SGP: QTA XII VI - "Confirmed" mysteries

[Imppa]

Wonder if some of you regonized that? I have been aware of this for some time already, but since I didn't reach a conclusion and because of my stupidity I didn't post about this to the forum earlier. Sorry. Here it is anyway, You might wanna take a look.

Facts:
In Bungie's this year's PAX panel, in the beginning of the 5th part, Joseph show this pic:


...And the vid

Joseph said:This is a patch we made early up for the team, little secret numbers there, I thought it up for you guys.

Well, that's what I think he said, correct me if I'm wrong.

There is only one reference to QTA XII VI: The ODST Limited edition controller.

ChritopherGrant at Joystig.com writes:At a press event last night, Bungie's Joseph Staten teased that the Halo 3: ODST controller's cryptic text should provide some clues into the mysteries of New Mombasa (if he did his job correctly, he said).

As you scroll trough the other pics of the controller, you notice that the QTA text is not the only one being cryptic: It also says "KIKOWANI.0624. / 23:03:28:30 / 82002 383832 727777 / 55.6992.3840"
Fishy, eh?

Theorizes:

QTA XII VI

Triscuit commented at Joystig:
Typing QTA XII/VI into google brings up some entries about solar energy and surface meteorology in quetta, pakistan and la quinta, california. Just typing in QTA, I found a page listing acronyms, and there are (out of the numerous results) four possibilities, one of which stands out in particular. QTA means Quick Turn Around, Quality Trait Analysis, Qualification Test Article, and lastly (and most importantly) it is a HAM Radio Q signal meaning "disregard". So, "QTA (disregard) XII/VI (12/6 [12�6])". Possible meaning of "disregard 2".

I'm not sure could it mean "disregard 2", since it's pretty far-fetched, I think. But maybe... QTA could also be "Question to answer", or:

I just brought the "patch" up in conversation with Apollo earlier this week as I had been reviewing the PAX panel videos.  We kinda-sorta agreed that it may have just been an internal use sort of thing for the developers, where QTA equaled "Quick Turn Around"... which was certainly the case with ODST.  The Roman numerals might just have indicated that they wanted it done by 6/12 (in time for an E3 announcement.)  The date doesn't perfectly fit, but who knows what the schedule was back when they were first developing.

But ya never know!

I first thought that something might happen 12/6, but, well, nothing has happened.

KIKOWANI

You remember the loading screen which shows SI inspectin certain areas? In the right-bottom corner, it says "MBARAKI.2552" and the local time of your XBox. The same one is seen in the ODST teaser trailer, so it's some kind of SupreIntendidents camera ID.
So, Kikowani.0624 refers to a camera, and the time next to it is when it when that camera saw/sees something. Maybe.

That's all I can say about it. We have a long road to go, but at least we are surely not tracking ghosts, since this is "proved" to be a "real" mystery. Not that there's anything bad in ghosthunting.

Sooo, Ideas people? I'll post more when I figure more.

[ColdGlider]

Very nice collection of information, Imppa!

I just brought the "patch" up in conversation with Apollo earlier this week as I had been reviewing the PAX panel videos.  We kinda-sorta agreed that it may have just been an internal use sort of thing for the developers, where QTA equaled "Quick Turn Around"... which was certainly the case with ODST.  The Roman numerals might just have indicated that they wanted it done by 6/12 (in time for an E3 announcement.)  The date doesn't perfectly fit, but who knows what the schedule was back when they were first developing.

On the other hand, it could be related to the gameplay.  The Roman numerals could be cantos in Dante's Inferno.  QTA could refer to something else completely.  "Team Recon" might mean we have to have Recon armor to unlock something.  Or perhaps the elements have dual meanings: one for the developer and one for the player.  I chose not to delve any further into it in lieu of more Siege of Madrigal searching... which I think we should all be doing right now!  It is the only confirmed egg we have, after all!

As far as the place names are concerned, well... that's a much larger issue that I have been waiting to tackle.  I have notes.  Ascendant Justice covered some of it here.  I suspect that expressions like "Tanaga.0086" refer to camera locations and IDs, and the cameras atop the Mbaraki buildings just happen to have an ID that coincides with the year in which the ODST events occur.  There are plenty of cameras to be seen in Mombasa Streets as well as in the "normal" campaign levels like Data Hive and Coastal Highway.  Anyhow... it's a whole 'nother ball o' wax!

Apparently you were writing that while I was writing my last post- and the topics coincide!  How cool is that?

[Imppa]

You're right about the patch. I agree that it could surely mean Quick Turn around and the E3 announcemet. However, the fact that the same thing is written on the controller may indicate that the letters may have another solution. Though, expectations are dangerous.

And as coincidental our post's timings were, as coincidental is that the Mbaraki camera number is the same as the year the conflict occured. Case closed? Oh no. The controller says "KIKOWANI.0624", which seems indicate a certain surveillance camera in Kikowani. Some leads are that the same camera number, 0624, is seen also in the ODST teaser trailer and in the ending cutscene of "Uplift reserve". Since districts 9(Uplift reserve) and 0(Kikowani station) are identical, finding the camera sohuldn't be too hard, if the camera location are identical as well.
I've also been thinking the meaning of the number: is it indicating the location it's monitoring, it's angle, it's height...(it's probably the first one, but just posting some ideas

[ColdGlider]

The Kizingo cameras are probably located in D06, since that mission is in there.  I have a map of some of the camera locations in D06 that I began making a while ago.  I'll get it in order and post it later this week. 

I think what we need to do is stand at each of the camera locations and look around, noting the view of buildings; then, compare the viewable area with the viewable area of the SI views that have a "Kizingo" camera ID in the lower right corner.  If we find a match, we know that camera's ID. 

[EnigmaBiz]

Has anyone thought anymore on this?

[Imppa]

I'm working on it, don't worry . I don't have much time to run in MS now that I'm not sick at home anymore...
But I have something, and I hope I can post it soon. It doesn't solve it all, but...well see.
Don't be too hopeful though. Expectations are dangeroux.

[Imppa]

Sooo...read it already? The last part?
I know, it's far-fetched,but what other connection do we have? Coincidence? Sure it could be, but...
...I just feel it would be a nice spot to start an ARG, don't ya think? 

Oh and the camera-theory is still under construction. I have something other to post, too, but I need a little time to pile it up nicely.

[Imppa]

...Nah, scratch that ARG. I think we have to wait a little more for it...
But in the Bungie weekly update, they mentioned that they will drop some podcast into ODST Intel menu, and mentioned "Test team who recently powered through the Vidmasters for the hojillionth time". ODST Team Recon perhaps?
I'm still working on...And sorry to say this, but it almost feels like I'm working alone...  And the whole forum has quieted down as well...
Well, that just means I have to work even harder ! Godspeed...

[ColdGlider]

And sorry to say this, but it almost feels like I'm working alone...    And the whole forum has quieted down as well...

You're definitely not working alone, Imppa!  It's very true that things have quieted down here on the surface, but the Knights have been very busy working to assemble the first Recon Team to explore Mombasa Streets.  Each member of each four-man Recon Team is required to have unlocked the Recon Armor in Halo 3.  I have recommended that we also strive to have the Recon Team members complete all 1000 points of their ODST achievements.  This should pretty much ensure that any "outside" prerequisites for unlocking Easter Eggs in MS have been met.  (I suppose it's possible that there are more requirements related to Halo: Waypoint, but that will have to be a subsequent test.)

You may have noticed that another first-person shooter game has been occupying many of your XBL friends this past week.  It, too, will likely follow a bell curve of popularity leaving outlier hardcore ODST fans like us to explore on our own until the initial freshness of its release wears off.  There are also many new faces posting in the B.NET ODST threads that may not even know about us over here.   Based on the frequency of posts over there citing "new discoveries" that were already uncovered by us (and others) over a month ago, I'd guess that ODST is still leaving the store shelves and falling into the hands of folks who are interested in uncovering its secrets.

[Imppa]

Ok...The video mentoned in weekly update already came out last day (or something), not 12/6.
Fine, so maybe it was not the video. But something will pop up eventually. Trust me.

[nightcrafter27]

I was thinking about decoding this, with it recently popping up in Reach. I was wondering why no one has encoded QTA into numbers. Assigning them as the usual A=01, B=02, etc., you get 172001. The reason this number seemed to be significant, is that Halo CE came out in 2001. So what does 17 and XII/VI mean if this is the case?

And I know that this is a bit of a stretch, but it's something to think about.

[CIA391]

This may help.
QTA XII/VI in Reach

[Insane Monx]

This may help.
QTA XII/VI in Reach

That was posted in this thread, which I forgot was a duplicate  

[Scatcycle]

While working, I noticed that QTA.V is a stock from Quaterra Resources Inc. On the Technical Report of the Nieves Project, there is a page XII in the introduction pages. On page XII, it speaks of the drilling phases. I'm not entirely sure about all this, but I believe the drill has many different bits (sizes); one of them being VI.

On page XII we see this line:
"Table 12
15: QC Results for Au and Ag in Phases IV, V and VI
................................
...............
126
"

Page 141 of the PDF is the page the 126 is referring to. I assume the introduction pages weren't counted. On page 141 we see statistics of the drill phases:



I'd say this is some pretty damn solid evidence to use as a basis.

[Imppa]

Glorious! Thank you for this, scat: with this, the research might finally reach an end.

On a side note: Scat, are you working? Or did you mean, like, school working? Not like, gotta-earn-my-living-now-working?