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Easter eggs: Difference between revisions
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An Easter egg is a secret message placed in a game by a developer. Typically Easter eggs speak to the audience directly, make an inside joke, or contain vanity messages such as hidden credits. Oni contains a few in-jokes and a lot of references to other Bungie games, as is common for Bungie. | An Easter egg is a secret message placed in a game by a developer. Typically Easter eggs speak to the audience directly, make an inside joke, or contain vanity messages such as hidden credits. [[Oni]] contains a few in-jokes and a lot of references to other Bungie games, as is common for Bungie. | ||
{{TOClimit|3}} | {{TOClimit|3}} | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
===Old Man Murray=== | {{Anchor|OMM}} | ||
===Old Man Murray and fake Sean Connery=== | |||
[[Image:Penny_Arcade_-_EvilCorp.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Not an Easter egg, but very apropos: a [[wp:Penny Arcade|Penny Arcade]] comic about crates and Oni.]] | [[Image:Penny_Arcade_-_EvilCorp.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Not an Easter egg, but very apropos: a [[wp:Penny Arcade|Penny Arcade]] comic about crates and Oni.]] | ||
Old Man Murray was a gaming blog with feisty criticism of the industry; its writers would later work on [[wp:Psychonauts|Psychonauts]] and the [[wp:Portal (series)|Portal games]]. In [https://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/39.html one of their most famous articles], they suggested that the ultimate quality of a game could be judged by a single measurement called "Start to Crate": the amount of time from the start of the game until the first crate (or barrel, etc.) is sighted. The smaller the time, the worse the game, as the use of crates to adorn a level demonstrates that the developers have run out of ideas. | Old Man Murray was a gaming blog with feisty criticism of the industry; its writers would later work on [[wp:Psychonauts|Psychonauts]] and the [[wp:Portal (series)|Portal games]]. In [https://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/39.html one of their most famous articles], they suggested that the ultimate quality of a game could be judged by a single measurement called "Start to Crate": the amount of time from the start of the game until the first crate (or barrel, etc.) is sighted. The smaller the time, the worse the game, as the use of crates to adorn a level demonstrates that the developers have run out of ideas. | ||
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|[[Image:TheDayIsMine crate.png]] | |[[Image:TheDayIsMine crate.png]] | ||
|} | |} | ||
Oni's first level is a warehouse and it is literally ''full'' of crates, barrels and containers. You can see a stack of crates right from where you start the level (there are also crates in the training course, but not in the first room). On one of the first crates you see in the Warehouse, there's a self-deprecating label saying "-OMM- TTC 1.1" or, in other words, "-Old Man Murray- Time To Crate 1.1 [seconds]"; a pretty bad score, needless to say. | Oni's first level is a warehouse and it is literally ''full'' of crates, barrels and containers. You can see a stack of crates right from where you start the level (there are also crates in the training course, but not in the first room). On one of the first crates you see in the Warehouse, there's a self-deprecating label saying "-OMM- TTC 1.1" or, in other words, "-Old Man Murray- Time To Crate 1.1 [seconds]"; a pretty bad score, needless to say. | ||
Underneath this is written "THE DAY IS MINE!!" While Oni players will see this as a reference to the cheat code for activating [[Developer Mode]], it should be noted that the "thedayismine" cheat was never intended to be published or present in the shipped game, so there was little point in writing this cheat code (with different spacing and punctuation) on a crate. Most proximately, this label text should be seen as a quote from Saturday Night Live's [[wp:Celebrity Jeopardy! (Saturday Night Live)|Celebrity Jeopardy!]], where "Sean Connery" says this as a catchphrase, and the cheat code "thedayismine" is merely another manifestation of the same quote (which must have become an office in-joke). A second reference to Celebrity Jeopardy! is found below under {{SectionLink||Febtober Striker}}. | |||
{{clearall}} | {{clearall}} | ||
===Marathon=== | ===Marathon (1994)=== | ||
The [[Marathon]] series began and ended before Oni's release, and was a major source of new Bungie fans in the ten years before Bungie released Halo. | The [[Marathon]] series began and ended before Oni's release, and was a major source of new Bungie fans in the ten years before Bungie released Halo. | ||
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====Rampancy==== | ====Rampancy==== | ||
The word [[wikt:rampant|rampant]] had existed before Bungie, but the specific concept of "[[wp: | The word [[wikt:rampant|rampant]] had existed before Bungie, but the specific concept of "[[wp:Marathon Trilogy#Rampancy|rampancy]]", referring to an AI that goes out of control and acts with free will, was coined and subsequently developed by the Marathon team (this concept was revisited by 343 Industries for Halo 4). The three/four stages of a rampant AI are Melancholia, Anger, Jealousy, and Metastability. An egotistical level of self-awareness accompanies the development of the AI's personality. The tirades of the [[Deadly Brain]] (only seen in the subtitles) are a reference to this, as shown by Shinatama's statement, "Clearly, it's gone rampant." However, a rampancy in Marathon takes place when an AI is exposed to large amounts of data for a long enough period of time. Here, the Deadly Brain is a disembodied human brain, and it is essentially just going crazy because Konoko "decoupled its core logic" (how exactly does one do that to a human brain, anyway?). | ||
===Myth=== | ===Myth=== | ||
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===Halo=== | ===Halo=== | ||
[[Image: | ====ONI==== | ||
This one is actually a back-reference to Oni from a later game. Oni doesn't refer to Halo (unless you count the [[Oni matrix]] | [[Image:Halo's ONI.png|right]] | ||
This one is actually a back-reference to Oni from a later game. Oni doesn't refer to Halo (unless you count the [[Oni matrix]] naming Cortana), but [[wp:Halo (franchise)|Halo]] features an entity called ONI. Pronounced in-game like the word "oni", ONI stands for [https://www.halopedia.org/Office_of_Naval_Intelligence Office of Naval Intelligence]. A military intelligence service called the Office of Naval Intelligence [[wp:Office of Naval Intelligence|actually exists]]: it's the United States' oldest continuously operating intelligence service (est. 1882). It seems likely that Halo builds on that longevity and tries to imagine what influence today's ONI would have in the 2550s. | |||
There has been a lot of speculation around Halo's ONI, most of which you can see on the [http://halostory.bungie.org/oni.html Halo Story Page]. A specific entry which draws the parallel between Halo's ONI, the [[Oni (myth)|Japanese myth of the oni]], and Bungie's "Oni" is [http://halostory.bungie.org/newssearch.html?newsitem=695 HERE]. | There has been a lot of speculation around Halo's ONI, most of which you can see on the [http://halostory.bungie.org/oni.html Halo Story Page]. A specific entry which draws the parallel between Halo's ONI, the [[Oni (myth)|Japanese myth of the oni]], and Bungie's "Oni" is [http://halostory.bungie.org/newssearch.html?newsitem=695 HERE]. | ||
====The demon==== | |||
After Master Chief's exploits in Halo:CE where he singlehandedly turns the tide of battle and destroys an entire Halo installation, he becomes known to the Covenant as "the demon". It's difficult to find any discussion of whether this was a deliberate reference to the word "oni" but it seems like a very unlikely coincidence. Few people have noticed this possible reference, and Bungie devs do not seem to have discussed it in any interviews. | |||
===Marathon (2025)=== | |||
[[Image:Marathon (2025) - ONI.jpg|256px|right]] | |||
Another back-reference to Oni from a later game. In Bungie's new Marathon, you control a cybernetic "runner" who can take contracts from various corporations. One of these corporations, CyberAcme (CyAc for short), uses an AI agent called ONI. For players who pick CyAc as their starting corporation, ONI is responsible for overseeing the runner's "reorientation" when their consciousness is installed into a newly manufactured body (this is the basis for the tutorial). Like Halo's "ONI", her name is pronounced as the word "oni", not as separate letters. She is voiced by Donnla Hughes. ONI's appearances so far are: | |||
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvbEnWLRo1s Marathon | Reveal Cinematic Short]. Here ONI handles the "grounding exercises" for respawned runners – see 2:43, 4:00, 8:03 for ONI's appearances. | |||
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4Jv5H3_yAo Marathon | Alpha Intro Cinematic]. You can hear ONI say her own name at 1:27. | |||
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw_PdO-W9bY Bungie’s Marathon – ONI Intro & CyberAcme AI Intro]. ONI introduces herself here and guides the player's "reorientation". | |||
==Developer names== | ==Developer names== | ||
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Konoko's service pistol is the Campbell Equalizer Mk4, and the name "Campbell" can be found in a few places connected to Bungie: the Campbell/LeBel family members mentioned in the [[Quotes/Credits|credits]], the city of Campbell, CA (arguably the true location of [[Bungie West]], not San Jose), and [[Steve Campbell]], founder of Bungie.org and Oni Central. | Konoko's service pistol is the Campbell Equalizer Mk4, and the name "Campbell" can be found in a few places connected to Bungie: the Campbell/LeBel family members mentioned in the [[Quotes/Credits|credits]], the city of Campbell, CA (arguably the true location of [[Bungie West]], not San Jose), and [[Steve Campbell]], founder of Bungie.org and Oni Central. | ||
A couple consoles starting [[Quotes/Consoles# | A couple consoles starting [[Quotes/Consoles#Extraordinary security measures|HERE]] contain emails written between "P[eter] Tamte" and "D[avid] Joost". | ||
Michael Evans may be referenced by the [[Quotes/Consoles#Evans|Evans console]]. | Michael Evans may be referenced by the [[Quotes/Consoles#Evans|Evans console]]. | ||
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===Forklift Striker=== | ===Forklift Striker=== | ||
However a special mention goes to the secret [[Striker]] in [[{{C1}}]]. If you pass the first door, then take the stairs to the top floor, and jump onto the cabin of the forklift, a Striker will appear (see [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU4T1Qpu-8U this video]). When killed, he drops 3 items (hypo spray, phase cloak, force shield). The phase cloak and the force shield are otherwise not encountered before [[{{C3}}]], and the secret Striker comes before the first Striker you see normally (after you find [[Chung]]). The very improbable encounter and its extraordinary reward | However a special mention goes to the secret [[Striker]] in [[{{C1}}]]. If you pass the first door, then take the stairs to the top floor, and jump onto the cabin of the forklift, a Striker will appear (see [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU4T1Qpu-8U this video]). When killed, he drops 3 items (hypo spray, phase cloak, force shield). The phase cloak and the force shield are otherwise not encountered before [[{{C3}}]], and the secret Striker comes before the first Striker you see normally (after you find [[Chung]]). The very improbable encounter and its extraordinary reward distinguish this secret Striker as Oni's most complex Easter egg. | ||
===Febtober Striker=== | ===Febtober Striker=== | ||
A trigger volume in [[{{C2}}]] has the name "febtober", which is a reference | A trigger volume in [[{{C2}}]] has the name "febtober", which is a second reference (after [[#OMM|-OMM- TTC 1.1]]) to the Celebrity Jeopardy! sketches on Saturday Night Live. In one sketch, "Sean Connery" guesses that the month of the year starting with "Feb" is "Febtober". Any possible additional in-joke at Bungie concerning this "month" is unknown. Triggering "febtober", which is done by jumping off the walkway with the turret at the end, spawns a Striker with a plasma rifle who patrols the corridor near the turbines seen in the [[:Image:CHAPTER_02_._ENGINES_OF_EVIL.png|level's splashscreen]]. | ||
===Happy Bomber=== | ===Happy Bomber=== | ||
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===Cleam air=== | ===Cleam air=== | ||
[[Image:TXMPPOSTER4.png|right]] | [[Image:TXMPPOSTER4.png|right]] | ||
An in-game poster found in [[{{C4}}]] depicts cartoon children frolicking in a city while wearing heavy-duty masks. The caption reads "CLEAM AIR HAPPY". | |||
The | The in-joke behind this misspelling of "clean" as "cleam" just so happens to have a public explanation at the 16'45" mark in [http://hl.udogs.net/files/Gaming/Bungie%20Related%20Movies/MWSF%202000/Bungie%20TV/MWSF%202000/bTV_day2_big.mov this video tour] of Bungie West, when Dave Dunn points to a [[wp:My Neighbor Totoro|My Neighbor Totoro]] poster on the wall of their office with this [[wikt:Engrish|Engrish]] text at its bottom: "CLEAM AIR OF THEIR NEW HOME". | ||
===VI-AG crane=== | ===VI-AG crane=== | ||