Blizzard’s World Wide Invitational 2008 teaser: Valenzetti and Diablo 3 – QJ.NET investigates

Before we dive into the deep conundrums we prepped within, we’d first like to give full credit to QJ.NET reader refractionpcsx2 – one who managed to tie down one of most plausible theories we’ve sifted since the Diablo 3 rumors started rolling in like earth from a landslide. Remember the pieces of the “purple walrus” puzzle? Remember their numbers? A new piece popped up while we were away, and it’s numbered 16. So now we have 4, 15, 16, and 23. Google the numbers – they’re four of six Valenzetti numbers.

 

Thanks to QJ.NET reader refractionpcsx2, we’ve finally pinned down Blizzard Entertainment’s new antics on slowly teasing the mysterious World Wide Invitational game – or at least, one of the little conundrums that the world publisher and developer tossed our way. According to refractionpcsx2, aka Mr. Alex P. Brown of the UK, Blizzard’s crafty press relations tactics are sliding us the Valenzetti equation.

Further piecing together of clues and developments from Diablofans.com, plus the nature of the numbers, strongly hint that Diablo 3 is the big announcement they’re just dying to trumpet this weekend.

Whoa – rewind and remix!

First things, first: let’s recap the unfolding of events that lead Mr. Brown to his theory. Dateline is June 24. Inquisitive Diablo fan forsinain searched the innards of the Master CSS file conveniently located within a directory named “232309” (which stands for “WWI”) at the US media portal of Blizzard’s official website. This just happens to be the same site which back then unearthed the word tundra. Soon after, the words “Cavern,” “Icy,” and “Cold” appeared.

But that’s not our concern. What we’re interested in are the images of an evenly split JPEG file, which also was rooted from the Master CSS file mentioned earlier. The first piece pointed us to an image of a purple pelt or hide, and we were given three more images which piece together nicely to what appears to be a purple monster.

Or walrus, if you could extend your imagination somewhat. Though many may argue that it could be a penguin, we have little data that could allow us to concern ourselves with what’s hidden in the image.

What we’d like to focus our neurons on are the numbers that the JPEG puzzle pieces offer to us. To date, we only have four JPEGs to toy with: 04.jpg, 15.jpg, 16.jpg, and 23.jpg – not necessarily in that order.

04, 15, 16, and 23. Four numbers, with absolutely no apparent relation to each other. Diablofans.com, once owners of the Diablo3.com domain before Blizzard kindly requested ownership, did learn of these numbers’ significance eventually, however.

In fact, these numbers are all related to the Valenzetti equation, which produces six distinct numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42.

But for what the information was worth, the sequence was partially overlooked. Brown, however, brought the importance of the Valenzetti equation to our attention in a different light.

Time to play Blizzard’s little game

You see, the fictional Valenzetti equation was the brainchild of fictional mathematician Enzo Valenzetti. The so-claimed Princeton University genius created such an equation using human and environmental factors that soon resulted to six numbers, and the numerical representation of the years left for mankind to live.  

One of the numbers was later popularized by the modern remake of the movie The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, if you remember well, though there seems to be no other reinforcing relation between both uses.

The Valenzetti equation itself wouldn’t have reached pop-culture veins if it had not been for The LOST Experience – an alternate reality game conducted in parallel to the popular television show LOST.

The game itself was very engrossing – you could find all sorts of clues all over the Internet. Hanso Foundation clues dotted Youtube, Flickr, and even Amazon. We imagine that someone at Blizzard had a high attraction to the show or the concept, so that they orchestrated it’s use with the World Wide Invitational 2008 pre-event campaign.

And, sadly, we fell for it. Hook. Line. And sinker. We’re now playing in Blizzard’s mini alternate reality game, based off on The LOST Experience’s own twists and turns. But Blizzard’s putting a little flavor of its own.

If you remember correctly, there were five hieroglyphs found in LOST that were of great significance to the puzzle. Ol’ Blizz is plastering symbols of its own on it’s version of “the Swan”: the splash page at Blizzard.com. So far, we have three.

Valenzetti equation – not just a sequence of numbers

But let’s get back on track before we derail completely. Why was this fictional equation made, you ask? Because everyone feels the threat of imminent extinction at least once in a lifetime, of course.

The world itself did reach that phase during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the lore behind the equation would say. Though the event was the culmination of the Cold War efforts between the US and Russia, the threat of mass destruction had grasped the world (and world order) by the neck.

Since then, it was claimed that the United Nations Security Council secretly commissioned the Valenzetti in 1962 to approximate the time when humanity’s extinction was at another hair-trigger moment away.

But least disseminated through common means in the entire plot was the theory that the equation could also be used to prevent the human race from being snuffed out.

Well, that is if the values that represented the environment (case being, the situation and the odds) and the human (e.g., birth rate and such) factors could be altered. Unfortunately, for the events that transpired in LOST, throngs of mathematicians failed to alter these values, and the Valenzetti equation was left to spew out the same six numbers.

Now, the equation is popularized as the mathematical representation of Armageddon. Inevitable Armageddon.

A case of misdirection? Hardly.

The implications of the use of these pop-culture facts is far from nonsensical. In fact, the idea would fit the publicity, despite the fact that we know that Blizzard often finds ways of diverting our attentions from the actual news that’s about to be unveiled.

We’re confident of this, because though they did try, they weren’t able to hide the news when StarCraft II was looming over the horizon.

The hardcore fans in Korea already frolicked in excitement about the new RTS even a month before WWI 2007 hit Seoul. It only took a couple of days for people outside “South Korea’s soul” to pick up on the news – few were inclined to believe hearsay from a fanatical following of the sci-fi franchise.

But the rumors were true to certain extents, and Blizzard did announce StarCraft‘s return to the PC as the technological superior sequel, StarCraft 2.

Shattered Sanctuary

Now why would an equation foretelling Armageddon be used to popularize Diablo 3, if Diablo 3 is the big game announcement they’ve lined up this weekend? It could be because Sanctuary, the world we hacked and slashed our way through in Diablo, is now a hair-trigger away from complete annihilation.

Oh no, we don’t refute the fact that you, the lone hero and your trusted mercenary, saved Sanctuary from the hordes of Hell-spawned forces after defeating the Lord of Destruction and shattering the Worldstone.

But do you remember what the folks in Harrogath said about destroying it? Prophecies foretold a time that the Barbarians of the Highlands would need to defend the Worldstone from the Prime Evils and that it would be eventually corrupted. But according to Anya, the destruction of the Worldstone was never documented or spoken of.

Every other companion in the battered Highland fortress claimed that there were uncertainties laid before Sanctuary after the corrupted Worldstone was disposed of, though all responses taken collectively pointed out that they were two general consequences of your actions: the world would be safe, or it would fall into further indefinite peril.

Qual-Khek, Harrogath’s Master at Arms, says to you if you spoke about lifting a hand against the Worldstone, “The destruction of the Worldstone does not bode well for our world. But I’ll try not to worryÂ… After all, we have warriors like you fighting for us and for the Light. Farewell!”

If the reference and use of Valenzetti’s equation is a clue to what we’ll be seeing soon, then it’s likely that Blizzard’s to-be-announced “game” – not “expansion” – is in fact Diablo 3, and that the Sanctuary we bled for has become all the more threatened. Perhaps we could expect to see a furious Inarius, and the participation of the Nephalem.

And Diablo 3 is no MMORPG either, if the appearance of a Diablo 3 forum in Battle.net is any further indication. Come Saturday, we’ll finally know for sure. Stay tuned to find out.