For the Love of Gaming
Have you heard this phrase yet? It came up at the Game Developer’s Conference, in a story first broken by PG’s Jon Jordan:
“It’s all very cryptic, and to be honest we’re not entirely sure what this is about ourselves. It’s a phrase Nokia staff have been dropping into conversations, as well as having it printed on their funky shirts at GDC.”
Indeed, the phrase was on the shirt Anssi Vanjokji wore during his keynote address, as well as printed in the Nokia brochure packed into every GDC bag.
A mysterious source has emailed me some pictures to share with you, along with some additional information I will disclose in due course. Click the pix below for detail on the brochure and “funky shirts. ”
My source asserts that For the Love of Gaming and Project White Rock are related. This was confirmed by some media reports, such as Evergeek. Let’s pick up the story there:
“[Project White Rock] is cross-platform, it’s multi-platform, it’s N-Gage, it’s PC, it’s the amazing RedLynx; the kimono is opening a little bit today. We do it all for the love of gaming.
“If you doubt the gamer’s cred or sincerity, here’s a little self-check, perhaps a humbling one: Test your own for-the-love-of-gaming quotient at www.fortheloveofgaming.com. Don’t blame me if you can’t get the music out of your head.”
Ah hah! So For the Love of Gaming points to a quiz. A tough quiz! For the record, I scored 13 points, but my score has been bumped off the board. I guess I have something to do this weekend. :)
But it seems there’s more to this story. Here’s Zedge from Zedge.net, who goes a little deeper down the rabbit hole:
“So there I was, minding my own business, at the Nokia booth, playing one of their new N-Gage games… when I got a tap on the shoulder by a friendly PR rep. She asked me if I would want to be part of an ‘experiment’ and I responded with, sure, why the hell not.”
He describes how he was ushered into a private room with a mysterious figure who questioned him about ‘Project White Rock’. He was then given the For the Love of Gaming quiz, but scored enough points to gain a little more information.
Zedge was then handed a mysterious vial with a white USB stick inside. He describes what happened next:
“I was told to immediately put it away and not show it to anyone. How mysterious! I was then told to check out the contents in private and to await further instructions. How clandestine!”
He then concludes with a picture of the mysterious vial:
He hasn’t been heard from since!
My source was unable to provide one of the mysterious vials, and in fact immediately broke the connection when I asked for one. I didn’t even get a chance to ask for one of the funky t-shirts. Maybe someone can find out what is on the memory card in the vial, and learn a little more about Project White Rock that way.
Anyone have any ideas on this one?
March 7th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Huh, peculiar… very interesting, thanks for the good read
They sure know how to build up the hype.
March 8th, 2008 at 2:06 am
Project white rock is a triviar game? ok…
March 8th, 2008 at 4:44 am
when is the n-gage goin 2 b ready on my N95 8Gb!!! my mates had it far 2 lng now! U no who u r lol
March 8th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Блин, хватит тянуть кота за яйца, задолбали уже, давайте готовый лаунчер или на худой конец новых игр, я в ярости! (RUS)
March 9th, 2008 at 7:19 am
2D Died. Lyrics by Scott Foe (’Project White Rock’ producer)
A long, long time ago …
I can still remember
How that console used to make me smile.
And I knew that if I had my chance,
I’d ride an ostrich, wield a lance,
And, maybe, I’d be happy, for a while
The late 90’s made me shiver,
With every game that got delivered.
More first-person shooters;
Brit-chicks with big hooters …
I can’t remember if I cried,
When I read about the arcade’s demise,
But something touched me deep inside,
The day that 2D died.
So bye-bye, Mr. 16-bit Sprite,
Flew my Twinbee and my Winbee
Lookin’ for extra life.
And bitmap boys swung over pitfalls with vines
Singin’, ”We’ll hit reset when we die.�
We’ll hit reset if we die.�
Did you raise the Master Sword,
And did you put down the dark lord,
With a silver arrow?
Do you always play to win?
Can you pull off Shoryuken?
And can you teach me those combos?
Well I know that you finished him,
‘Cause I saw you rip off all his limbs,
Now the match is through,
A winner is you!
I was a lonely dark knight when trouble struck,
Carried by a yellow bird who had lots of pluck,
But that was no duck hunt
The day that 2D died.
I started playin’,
Bye-bye, Mr. 16-bit Sprite,
Flew my Twinbee and my Winbee
Lookin’ for extra life.
And bitmap boys swung over pitfalls with vines
Singin’, ”We’ll hit reset when we die.�
We’ll hit reset if we die.�
For near-twenty years, hedgehogs have ran,
And that plumber is still the man,
But it’s all in 3D.
When at last the aliens all were dead,
The bounty hunter revealed his head,
And it turned out that he’s a she.
Oh, and while the blocks were falling down,
The Saxons defended the crown.
The missle command turned.
We hit the afterburner!
And while Simon whipped vampires,
My stunt bike needed new tires,
Everywhere: World War II barbwire
The day that 2D died.
We were playin’
Bye-bye, Mr. 16-bit Sprite,
Flew my Twinbee and my Winbee
Lookin’ for extra life.
And bitmap boys swung over pitfalls with vines
Singin’, ”We’ll hit reset when we die.�
We’ll hit reset if we die.�
Up, up, down, down, left-right, left-right
Might just get you thirty lives
Don’t forget B, A, Start!
Winning over Marion’s heart,
With your mastery of the martial arts.
Back before heroes stole cars.
Our lunar landers neared the moon.
While the pig popped the wolf’s balloon.
Three kingdoms romanced,
But they never thought to dance, dance!
‘Cause the centipede was coming fast …
The tanks were ready for combat …
Oh man, the TV got smashed,
The day that 2D died.
We started playin’
Bye-bye, Mr. 16-bit Sprite,
Flew my Twinbee and my Winbee
Lookin’ for extra life.
And bitmap boys swung over pitfalls with vines
Singin’, ”We’ll hit reset when we die.�
We’ll hit reset if we die.�
Oh, and there we were all in one place,
Blasting invaders from space.
With no quarter left to play again.
So break out; beast be altered; axe be gold;
We’ve lost the joystick and control.
A Reset Generation …
Before opening the black gate,
I battled through those streets of rage
The chief loaded his guns,
The duke yelled, ”Come get some!�
And as I lived out my half-life
I missed out on the final fight
We were doomed alright
The day that 2D died.
He was playin’
Bye-bye, Mr. 16-bit Sprite,
Flew my Twinbee and my Winbee
Lookin’ for extra life.
And bitmap boys swung over pitfalls with vines
Singin’, ”We’ll hit reset when we die.�
We’ll hit reset if we die.�
I met a princess dressed in blue,
And I asker if she needed rescue,
But she just smiled and turned away.
So I went down to miracle world
Where I’d saved my brother, years before
Paper, scissors, rock won the day.
And in the streets: paper boys delivered,
Frogs were flatened, zombies ate my neighbors.
The fallout was unwanted;
Spies were being hunted.
And I was being chased by ghosts,
Got a pellet when I needed one most,
Then those nasty ghosts were toast,
The day that 2D died.
And they were playin’,
Bye-bye, Mr. 16-bit Sprite,
Flew my Twinbee and my Winbee
Lookin’ for extra life.
And bitmap boys swung over pitfalls with vines
Singin’, ”We’ll hit reset when we die.�
We’ll hit reset if we die.�
They were playin’,
Bye-bye, Mr. 16-bit Sprite,
Flew my Twinbee and my Winbee
Lookin’ for extra life.
And bitmap boys swung over pitfalls with vines
Singin’, ”We’ll hit reset when we die…
March 10th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
The vial is pretty interesting - what makes me curious is why the vial has the Tetrimino’s on the side of the glass. Given opening the vial looks very easy, could the memory card self destruct in some way? Is the vial itself the card? Interesting, i quite like these little scenarios… i wish i had more patience to actually complete them ^^;
March 11th, 2008 at 1:24 am
I scored a 13 in the quiz!
And I just might download that song later.
March 11th, 2008 at 7:46 am
lol, “B A Start” is the best cheat code I’ve heard!
And that one question involving Daikatana was da bomb!
this quiz is tough AND hilarious! there should be an event on arena featuring these questions!
nope, im not telling any answers here, srsly.
though one thing:
in one question it asks “Who saved Princess Daisy” has the wrong answer.
back then the person in question was known as “JumpMan” and i heard rumors that he was called “a short ugly dwarf with bad moustache”
March 11th, 2008 at 7:49 am
damn, im doing the quiz again! _
March 11th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Good idea Shadowspan, you should suggest it to Redrum. I’ll mention to it to him also. It will be very challenging to get on the high score board at this point, too.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:39 am
did i mention i got the score WITHOUT web searching?
March 13th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Ikona, i fed up with your promises. When? When do i finaly get my NGAGE app 4 my N82?!
And why the f** N81 users only have the access? Besides, i’ve been waitin’ much longer than n81 owners
March 13th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Dah,forget it. I’ve got installed the cracked all-version ngage app.
Havin’ the app locked - very silly. U really though it would be cracked?! lol u make me laught :)))
March 13th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Julius, *my* promises? Trust me, I’m not in charge of this spaceship.
March 15th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
2 ShadowSpawn & ikona: I believe that the answer is correct in there. You’re probably confusing Daisy with Pauline. You see - Donkey Kong featured Mario (then known as Jumpman) and he was saving Pauline, while Daisy first appeared in Super Mario Land game for the Game Boy that was released later than the first Super Mario Bros.