Uplink: Hacker Elite

1001 Video Games

Uplink appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Extras

Introversion offered two extras for fans - a "Bonus CD" and a "Dev CD." The Bonus CD contained pictures, wallpapers, beta versions, articles, and other "behind the scenes" materials from the making of the game. The Dev CD contained the complete source code and tools needed for modders to alter the game, and could be purchased from Introversion's web store for 30 GBP.

The Bonus CD was originally offered to people who convinced a friend to purchase Uplink. After the turnover was less than expected, the Bonus CD was made available for purchase in June 2002 for $7.00 USD off Introversion's site. The initial run of discs eventually ran out, and the CD was later made available for free download.

Game Bible

Introversion released a "Game Bible" in four hidden parts called "books." These covered the development of Uplink from conception up to the release of the "Project Nakatomi" patch. The books were hidden on the Bonus CD, website, and as the final reward for solving the "treasure hunt" on Introversion's site leading up to the release of the Nakatomi patch.

All four books were hidden or encrypted, with clues located on Introversion's website, or within the game packaging itself (such as the hex string on the back cover.) Decrypting the books required some minor "hacking" skills, such as using "one time pad" decryption programs, or "redshirt" programs to extract .dat files hidden inside other files. Personally decrypting the four books was considered a point of pride within the Uplink community, so hints requested on the community forums were intentionally kept obtuse.

Project Nakatomi

In 2002, Introversion released the "Project Nakatomi" patch (v1.21) that included such additions as LAN hacking and a functional in-game IRC chat interface. Project Nakatomi was so named as it was aimed at the "die hard" fans of Uplink: Hacker Elite (Nakatomi Plaza is the skyscraper setting of the film Die Hard).

In keeping with the hacking theme, Introversion created an alternate-reality "treasure hunt" leading up to the release, teasing what Project Nakatomi would be. They underestimated the dedication of their fans however, and through efforts of formed groups such as the "Project Nakatomi Task Force," fans cracked the first layers of the "treasure hunt" before it was ready! The trail hit an apologetic dead-end message at a secure section of Introversion's site, and the rest of the hunt had to be added later.

References

• One of the servers you can hack into is the "OCP" Server - OCP is the police force from the Robocop movies. And another is the "Protovision" server - and if you've even seen the movie WarGames, then you'll recognize the name of the games company that David thinks he's hacking into.
• At one point during the game you get access to a server that has the password "mysocratesnote". This is in reference to the movie Sneakers (another great hacking movie). "mysocratesnote" is one of the anagrams for "setec astronomy" in other words "too many secrets".
• Another interesting in-joke concerning the movie Sneakers - when you use a voice-print analysis to break into a system, the text reads "Hello. My Name Is _______ My Voice is my passport. Verify Me." These are the same words used to break into Playtronics, near the end of the movie.
• When entering negotiations for a hacking job on the Uplink Internal Services system, if you look at the negotiations text box near the top of the screen when it is starting up, it will say that the interface you are using has been developed by 'Frontier Communications'. This is a joke referencing Frontier: Elite 2 and Frontier: First Encounters. The design and text for this particular interface in Uplink mirrors/copies the content found in the BBS-accessible missions from the two Frontier games. It additionally references the name of the company that developed these entries into the Elite series; Frontier Developments.

Awards

• Computer Gaming World
  • March 2004 (Issue #236) – Adventure Game of the Year

Information also contributed by BurningStickMan and Jeremy Johnson