GKNOVA6: Viral Site For Unknown Video Game Discovered – Fallout or Call of Duty?

Nick Butler Nick Butler,

UPDATE 4/9/2010: Transmission #2 – https://movieviral.com/2010/04/09/gknova6-website-updates-new-codes-what-game/
A new website for an unknown video game has been discovered by IGN and Joystiq, after they received a package from somewhere in Maryland. The site plays a video, which you can watch after the jump. Initial rumors suggest that this site, www.gknova6.com, is related to an upcoming Bethesda release – Fallout: New Vegas. But not so fast, it may be for an upcoming Activision video game – Call of Duty 7 (rumored to be called “Black Ops”). What is clear? Well, the site includes multiple references to the Cold War, including photographs of John F. Kennedy delivering a speech about the Cuban Missile Crisis. But we’ll speculate about which title this is really for after the jump.

Members of the Unfiction forums have found something interesting that points this towards Call of Duty 7. The website includes a Google Analytics number that has been used exclusively by Activision for many other websites. Even though that’s the case, we have to look at the possibilities, and it’s quite possible Activision hired an outside company to run their websites and now Bethesda has hired that same company to run this website. The latter is less likely, so we’ll call it in favor of Call of Duty.

1-0 in favor of Call of Duty.

However as the Joystiq post says, the envelope is from Maryland – and Bethesday is based in Maryland, but so is the company the domain was registered to: MarkMonitor. That could mean Activision is doing their dirty work through that company, but that’s unlikely.  In addition, some members at the GiantBomb forums pointed out that the site was found using a Caesar cipher, and the plot of Fallout: New Vegas includes a slaver group called “Caesar’s Legion.” These two aren’t as solid as the Google Analytics number, so lets tie it up.

1-1, all tied up.

Now for the swing vote. The package sent to IGN and Joystiq was also sent to multiple high-profile Call of Duty fans, including WePlayCOD who tweeted “Just received a mysterious USB drive in the #WPC mailbox with what seems to be a cryptic audio transmission. Possible #CoD7 clue?” In our opinion, that is the straw that broke the camels back. Why would Bethesda be sending Fallout package to Call of Duty fans? I guess you could throw out a hypothetical situation, but we’re pretty sure this is for Call of Duty 7. Not to mention the Fallout storyline wouldn’t include the Kennedy presidency. We’ll know for sure within a week, because a code in the video translated to “APRIL WEEK TWO”. Oh, and:

2-1, Call of Duty takes it.

This is really just our opinion – and it’s still being debated by many gaming fans, so this is by no means confirmed. The content of the site (at least the content we know of) doesn’t suggest what video game it’s for, so there is no way to be sure. We’ll keep you up-to-date on the latest and make sure you let us know what you think, leave a comment below.

UPDATE: A third, and extremely likely alternative has been pointed out by Dane in the comments. It’s possible, as he suggests, that this is for the upcoming game Singularity. A quick Wikipedia read on the game says it’s based around the Cold War and involves a nuclear incident occurring on an isolated island, so the connection to John Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis makes sense. And get this, it’s being published by Activision. If you read his comments, he also suggests the red lights on the TV read R – A – I – S, which would be another reference to the game, but I can’t really confirm that. So, I’ll put it at 1-2-1 in favor of Call of Duty, but this definitely tightens up the race. The only real beef I have with this newest guess is the fact it was sent to Call of Duty fans. So, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what this site is really about.

UPDATE #2: You can now count Fallout: New Vegas out. On the official Bethesda website forum, an administrator Bethesda’s community manager posted the following message: “Whatever this is seems cool, but it doesn’t relate to our games.” So, Fallout is out of the race, and that leaves either Singularity or Call of Duty. We’ll take the latter by a 2-1 count in favor of Call of Duty. Time will once again be the decider.

Sources: GiantBomb forums | Unfiction forums | Joystiq.com | Sage from the MovieViral.com Forum

What do you think? Is this for Fallout: New Vegas or Call of Duty 7? Share your thoughts and comments below.

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Comments (110)

  1. What I’ve found, is that in the second transmission, the “spectrum comment”, the first part is mostly inaudible. I thought it was “Inconcievable spectrum” or possibly “Invisible” spectrum.
    Now, the invisible spectrum is the radiation either side of visible light. It doesnt make much sense with the second transmission, but how heavily the first transmission related to nuclear atoms and such, it could well be relevant.
    And thats my point that hasnt been mentioned already ^_^;

  2. Has anyone given a thought to this being about Portal 2? The video starts out fuzzy, like the valve games during the initial load. Also, if you go to http://www.gknova.com, there is a brief note about more info coming soon, and the screen has boxes dancing around, like the cube from the game Portal. Just a thought here. Anyone else see this tie?

  3. Additional note to the previous post. In order to see what I am talking about with the video being fuzzy at the initial load, you need to go to the site http://www.gknova6.com. There you will see the similarity in the screen at load as compared to the actual valve games, like Portal and Half Life 2.

  4. The photo of President Kennedy is from the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis. The photo was shot on October 1, 1962. I don’t know if it is just a place holder picture or if it has to do with something with the announcement or not, but the scene is also from a California department store.

  6. I Think that this could be a refrens to Resistance 3 because the first and second took place a little after ww2 and also because on joystiq they posted this Cryptography; Isotope; Philanthropy; Hydrogen; Ember; Rebirth. Cipher personally this reminds me of resistance but thats just me ????????

  7. Singularity and COD has nothing to do with this video. The evidence comes in the form of the clues. Thats not common for COD and the singularity trailer doesnt look like it has anything to with this in any way. This is something but we shouldnt be so narrowed minded as to what the solution is.

  8. http://who.is/whois/gknova6.com/

    this is there location

    IP: 74.220.215.216
    IP Location: Orem, United States
    Website Status: active
    Server Type: Apache/2.2.14 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.14 OpenSSL/0.9.8l DAV/2 mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635

  9. It could still be FALLOUT NEW VEGAS because Bethesda is only publishing it while Obsidian Entertainment is making it.

  12. IDIOTS. if you simply watch the loop of the atoms, it is shown depicting the explosion of a nuclear bomb. Fallout=NuclearBomb. Really… When the atoms split and bump into each other they cause a nuclear explosion

  13. Fallout: New Vegas viral site launched?
    April 5, 2010Ausir (talk|contrib)
    Today, several gaming websites including IGN and Joystiq recieved flash drives in envelopes marked with stamps originating from Maryland (where Bethesda Softworks is located) with no return address. The flash drives contained an audio file and a Word document. The audio file contains a quote from Julius Caesar and an encrypted message spelling out “MOD ZZZ JNQRYD3FRP”. The Word documents contains 6 words:

    Cryptography
    Isotope
    Philanthropy
    Hydrogen
    Ember
    Rebirth
    Joystiq.com was quickly able to decipher the code using the Acronym for the words above ” C.I.P.H.E.R.” and the quote from Caesar, as well as the encypted message from the audio file. It was discovered that using the Caesar Cipher, and the word mod signalling a shift of 3 letters, the code ends up leading to a website http://www.GKNOVA6.com. This website features a 50s style TV and a looping video/audio message with themes including society, atoms, nuclear energy, and baseball. Another decoding of the repeating encyption on the website using (…)

  15. @childrenofframe and anyone else who says it could still be fallout, you are correct that Bethesda is only publishing the game but a publisher markets the game so Bethesda WOULD know about the viral marketing

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