Okay guys, something is definitely up at Microsoft as far as it pertains to the launch of Windows Vista. It looks like they are putting quite a bit of their marketing budget behind a very “outside the box” way of spreading the buzz - and we aren’t talking about full-page spreads in PC Magazine. Earlier today, DHL dropped off a ridiculously large box at the Gear Live headquarters in Seattle, WA. We opened it up, and found a brand new, Windows Vista-based Media Center PC. This particular one is made by Velocity Micro, and it’s loaded to the max.

Now, normally, this is nothing out of the ordinary, as we tend to get a multitude of deliveries each and every week that we review, unbox, and give our overall impressions on - but this was different, as a fairly cryptic note was included in the box that read:

You are now a decoder. There are only a few like you, but thousands more are looking for you. Find the other decoders before Zero Hour.

P.S. I’ve hidden something in a puzzle box for you. Find the box, find a way to open it?

Oh, and this was from the desk of Loki - the Enigma Director. Confused yet? Well, we were confused as hell, being that Loki mentioned that she hid somethin gin a puzzle box for us. I mean, there was no puzzle box to be found anywhere with the shipment. Nevertheless, we just move on to setting up the Media Center PC to start giving it a once over, when the mail carrier arrived with a small box from Microsoft. I opened it, and it was the small puzzle box that Loki mentioned - and it was pretty hard to figure out how to get it open, as it just seemed like one cube of wood. Nevertheless, we opened it up, and inside there was a thin USB key. We popped that bad boy into a MacBook Pro with the quickness, half afraid that it would disintegrate due to the rival OS. On the key were three files:

• Cipher Key 5.jpg
• from_Loki.txt
• Loki.wmv

We watched the video and read the text file, and finally figured out what the hell the Cipher Key meant - and all it led to was more questions than answers. A spectacular adventure indeed...stay tuned guys, we are going to be having loads of fun with this one.

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