[b]NOTE[/b]: This thread is adding to [url=http://www.bungie.net/en-us/Forum/Post?id=59883302]this[/url] thread about the interesting-looking, circular graphic introduced along with Destiny, the Radial. If you are new to this matter, feel free to read the main thread first. Gather around children, for it is storytelling time! Since some interest and discussion has arisen about the Radial, I thought it would be fun to hear about his cousin, the Shotcode. The thing is, before releasing Halo: Reach, Bungie started to use the intriguing shapes of shotcode and radial in their graphics. Seeing that the Radial has potential to be special, worth to check or at least interesting, I thought that maybe I could help in the cracking progress by evolving the Bnet users to be better informed of the Shotcodes, and so to be better in cracking this possible mystery! (Logic verification still in progress) And that's why I'm telling a story - because I think you will benefit from it and enjoy it. The other reason is that I think stories like this are important to remember , even if they end up having a fruitless ending. Maybe they encourage some more people to start cracking. The third one is that I was involved in all this. The fourth one is that I'm crazy. Shall we? ~ [b]What is a shotcode?[/b] [url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7d/Shotcode.png/200px-Shotcode.png] This [/url]is a shotcode. It is a circular barcode, that is read by a camera of a phone or webcam, for instance, and an app that can read them (for example [url=http://www.2dsense.com/default.aspx?id=details&sid=getitnow&tid=2]2d sense[/url]). Unlike barcode, Shotcode consists an URL. When the Shotcode is read, the app prompts the browsers to navigate to a particular site. The application is completely free, and creating shotcodes is free/cheap (in greater numbers). As seen in the picture, this is the anatomy of a shotcode: -Bullseye and 6 rings (=[b]7[/b]), with only the 5th and 6th rings consisting actual data (when bullseye is 1st) -24 sectors, meaning that there are 48 bits of data in one shotcode (in the 5th and 6th rings), and that the angle of one sector is 360/24=15 degrees. In the very beginning, there was [url=http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/108/1082381/halo-reach-the-beta-maps-20100407021532348_640w.jpg]this[/url] picture. Damn, it's so small it hurts to look at it, a shame that I couldn't find a bigger one. Anyway, community member JoeRogaine was the first to notice the shotcode in the computer panel on Powerhouse from this pic. When the Halo Reach Beta went online, a screenshot was taken and then, through [required] photoshopping, it was made readable -> [url=http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/9088/shotcode.jpg]this.[/url] Ultimately, it led us to [url=http://allantech.blogspot.com/]a blog.[/url] However, the owner of the blog assured that he hadn't ever been in contact with Bungie, nor had he anything to do with any ARG. It had been only a coincidence that we had found our way there: the shotcode found in-game happened to look exactly like a tilted version of a shotcode Allan, the owner of the blog, had created for his blog 3 years ago (at that time). But even though the shotcode turned out to be a wild goose chase, it did set us up, and so we were able to recognize the growing amount of shotcode-like shapes appearing everywhere in Bnet. The first one was on [url=http://halo.bungie.net/projects/reach/article.aspx?ucc=intel]the CAA Factbook[/url], an in-universe databank of Reach. The second was found [url=http://www.gruntspajamas.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=640.0;attach=832;image]on the rear of the Halo: Reach Legendary Edition Statue[/url], and the third [url=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/30/58970909.png/]on the Legendary Edition box itself[/url]. But while all these neat graphics [u]looked[/u] like shotcodes (mathing rings, bullseye in the middle, sectors), they are not readable by any application since they do not share the tight shape-regulations of those damn bureaucrats. Sure, there were bits of data, but too many of them: even if you could turn one of those circles (or radials, since that's where we're going) into a shotcode, which sectors would you choose to be in? What data should be left out? After Reach was released, dozens of similiar-like radials emerged when they were found all over the Settler buildings of Reach. But since we hadn't figured a way of decoding any of the complex models, the new material was of no use. So, things kind of stopped there. Yeah. The end. ~ I can't pull any lesson out of all this (except the one by Homer J. Simpsons, but it's not an encouraging one), but that's not the point. The point is the next installation of the story is you. Radial is the successor of the Shotcode. I mean, c'mon, look at them, they look alike! A lot! Whether or not it means we should start converting this radial to a shotcode and scan it, I think we should give the funny-looking round thing some thought. Could it be a lead? What if all the shotcodes were leading to this? Is there a hidden treasure hidden somewhere? Migth be a blunder, but hey, it might just turn into a plunder, and and when I'm the only one around when it succeeds, guess who gets all the loot, huh? Who's crazy then? Alright, run along now, kids (and the other ones I've got no right to call kids, too), get back to your games. Get interested in this crazy stuff or not, it's all your choice! But let me tell you that even though I never achieved anything with [url=http://halo.bungie.net/forums/posts.aspx?postID=42817052&postRepeater1-p=1]doing this same stuff 3 years ago[/url], I had lots of fun! Even if it all turns out to be nothing, it's still been worth it. It's not about the destination, it's about the trip. Besides, when this stuff surfaces again some years later, I'll have more stories to tell to the younguns if you do stuff today. I might even remember to mention your name! So get crackin'!