Heavy Rain's 'four days' challenge.

[Jason]

As with any major game released these days, the viral marketing for Heavy Rain has kicked off with today's launch of the 'Four Days Challenge', which will see players attempt to track the 'Origami Killer' over a series of "three unique, four-day challenges". The welcome email promises the following:

Four Days: The Heavy Rain Online Experience is a live event which plays
out in real time across three weeks. Between Tuesday and Friday every week
there will be daily tasks for you to complete. Each task will lead you onto
the next part of the journey. At key stages you will be prompted, whilst on
other occasions you will need to deduce the right thing to do. You will
receive an instructional email at the beginning of each of the three weekly
events, and you can always turn to the Facebook Fan Page Community for help
and discussion http://www.facebook.com/heavyrainofficialfanpage

Remember - make your choices, and live with the consequences. Because your
smallest decisions can change everything…

If you're intrigued, here's what they have to say about the first challenge, which started today:
The first four-day challenge will suck you into the fractured mind of a nascent killer. You need to know your prey to catch him. Keep your eyes open, even as his malign influence starts to impossibly spread... and most important of all, don't fall under his spell...

Interested? Sign up here (http://www.heavyrainps3.com). I've created this thread so that those of us who wish to pool our collective wits in order to try and crack this can do so. From what little I've got so far, it looks like this has been quite carefully constructed and should be a lot of fun.

[Jason]

Anyway, so I'm in. I've already promised myself that I won't be visiting that facebook page for help no matter what - I'll be damned if I'm going to let this outwit me.

I've cracked the first part, and I'm assuming now it's just a waiting game to find out what happens next.

EDIT: AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD USE SPOILER TAGS IF YOU'RE GOING TO DISCUSS ANYTHING THAT MIGHT RUIN IT FOR SOMEONE ELSE!

[cmb12000]

Hey man, im with you about the FB thing. They will prob screw it up and ruin it for everyone.

A quick question, there was no US option when I tried to log in? Am I missing something here?!?!

[Jason]

hmmm, that's odd... I'm sure I remember seeing one. Which page are you on?

[MyNameDidntFit]

Registering now... may do it later.

(and there is a US option at the registration screen...)

[cmb12000]

Last night as of 10 pm my time, there were only 5 country options for logging in. The UK, Italy, and 3 others. I picked the UK cause it was closest to me.

Just wondering if I was missing anything. Found twitter page. Is there anything on youtube?

[Jason]

not that I've seen yet. The twitter page has been updating a lot today though.

[MyNameDidntFit]

there were only 5 country options for logging in
Ah, right that screen. Yeah, there are only five there. I believe that's simply choosing a language.

[Jason]

Right spoilers incoming for those that haven't started it yet. If you've not found the twitter account yet, I suggest avoiding this post.


Right, so I'm following @perfectfolds on twitter. It looks like he's done for the day judging by his most recent tweet. I've found nothing else so far that looks like it might be a lead, despite searching google and youtube for other references. I've gone through a list of people following him and there's no indication there either.

From what I can tell, that's about it for now.

[TheNezzie]

okay so there has been no more emails today just more tweets?

Is anyone making sense of the tweets?

Spoilers



What of the words in caps.. just hype or clues?

[Jason]

Welcome to the forums. :)

I'm not sure about those capitalised words in the tweets. I've been wrestling with them, but nothing stands out so far.

I noticed that in the 'welcome' email that it told you to Keep your eyes open. With careful X-amination, new secrets could be
revealed.
but I've not worked out exactly that 'X-amination' is referring to. I checked the 'rainisfalling' page for anything that might pertain to it (including pressing the 'X' key on my keyboard repeatedly), but nothing yet.

[TheNezzie]

Thanks. Not sure I am much of a gamer but now maybe with somewhere to hang out and get ideas while not being surrounded by kids.. I might sharpen my gamer skills.


I haven't been looking on the PS3 home for clues or info.. could that be the next step? FB speaks of such things, but I don't want to hang on those threads for too long as I feel too much could be given away and the experience spoilt.

[Jason]

Yeah, I was planning on firing up the Playstation Home when I get back home tomorrow and having a poke round. I don't think I've ever even used it before to be honest. It's certainly worth trying out.

As for the site, well that's exactly why we exist - so people like yourself who wouldn't normally go for most 'traditional' gaming forums can have somewhere to discuss gaming-related stuff without all the hysteria. :)

[cmb12000]

Sounds as if we will have to wait till tomorrow to see what happens. You could tell from his (just an assumption) tweets that he was getting more and more agitated throughout the day. Tomorrow should be interesting. I will be checking in with you guys through out the day. Good luck everyone!!

[TheNezzie]

Tomorrow is good for heavyrain.. no work no kids.. :)

[MyNameDidntFit]

I noticed that in the 'welcome' email that it told you to
but I've not worked out exactly that 'X-amination' is referring to. I checked the 'rainisfalling' page for anything that might pertain to it (including pressing the 'X' key on my keyboard repeatedly), but nothing yet.

There's an x on the rain is falling page -- on the little drawing on the sheet of paper. Possibly it was just telling you what to look at? Seems simple, but who knows.

[Jason]

Right, I assume you've all seen the tweets linking to the images. Here's the newspaper clipping images to save you opening lots of tabs:

For Money
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/9803/formoney.jpg

Aaah for love
http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/1624/aaahforlove.jpg

For Being Different
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7127/forbeingdifferent.jpg

For Fun
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3043/forfunt.jpg

Now, I've not had much chance to study the articles yet, but the one thing that stands out to me is the numbers. There are a lot of them in the articles, which I'm going to assume is probably significant.
As a complete shot in the dark, I'll have a look at some number/letter substitution (ie: A=1, B=2.... Z=26) and see if that gives me anything. One of the tweets earlier referenced that:
didnt know the newspaper was a CODE I cracked it tho

So perhaps there's something in the articles themselves.

EDIT: Wait, it's so obvious... Look at the advert on the 'for fun' clipping. It actually gives you the web address. I'll bet anything that site actually exists.

[cmb12000]

Did you try it Jason? I have to run to town. An ice storm is coming and need to pick up a few thing incase the power goes out. Will try when I get back home.

[Jason]

I had a quick look, and it's definitely linked to the four-day challenge. It appears each person can only upload one though, so we might well need to combine our efforts to make sure we get information off all the pages.

[Jason]

Spoiler ahead if you've not found out about the website in the newspaper clippings.

Right, you can sign into the PicXaminer website using the same login details you entered on the Heavy Rain website when you first signed up. You'll then get the option to upload an image. It'll ask you to provide the URL of the image you'd like to upload. I assumed it wanted the 'twitterpic' URL, so I uploaded the URL for "aaah for love" (http://twitpic.com/1055rc). It's now told me I'll have the results emailed to me within 24 hours.
I'd suggest if anyone else decides to upload an image, do one of the others and let us know which one you've done, then the next person do a different one and so on. That way we'll get to see everything. :)

[TheNezzie]

I have uploaded the For Money pic to the examiner. That is pic 1051s9. Will let you know what I get back

For Pic Being Different there is a mug shot number 2021382us could be important.

And then the tweets
What of the progressively distorted tweets. A sign of the code? I will to try look closer soon

[TheNezzie]

Okay spoilers for those who haven't progressed to the website:

I got my email from PicXaminer and the photo showed nothig. So I'm stuck for now. Hopefully someone here has had better luck.

For those who have progressed even further then the website:

I heard about a link to a facebook site that was discovered in one of the photos. Did you get this or something else? I am off to check that lead out.

[Jason]

Here's what I got back from mine - nothing patently obvious from the first glance, but I haven't had chance to properly analyse it just yet.
http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/2047/scribblesarticleengbv.jpg

[Jason]

Part 2 is here!

Four Days: The Heavy Rain Online Experience – a unique series of three live four-day challenges drawing you inexorably into the universe of Heavy Rain.
You made it through the first week, and you’ve acquainted yourself with how killers think. Now use that knowledge to find one.
Here’s where the real work begins, officer – detect, analyse, interact. It starts here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdTZnCCEgWw
You’ve got to keep the caller on the line. But what’s more important– her safety, or her information? It’s your decision. If you do well, you’ll get evidence from a crime scene and be asked to match it against what you hear from an unreliable witness. Again, it’s a judgement call. Pay close attention to all the details – because it willbe your responsibility to put a package of evidence together for the Bureau. You may find yourself rewarded if your detective work is sufficiently thorough…
Remember your training from back at the academy – collect and analyse the evidence carefully, because there’s a killer out there. And we need to find him. You can be an important part of that…

[TheNezzie]

Live twittering going on.. if you have made past the video challenge..

if you got the details of @sleeperinthesun now is the chance to ask them some questions on twitter

[Jason]

gah, I got a .zip download file out of the youtube challenge, and I *still* haven't had chance to properly examine it. If anyone would like it, give me a shout. :)

[TheNezzie]

Completely stumped grrr theories going out the door just guessing now.

If anyone has gotten past the latest point please PM me.

[TheNezzie]

OMG - FINALLY got it.

I will say that I think there might be a bug in the system...:I am sure I tried that combination of evidence, and so did my hubby, early on. We kept getting fail. I think the system is over loaded. I suggest you pay attention to old tweets and the facebook links on the evidence board. You want more info PM me.

[TheNezzie]

Well I failed.. hopefully I will do better at the full game!

[Jason]

Hehe, don't worry... you're not the only one! I had a last minute rush through this last night and got it wrong as well.

Still, this has only gone and heightened my enthusiasm for the game... just two weeks to go!