Fallow

It just upsets me that they seem to be making the same mistake with Lady Luck that they did with FEAR - assuming what Legacy says is accurate. Having FEAR as chiefly a photo op sucked. It wasn't threatening. It wasn't scary. It screamed "rushed idea/cheapness." I had hoped A&D learned from that erroneous decision. I'm nervous enough that we don't have a casino - but "The House" in the game suggests Lady Luck may have some tie into the cemetery after all. I hope she does. She needs, at the very minimum, a scare zone, but I fear even that won't be enough if FEAR was any indication... By the way, I really dislike the argument that because we've only had 8 "icon years" that that makes a non-icon year more likely or even acceptable. The "Our Legacy" section of the website shows the Iconic Era as being the final stage of a series of evolutions - it's the "ideal" HHN, so to speak. HHN evolved to the point where it could produce original characters with intensive backstories and super-elaborate events. There's no need to retrogress to the pre-2000 era (remember, 04 worked due to the gimmick of two parks).

That'd be unfortunate - because I think that's what people expect at this point. People want to see the icon or whatever it is they see in the ads. Fear not being in a house last year was a testament to how rushed his development was and became a major disappointment. Let's hope we don't have that blunder again. If it ain't broke, don't fix it - purely marketing faces don't make good characters or tell good stories. HHN supposedly develops both.

What's even more of a coincidence is that the houses seem to share a title, as well. This takes the Nightshade Toy Factory vs. Chucky Friends Til the End comparisons to a whole new level!

Someone earlier noted that they were a way of ditching a scare actor or so per house, an idea supported by the lesser amounts of people hired this year. PWT said he could confirm this.

The current stages at the park are Fear Factor (B&T), Beatlejuice, and Animal Actors... Terminator I think would be a huge stretch. That leaves two possibilities - one being a built stage like in 06 in the Mel's Die-In plaza (there isn't a scare zone plotted here so it's possible), or, perhaps a stage constructed in front of Lucy - a true "front of the park" show.

As cool as I find the red buttons, I think replacing scare actors with guest-activated effects (which are probably going to have iffy reliability) isn't the best idea - they work better as a supplement if Pyschoscareay is any indication. I guess I'll wait to see the execution before passing judgement, but I did not find the previous red button "scary" - just a cool little easter egg.

I'm asking the question...

Then what could it be? Certainly doesn't fit Graveyard, Poe, Runes, Saws, TV Holiday, Thing, or Columbus... unless it was somehow tied into Independence Day for TV Holiday, but I think that's quite the stretch. I really have to wonder if A&D made an honest mistake - or if the picture is too distorted to be certain which specific breed of dog it is. Sent an email to you. Thanks in advance!

Interesting, Dr. Jimmy. Could this be a slip-up on the part of A&D or is this not World War I? We have conflicting elements if it is (the ambulance vehicle is distinctly WWI, the radio and dog photo aren't). Hmm... Can someone help me examine the properties of the picture? I already have it saved, but can't seem to find what you guys have found. I'm using Mac OSX if it helps..

The black and white/red button Facebook page HAS to be World War I. My girlfriend did some research (big American history buff, delighted to check it out) and has made a key discovery in the photo - On the right of the table there is a picture of an Airedale Terrier. Woodrow Wilson was known for loving his two terriers, Sandy and Davie. Guess who was president when we entered World War I? Woodrow Wilson.

So. Lucky. That's really sick! You lucky people who know the right folks...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150287001953233&set=a.164930423232.115933.126469058232&type=1&theater New pic on HHN's facebook. No idea what this could be, but I love the black & white and period setting!

It could be runes as I noted in the other thread - but I hadn't thought about the holiday house. The creature is sort of campy looking, more of strange & bizarre than outright scary. Could easily fit into the B-Movie Disaster queue. Or hell, even a scare zone we haven't learned about...

Gremlin-creature... Wow, interesting design. Rune house with the demons? Can't make heads or tails of the first image. No idea where that Egyptian mask might end up (or if it's a decoy).

Yeah... I'm not crazy about all projections either. Here's hoping we get some actual sets as usual... In other words, Dr. Jimmy has been proven reliable, trust his information that the house is dated to 1492.

I REALLY like the idea of "changing" scare zones - it would work very well in the Shrek Alley. Changing every night would be cool enough, but imagine if it changed multiple times a night! I wonder why all of these towers are popping up all over the park. They aren't limited to New York - we now have them in Shrek Alley and at the IFB. Are they lighting towers or are they directly related to their zones?

This leaves an interesting bit of speculation open - we're pretty certain now that there won't be a casino house, per se. But does that rule out an icon house? We know very little about this "graveyard" house. Many have speculated that Lady Elizabeth Hawthorne is in fact our Lady Luck. The house of cards forms a Victorian-esque building that would be well suited near a graveyard. Moreover, many have speculated that Lady Luck has a bit of a dual personality - perhaps one of Death, and one of Luck. The latest card supports this idea with its quote "Where there was Luck, there was Death." Death is certainly very present in a graveyard, and symbolically, a graveyard is where your luck runs out. In other news - interesting that they'd save a THING game for last. Unless the final game is unrelated to the houses (leaving THING out completely).

Just got my card in the mail! http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/851/img1580lr.jpg/ Where there was Luck, there was Death - from an anonymous Chinese philosopher. Yes, those were capitalized. I find it more and more unlikely that we won't get an icon of some kind..... there's more blood and scratch marks than previous cards (as far as I can tell), but no bonuses as the status might've suggested. Could there be more to these cards than we know?

I'm not trying to insult anyone nor do I need a lecture about protecting one's sources - I've been watching the speculation game for a couple of years now (though much of it was on the Vault), this isn't a new concept to me. What does bother me is that we had something that is in public view that has a precedent for providing clues - and yet it isn't brought up. I'm not sure how noting a window we already knew to provide clues from previous years would be damaging to one's source relations, but if so, then I stand corrected and apologize. Lizz & Legacy, I enjoy reading your posts here and I don't mean to stir discontent or create animosity between us - nor is my ramble chiefly directed at you two - I do just get frustrated sometimes when there are things that seem to be able to revealed - because they're sitting in Hollywood Boulevard - aren't, or are vaguely referred to, leaving the uninitiated in a daze.

I didn't ask anyone to reveal hidden insider information. As has been noted/revealed, the "rumor window" is in full view of any park guest yet this is the first many people are hearing of it, meaning some knew of it and based speculative claims on it, but said nothing of its existence. I don't recall reading about this window in 08 on the Vault (where it apparently held some answers there). I just see no reason to hide something like that (again, something in full public view with a precedent for giving clues) from the general HNN populace.

Thank you, Dr. Jimmy and JW, for actually explaining what the window was/posting an image so those not "in the know" can actually attempt to contribute to some legitimate speculation, and for not acting like elitests for happening to know about something not everyone has access to. I'm not sure why this couldn't have been noted/shown earlier, but, whatever.

To an extent I agree with Grimp0nd - only reason I feel bad is if there was a possibility of reward for "legitimate" players that can now not be given (unless Universal wants to reward the "refreshers'" dedication, but I don't see that happening). I was motivated only by dedication to HHN and my enjoyment of the friendly competition (again, Grimp & Stumpy have been chatting for the past few days about the game). At this point I'm just going to use my hard-earned tokens as a means to play the new games without being banned (even if I lose thousands at a time ._.) Either way, the work-around is now impossible, so it's a moot point. The game is pure luck now and for the most part the leader board is locked in. Stumpy seems to be our lucky/unlucky winner! On another note, I played the new game and won on my first try. How's that for luck?

Didn't notice the scratches until now. Hmm - I'll go ahead and bet that the next 3 cards are going to be in greater and greater states of disarray - Lady Luck is giving us little omens...

I had expected the cards to be different as soon as Universal posted the original card on their Facebook for all to see. This implies Luck to be a manifestation of something more than ever. Was that blood spot there when you opened it?

As one of the individuals who "gamed the system," I sincerely hope that my (and others') heavy participation in the games didn't cause some sort of reward for "true" top players to be canceled. Stumpy & I have actually been chatting about whether or not the "refresh" trick was a morally acceptable way of playing the game - I think we now have our answer that it isn't something they want us to do. I'm very glad they altered the code to make this sort of thing impossible. (Even though it means I'll be losing quite a few times in the new games!) Since I do know Universal is reading this - If my and others' use of the "refresh trick" has made it impossible to give a treat of some kind to the "true" top scores, please wipe my score and I would go ahead and say anyone else's who gets that high. (The problem being, as one might surmise, is that where is the line drawn - almost everyone on the leader board had to use the refresh trick at some point. Perhaps it's wiser to wipe the entire leader board.) Please know I never intended to "game the system" to ruin the fun for others or prevent any sort of prize to be awarded - it was always friendly competition and the desire/delight of seeing my name on the site. I felt my high score represented my heavy investment in Halloween Horror Nights.