Gaming's hidden messages

In the E3 2007 trailer for Halo 3, people saw strange, text-like shapes around the Bungie logo at the end, just before it fades and immediately set about deciphering it. Obsessively. After all, it’s clearly of massive importance – why else would they put it in? Have a look - it's right at the end.

Or, to save you time, here's a screengrab we took from the trailer:



Is that a 'C'? An 'A'? Look, there’s nothing there. In any of the frames. Seriously, nothing. Just look at the difference in the supposed messages people see (itself great for a study of what people want to see):

“The Chosen One.” (Okay, possible)
“You choose the ending.” (Maybe)
“Chief C1-7 8x6” (Aha! Of course! 6x8? Why, 48 rounds is enough to deplete a fully charged shield and kill Master Chief!)
“The Choice was there.” (Why would they tell us that?)
“The Chosen One, Marathon continues.” (Got a lot out of that one)
“Cheif is not dead” (yes, obviously Bungie would spell ‘Chief’ wrong) “LvUrFR3NZ” (Stop being so silly - it doesn't say that, does it?)

But the author of one of the in-depth YouTube videos, TheHierarchs, cleared it all up with this blindingly obvious answer:

Our advice? Look long and hard at what you just said. Our favourite comment underneath all the speculation has to be: “you mother ******* retards you realy dont know what it says”. Megalolz.

Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.