Kotaku: countdown clock

At Least Sega's Monkey Ball Countdown Is Interactive

Mike Fahey — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:20:00 MDT

It may be another countdown clock, but Sega's mysterious Jackpot page does have one thing most others don't - a clickable button. Between that and the hidden Super Monkey Ball reference, we're intrigued.

It's just a tiny difference, but we'll take what we can get. The countdown page, located at www.Sega.com/Jackpot, features a circular tumbler filled with colored, numbered balls, along with a switch. Here's where it gets crazy. Flipping the switch causes a set of six balls to roll out. See? Compared to other countdown clocks, this is amazingly deep. It's the Grand Theft Auto of countdown clocks.

After clocking at several different points throughout the day, it has been determined that the first two balls represent days; the second two hours; and the final pair represent minutes. According to Kotaku reader Brigham, this means that something will happen on Tuesday the 21st at 10AM Eastern time.

A cursory exploration of the page source, reveals the following line of code:

name="supermonkeyball" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" allowFullScreen="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" />

I suppose that makes sense. There are plenty of balls, and Sega knows that nothing goes better with balls than monkeys.

Perhaps that sounded a bit wrong. And perhaps the countdown isn't for Super Monkey Ball, and the coder just threw that bit in to mislead everyone. We're leaning towards a reveal of Super Monkey Ball Step & Roll, the name of which McWhertor discovered via the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last month.

Sure, we might have just ruined the surprise, but that doesn't stop you from getting countless hours of enjoyment out of flipping that little switch, now does it?

Even Video Game Soda Gets A Countdown Clock

Mike Fahey — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:40:00 MDT

Those of you eagerly awaiting the launch of the World of Warcraft flavored varieties of Mountain Dew Game Fuel now have a countdown clock to stare at for the next nine days.

It's bad enough that we have to put up with countdown clocks that lead to big-name video game reveals. Now we're counting down to soda? While the countdown clock at MountainDewGameFuel.com is technically counting down to the start of the Choose Your Side sweepstakes, where players collect tokens for chances to win prizes from J!nx, Razer, and Alienware, we're still effectively counting down to the launch of a beverage. Do we really have to do this?

2009 World of Warcraft Mountain Dew Game Fuel Launches May 15 [WorldofWar.net]

Jump Scans Totally Spoil Square's Bahamut Countdown

Mike Fahey — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:40:00 MST

Way to go, Jump Magazine. Here we were, all speculating and stuff, and you have to come along and get pages scanned showing that the Bahumut countdown that had us all abuzz yesterday was for Blood of Bahamut for the Nintendo DS. It's an action RPG featuring 2D sprites fighting in a 3D environment, with the giant walking city looking fellow in the background, do whatever it is giant walking city looking things do. According to the folks over at Final Fantasy Union, an additional scan depicts two characters, Ibuki and Yui, but suggests that the title could be a four-player affair.

Best of luck on that big old countdown clock, Square Enix. You really need to learn to time these things to occur before the magazine scans hit.

Blood of Bahamut Confirmed For Nintendo DS [Final Fantasy Union - Thanks CockroachMan!]

Square Enix Counts Down To Bahamut

Mike Fahey — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:20:00 MST

Square Enix certainly loves their countdown clocks. The last one wound up giving us a Nintendo DS remake of Chrono Trigger, and this latest one? All we know is it's for a game involving Bahamut, the giant dragon we've come to alternately love and hate, depending on which game he shows up in. The first thing that crossed my mind was a remake or sequel to Bahamut Lagoon, the Super Nintendo tactical strategy RPG, though what's with the colossus down there at the bottom? It reminds me of the fight between Bahamut and Alexander from Final Fantasy IX, though that would be one hell of a giant Alexander.

Whatever it is, well find out on Monday once the stupid countdown clock finishes doing what it was made for. In the meantime, I'll be desperately pouring through soundtracks trying to figure out where I know that music from. Hit the jump for the full teaser graphic.

The Bahamut Countdown [Official Site via N4G - Thanks Tim!]