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Read JFK's E-mail in Call of Duty: Black Ops

Ask not what your command prompt can do for you...


This image is so extremely secret that it had to be uploaded upside-down. Sshhhh! 
This image is so extremely secret that it had to be uploaded upside-down. Sshhhh! 
Well, I hope you're all having a happy Call of Duty: Black Ops day. Did anyone take the day off work, or are we past that? Anyway, one of my favorite parts of Black Ops is almost completely outside of the main game. It's a hidden computer terminal that you can access that contains a lot of concept art and soundtrack access, but more interesting than that is the series of e-mail accounts you can hack into and read. Yes, Richard Nixon has an e-mail account. I know that's hard to wrap your mind around, given the timeframe that all this takes place in, but like most of the anachronistic aspects of Black Ops, it's best to not think about it very hard.

Getting to the terminal is easy: while you're sitting in the chair in the main menu, hit the left and right triggers on your controller a few times. L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R, L, R! After a few back and forths, Mason will rise up, free himself from his shackles, and you'll be able to wander around the room. From there, the only thing to do is either sit back down or head to the back of the room 

So the obvious things to do in the Black Ops terminal are the DOA and ZORK commands. DOA unlocks Dead Ops Arcade, a cool dual-joystick shooter that you can find on the zombies menu once you've got it open. ZORK, as you might have guessed, launches the classic text adventure, Zork. Yeah, dude. Zork!

But there's more to do in the terminal that just unlock that stuff. Typing in "3arc Intel" will let you open up all of the intel documents, though that'll prevent you from earning the trophy or achievement tied to unlocking them naturally. And you can also read Mason's e-mail by launching the mail client (by typing "mail" into the terminal).

The "who" command gives you a list of accounts on the system and the "login" command lets you attempt to login as another user. This is where it starts to get interesting, since each user has his own e-mail inbox and some extra concept art to see. Most of the passwords I've figured out so far have been relatively straightforward, but they aren't really found in the game. Instead, a little Wikipedia scouring turned up passwords for multiple presidents and a Manhattan Project head.

There's probably more to do here--I still haven't figured out how to get on the remote Dreamland server run by Majestic-12--but here are a few passwords to get you going.

l: jfkennedy
p: lancer

l: rnixon
p: checkers

l: lbjohnson
p: ladybird

l: vbush
p: manhattan

And if you ever want to get back into Mason's account, amason's password is the most obvious of all... it's password.

Let me know if you find anything else, and good luck!    
Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

70 Comments

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25266

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Edited By 25266

you can login to dreamland by typing in RLOGIN DREAMLAND and here are a few logins for it

Login as Robert Oppen user:roppen pass:trinity

Login as T. Walker user;twalker pass:thanksdad

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secretteller

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Edited By secretteller
@iam3green:  Hey just want to tell u how to unlock a gamer picture on the comp. when out of chair type in login hit enter then type JHUDSON enter the password is BRYANT1950
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secretteller

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Edited By secretteller

if you type in login hit enter then enter in mason that is all i know so far im trying to figure out the password so try to figure out the password i already tryed numbers one more thing user:JHUDSON password:BRYANT1950 it unlocks a gamer picture

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AnimalFather

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Edited By AnimalFather
@Jeff said:
" @FlipperDesert: Be sure to watch the Quick Look when it goes up, we've got a lot of this stuff in there. "

u underrated black ops its def a 5star game.
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SxanRR

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Edited By SxanRR

Hey guys, there's now some possible new info on the new zombie map "Ascension" too, hopefully it will help piece all of this together cuz I've gotten real interested following this. A bunch of people are involved now so hopefully something comes out soon
 

    
Looks like they may be heading towards bridging some stories together soon, would be cool to have a full timeline throughout the CODs!
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skyeboi91

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Edited By skyeboi91

so in reference to der riese, has anyone accessed R. Oppen's mail because he receives mail from vbush about a "dr.Maxis" maybe another user for the riese server

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Nombot

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Edited By Nombot

Looks cool, can't wait to try it out.

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SxanRR

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Edited By SxanRR
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OhmWrecker

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Edited By OhmWrecker

I seriously cannot believe you guys are trying to crack this on a TV let alone a SD one.  You know that on the PC version of the game you can type away with your normal keyboard right?   
 
If there is something you guys absolutely cannot read let me know the steps to get where you are and I'll try to pull it up on the PC version.

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mrdeadhead

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Edited By mrdeadhead
@wiredrat: ahhh sweet, thanks!
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mrdeadhead

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Edited By mrdeadhead

okay here's all the passwords i have, or have seen on here:
 
 ==CIA==
amason
password

jfkennedy
lancer

rnixon
checkers

lbjohnson
ladybird

vbush
manhattan

jhudson
bryant1950

tbrooks
lauren

sharper
timhortons


==Dreamland==
vbush
majestic1

roppen
trinity
 
twalker
--Unknown--
  
==Derriese==
nothing yet,
3 possible users: 
 -Dr. Ludwig Manis
    -daughter: Samantha Manis
    -pet: Fluffy
-Dr. Edward "The Butcher" Richtofen
-Sophia (the secretary)
and it's the Group 935 research group
there's a number of encoded files under Oppenheimer's Dreamland account, that are too blurry for me to make out, but they may hold the info for this login.

 ---------------
i guess keep trying at it, i'm curious to see what the Derriese server has. most likely, more detailed info on the Zombies and Project 935's research. what's of interest is the weapons they developed (the Raygun and the Wunderwaffe (the arc-lightning gun), because it may contain codes for upgrades or new weapons in Zombies. they also mention that both the Wunderwaffe and Raygun have 2nd versions developed.
 
also, can anyone think of something for J. Edgar Hoover's password on the CIA database? i'm curious to see what's under there...

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wiredrat

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Edited By wiredrat
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mrdeadhead

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Edited By mrdeadhead

 so i've been messing around with this, too (thanks for the JFK password btw, that was bothering me). 
 
it appears that the primary server is for game-related information (at least about characters from the main campaign).
 
the Dreamland server is all about Nazi Zombies (well, Zombies in general). apparently majestic 12 wasn't to research UFOs but to research these meteorites that cause strange things like the dead coming back to life (the Banana limerick i believe is based off the players character from Nazi Zombies 1 in the Asylum).

 and i've yet to get into the 3rd server. but if it's derrise, and it that is in fact the Asylum mission from Nazi Zombies, try looking through the DIR of the Majestic 12 users. i'm looking through vbush now and there's a number of SERVANT______.TXT files that are from an old german database from 1947 or something that was used to study the meteors, maybe that's it? i can tell you now that SERVANTA00001.txt is by one Ludwig Manis (the last name may be wrong, fuzzy characters....)  and his daughter's dog's name is fluffy.
 
but i am running into a big problem, my SD TV is a bit blurry so i can't make out some of the characters, so i'm running into a ton of trouble decoding things (RAAAAAGE). can anyone decode the bit of text from SERVANT100115.txt under vbush on the Majestic server?  something about the line "General weapon upgrades via [encoded text]" seems tempting to me. maybe a code to have all weapons upgraded in zombies?

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Blackbolt

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Edited By Blackbolt

About to start playing so this makes it seem more interesting to me already.

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iam3green

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Edited By iam3green

somebody should edit their post with every account and password that way someone doesn't have to read every post to find some.

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bybeach

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Edited By bybeach

Book mark this in my head if I ever get the game in the near or far flung future. 
 
majestic12 would rock......not happening I know.
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CastroCasper

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Edited By CastroCasper

 You could tell me that this is the worst game released in 2010 and I would still get it. I am a huge sucker for things like this. I am pretty sure I bought Mass Effect 2 only because it had a fishtank.

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thatfrood

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Edited By thatfrood
@Brackynews said:
" "...ask what you can sudo from your command prompt." "
Nice.
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Piranesi

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Edited By Piranesi

Took the day off to play but haven't got to the SP yet - nice to know that there's some easter eggs to find later.
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ShadowVirus

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Edited By ShadowVirus

Teachers got an email at college yesterday saying "If there's a lack of male students in today it may be because Call of Duty: Black Ops has just been released" 
 
Uh, I mean, that's cool, yeah.

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RinseWashRepeat

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Edited By RinseWashRepeat

Yes! Next gen Zork!
 
Neat idea for a main menu though.

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thereaper2950

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Edited By thereaper2950

The command for the mini game is this if you guys don't know 
 
CD 
 
then 
 
DOA 

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Edited By wiredrat
@Asuah: 'derriese' ? It is the name of a Zombie Map in CoD: WaW, isn't it?  
Freaking awesome this feature :) I think i will love this hacking game more than multiplayer :D
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mrfizzy

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Edited By mrfizzy

this is all really interesting and annoying coz iv never had to deal with console commands before (well not really) so im more or less rellying on forums such as this to get me to all the emails. haha. also, anyone else disappointed with JFKs emails? not one mention of an affair with Monroe, not one!!! 

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Asuah

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Edited By Asuah

Been messing with this for the past few hours and figured out a few things. 
 
The dreamland server has three logins, two of which I figured out the passwords for: 
vbush majestic1 
roppen trinity 
twalker ??? 
 
Also after reading some of the texts I experimented a bit, and there appears to be a third server 'derriese'. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out a login/password combination that worked for this.

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Nomin

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Edited By Nomin

l: sharper 
p: timhortons

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FuzzYLemoN

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Edited By FuzzYLemoN

I wonder how you're supposed to stand up in the PC version, since left click will trigger the current menu selection. >_>

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Mmmslash

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Edited By Mmmslash

If you type in '3arc Unlock', you'll unlock Dead Ops, Zork, AND the Zombie level you actually want to play, without having to beat the campaign.

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uberexplodey

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Edited By uberexplodey

this is fucking awesome!1

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MrKlorox

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Edited By MrKlorox

ZOMBIES!...

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cheweqfp

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Edited By cheweqfp

suspension of disblief needed. Was JFK making punch cards? or using binary?

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ManMadeGod

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Edited By ManMadeGod
@FluxWaveZ said:
" Odd, I can't get out of the chair...  I'm pressing the L trigger and then the R trigger and repeating it several times, but it doesn't do anything except for move the corresponding arms. "
Just press them as fast as you can back and forth.
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FluxWaveZ

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Edited By FluxWaveZ

Odd, I can't get out of the chair...  I'm pressing the L trigger and then the R trigger and repeating it several times, but it doesn't do anything except for move the corresponding arms.

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tracerace11

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Edited By tracerace11

dang it... I wasn't going to buy this game because of the gameplay being the same as every other cod..... but this menu stuff seems freaking sweet, and I didn't want this game. looks like my wallet shall be getting lighter

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tourgen

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Edited By tourgen

oh wow this is genuinely cool and intriguing.  I want to at least rent this thing now.

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WickedCobra03

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Edited By WickedCobra03

Very cool.  I didn't even know that you could do that from the main screen.  I will check that out next time I end up playing it.  I was going to just go ahead and beat it tonight, but that is not the way I usually roll with games.  I beat the 4th mission and I was like, meh, I am good.  I will hopefully end up finishing this game up by around Thanksgiving day.  Kind of like the slow burn.

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Sooperspy

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Edited By Sooperspy
@MistaSparkle said:
" My friend told me if you type in DOA you can play a dual stick shooter, but I'm not sure. "
IGN tells me so, so I guess it is true.
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teh_destroyer

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Edited By teh_destroyer

That really interests me.

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Red

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Edited By Red

That's pretty awesome, may actually give the game a rent over Thanksgiving

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iam3green

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Edited By iam3green

cool thanks jeff i will look at this when i get a chance.

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LordAndrew

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Edited By LordAndrew

I now want to play this game. Thanks, Zork.

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jeff

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Edited By jeff

Also, if you easily want to get back to the main system once you're in dreamland, that machine name is CIA.

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jeff

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Edited By jeff
@oneredodd said:
" When Logged in as vbush (manhattan password) you can read the DLpw.txt this will give you an encoded text to enable you to login to the dreamland server..  RLOGIN DREAMLAND user vbush password MAJESTIC1 "
 
Cool! That's weird that the encoded text gave you MAJESTIC1. When I was playing the game a couple of weeks ago, the text decoded to MANHATTAN, which obviously didn't work. I wonder if they patched that or something...
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Quacktastic

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Edited By Quacktastic

Too soon.

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oneredodd

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Edited By oneredodd

mail in Jhudsons account gets you TBROOKS password (Lauren)  he appears to be having an affair with DR Adrienne Smith..her cat is called Roxy! 

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DougWilliams

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Edited By DougWilliams

Just a few other oddities. Whilst logged into anyone's account you and get to the directory root via cd .. and another cd .. then you can go into the directory /bin (fairly normal for anyone who uses unix or a mac) and there's the list of the available commands. Besides whats mentioned in the help prompt there's also 'doa' and 'zork' which we already kn ow about but there's also a few others. The wink to the programmer in foobar and hello as well as alicia. Which is apparently a virtual therapist and responds to what you type in.,

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MooseyMcMan

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Edited By MooseyMcMan

@Jeff:  
 
Thanks a lot! Now I can finally play Zork! 

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Devil240Z

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Edited By Devil240Z

assuming its R1 and L1 on PS3. 

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DougWilliams

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Edited By DougWilliams
@oneredodd:   Just logged on to that and checked there mail and the 2nd one had the user roppen stating their password, unfortunately gibberish. But using the decode comand it came back as trinity. So another one worked out
rlogin: dreamland
user: roppen 
password: trinity
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oneredodd

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Edited By oneredodd

When Logged in as vbush (manhattan password) you can read the DLpw.txt this will give you an encoded text to enable you to login to the dreamland server..  
RLOGIN DREAMLAND 
user vbush 
password MAJESTIC1