More on the University of Winnipeg Konami Code and the Easter Egg on UWinnipegCourses.ca

So by now, many of you may have heard rumblings of the University of Winnipeg’s Division of Continuing Education placing an Easter Egg on their website.

The tips and hints talked about Konami Codes but didn’t directly tell you what they were. You were supposed to try to find out and then use the codes on the dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca website to find the hidden Easter Egg.

Let's start with Konami Codes. What are they? Where do they come from? What do they do?

According to wikipedia, the Konami cheat codes were embedded in video games as far back as the mid 1980s, allowing players to get extra powers, skills, or lives to make playing the game easier.

They started being found in other video games, and soon after, other software and media.

Today, you can find websites, software packages, DVD and Blu-ray discs, and many other places where there are cheat codes that will alter your experience, give you additional options, or even additional features.

The “classic” Konami Code is this sequence of keystrokes, but there are some variations out there:

Up arrow, Up arrow, Down arrow, Down arrow, Left arrow, Right arrow, Left arrow, Right arrow, B, A

What are Easter Eggs? Well, in this case, they are hidden features or options that are not normally exposed to the people using the system. You usually have to stumble on them or know where the secret door is.

So what happens if you put this all together?

Visit dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca and when you are on the front page, press these keys in order:

1. Up arrow
2. Up arrow
3. Down arrow
4. Down arrow
5. Left arrow
6. Right arrow
7. Left arrow
8. Right arrow
9. B
10. A

You should be whisked away to a hidden Easter Egg prize, in this case a game of Pacman with a University of Winnipeg spin.

We hope you enjoy the game; please tell others about it.

University of Winnipeg Konami Code

DCE-IT Man on
dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca

The University of Winnipeg Division of Continuing Education put an Easter Egg on the http://dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca website this month and placed teasers and hints on various places around the Internet.

More details as they happen!

Teaser 1:
Find the key; have some fun!
>> Door: http://dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca
>>Lock: Konami
>>Key:___ <–???

Teaser 2:
A hidden surprise awaits those of you who can find the key:
Google “University of Winnipeg Konami Code” and try it out on http://dce.UWinnipegCourses.ca!
Good luck 🙂

Teaser 3:
Sure, you’ve heard of the Da Vinci Code, but have you heard of the Konami Code?!
The University of Winnipeg has!

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Updates

Since this was quietly started a few days ago, the puzzle has been spreading over Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Here are a few that have caught our eye:

• @ChrisDca blogs: U of W’s Secret Digital Easter Egg Hunt
• Brenelz Web Design (@brenelz) has a blog post called: University of Winnipeg Konami Code and a follow-up called University of Winnipeg Konami Code Revealed!
• Access Winnipeg (@AccessWinnipeg) says the University of Winnipeg Loves Contra
• @Lyndon_Reid gets into the University of Winnipeg Konami Code Easter Egg mood
• We have been added to the Wikipedia List of Konami Websites
• Academica Group Inc. – Marketing Insight for Higher Education says uWinnipeg’s CE department hides arcade game on website

We have had reports that the Konami Code is not letting people who are using some versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 into the game. It does work with IE7 and IE8. If you want to try the game out and can’t get in with IE, please consider trying out other browsers like Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, or IE7/8, all of which work perfectly.