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The Latest and Safest Easter Eggs

This not about chocolate Easter Eggs that might explode at any minute, this is about a piece of code (or something unexpected) that is deliberately hidden by its creator within software, a game, a film, or a soundtrack, as a source of amusement.

It was said to have originated with early computer code programmers who would surprise their colleagues with weird messages, or events, set to occur at certain times. The term was coined after the pastime of hunt the Easter Egg.

There are examples being discovered all the time and we can have a look at some of the latest.

Let's start with the N64 Goldeneye 007 game. Insert the cartridge and turn the power on. Take a real close look at the start-up screen which looks like a British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) certificate. The BBFC has been replaced with Twycross Board of Game Classification, which becomes relevant if you realise that Twycross is the base of this game's developer Rare. And the signature below the word President is James Bond and instead of a normal BBFC rating, say 12+, this has a number 4, with a message that suitable for only one to four people; the number of people that can play the game. Nice touch.

Another one cropped up in the movie Bruce Almighty. Have a look at the scene when, out on the lake, God talks to Bruce. Look closely at the background, and you'll see some buildings looking like Optimus Prime. Clever, unless you don't know who Optimus Prime is. And just in case you don't know, he's the leader of the Autobots. Still no wiser, the things that run around in The Transformers! Okay, good?

Now lets look at a computer game latest example. Half Life is a big game franchise and in Half Life 2, right at the start of the game, there's a van which crops up and if you take a second to look at the centre of the steering wheel, you can see the face of the bear which was used to advertise Radiohead's Kid A. It's in fact a logo created jointly by Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke.

Books aren't exempt either and there's a good one found in the guide C For Dummies. On page 371, you'll come across graphical representations of a number of C header files. If you look at the text, it appears to be in Greek and disregarded as a meaningless filler. But, use the Windows font Symbol and put the symbols back to their usual font equivalents, you get:

"This is some very small text that you probably won't be able to read. If you can, then you are very good. If you can't, you're typical. Actually, if you're my editor, then you'll probably be looking for some bad stuff. Rest assured. It's not in here. BUT not that I'm writing this stuff in GREEK, I don't think there will be a problem with it. Unless, of course, you're GREEK."

This is a good example of an Easter Egg, because who would have thought of doing all that's entailed to get the right message. Pretty nifty.

So there we have it. If you're on the look out for good Easter Eggs, perhaps it's a good piece of advice to expect the unexpected.

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