Search Results: 'armacham'

#StillHere Gets Some Sass! (And Violet & Christiana Too…)

Here’s an excerpt of a blog post made by my dear friend Jeff Sass — a former co-worker and contributor of 2008′s 7th Son: Obsidian — at Dad-O-Matic. It’s about the #StillHere experience:

“I found out about TheColony.Discovery.com from an unexpected package that I received, and I made the short video below to document my own experiences with this clever promotion.  If you are reading this, then you can assume I survived and am #STILLHERE.  Enjoy!”

Check out Jeff’s brilliant video below … and then read his post at Dad-O-Matic. He gives the #StillHere experience a big thumb’s up, and also poses an intriguing question about kids and new forms of entertainment. Give him an appreciative shout in the comments at Dad-O-Matic!

Also, be sure to check out additional unboxing videos from two of my personal #geekcrushes: the stellarly-talented blogger/author Violet Blue and ever-awesome author Christiana Ellis (who was also an Obsidian contributor).

As someone who’s received special packages like this in the past, I’m thrilled that they’ve all enjoyed their experiences so far.

#StillHere,

–J.C.

“Mobile FEAR Lab” Experience: A Silver Case Update

Photo by C.C. Chapman

Photo by C.C. Chapman

During a trek to New York City on the dime of the Armacham Technology Corporation, I participated in the Mobile FEAR Lab experiment. It was a tremendously cool experience … and you’re riding shotgun.

Watch Armacham employees deftly deflect my attempts at learning more about their company — and watch me play the awesome upcoming FPS, FEAR 2.

I also drop the f-bomb. With good reason. You’ve been warned. :)

Big big thanks to C.C. Chapman, who filmed much of my FEAR Lab experience.

–J.C.

I’m in NYC, ready to play FEAR 2 … and you can watch LIVE!

photo-1Fans of the Silver Case / FEAR 2 conspiracy, listen up: It’s ALL TRUE.

The Armacham Technologies Corporation is indeed hosting a mobile FEAR Lab experience in New York City today and tomorrow. The event, which debuts the new FEAR 2 video game, will be held from 11am to 7pm today (Saturday the 17th) and tomorrow (the 18th) at a GameStop store at 1282 Broadway.

How do I know this? Because I’m here, in the city, and will soon be playing the game on LIVE streaming internet video. In my last update of the Silver Case / FEAR 2 mystery, I showed you an invitation the Armacham company had sent me. I called the number, spoke to a Armacham agent named Violet, and confirmed my travel to NYC.

And now here I am, with a VIP ID Badge in-hand, ready to experience FEAR 2. Armacham generously provided travel and lodging, so I’m here on the company’s dime. I’ve been asked to blog about my experience (which I’ll do later today). Further, when I play the game at 3pm EST today, you can watch me on LIVE streaming video at this URL:

http://armacham.com/fearlab

And while the on-site Armacham agents don’t know this, I’ll also be doing everything I can to glean information about the alleged genetic testing the company has been doing. If I learn anything, I’ll help expose the Armacham company and its harmful (and illegal) experiments.

siglerchuON A RELATED NOTE: There have been some libelous allegations floating around the internet that I’m in NYC to assassinate New York Times bestselling novelist Scott Sigler. According to the beady-eyed Napoleon wannabe, he “discovered” a plot I’d devised to kill him while he was here, participating in the FEAR Lab event.

So frightened by this prospect, he chose to NOT attend the event, and instead sent Zombie, a blogger at ZombieGirlsOnline, in his place. The only thing worse than a coward is a Pokemon-sized coward. Scott, you’re a paranoid.

And so, my scheme to whack the most annoying (and most cadaverous) writer in publishing has failed. Ah well. Looks like I’ll have to deal with Zombie when she arrives at the FEAR Lab event.

SO! REMEMBER! Check out http://armacham.com/fearlab TODAY AT 3PM EST to watch me play the new FEAR 2 video game. If I learn anything more about Armacham’s evil scheme, I’ll let you know.

–J.C.

The Invitation: A Silver Case update

For those following my Silver Case adventures, here’s an update that’ll tickle you. As many of you know, I’ve been warned by a mysterious fellow named “Case Man,” aka Richard Findes, about the allegedly nefarious deeds of the Armacham corporation.

Armacham has targeted me to apparently participate in a marketing event for the release of the new video game F.E.A.R. 2, the Case Man said. But the company shouldn’t be trusted, he insisted — Armacham is using the event as a ruse to possibly perform genetic testing on me and other Silver Case recipients.

I’ve remained fairly neutral about Case Man’s accusations; after all, he could be spreading misinformation about Armacham. At the same time, I’ve been skeptical about Armacham’s supposed “targeting” of me; why in the the heck would a major conglomerate reach out to me? There’s nothing special about J.C. Hutchins.

But yesterday, I received this letter from A.T. Harman, an employee at Armacham Technology Corporation. (A scan of the letter is beneath my transcript.) Things are getting … interesting.

I’m going to personally pursue this mystery later today, and get back to you with some video and opinions. In the meantime, enjoy this very intriguing letter.

If this is real, should I go? My personal safety might be at risk. Sound off in the comments…

–J.C.


From the Office of A.T. Harman
C.O.O. of Gaming and Simulation Division
Armacham Corporation
www.armacham.com

Dear J.C.:

Congratulations. I am pleased to inform you that Armacham Technologies would like to include you in our upcoming *FEAR LAB trials in New York City.

Armacham will fly you to New York City to be one of the first to experience F.E.A.R. 2 during the weekend of January 17th and 18th. As part of the **Level III test, you will be granted access to our mobile FEAR LAB, allowing extensive interaction with the game prior to its public release.

The F.E.A.R. 2 module represents a major leap forward in FPS game-play and as part of Armacham’s outreach, we will provide live blogging & live streaming stations at the event for you to share with your audience.

Please contact our travel coordinator … to make arrangements.

Best Regards,
A.T. Harman

*Measurable PK attunement and Neuro-inductive Cognition is amplified by up to 22% by subjects utilizing the chair, although prolonged use is still being restricted to those displaying an initial Zener rating of 9+.

**Level III is designed for bloggers/gamers identified to possess exceptional latent Ganzfield reactions; these players will be among the first test subjects of the new module outside of Armacham’s secret research facility.

Armacham letter -- Click for larger version

Conversation with Case Man: A Silver Case update

Today, I received an email from Jeff Watson, a young fellow who’s been following my videos and updates about the recent F.E.A.R. 2 “Silver Case” mystery.

Here’s the full text of the email:

Hi JC,

Ever since those weird cases started showing up my friend and I have been following the whole Armacham/F.E.A.R. 2 drama and we know you have been too. We think we actually tracked the Caseman down! Here is a clip of our “interview” with him, he was super freaked out. To be honest I’m getting a little jumpy myself when I think about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dok2qRrNELE

If Quan and I come up with anything more I’ll forward it to ya.

Jeff

I don’t know Jeff, and — according to my email archives — I’ve never corresponded with him until today. However, I’ve reviewed Jeff and Quan’s video (seen below), and it is indeed possible that the duo discovered the mysterious “Case Man” — aka R., aka Richard Findes.

The voice of the man in this video sounds similar to the voice we heard in past personal videos to me. (In those older videos, Case Man’s voice has been modulated to protect his identity … but there are some tonal and enunication similarities between those vids and this one.) It appears Richard Findes is close to a “breakthrough” in his attempts to expose Armacham’s secrets.

This likely means we’ll learn more from him soon. In the meantime, here’s the video Jeff sent me:

Is it legit? A fan-created hoax? Something else? It’s hard to say. Jeff Watson’s YouTube account indicates that he has only two videos uploaded there. Both are related to the F.E.A.R. 2/Armacham mystery, uploaded mere days ago. His YouTube account was created in October. Interestingly, his profile says he’s 35 years old.

This is a head-scratcher, since the video’s off-screen Jeff sounds far younger than that.

Either Jeff is shooting straight, and he’s discovered Richard Findes’ location … or something else is afoot here. A misinformation scheme, perhaps? We’ll only know when more info becomes available. I’ll keep you posted.

My video take on Jeff’s email and video (created for my podcast audience; it contains much of the information found in this post) is below.

–J.C.

PS: I’ve replied to Jeff’s email, providing him a link to this blog post and asking him about his age, and geographic location. Where was this filmed? If I learn more, I’ll let you know…

The Dossier: A Silver Case update

Richard FindesYesterday, I concluded my Silver Case video series. Today, I received an email from the mystery man “R.” The plot thickens…

Silver Casers will recall that “R” is the man who sent me the silver briefcase, and appeared in two videos — one on a DVD I received in the mail; the other, on the case’s USB drive. “R” has provided information about Armacham’s alleged genetic testing, and its supposed nefarious plot to recruit people (including me) to participate in its research.

Now, “R” has contacted me via email:

JC,

Please help me.

As you know Armacham has corrupted the FEAR 2 game module but it seems they are still determined to unveil LEVEL 3 of their testing whatever the consequences. Despite disastrous results in the initial testing they are currently looking for 13 candidates to test the module in a device called the FEAR LAB in New York City.

I fear for the safety of anyone who becomes involved in this test and I’m determined to stop it all costs.

I’ve hidden additional evidence at http://www.armacham.com/rf3437 which I’ve had to encode for my safety. Once you unlock the files you will see what I’m talking about.

I’ll be in touch

R

I visited the URL “R” provided, and sure enough, there was content to behold. You’ll note that the directory in which this content is stored is labeled “RF” (which I bolded above), further implying that this data is hailing from Richard Findes, the disillusioned Armacham employee whose email we hacked in a past Silver Case episode. (Is there significance to the numeral 3437, as well?)

Two PDF documents were available via the link: “Dossier.pdf” and “Armacham Form 25C_supplemental.pdf”. I’ve extracted the pages from the PDFs and posted them below. You can also download a PDF with both assets combined by clicking here.

Silver Casers will note that most of these pages appeared in the dossier I personally received from Armacham, with one exception: the final image. This must be the encoded data to which “R” refers in his email.

What does it mean? Can the cipher — and R’s message — be found using these materials? I bet it can … and I bet you can help decrypt it. So let’s get crackin’! Sound off in the comments if you make any progress.

Joris N. UlbrichtFinally, I should note that the envelope I received from Armacham in late November was marked with a “LEVEL 2 CLASSIFICATION” stamp. But in this recent email, “R” refers to an apparent upgrade of the testing: Level 3.

Astute visitors to Armacham.com will note that Richard Findes’ email draft features three Armacham Technology Corporation employee profiles. Of the three, only Dutch employee Joris N. Ulbricht appears to have a Level III security clearance. Is he part of Armacham’s inner circle?

So. Help me crack the code to determine if Armacham is indeed conspiring to perform unsafe genetic tests on people (including me) … or if the mysterious Case Man — aka “R” — is simply on a mission to spread misinformation.

–J.C.

PS: I’ve replied to R’s email, saying his “message was received,” and providing him the URL to this page. If he responds, I’ll let you know…

VIDEO: The Silver Case, Part Five

It’s the final episode in the Silver Case video series. Here, I share some parting thoughts about the mysterious case and its contents, and encourage viewers to further explore the Armacham.com website, and visit the sites of other Silver Case recipients.

Newcomers: Here are links to Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four of this video series.

I also suggest you learn more about the Armacham mystery by reading ARGNet’s coverage of the Armacham.com site debut, and the comprehensive (and very cool!) thread cooking over at Unfiction.com.

From the Unfiction forums, here is the list of other Silver Case recipients (and links to their posts about their involvement):

  • M. Fahey — Mike Fahey at Kotaku (post)
  • A Birch — Anthony Burch at Destructoid (post)
  • J. Ransom-Wiley — James Ransom-Wiley at Joystiq (no post?)
  • S Sigler — Scott Sigler (SciFi / Horror Podcaster, former True Blood recipient) — post
  • JC Hutchins at jchutchins.net (Personal Effects author, SciFi Podcaster, former True Blood Recipient) — (post)
  • P. DeFranco — Philip DeFranco (YouTube phenomenon, worked on “Hooking Up” w/ Jessica Rose from lg15) — post
  • Z. Diaz — Zadi Diaz — Epic Fu (post)
  • S. Caramouch — unidentified, but if real, his/her parents must have had a quirky sense of humor considering the definition of “scaramouch”.

Enjoy the rest of the mystery, and kindly keep me in the loop if you discover something awesome!

–J.C.

VIDEO: The Silver Case, Part Four

Part One chronicled my acquisition of the mysterious Siver Case.

Part Two revealed its contents.

Part Three unearthed a mysterious video, and illuminated a package sent to me from the Armacham corporation.

What we know so far:

  • The Armacham Technology Corporation is working with the creators of the video game F.E.A.R. 2.
  • Armacham has recruited me and others to participate in a special “test” that will analyze my psychic abilities.
  • This test / study will be held in mid-January 2009, in New York City.
  • According to a mystery man — aka “Case Man,” aka “R” — who represents an anti-Armacham faction, this test is very dangerous.
  • “R” alleges that Armacham is using the release of F.E.A.R. 2 as a smokescreen to perform these nefarious studies.
  • Video provided by “R,” which appears to be footage recorded by Armacham, shows young people from different decades using telekinetic powers.
  • These powers may hail from an Armacham-created liquid nicknamed “frog juice.”
  • This information was obtained by a leak in Armacham’s corporate intranet, “R” said.
  • I and others have been targeted by Armacham, the mysterious Case Man said … and we’re not safe.

Torn by my desire to steer clear of the Armacham corporation and yet learn more about its experiments, I realized my next step was clear. I needed to learn more about Armacham. And so begins Part Four…

–J.C.

P.S.: You simply must experience this for yourself. I’ve laid some groundwork, but I’m certain I’ve only scraped the surface…

VIDEO: The Silver Case, Part Three

What is inside the Silver Case?

As this video series has progressed, you witnessed the opening of the Silver Case, and saw and nearly all of its contents revealed. But what of the case’s shiny USB thumb drive … and what of the mysterious second envelope I received?

Part One in this video series chronicled my journey to acquire the silver case. Part Two showcased what was inside. At the conclusion of Part Two, two mysteries remained: the USB drive, and the package from the Armacham corporation.

Here, I document my discoveries. Have the questions been answered … or have more mysteries been exposed?

–J.C.

VIDEO: The Silver Case, Part Two

What is inside the Silver Case?

In Part One of “The Silver Case” video series, I explained how I’d received two strange envelopes in the mail. One featured a hand-written address and USPS “delivery confirmation.” The other was from a company called Armacham. (Yes, yes, I know the company is fictional. Suspend your disbelief, for criminy’s sake.)

Forsaking the Armacham letter for the time being, I tore open the hand-lettered envelope. Inside was a DVD and a note. Mysterious footage on the DVD informed me that I had been targeted by the Armacham corporation, a weapons manufacturer known for its “genetic testing.” Eager to expose this conspiracy, the DVD footage instructed me to obtain a locked case from a nearby locale.

As Part One revealed, I did just that, and brought you along for the ride. I successfully obtained the case, visited a website (as instructed), and unearthed its combination. And as I opened the case … the screen faded to black.

Here’s Part Two of The Silver Case, in which I reveal nearly all of its contents. Below this video are high-resolution scans of the documents I found in the case, courtesy of PhillyD.tv. (Made-of-awesome vlogger Philip DeFranco was one of several fellow Silver Case recipients. His vlog is a must-see … the dude’s brilliant, and brilliantly funny.)

PhillyD’s case apparently did not include a “military” photo, which I received. This photo can be seen in the video. However, I did not receive a copy of the “name list” document, which is included below, scanned by Phil. Click “Full Size” in the gallery to view the images as full resolution.

There’s still more to uncover, including additional data, and the Armacham letter. And, of course, the question: What does it all mean? Stay tuned.

–J.C.

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