Update: At the time of this story the Rainbow Six website wasn't acting properly, however it has been reported that it too is pointing to the Ghost Recon website via a similar overlay. This story has been updated to include the Rainbow Six site.
In the early hours of the day this morning one of our readers helped us spot a strange overlay on the official Ghost Recon website. Visitors of the site were treated to a smoking dossier (which might be a black box after all) but nothing could be done other than close off the overlay and scratch your head.
Today, both the End War, Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six sites have received similar flash-based marketing treatments. Each site includes an overlay of smoking items that appear to be from a wreckage which, when clicked, redirects visitors to the official Ghost Recon website -- home of the original mystery.
While it could all end there, today the Ghost Recon site updated with new information and a mysterious countdown timer.
When visitors click the smoking overlay on the official Ghost Recon website a map overlay of a satellite searching over Eastern Europe which locks onto a signal from the MACSAT7, which may be the wreckage covering the Ubi franchise sites. Entering the recovery module opens two data clips of fragmented audio and video that have been heavily damaged.
The campaign, dubbed the MACSAT7 Recovery is so far comprised of these two clips. The first clip sounds like chatter between pilots on the hunt for "bandits," before one is abruptly shot down (maybe the source of these files?). The second clip sounds like it could be coming from tactical command giving navigation orders to a ground team whose audio has been corrupted.
Three other videos are currently in the breaching stage and include a timer to let us know when the files will be accessible while the two current files have timers letting us know when the corrupt data can be acquired. Couple with with the top of the data file that counts down to a total decryption time of 115 hours which, by the power of our poor math skills (based on the time we did the math), points to an announcement on April 2 at 12PM EST.
The speculation is already running wild on the official MACSAT7 Recovery forum. We don't know what it is but we wonder if this could mean Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 3 is around the corner? Yes, please.
[Thanks, wh00t expired & Aaron]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-28-2008 @ 6:32PM
Eric said...
Perhaps Tom Clancy's Air Combat/Firehawk?
Reply
3-28-2008 @ 6:48PM
john paul said...
Hopefully it is
2nd one was beast
(sorry don't know about the first)
off topic - how do we send in messages for ask x3f?
"[email protected]" right?
Reply
3-28-2008 @ 7:12PM
stinger503 said...
You guys keep track of this, I'll probably forget in two hours.
Reply
3-28-2008 @ 7:43PM
ray42 said...
Chances are it's Ghost Recon Firehawk, from Ubisoft Romania...
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3-28-2008 @ 9:42PM
Deck said...
I new Ghost Recon is in the works! I can feel it!
Reply
3-28-2008 @ 10:54PM
nillaP said...
maybe ubisoft should worry about vegas 2s online (im a ps3 owner)
Reply
3-29-2008 @ 12:37AM
blueGrassTubb said...
I would argue that it won't be another GRAW. Ubi clearly uses a specific development pattern with the entire GR series. They develop technology for a game, and use it for 2 games, then move on. If you look at the game history:
GR
GR: Island Thunder
GR2
GR2: Summit Strike
GRAW
GRAW2
I would imagine that the technology would be new for a new 2 part series. The second part has always integrated changes in the UI and, minimally, in the game play, but the game remains essentially the same.
Since it has been over a year since GRAW2's arrival, which came out about a year after GRAW, I would argue, considering that this is the first we've seen of a possible new GR and that it likely won't be available until much later in the year, that this is indeed a new development cycle and not a continuation of GRAW. It may well be called GRAWx, but the game will be different.
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3-29-2008 @ 1:16AM
Jake said...
Its GRAW 3! There is like a teaser trailer of it online (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/144333.html) and that was released back in December of last year (or at least that's when it was posted on there) and it has the same music/sounds in the trailer as it does in this new flash animation teaser countdown thing... Listen closely... I guarentee you and everyone it IS GRAW3!!! Now can I have like Turok or the next big/major fanswag for paying such close attention and letting everyone know before the thing counts down???
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3-29-2008 @ 2:51AM
aaron said...
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 3 That be so bad ass
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3-29-2008 @ 3:29AM
Eric said...
@Jake
Sure...Except that was a trailer for GRAW 1.
Like someone said in the comments, that was the third in the Ghost Recon series.
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3-29-2008 @ 5:04AM
Mike said...
Yep...prob just announce when next GR is coming....yawn
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3-29-2008 @ 9:09AM
Jason Magio said...
I don't know if anyone though of this, but the black object that first comes up on the screen could be a "Black Box" that they recover from aircraft crashes and recover the audio and possible video from.
Reply
3-29-2008 @ 12:14PM
TSlade said...
How about a game that crosses through all of the Clancy series? It'd be pretty cool to see Sam Fisher working with team Rainbow.
Reply
3-29-2008 @ 3:13PM
nillaP said...
itd be Rainbow Cell Recon
Reply
3-29-2008 @ 11:42PM
Glitch W said...
Is there already a Firehawk site up?
Reply