made my contribution.

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Tirrandir

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Edited By Tirrandir

I'm no help, but I do have to say that that's really effin' creepy. Do not approve of strange audio files on mysterious and shady pen drives.
 
Adachi's comin' to get you, bitches!

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Skytylz

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Edited By Skytylz

Investigation team go!

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Ryan

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Edited By Ryan  Staff

No Caption Provided
A nondescript manilla envelope showed up at the Giant Bomb offices this morning, and since its recipient wasn't here to open it, I took it upon myself (sorry Brad!) to rip into it, only to discover a mystery within! A mystery that neither Vinny or I were able to make any immediate sense of, which is why we now bring it to you, the infinitely smarter Giant Bomb audience.

Inside the envelope, which featured no return address, was an unmarked 1GB USB drive, which itself contained just two files: a 4KB README.txt file, along with a 1.5MB station.mp3 file. I've quoted the contents of the README file below, and you can listen to the MP3--which seems pretty clearly patterned after numbers stations--here.

Cryptography


Isotope


Philanthropy


Hydrogen


Ember


Rebirth      

Additionally, we found the following text code embedded in the MP3 file.

00000000 00000210 00000825 000000000037474B 00000000 0016FDA0 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000    

Through a little audio editing snoopery, Vinny figured out that the backwards voice near the end of the MP3 file is saying "Don't believe everything you see." Aside from this clue, and the fact that the words in the README file make the obvious acronym CIPHER, I can't make much sense of this. It seems pretty clear to me that this is the first step in some kind of game-promoting ARG, but the question remains, what game could it be for? The fact that the voice reads the letters "NOD" might suggest some sort of Command & Conquer connection, though with C&C4 already out, it seems like an unlikely candidate. The only other game that jumps out at me as a possible connection is Fallout: New Vegas, mostly because of the nature of the vocabulary featured in the README file.
 
I imagine this same package is showing up at other game publications today as well, so let's see if we can't be the first ones to crack it wide open! Get to it in the comments below! 
 
UPDATE: It would seem that with some simple character shifting, folks were able to figure out that the letters and numbers being read decoded into a website address, www.gknova6.com. This is just the second step in the puzzle, though, as there's more numbers station fun to be had there. Keep it going, folks! 
 
UPDATE #2: The goodly folks at Joystiq have taken this the rest of the way, and though there's still no official confirmation, the signs seem to point very directly towards Fallout: New Vegas. Thanks for playing!