Re: pic: Game hint
 

CMD0? Are our robots going to be running around without any underwear this year?

Re: pic: Game hint
 

why cant it just be jan 5th?

Re: pic: Game hint
 

sounds like a frendly game of robot basketball, seriously, used for launching basketballs into a net from a distance with the IR board reciveing info on how high and far the baskets are from the robot

edit: just a thought

Re: pic: Game hint
 

alright maybe the game will be playing a a hamster wheel shaped field that rotates horizontally
and in each ladder part of the wheel, there is are different colored game pieces that robots have to bring back to their home zone to construct some kind of wall
the stockexchange is on wallstreet (Ithink) ...which was historically built as the nourthern boundary of new amsterdam...
so maybe ure trying to build a wall out of game pieces to keep out ure alliance from your homezone...
idk might not be feasible for a 2 minute game...idk

Re: pic: Game hint
 

hahaha

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Adam,

Agreed, Joe has either pulled off (or has tried to pull off) a number of hoaxes on this website. He has reached the point where he needs collaborators to accomplish these.

First, it is posted in "Extra Discussion" rather than in a real forum. Joe knows better than to post his hoaxes in a real forum. Also, why of all people was Joe (a noted prankster) the very first to receive this misdelivery?

Second, all the initial collaborators seem suspiciously close to Joe or to his team. Perhaps a case of "You lie, and I'll swear to it." But the circle of folks claiming to receive the phantom FIRST Email Blast has grown beyond Joe's influence. Either the Blast is real, or we have folks jumping on a "Me Too!" bandwagon.

The PDF document appears to come from the FIRST website. I doubt that Joe would take a chance by spoofing the FIRST site, so he would need some inside help to upload the document. NOTE: The document author is not fully named, it only lists the name "kpilotte", which was assumed to be Kate Pilotte. It is not difficult to change the "author" of a document, and lack of a full name brings this document into question.

But, to further cloud the question, the board that Joe has photographed, and the board on the PDF document are not the same. (Or some Photoshopping has taken place.) The "quality mark" on Joe's board is positioned slightly different than the one in the PDF photo. You also have to wonder why three fonts are used on the circuit board; one for the URL, one for the component layout, but the final part of the copyright text (FIRST") is in a slightly larger font than the beginning part. It would seem that when putting a copyright symbol onto a board design they would know who holds the rights.

Finally, Dave loves to see these things mushroom, and he will gleefully post his most devilish laugh as he watches all the lemmings rush over the cliff!

Re: pic: Game hint
 

As far as I know, Joe has only tried to post one hoax. That one succeeded. The reason it is in "Extra Discussion" is because it was posted as a picture. Picture threads open in "Extra Discussion".
"Initial collaborators": I was suspicious at first. Then I started taking a closer look. I also have not seen the actual board. Part of the reason I'm thinking this is real is because of the too-large circle of recipients.
Joe has been known to fake the FIRST site, but this is far too real.
When have you known an Inventor drawing, say, and a part come out exactly identical? Two pictures of the same person?

And Joe is smart. He knows that some of us know where he lives (or can easily find out), and thus would have to keep the evidence.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

I think you are really stretching on this one. The quality mark will be different on every board and the difference in font size is not remarkable. Also Diversified systems using a different font for their URl would also be no big thing.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

I got the very legit looking email and I don't know Joe. Huh...

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Statistically, the bigger in scope a hoax becomes (specifically in the number of people required to carry it out), the harder and harder it becomes to successfully pull it off. This rabbit hole just goes too deep, and involves too much, to be a simple hoax.

1. Extra Discussion is the defacto place where all threads started about photos from CD-Media are located.

2. Unless someone hacked FIRST's TIMS system, how would you be able to spoof a FIRST Email Blast to every team?

3. The "Author" on Word/PDF documents is usually the person's username. Since her email address is the same name, this is the most likely scenario.

4. One was an initial prototype board (PDF image) and the other (the one teams receive) is the final version.

5. We may not be lemmings running over a cliff, but we certainly must make Dave's day with these threads. If I was on the GDC, I know I would find anything involving a game hint in a thread to be really amusing. ;)

Re: pic: Game hint
 

If I were on the GDC, I'd be quite pleased to see so many people so interested in the least little scrap of information about the game!

(and it would be a big bonus if the hint inspired some of those people to play around with robot programming and design concepts over their winter break)

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Just to toss one more against the hoax theory, I just looked at the email headers on the blast, and they're exactly the same as any other, so it's an official blast. So at this point it's either legit, or Joe's one heck of a hacker with lots of inside help, etc. etc. So I think Occam's Razor should really put all the paranoia to bed at this point and let us get on with our rampant speculation.

So has anyone else wondered what the big white connector is for? I'd be able to make a more intelligent guess if I had the board in front of me, but I've a sneaking suspicion it's the programming interface. So if this was for reading a field element, setting up a robot would be as easy as plugging in a programming cable during inspection.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

If you look closely the FIRST copyright font size is the same as DIVSYS's font size

Re: pic: Game hint
 

To me, the most reasonable explanation is that there will be some IR transmitters on the field that send dynamic game information to the robot which interprets it with this board. The field would transmit a code that activates one of the digital outs on the board which can then be used to redirect the gameplay. This opens up a whole world of possibilities both in auto and tele-game periods that go way beyond telling your robot what color light is shining. The game objectives could be changed either in a preset or random fashion - or even by the robots themselves. Consider a field element that looks like a bumper but acts like a switch, so that a robot could actually change the light color... or open a goal... or modify the bonus multiplier - any of which could be transmitted to your robot as new game information.

In 2K4, I got the vibe that the FIRST game developers had high hopes for the IR devices. Unfortunately reflections and interference (and the lack of available trig calculations on the robot) made them cumbersome to use. It was simply easier to navigate around the field using encoders and gyros. Since the new ones are transmitting information, reflections won't matter - they might even help. I believe that if this thing is real, and they get it to work, we will see this device for years to come as it adds a whole new dimension to the strategy. 2K8 is gonna be sweet!

Re: pic: Game hint
 

first of all i think this is not a hoax from first and that it is legit but not the whole story
just giving us some random object (ok so its not compleatly random they must have given it to us for a purpouse) without telling us much more is not much of a game hint
also if you look at the email (i cannot verify at this time whether my teacher has recived it yet (i know i had his cell phone number at one point in time :confused: ) so i cant reach him) but it says that this is the season for hints, but "keep your eye out for a December gift from FRC and the game design committee"
gifts aren't clues
they're gifts
so i think there will be at least a riddle coming soon
also another weird fact is that this email everyone is gettin is not listed here
1 other question
i am not 100% electronically knowledgeable but im not used to seeing red boards
could this colour reference more than just being there by chance
mabey we can expect as triangle(from first logo (its red:) )) as one of the objects in this years game
oh how i wish it was january 5th (im not rushing anything, i swear)