Cuneiform

In this post, I want to analyze the meaning of the strange markings that have shown up in the game. It seems fairly clear that they are supposed to represent cuneiform, with the triangles representing vertical wedges and the crescents representing horizontal wedges. I will be using the following webpages to help with the translation:
http://it.stlawu.edu/~dmelvill/mesomath/Numbers.html
http://www.ancientscripts.com/akkadian.html

These are the places the cuneiform has been found (listed in chronological order):
- on the side of the PIE HQ
- on the walls of the PIE HQ
- on the trail in BikeRiley's video
- on the PIE guys' bill at the coffee shop

Pictured above is the cuneiform on the outside of PIE HQ. Although they look like fecal smudges, the PIE guys have assured us that--despite how much it stinks--it's not actually poop. (Thank god.)

Anyway, it can be seen when comparing the cuneiform numbers to the syllabic writing that the numberic symbols are much more simple. So, taking a look at the bags on the wall, one might say that the markings on them are numbers, not syllabic letters. However, this leads to problems in translastion, as I'll outline below.

Assuming that these are indeed numbers, the symbols on the first bag become hard to translate. In the webpage listed for numerical translation, there is no direct matching number for these symbols. The two possible interpretations I see are that it could represent the number 3, by just counting the number of wedges; or 62, by counting the first wedge as a separate digit (meaning 60 in the base-60 numbering system) and the other two wedges as 2 (though they are inexplicably stacked vertically). The next two bags are easy to convert: 10 and 4. So if the bags were numbers, then they might mean either 3-10-4 or 62-10-4.

If you take a look at them as if they were script, however, the first bag is translatable. It is a seemingly relatively easy conversion: the bags say "a-u-za."

As for what any of these possible translations mean, I'm lost. My best guess is that maybe 62-10-4 is a date, meaning April 10, 1962 or October 4, 1962. This actually kind of works in with the next set of cuneiform found...

Pictured is the result of the PIE HQ being broken into. There is a lot less to say about the cuneiform here because the symbols are just the ones on the outside of the house written backwards. So, it's either "za-u-a," 4-10-62, or 4-10-3.

It seems that it would be quite coincidental if whatever the vandals wanted to write was a different meaning, and it just happened to be the exact same thing they wrote before backwards. So, maybe it's just another representation of the same message. It's entirely possible that it's just another way of writing a date, which could again be either April 10, 1962 or October 4, 1962.

These next symbols are found in a video posted by BikeRiley (although it can't be confirmed whether this is actually in-game or not, it seems very legitimate). On the path that he follows to find the strange shadow creature (which looks friggin' sweet, by the way), the above markings are found.

These are probably the hardest symbols to translate, because they don't seem to be oriented correctly. That is, the triangles are upside-down relative to the crescent. I can't find any number or syllabic letter that has either upside-down vertical-wedges or backwards horizontal-wedges. So I have to idea how to convert them into anything meaningful.

The last set of cuneiform markings are on the note for the bill that was given to the PIE guys at the coffee shop where they saw the men in blue suits. Apparently, the guys in the suits paid for Hector and Baron's purchase while threatening them if they "keep going," and at the bottom of this inappropriately-coloured threat were the symbols.

If translated as numbers, they mean 4. If translated as writing, they mean "za." This doesn't seem to mean a lot.


Really, none of the symbols seem to mean a lot, whether it's because they're really ambiguous or just gibberish. I guess I'll just end this post with the possible translations of each instance of the markings. Hopefully their meaning will become clearer in the future:

3-10-4
62-10-4
a-u-za

4-10-3
4-10-62
za-u-a

???

4
za

Introduction to the Characters

In this post, I'll just introduce the characters shown so far as I perceive them:

First off are "the PIE guys," Hector and Baron. They work together, with a little help from the PIE network (the players, also called "slices"), to look at paranormal mysteries and how they fit into their JUMP theory. Though they have dedicated their lives to studying these mysteries; however, they never quite seem to be completely serious on the job, often focusing on their quirkiness and bickering as much as what they study. It makes for good comic relief, though. :)

Hector Macchiato looks like someone who knows his stuff. Inspired by paranormal childhood experiences, he does the finer details in the PIE research. He also reads comic books like Spider-Man, has a sweet pair of sideburns, knows a little bit of sign language, and somehow puts up with his partner Baron.

Baron Rude is the kind of guy who leaps before he looks. As such, he always has something to say, even if he doesn't think about it before he says it. He loves to drink tea, and he focuses on the bigger picture of the PIE projects.

Dongle, whose face hasn't been shown, is the PIE guys' intern. He sometimes films Hector and Baron in their adventures, although not a lot has been shown about his personality.

The other recurring characters in the story are the two unnamed men in blue suits. They watch the PIE guys from a green van parked outside the PIE headquarters, and they have even followed Hec and Baron around.

Introduction to the Game

In this post, I'll give an overall description of the game so far:

As far as I can tell, this ARG was first presented to the public through networking sites like Myspace, as well as a series of video replies on YouTube to videos of supposed paranormal sightings. In these videos, Hector Macchiato and Baron Rude introduce themselves as "the PIE guys"--PIE meaning Paranormal Investigation Experts--and give a very brief and humourous overview of what they think of the paranormal phenomena in the original video. They also mention their JUMP theory, which professes that strange paranormal mysteries occur just before technological breakthroughs, and they encourage viewers to go to their website and check out their research.

The Terms of Service on the PIE website make it clear that it is part of an ARG, revealing that it is sponsored by Sun Microsystems, the makers of the Java programming language and Solaris operating system. It is made apparent that there will be challenges that will promote the use of coding, and the NetBeans development environment and JavaFX Production Suite are included in the website's recruit kit. From my perspective at this point, it seems that the game is an attempt to promote JavaFX, which looks like a Java-esque tool for creating creative and visually-appealing applets and application. The PIE website itself implements JavaFX in it's Media Room section.

In the Media Room (and through their network on sites like Facebook and MySpace), one can find an introduction to the PIE guys and their JUMP theory. They believe that another "Jump" is about to occur, and so they are making almost-daily updates to the site with journal entries, pictures, and videos. Through these updates, the story of the game unfolds, revealing strange cuneiform graffiti on the side of their house, mysterious men in blue jumpsuits stalking them, scary treks through the woods, and a whole lot of other uncanny happenings. It's an interesting story, if you can stand the PIE guys' buffoonery; Baron's in particular.

At the same time, the players are given challenges by a strange entity working through the PIE website. These challenges are puzzles that seem to include coding problems that, when solved, unlock Clues to potentially help put together the mystery of what's behind this strange series of events. As a student studying computer science, I think this looks like it's going to be fun.

In closing, I want to note how strange it is that the ARG appeared to begin with promoting itself to people who are genuinely interested in the paranormal. I mean, it's about computer programming, but it's targetting people who don't seem to be into that kind of thing. But that's just my perspective, of course; maybe I'm mistaken.

Introduction to the Blog

Hi. Let me make a brief introduction: I call myself Oshovah (or Osh), and this blog is dedicated to the alternate reality game by Sun Microsystems called PIE, an acronym for "Paranormal Investigation Experts."

With varying degrees of participation, I've played a handful of ARG's in the past. This includes ilovebees, a promotional game and audio drama for Halo 2; Ares Station, a Telecommunications thesis project by two graduate students; and IRIS, an ARG in anticipation of the release of Halo 3. These varying degrees of participation, however, were never very high, as I didn't find myself contributing much to the progression of the game. There was also always some confusion in my mind about one thing or another; this, combined with my lack of involvement, hampered my experience of the games.

So, in my recent decision to "play" this game, I've also decided to create a blog in which I can focus my thoughts in an attempt to fully appreciate the work that's gone into the creation of this ARG. Hopefully, this blog will also help others to do this as well. I plan on soon posting a re-cap (or a series of re-caps) of what has happened so far in the game, both story-wise and in respect to the challenges. I also plan to post analyses of the different aspects of the game and updates on the game as it progresses.