Game hint....when?

[gabrielau23]

Sorry guys. I'll admit it. I'm addicted to FIRST, and the wait for the first REAL hint, not the "Rick Roll" is starting to become unbearable. Last year we got our hint fairly early, and while it often has little to no impact on how teams prepare, the endless speculation is very fun. Does anybody know when they expect to show the first game hint?

[dcarr]

Does anybody know when they expect to show the first game hint?

Actually, we've had the game hint for at least a week now, we've just been hiding it from you :)

Sorry, none of us (with a few exceptions) have any information about the game hints that you don't.

[FrankJ]

It is going to be a water game. Sorry, I thought everybody knew that. :ahh:

[Taylor]

And the game pieces are banana-shaped jello pieces.

[wilhitern1]

It's been a while since the last stacking exercise, so I guess that's one I'm expecting. It could also make the Kinect very helpful. If you think about it, we got the hint last season.

"Expect the Kinect, to be esential next year..." or something like that...

Neal

[Andrew Lawrence]

I thought we all agreed the 2013 game was "Pudding Power"?

[DiehardCybercard]

I thought we all agreed the 2013 game was "Pudding Power"?

And under the pudding is regolith.

[Taylor]

And under the pudding is regolith.

Can you give us the CoF for that?

[Gregor]

Can you give us the CoF for that?

0.

[ttldomination]

Yeah, sure, let's post a CD post about this to get things rolling. I'm sure that'll prod the GDC.

In alternative news, I think the first game hint last year came out at around 15th-ish? So, I guess something around this time. Keep an eye out on the horizon.

- Sunny G.

[Libby K]

They usually come out right before Christmas.
Be patient, and go do something else with your life while you still have time!

[Jon Stratis]

You mean you aren't already insanely busy Libby? So far this fall, we've rebuilt our BreakAway robot, designed and built a test setup for motor controllers (ran out of time to perform our tests though... that might happen in week 1), built 2 robots from a expanded VEX kit we won at an offseason event a year ago (we wanted to get some experience with different arm designs), went to 2 offseason competitions, did beta testing (which involved a complete re-write of last year's code), mentored some Lego League teams, and just gave 3 presentations (2 sessions each for two of them, 3 sessions for one of them) last weekend! And all of that is just from the build team. The PR team has been meeting separately (and more often!)... but that's at the school while I'm at work, so I don't have much visibility into all the work they do.

I, for one, am ready for the game hint!

[Brandon Zalinsky]

Can we get a Christmas gift from the GDC?

[Andrew Lawrence]

Can we get a Christmas gift from the GDC?

How about a Christmas gift FOR the GDC? They worked so hard to give us the water game we've been waiting for, we should get them something to show our thanks. :D

[Ultimatum]

I do believe they are releasing the next hint January 5th. :P

[dellagd]

I do believe they are releasing the next hint January 5th. :P

I have a feeling that would be quite a large one


Anyway, yes, I to am checking the frc blog right when I wake up in hopes of a hint.....

[gabrielau23]

So it's going to be hovercraft manipulating banana shaped jello pieces with regolith underneath. And the endgame will be trying to pick up chocolate pudding. Sounds good, guys!!

[Whippet]

How about a Christmas gift FOR the GDC? They worked so hard to give us the water game we've been waiting for, we should get them something to show our thanks. :D

Let's get them a swimming pool...and put it right in the middle of the game lab. Right where they keep the prototype field. :ahh:

[gyroscopeRaptor]

Let's get them a swimming pool...and put it right in the middle of the game lab. Right where they keep the prototype field. :ahh:

It's always awkward to give people a gift that they already own.

[dellagd]

Next blog post could be any day now...please let it contain a hint....

On a totally unrelated note, I never noticed the birthday cake by someone's name on their birthday. Cool little thing...

[thisOrrthat]

I think we got one with first choice. Why would Andymark put an ir transmitter (http://www.andymark.com/FIRST-Choice-p/fc13-004.htm) if it wasn't going to be needed. I would guess that there will be a hybrid mode where we can control our robots with a remote.

[dcarr]

I think we got one with first choice. Why would Andymark put an ir transmitter (http://www.andymark.com/FIRST-Choice-p/fc13-004.htm) if it wasn't going to be needed. I would guess that there will be a hybrid mode where we can control our robots with a remote.

Sure seems like a gigantic step backwards from the Kinect, which hasn't even been tapped to its full potential yet. I'm not putting money on this theory (but there's already a 300+ post thread about this...)

[efoote868]

It is going to be a water game. Sorry, I thought everybody knew that. :ahh:

There's a reason we've been needing pool noodles since 2006.

[Hallry]

Getting back to the actual question asked in the O.P., does anyone have a list of the dates that the game hints for past years have been released?

EDIT:

Did some investigating myself:
2012 (Kickoff Date: 1/7/12) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98583) (12/02/11)
2011 (Kickoff Date: 1/8/11) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88030) (12/21/10), 2nd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88242) (1/4/11)
2010 (Kickoff Date: 1/9/10) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79453) (12/24/09), 2nd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79637) (1/6/10)
2009 (Kickoff Date: 1/10/09 ) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70345&highlight=game+hint) (12/4/08), 2nd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70514) (12/11/08),
2008 (Kickoff Date: 1/12/08) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60132) (12/15/07), 2nd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60297) (12/21/07), 3rd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60580) (1/02/08)
2007 (Kickoff Date: 1/13/07) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50637) (12/21/06)
2006 (Kickoff Date: 1/7/06) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41013) (12/23/05)
2005 (Kickoff Date: 1/8/05) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32010) (12/30/04)
2004 (Kickoff Date: 1/10/04) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23399) (1/6/04)

I can't find the date for the 2003 game hint, though.

[wilhitern1]

I'm not seeing the IR Transmitter. Could someone please toss me a link?

Neal

[wilhitern1]

Sorry, Found it...

So here's my thought.

During automation, there's some need for sequenced team action. Robot 1 takes action 1 that must be completed before action 2 can be carried out. And so forth. The actions are in completely different areas of the court. There's still only 1 Kinect station available per side so no way to sequence that way. Each robot can move to it's position and wait for its IR to start it's sequence...

Perhaps far fetched...

Neal

[FrankJ]

The Rookie/Veteran kit variation is posted on First site. No Kinect station is listed. Typically veteran kits only get this kind of high value thing once. As much as anything is typical. This means one of three things.

1) Kinect is not being used this year
2) Everybody is getting one.
3) The list is incomplete.

[coalhot]

C'mon GDC! Finals be over, give us our hint!

All kidding aside, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't release a hint this year. Or if they release it late. Like, really really late. Just a hunch.

As for everyone wanting a water game: no. just no. I do hope that the GDC hangs a bottle of water on the field to be able to say they had a "Water Game". It would put all the complaints to rest. :D

[Jared Russell]

Getting back to the actual question asked in the O.P., does anyone have a list of the dates that the game hints for past years have been released?

EDIT:

Did some investigating myself:
2012 (Kickoff Date: 1/7/12) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98583) (12/02/11)
2011 (Kickoff Date: 1/8/11) = 1st Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88030) (12/21/11), 2nd Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88242)(1/4/11)
2010 (Kickoff Date: 1/9/10) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79453)(12/24/09), 2nd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79637) (1/6/10)
2009 (Kickoff Date: 1/10/09 ) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70345&highlight=game+hint) (12/4/08.), 2nd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70514) (12/11/08),
2008 (Kickoff Date: 1/12/08) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60132) (12/15/07), 2nd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60297) (12/21/07), 3rd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60580) (1/02/08)
2007 (Kickoff Date: 1/13/07) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50637) (12/21/06)
2006 (Kickoff Date: 1/7/06) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41013) (12/23/05)
2005 (Kickoff Date: 1/8/05) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32010) (12/30/04)
2004 (Kickoff Date: 1/10/04) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23399) (1/6/04)

I can't find the date for the 2003 game hint, though.

Going through those threads in hindsight is always fun. What is interesting is that in many, many cases, a very early post in the thread (within the first few pages) has figured out a salient part of the hint. Of course without the benefit of hindsight, knowing which single post is right is not quite as straightforward...

2012: Posters quickly identified that high speed counters were well suited to a ball shooting game.
2011: Posters quickly said that the pole was to be climbed, and there would be three different FIRST-logo shaped game pieces.
2010: Within 3 pages a poster postulated that the image was an upside down ball return chute.
2009: By page 6 a poster had said "maybe the playing surface will be like the surface of the moon", and with the 2nd hint we identified an "ice game" on page one, among other insights.
2008: TV remote control of robots, "tortoise and hare" allusion to a racing game, and "hurdling" during the race all mentioned early.
2007: Took a little longer...6 pages until several posters mentioned inner tubes.
2006: Camera, shooting game mentioned quickly.
2005: Triple Play (game name) mentioned in very first post, concept of scoring in rows of 3 mentioned shortly thereafter
2004: Stairs mentioned in the very first post

Just know that if/when the 2013 hint(s) are posted, it is highly probably that somebody will nail down a pretty specific part of the game within the first 5 pages ;)

[coalhot]

Just know that if/when the 2013 hint(s) are posted, it is highly probably that somebody will nail down a pretty specific part of the game within the first 5 pages ;)

Heh, true. However, I do recall being somewhat involved in 2009's hint/s, and recalling that the game was leaked (and posted) in multiple different places. I just find it funny, especially since we're almost halfway through December, and the only "hints" we have are a bunch of new parts and a photo thumbtacked to a corkboard. Not really solid hints, are they... :p

[Hallry]

2012 (Kickoff Date: 1/7/12) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98583) (12/02/11)
2011 (Kickoff Date: 1/8/11) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88030) (12/21/10), 2nd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88242) (1/4/11)
2010 (Kickoff Date: 1/9/10) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79453)(12/24/09), 2nd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79637) (1/6/10)
2009 (Kickoff Date: 1/10/09 ) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70345&highlight=game+hint) (12/4/08.), 2nd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70514) (12/11/08),
2008 (Kickoff Date: 1/12/08) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60132) (12/15/07), 2nd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60297) (12/21/07), 3rd Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60580) (1/02/08)
2007 (Kickoff Date: 1/13/07) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50637) (12/21/06)
2006 (Kickoff Date: 1/7/06) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41013) (12/23/05)
2005 (Kickoff Date: 1/8/05) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32010) (12/30/04)
2004 (Kickoff Date: 1/10/04) = 1st Game Hint (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23399) (1/6/04)

Based on this data:
1. On average, a 1st game hint would be released 22 days before Kickoff, which would be December 14th, 2012 (Today).
2. On average, a 2nd game hint would be released 15 days before Kickoff, which would be December 21st, 2012.
3. On average, a 3rd game hint would be released 10 days before Kickoff, which would be December 26th, 2012.
4. The most common day for the first hint to be released is also December 21st.
5. The most common day for any hint to be released is also December 21st.
6. The second most common day for any hint to be released is January 6th.
7. 2012 was the first time after 4 years of more than one hint being released.

[Jon Stratis]

Based on this data:
1. On average, a 1st game hint would be released 22 days before Kickoff, which would be December 14th, 2012 (Today).
2. On average, a 2nd game hint would be released 15 days before Kickoff, which would be December 21st, 2012.
3. On average, a 3rd game hint would be released 10 days before Kickoff, which would be December 26th, 2012.
4. The most common day for the first hint to be released is also December 21st.
5. The most common day for any hint to be released is also December 21st.
6. The second most common day for any hint to be released is January 6th.
7. 2012 was the first time after 4 years of more than one hint being released.

You'd probably be better off looking at it from a perspective of "the last game hint X days, the second to last XX days, and the third to last XXX days before kickoff". The question is, how many game hints can we expect? It probably depends on how "easy" the GDC thinks the hint is... if people start narrowing in on what the hint is telling us, like the ball counters from last year, they'll probably limit the number of hints. After all, they don't want us to be guessing all of the game features, and they don't want to guarantee any specific feature!

[Hallry]

You'd probably be better off looking at it from a perspective of "the last game hint X days, the second to last XX days, and the third to last XXX days before kickoff".

Well, then the last game hint would come out 10 days before Kickoff (December 21st, 2012), the second to last would come out 15 days before Kickoff (December 26th, 2012), and the third to last would come out 22 days before kickoff (Today, December 14th, 2012).

Is that what you mean?

[Jon Stratis]

Nope. When you reverse it like this, you don't average all of the first game hints - you average the last ones. So last year it was the first, the three years prior the third, prior to that the third, etc - whichever ones were closest to kickoff.

That results in averages of 14.8 (12/21) days before kickoff for the last game hint, 23.25 (12/12) days before for the second to last game hint, and 28 (12/8) days for the third to last game hint.

That would seem to indicate that, on average, we're past the point of having 3 game hints this year, and quickly approaching the point of only getting 1 game hint this year!

[Camren]

It is going to be a water game. Sorry, I thought everybody knew that. :ahh:

This would be the year for one in lieu of Dean Kamen's most recent modern marvel "The Slingshot"

[dellagd]

That would seem to indicate that, on average, we're past the point of having 3 game hints this year, and quickly approaching the point of only getting 1 game hint this year!

Say it ain't so! :eek:

[Hallry]

Nope. When you reverse it like this, you don't average all of the first game hints - you average the last ones. So last year it was the first, the three years prior the third, prior to that the third, etc - whichever ones were closest to kickoff.

That results in averages of 14.8 (12/21) days before kickoff for the last game hint, 23.25 (12/12) days before for the second to last game hint, and 28 (12/8) days for the third to last game hint.

That would seem to indicate that, on average, we're past the point of having 3 game hints this year, and quickly approaching the point of only getting 1 game hint this year!

Ah, okay. Thanks for explaining it and doing that math, I wasn't getting what you were saying at first =). I can live without a three hints, but the first better come soon!

[CalTran]

Perhaps the Rick Roll goes deeper than we thought and it is the ONLY hint we'll be getting...

I'm thinking that this year, as stated, we're only going to get one hint. Given what Hallry stated, once it's released than it will probably be identified within the first few pages. My bet is on page 1, possibly even first post, citing the data in which the rate a "game" was determined and the level of mystery hints carry based off of the amounts of hints. (1 hint = easy hint)

[Brandon Zalinsky]

4. The most common day for the first hint to be released is also December 21st.


I think they haven't made a game and are just hoping the world will end before they have to release a game hint :D

[dellagd]

Gah. Saw a new blog post and got excited for a second...

[dellagd]

So a hint being released on the 21st means they'll do it right a 12 AM, right???? :D

[coalhot]

I'd like to think so, but I'm pretty sure the correct response is "you wish" :P

[ehfeinberg]

Ok, I stayed up till the end of the world...
Where's my game hint?

[coalhot]

Just go to bed, it'll be there when you wake up. Or it should be...

[nathannfm]

Ok, I stayed up till the end of the world...
Where's my game hint?

You think they are gonna let the teams in Hawaii find out a day early? :P
I give it at least another 5 hours.

[dellagd]

Ok, I stayed up till the end of the world...
Where's my game hint?

Ha, was thinking the exact same thing...

[coalhot]

I think that the 3:00 hint from the Rick Astley pic means their posting the hint up at either 3AM or 3PM. I wonder...

[christaalorenz]

Softswitch

Softswitch is a next generation software switch based on the internet protocol technology. This software tool is developed with the idea of having an interconnection between the arrays of different media services and creating the new extensive services. The softswitch can process all type of signals for every kind of packet protocols. It works as the call agent or the controller for the gateways of media. A key element of VoIP system, the softswitch should be selected with the utmost care.

VoIP softswitch works by separating switching units from the basic network infrastructure completely. The network in the VoIP communications combines the two different networks which are circuit-switched and packet-switched networks by using the softswitch as the connecting junction among the both networks. Softswitch transfers the various data request from one network to another by processing the signals of both networks.

http://www.adoreinfotech.com/softswitch.html