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Jan 1, 2010

Introduction to Find 815
Posted by DarkUFO at 14:53 (Comments: 383)
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"For Sam Thomas, times have never been so tough. His partner, Sonya, was a flight attendant aboard missing Oceanic Flight 815. Sam, a talented IT technician for Oceanic Airlines, is determined to find out what happened. But Oceanic would rather be ‘flying again’. They have abandoned the official search for Flight 815. Sam is distraught, afraid he will never have answers. But then he receives a strange email... Sam has followed the mysterious message from the Maxwell Group to Jakarta and has located the Christiane I. It is just about to embark on an expedition to an undisclosed location. But getting on board might not be as easy as Sam thinks... Sam's desire to leave the Christiane I at the next port comes across an unexpected obstacle, leaving him curious about the identity of Talbot’s employers. Sam's attempt to outwit Talbot and pinpoint the exact position of the coordinates brings unexpected results. Sam's determination to reach the mysterious coordinates risks the lives of all aboard the Christiane I. Will Sam find answers? Or has he made a life threatening mistake? "

Welcome to the new section of the site which will attempt to keep track of the new Lost ARG - Find 815. If you would like to join the Find 815 team, please feel free to email me and I'll get you hooked up.

Quickstart Guide
Check out Lostpedia's Find 815 page here as it provides an excellent recap of everything that has gone on to date.

If you have any questions check out the Chat room where there is normally someone there who will be able to help you.

Have fun and happy hunting!

Apr 11, 2008

New Arg being worked on
Posted by DarkUFO at 12:45 (Comments: 4)

Maybe they should rename it "Lost, Inc."

It's still a hit TV show, first and foremost. But "Lost" has also spawned mobisodes, videogames, books, viral videos, interactive Internet sites and much more.

For the exec producers who run that enterprise -- Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof -- the show's timing couldn't have been more perfect. "Lost" came along right when the ability to create video for multiple platforms exploded. Among primetime series, few shows are better suited than "Lost" to embrace the brave new world.

But there have been a few bumps along the way.

"We've learned some things worked better than others," Cuse says. "We've enjoyed the opportunities 'Lost' has given for us to try to expand the brand on other platforms. (But the) skill set involved in running a TV series does not translate directly to success in other platforms."

Lindelof and Cuse say their experience with ancillary products and platforms has varied depending on whom they've collaborated with.

They loved what Australia-based Hoodlum, for example, came up with for the show's recent "Find 815" interactive campaign. But the duo was less thrilled with some of the products that emerged early in the show's life, including a series of studio-commissioned "Lost"-themed novels that had little to do with the actual show.

"Us realizing we were managing a brand started early in season one," Lindelof says. "ABC business development came to us ... but we said all those conversations will be moot if we don't have a hit show."

A year later, after getting rid of those novelizations, the "Lost" team came up with the idea for "Bad Twin," a book discovered on the show by one of the characters. Created for the show and distributed in bookstores, the novel wasn't about what was happening on the show, but it tied into the world of "Lost."

That's become the mantra for all of "Lost's" extracurricular activities, be it mobisodes or videogames: The other platforms can't be considered canon, or required for "Lost's" TV audience.

"Our criteria is, everything you need to know about 'Lost' is contained in the mother ship," Cuse says. "There are definitely large segments of the audience that want more. And the ancillary media platforms give us opportunities to put out stories that might be interesting to some but not all."

For example, the show's first alternate reality game centered on the Hanso Foundation, the shady "Lost" organization responsible for the show's "Dharma Initiative." Rabid fans -- particularly those on the Internet -- feasted on that more in-depth mythology.

Those off-season interactive experiences also specifically feed into that season's plot points. This year's focus on the mysterious discovery of Oceanic Flight 815 at the bottom of the sea was foreshadowed by the "Find 815" campaign.

Lindelof and Cuse are already busy plotting the off-season interactive campaign for season five of "Lost." But they also employ a brand manager to handle at least 30 different outgrowths of the show, including mobile games and player platform games to more obscure licensing.

"We're very involved in certain things and uninvolved in others," Lindelof says. "Just running the show takes an enormous amount of time."

That's one reason "Lost" won't be producing another batch of mobile episodes in the near future.

The "Lost" producers are proud of the fact that they managed to strike a deal between ABC and the labor guilds in order to produce the short-form segs with "Lost's" top stars, scribes and helmers.

"They came out great," Lindelof says. "But the process of breaking those 13 two-minute stories and editing them was enormously time consuming. In terms of doing them again, creative has to drive it."

Lindelof says he's also aware of the show's saturation point.

"We spend the majority of our time saying 'no' to these things," he says. "There's something about the less of the show that exists, the more valuable it is. It makes it sexier to want to watch it on Thursday night if it isn't everywhere."

Source: Variety

Mar 28, 2008

Find 815 Coming Back?
Posted by DarkUFO at 21:24 (Comments: 9)
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Thanks to the 20+ people who have emailed me to inform me that the The Find815 site has been updated. Could the ARG be coming back?

Feb 14, 2008

Final FIND 815 Podcast
Posted by DarkUFO at 12:30 (Comments: 2)
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Thanks to Josh here is the final Find 815 Podcast that we did to wrap things up.

Download Podcast
Read Show Notes

Thanks to all involved.

Feb 8, 2008

Season 4 Clues--Updated: Clue Words Added
Posted by James D at 03:24 (Comments: 28)
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Updated: 11:52 PM EST
I thought I'd make a post summarizing all of the Clue Hunt Season 4 Clues after I noticed the Tunisian Newspaper in tonight's episode, it makes it easier than hunting back through posts.

This was the Chapter 1 Season 4 Clue. The Oceanic Hotline. I believe that was the number Frank Lapidus called in tonight's episode to point out that the pilot was totally not the pilot. This goes along with my theory on how its a coverup and not a time warp. (How cool was Frank, btw?)
The clue words for this chapter were:
abc.com: Matthew
au.yahoo.com/lost: Abaddon


This is the Chapter 2 Season 4 Clue. Penny's number. I don't believe we've seen this yet.
The clue words for this chapter were:
abc.com: 423 Cheyne Walk
au.yahoo.com: Daniel Faraday


The Chapter 3 Season 4 Clue was the Tunisian newspaper. This appeared in tonight's episode episode when Charlotte was on the Dharma Polar Bear dig.
The clue words for this Chapter were:
abc.com: 36-15-28
au.yahoo.com: Charlotte Lewis


The Chapter 4 Season 4 Clue was the Santa Rosa pill bottle, which I guess was cluing us in to Hurley's stay during last week's season premiere.
The clue words for this chapter were:
abc.com: Frank Lapidus
au.yahoo.com/lost: Miles Straume


The Chapter 5 Season 4 Clue was a metal container printed "Queens College Department of Physics." We know Daniel Faraday is a physicist. With the information overload in tonight's episode, I don't know if it was mentioned that he was at Queens College or not. I'm assuming he was.
The Clue words for this chapter were:
abc.com: Southfields
au.yahoo.com/lost: Red Sox


I don't know about anyone else, but I thought it was really cool having played this whole game, hearing them mention the Christiane I in tonight's episode, and then seeing these clues pop up in the show. It really makes the whole thing worth it, even if it was a little tangential.

Christiane 1 featured on Lost episode: "Confirmed Dead"
Posted by Congested at 03:20 (Comments: 26)
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There was a direct tie-in to the "Find 815" ARG in tonight's episode of Lost. The show opened with ROV footage from the Christiane 1 and the boat was mentioned by a TV reporter in a Daniel Faraday flashback.

Screencaps to come. (send any in if you have them)

Find 815 - Stock Prices
Posted by SpOOky (Mark) at 01:43 (Comments: 5)
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Thanks to Orchid who points out that the stock prices displayed on the TV when Sam was Interview are Exactly the same as when Talbot was interviewed about Flight 815 being discovered some time later.

Feb 6, 2008

New Email
Posted by SpOOky (Mark) at 14:43 (Comments: 49)
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Thanks to The other's master who noticed Sam has a New Email
Is the game really over ?




Update: My Progress 10 blocks screenshot


Update:
JDMCMAMC said... I have added up the blocks and get (by chapter) 10+9+6+6+4=35. However, it says on the laptop that the number of total emails is 36. The only place for a 36th box to hide would be if it was the eleventh chapter 1 email.

On the Stars in Find815 by Benry and Gigora
Posted by DarkUFO at 10:50 (Comments: 21)
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Feb 4, 2008

Find 815 Wrap-Up Live Podcast - (*Update*)
Posted by Congested at 20:15 (Comments: 16)
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Update: 5th February Thanks to Everyone involved in last nights great podcast reliving all the events of Find 815.

Listen to the full podcast HERE.

Thanks to the JoshMeister, Big-O from Cranky Fanatic, Curt Yanko from the Black Rock Podcast, and Amanda from The Lost Flashbacks get together and a big thanks to Congested to for helping to organise this event.

Hi Everybody! We are now in the final stretch for both Find815 to conclude and Lost Season 4 to commence. There is probably no better time to discuss Find815 in podcast form than now.

Join us Live on Talkshoe Monday, February 4th at 10:00PM EST/7:00PM PST for a special DarkUFO/find815.blogspot.com podcast where a wonderful group of Lost podcasters will sit down together and discuss everything we are still trying to make sense of. The best part about doing the show live is that any of you are welcome to call in and chat with the hosts of the show. Talkshoe even has a chat room function that lets you interact with the show through text if you are unable to call in. We will also post the show on the blog for all of those who will not be able to make it (partly due to the fact that many of you will be asleep, I'm sure.)

As of now the podcasters that will be hosting the show are:



To join the show simply go here the night of the podcast. There will be an option to listen to the show live. We will start gathering prior to the start time and you will have a chance to follow the instructions on how to call in. Hope to see you there next Monday.

Feb 3, 2008

Oceanic Airlines is giving away the goods
Posted by DarkUFO at 09:04 (Comments: 20)
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Update: 5th Feb Thanks to Josh who has found a way for non XBOX owners to enter.

You can enter by mail by hand printing your first and last name, address, city, state / province, ZIP/postal code, phone number and e-mail address (if any) on a 3x5 piece of paper and mail it to:

Taking You Places You Never Imagine Sweepstakes
P.O. Box 1403
Lombard, IL 60148-8403

Limit one (1) entry per outer mailing envelope. Mail-in entry(ies) must be received by February 17, 2008.

We will only accept one (1) entry per person/ email address (regardless of method of entry or whether one person has more than one email address or more than one person use the same email address).

We are not responsible for entries that are altered, delayed, deleted, destroyed, forged, fraudulent, illegible, improperly accessed, inaccurate, incomplete, interrupted, late, lost, misdirected, multiple, mutilated, non-delivered, postage-due, stolen, tampered with, unauthorized or unintelligible."


“NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open only to legal residents of the 50 United States (includes the District of Columbia) 18+. Game ends February 10, 2008. For details including free, alternate method of entry, see the Official Rules.”

Prizes

Six (6) First Prizes. A prize package consisting of the following items:

· Xbox 360 Pro console (Approximate Retail Value, ARV,$349.99)
· 12-month Xbox LIVE Gold subscription (ARV, $49.99)
· 1600 Microsoft Points (ARV, $19.99)
· Seasons 1, 2, and 3 of LOST on DVD (ARV, $179.97)
· LOST baseball hat (ARV, $17.95)

Three (3) Second Prizes. A prize package consisting of the following items:

· Seasons 1, 2, and 3 of LOST on DVD (ARV, $179.97)
· LOST T-shirt (ARV, $19.99)
· LOST messenger bag (ARV, $45.95)
· LOST baseball hat (ARV, $17.95)
· Total ARV of all prizes: $ 4498.92

If for any reason an advertised prize is unavailable, we reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value as permitted. We will only award one (1) prize per person. All prizes will be awarded provided a sufficient number of eligible entries are received.

Source: XBOX

Thanks to everyone who emailed this to me.

Xbox Live subscribers in the United States have a chance at winning an Xbox 360 bag-o-goodies with Oceanic Airlines' Taking You Places You Never Imagined sweepstakes.

If you haven't noticed already, Oceanic Airlines has partnered with Xbox Live to give away Xbox 360 consoles, Microsoft points, Live subscriptions and special surprise packages to nine lucky peeps who download their theme. No Play & Win, no registration via Xbox.com, you have to download the theme to enter and that's it. Entry into the sweepstakes ends on February 10th, so make your way to the XBLM, locate the Oceanic Airlines theme and give it a download for a chance to win. Because even though they are out of business, Oceanic Airlines wants you to love 'em.

Source: XBOX 360

Feb 2, 2008

Code in the Talbot Interview
Posted by SpOOky (Mark) at 14:12 (Comments: 30)
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Update: 02/02/08 From comments posted by a number of members
It seems like this is nothing more than a a digitial watermark


Thanks to taiphun who e-mailed us about the mp3 audio Talbot Interview


I was on chat and noticed that Gigora
found that the audio file (mp3) that comes from the UCLA radio website
has properties that contain hexadecimal numbers in the Comments
section. This is highly unusual, so it was of great interest to me
when I found my copy of the mp3 and cried purging tears of joy!



The conversion of these hex numbers to binary are as follows:

00000062 01100010
00000073 01110011
00002140 0010000101000000
00001429 0001010000101001
000000B6 10110110
000138F5 00010011100011110101
00007DB1 0111110110110001
00006151 0110000101010001
000000D0 11010000
000138DB 00010011100011011011

The binary, when converted to ascii translates to this:

bs!@)¶WÛ8Û

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense for now, but I think we are
taking steps in the right direction to figuring if this means
anything... perhaps a lead into TMG's website?
Source:taiphun

Maxwell Website change
Posted by SpOOky (Mark) at 13:56 (Comments: 38)
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Thanks to Alexandre El-baze & Amaebi & Etoilee who noticed that The Maxwell Group has a new look


Feb 1, 2008

Oceanic Video: Screencaps
Posted by PenguinJosh at 20:32 (Comments: 14)
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Just thought I'd post a couple of interesting screencaps of the oceanic comercial on Eli Stone.

I particularly enjoy seeing pictures of the plane wreckage.



The Maxwell Group website
Posted by JJB at 14:39 (Comments: 27)
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It seems the Maxwell group site not only has a new link to an audio stream, but the server is now "updated and secured". If you type in any random username and password you'll get this window:


Now all we need is a username and a password. Ideas anyone?

FIND 815 New front page
Posted by SpOOky (Mark) at 11:17 (Comments: 7)
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I just popped along to Find815 and was greated by this new front page.

Chapter 5: Find815 Complete?
Posted by The ODI at 10:48 (Comments: 0)
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Well here is what the final My Progress for Find815 should look like.

Thanks to Sebastian for the screencap.

Maxwell Group Site
Posted by DarkUFO at 05:54 (Comments: 36)
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Update: 06:00 GMT Here is the audio for those having trouble.




I just noticed very briefly that the MG site had been updated. It seems that they have now put it back to what it was but I manage to grab the link.

http://www.uclaradio.com/2008/01/31/oscar-talbot-on-a-deep-sea-discovery/



Thanks to SpOOky for the screencap for those having problems.

Eli Stone Oceanic Commercial
Posted by DarkUFO at 05:02 (Comments: 37)
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Thanks to DocArzt for getting the HQ version of the video.

Chapter 5 Ends: Sam Finds Flight 815?
Posted by The ODI at 02:50 (Comments: 41)

Here are a few screencaps from today's activity of "Find Black Rock". This seems to be the end of LOST's Find815 ARG, but as we get more updates we will keep you all updated.

You can watch the videos and view a screencap of one of the several possible solutions at the following link:

Find Black Rock Activity Videos



Jan 31, 2008

One Man's Opinion.
Posted by James D at 22:10 (Comments: 36)
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Ok, so there's a lot of speculation going on about the end of this game today. I would like to put my two cents in concerning the finale.
First, from an earlier stage, we learned that The Maxwell Group is a subsidiary of Widmore Industries.

Second, we know that whatever ship Naomi came from is not Penny's boat.

Also, Naomi was in possession of the picture of Desmond and Penny.


Using these pieces of evidence, I am capable of coming to only one conclusion. Charles Widmore, the only other person in the world other than Penny or Desmond capable of possessing that photo, staged the fake plane in the bottom of the ocean for the purpose of ending Sam Thomas' and any other concerned party's search for Oceanic 815. I do not yet know why he is interested in the island, that remains to be seen. These are the conclusions which I have drawn:
There is no wormhole.
There is no time warp.
There is only one Oceanic 815. This is all just a result of a conspiracy. That seems plainly evident to me, thanks to the knowledge that Sam was practically forced to go to those coordinates by The Maxwell Group.

Note: Please do not discuss spoilers in the comments section. I made sure this theory was completely spoiler-free and only used information from the game and show thus far.

Quick Find 815 Recap from Ny Mag Online
Posted by The ODI at 21:56 (Comments: 1)
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First of all, I want to thank EVERYONE out there that has made this LOST ARG a great experience. As we all know this blog has become the #1 source of information for Find815 and I want to give a special thanks to DarkUFO for the site and everyone else that helped contribute to the site...!!

I know we have several links on the blog for recaps and people can find everything and anything on this page about Find815. However, with the premiere tonight many LOST fans that had no clue about Find815 or didn't have the time to follow the game are now jumping online. So a quick recap is what some fans might be looking for.

Here is a great recap of the events of Find815 from Ny Mag covering all the key points from all five chapters (does not include todays "activity"). The recap works well because it links back to the blog here several times.

So for all of you out there that are just logging in or want a really quick recap and read to catch up check out the following article:

We Decode the ‘Lost’ Online Game for You

Last Activity: "Find Black Rock"
Posted by Steff at 17:22 (Comments: 92)
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Here are all three videos from the last part of Chapter 5. Click on the buttons to see them.




***UPDATE***
I uploaded the clips on youtube for those of you who couldn't play this videos. Here are the links:
Intro, Fail, Success.

Last activity released earlier (updated)
Posted by dragossh at 16:30 (Comments: 43)
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The last activity on find815.com has been released. But the story continues in 1:30...



Update: The activity is now playable and it's called "Find the Black Rock".

Chapter 5 Clue Hunt -- Cabin Lights
Posted by The ODI at 11:20 (Comments: 31)
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Hey All,

During today's Clue Hunt if you look carefully there is a set of bright lights on the roof that basically shine like stars. Are they just lights or do they really form a constellation?? Any ideas...??

Thanks to Carlo for sending in the screencap.

Oceanic Airlines Van Spotted
Posted by The ODI at 09:44 (Comments: 4)
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Some LOST fans spotted an Oceanic Airlines van promoting the Find815 game and were able to grab some nice shots of it driving around town. I believe this van was spotted here in LA.

These were found posted on the ABC Inside the Experience blog.



Sam' s diary Reversed audio
Posted by SpOOky (Mark) at 04:03 (Comments: 23)
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Reversed audio from Sam's diary

The best I can make out is
"Two...Investigate...after about half an hour .. wanna be..... Dar..." (Dharma?)





Who and what do You think its saying ?

Update:
Thanks to feddawg who cleaned the audio and thinks it says
"first we have the get some steam....we submerged....2 of the rov's to investigate the signal...., after about half an hour one of the rov's......and after that"

I think its Talbot organizing the initial dive when a sonar signal has been acquired. Initially I too thought that it was a newscast but the audible portions sound like Talbot's voice and the phrases indicate the initial phase of a search recognition operation.


Updated Audio: Big thanks to Charlie08 who provided this version.

I enhanced the audio some more and got a tad more speech out of it,

Pic in the Video Diary
Posted by Charlie08 at 03:38 (Comments: 6)
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Thanks to José for the following pic

The Maxwell Group Website
Posted by Gavin Jones KY at 03:12 (Comments: 14)
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I have noticed that each night in chat this topic comes up. And nightly this topic has to be explained, so I thought I would post it.

The Maxwell Group website will be available for use in the United States on Thursday January 31, 2008 at 7:08 pm eastern time.

This information has been available since the beginning of the ARG.

After attempting to login at http://www.the-maxwell-group.com you see the following screen:















You can use the the following website to convert UTC to US time zones in case there is anyone who needs documentation:

http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/zones.html

Now we just need a correct username and password by then.

One More UPDATE !!!
Posted by Charlie08 at 02:39 (Comments: 17)

Last update is a Activity



14 hrs 22mins !