Quote

Originally posted by spitfire:
So, Stark, where did the bald guy come from? Just curious.

Just remember that the information relating to this individual comes from files that have been marked as "Top Secret," so be quiet about this...

This man joined the Beenox team at some point between the demise of the Coldstone "game" and the inspired creation of the Coldstone "engine." The team found the man wandering listless and helpless on a street corner, and taking compassion on the poor unfortunate soul they took him in and fed him.

However, unbeknowest to the compassionate crew things were not all as they seemed. The poor fellow that they had brought in and sheltered soon became interested in the goings on of the team as they discussed their newest project. The creation of new cities, even worlds really excited this bald man, and his own ideas began to reach out to the team. He spoke of being able to create people, and to have control over how they act, speak, even think. He spoke of being able to have full control and dominance over every aspect of the creation, something that he convinced the team was a good idea.

And as the project began to take form and become functional the Beenox team needed to start bringing a sense of identity to the project. They had already settled on resurrecting the Coldstone name, but now they had to brand it with pizzazz that would show prospective buyers and investors that they meant business.

Thus cropped up the icon of the bald man, beant over his creation and placing the components of his masterpiece precisely where they needed to go. After all, so many of the wonderful ideas for the gaming engine were initially his brain children, so using him as the front piece of their engine seemed only natural. Plus, if anyone asked who this man was, the team could proudly state that he was a homeless man that they took in. You simply can't buy that type of publicity and good will.

Unfortunately all was not a bowl of cherries. Almost by accident a passer-by at a gaming conference happened to pass by and notice the new logo that was being proudly displayed by the Beenox team. The passer-by gasped and asked the crew what that man was doing on their company logo. The team, obviously perplexed by the reaction, inquired and were shocked to learn the past of their friend.

Their friend, it turns out, was named Streck, and in addition to being wanted for Nazi war crimes, was instrumental in the running of the infamous Fuhrgendorf prison and the capture and subsequent misuse of the scientist Dr. Flammond. Unfortunately for Streck a young American teen idol foiled his plans and he escaped Germany just in the nick of time. Penniless and out of necessity having to keep a low profile, he went to Canada to earn a low-key wage. Events of circumstance ran their course, leaving him in the position to be found by the Beenox crew which took pity on him.

Suddenly light dawned on the team as they realized where all the engine ideas had come from. Yet as terrible as the source was, the ideas they realized were pretty darn good for a gaming engine. But to be associated with a mad man, not to mention a fugitive, just would not do.

Thus this icon was a short lived one. The team severed all ties with General Streck, and they threw the banner away for good. Still shaken by the revelation the team decided to retire to a nearby residence to ponder a new logo for their project, and to utilize the holy rod of happy smoke to ease their burdens.

But this event has already been recorded.

(edit) Disclaimer: The fictitious character "Strect" comes from a movie called, oddly enough, "Top Secret" which makes the above much more humor-filled if you've actually seen the movie. (/edit)

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(This message has been edited by Stark Bledfast (edited 08-29-2002).)

Quote

Originally posted by Stark Bledfast:
**Child's play, my dear Klatu. I had ended the story where appropriate, but you are just asking for, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story.

We had left off after a frigid night of partying whereby the terms "Cold-stoner" and "Coldstone" had become coined phrases. Well after the initial game which was thus dubbed "Coldstone" and which ended in cancellation, and the subsequent "project" which was in fact a game engine was created and also named "Coldstone" in part due to a memory, but mostly due to this being such a great name, the company needed a logo to present their new product by and to make it recognizeable to the world. Something grand was needed, not to mention that the best logos always are a symbol of ones origins. This would take a lot of creative genius to figure out, and a whole lot of thought. In other words, another all-night party was absolutely necessary.

The entire staff was assembled and packed into the very same location that derived the earlier incarnation of greatness, and the night was just as low in temperature as before. The staff treated themselves to much adult beverages, and shortly thereafter the holy rod of happy smoke was once again produced. However this time something unexpected happened. One of the members of the staff whom will forever remain nameless(the staff swore oaths of silence never to reveal this person's name), must have inhaled a bit too much, because the results were spectacular(In retrospect, one of the employees stated that the results really weren't all that spectacular. But the effects of the wacky weed made it at the time seem spectacular). The aforementioned unnamed employee became quite flatulant in his demeanor, and when he passed the pipe and the next person over struck a match to re-ignite it, he ignited more than the blissful essence. The voracious vapors immediately caught, propelling the unnamed employee into the air. After the excitement the necessary ribbing commenced, and amidst all the banter and joking one of those gathered exclaimed that he had thought that the unnamed employee was attempting to launch himself to greatness, indeed to borrow a much used colloquialism, to infinity and beyond! This of course inspired a near divine-like creativity, and the next day produced the logo that we are now accustomed to seeing.

But wait, you might say, how did we get from that scene to the present day logo? It seems like such a stretch, not to mention there doesn't appear to be a link at all between the two. Well, just hold on, because it will all make sense in a moment.

You see publicly Beenox has issued their logo for all to see. And it looks like a tree growing out of a stone. Their reasoning, at least publicly, is that their company is metaphorically the bonzai tree: even in harsh, unfertile and unforgiving soil(ie. the Mac platform with its limited user base and often the butt of the other 95% computer platform users jokes), this company will grow and flourish. Indeed it shall take hold where most others wither and die, and it shall reach unprecedented heights of stature and glory, dominating all others to the point that everyone becomes envious. This is a very nice PR type of thing; forward-thinking, goal driven, confidience inspiring. It is a great thing for a small company to do.

However, privately, the entire staff can smile and grin at the "hidden" meaning of the logo. Because you see, that logo is not just a tree growing out of some stone. No, that symbol represents the entire saga that has been told for you, so that its story shall never be forgotten. None of this would have been possible had it not been for that special little weed; however placing such a well-known symbol in their logo would have doomed the company to endless protests and boycotts. No, they could not be that blatant. So instead they utilized that divine-like creativity from that fateful night.

The logo is actually a representation of this fateful evening. The tree isn't a tree; how could it be? The leaves and branches are just too flowing, round, and un-treelike. The base is gripping that "stone" just a bit much; not like the bonzai tree would ever do. No, to the trained eye this logo is definitely not what it seems on the surface. Only the trained eye, or an informed one, could ever hope to pick the reality out of the illusion. And that reality is one of a mushroom cloud billowing out from within a cannabis brownie. And if you think about it for a moment, everything ought to make perfect sense.

(edit) I had to correct a typo, as I'd hate to be decried a heretic for misspelling cannabis. (/edit)**

OK, well, I was in New Hampshire for over a week. I went on a hike called the flume, and at the end there was this HUGE rock with a 4 foot tree on top. It's roots were 20 times the size of the tree. They stretched down the rock to the bottom into the ground. The rock was very cold, like an icecube. Maybe someone from Beenox saw this. Just a thought.

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But if we did, then how would we learn anything? A world without hurt is a world without lessons.

Quote

Originally posted by PinkFluffyBunny:
**
OK, well, I was in New Hampshire for over a week. I went on a hike called the flume, and at the end there was this HUGE rock with a 4 foot tree on top. It's roots were 20 times the size of the tree. They stretched down the rock to the bottom into the ground. The rock was very cold, like an icecube. Maybe someone from Beenox saw this. Just a thought.

**

My gosh...I went on the same hike! We called that rock the "Gatten rock"

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Thank you.

Hate to steal your thunder stark, but the bald guys official name is Dr. Nox.

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"Toad Style is immensly strong, and immune to nearly any weapon,
when properly used it can be almost invincible!"

Quote

Originally posted by the Necromicon:
Hate to steal your thunder stark, but the bald guys official name is Dr. Nox.:p

Of course it was Dr. Nox. At least, that is what General Streck told everyone at Beenox when they found him...

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Anyone Can Roast Beef.
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Yes, it is I, the man who invented Coldstone, Dr Nox, AKA General Streck!
Muahahaha! You fools! I invented the name Coldstone! But now, I am old and weak, and I am lying helpless where the American military put me when they caught me, in an underground cell, alone, inside an islandary iceburg somewhere off the Arctic coast. And I will die soon, so now I will bestow the secret of the name Coldstone, because I will not take that secret to my grave.
Listen:

I had just escaped from the police, and I was hiding out in New Hampshire. It was when the police came that I had to find somewhere more remote to hide. I found a tourist centre, and got info on the latest hike. The next hike was called the Flume, but I didn't care: the police would be onto me soon.
I had to creep evilly behind the tourists so that they wouldn't notice my eyeglass.
When we reached the end, the police were only twenty metres behind. I was forced to hide under a nook in the big stone that the tree was growing on.
I waited there for five hours, before finally the police gave up.
I emerged from underneath the freezing rock, shivering and delirious with cold.
I stumbled to the airport, and they tossed me in the baggage compartment, because I was in a box (I was very delirious.).
I sat there in the unoxygenated compartment, staring out at the world from the cracks in my box, through the holes in the compartment's walls.
I don't know how I survived, but I did, and I emerged from the compartment when the plane stopped.
The Beenox team found me, and took me in. When they asked me my name, i was completely delirious, and my mind had leapt back into latin, so I simply answered the primitive word, "Nox!", because it was night when they found me.
I continually muttered things like 'Cold! Cold! Cold stone!", and, as I remembered my view from the plane, I started to jitter, "A little world!".
When I regained rational thought, the Beenox team had already constructed the foundations of Coldstone, a game I had apparently invented while I was delirious.
Seeing that the game had gone to far, I tried to get the Beenox team to join me as my minions to help me control the world, but they thought I was telling them what else they should put in the game.
And so Coldstone was made, constructed from the babblings of a madman.
But then, I was discovered by a teen idol, and Beenox disconnected me from their business.
And so I lie here, with a laptop, telling my story. But there is one more thing. I am associated with Ambrosia, too. You see, that man in the Ambrosia logo is not Zeus...

Coldstone eh?
well... , When beenox was getting of the ground, they were short of financial support, so they set up a massive criminal organisation to gain that initial lump sum to get them going. They stole fish from every source they could find and made money by becoming the biggest supplier of Cod for England's fish and chips shops (they split themselves up into several small companies to remain discreet, of course).

However, this illegal fish stealing business became too dangerous so they packed it in, covered up all their tracks and spent weeks getting rid of the smell.

Beenox were so proud of their mischievous money making scheme that they didn't want it to go forgotten, but they didn't want anyone to find out either...
So they left themselves a little reminder, the name "Coldstone" ... which is an anagram of "Stolen Cod." (is that too weird? hehe!)

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