Splinter Cell: Conviction News Round-Up

30 Nov 2009 at 17:20:23 by Tim McDonald

The Splinter Cell website was “hacked,” revealing potential plot details, new characters, new weapons, locations, and more.

Apparently, the site was hacked by a Russian organisation named Voron (Raven, when translated into English, and as we're translating lots we'll call them that from here on in) and it's their files that we've spent the day sifting through - after using our not-inconsiderable knowledge of cryptography, computer wizardry, and maybe a little torture to work out the password. These files are divided into five sections, and we'll summarise them below.

First and foremost was information from the “Notifications” section, which detailed Third Echelon and GRU activities. Third Echelon apparently came into contact with GRU “in the case of the sale of military equipment from the pilot bases in Dagestan, the Nenets and 16 other locations worldwide,” going by the text we translated.

“The intelligence provided by the Americans, inaccurate, contain a lot of untested materials, [sic] but these rumours affect some senior officers, as well as civilians,” the text continues. “So far we do not have a full analysis of the contact information of the third wave [Third Echelon?] and the GRU, but the case was transferred to us.” This leads to speculation about who and what Raven are. Other than that they're affiliated with Russia – judging by the text being entirely in Russian – it's hard to say. Raven could be the Russian equivalent of Third Echelon, evidenced by the case being “transferred” to them, or they could be something rather more unofficial, going by the screen name “VL@d69” that supposedly hacked the site.

The big information, though, was directly below that. “According to the latest data, at the moment they monitor the delivery of a prototype weapon that could disrupt stability in the region, and want us to help them, because it 'our common cause' [sic].”

If that's not a plot hook, I'm not sure what is. This certainly ties Raven into things, but again, it's unclear as to what - “they” is ambiguous, and could refer to Third Echelon, the GRU, or both. The news of a region-destabilising prototype weapon, though? That sounds big.

“More extensive intelligence and biography potentially involved in the case of persons [sic] has been downloaded to your work computer. Expect more information,” concludes the text, with the signature “BK” - which, taken out of Cyrillic, becomes “VC.” Tantalising.

The “Dossiers” section contains information on two characters. The first is a Third Echelon agent named Daniel Robert Sloane-Cuares (or Cuarez), codenamed Archer. An intelligence analyst for the NSA, Daniel's lack of respect for the bureaucracy led to him being transferred to a “brutal training program for Third Echelon.” A mere 18 months later, “he was assigned the callsign 'Archer.'”

It's hard to know what to make of Archer. We know that there's going to be co-op play, and we've heard rumours that the next Splinter Cell won't necessarily focus on Fisher, so it's plausible that Archer could end up being a protege of some sort. On the other hand, someone akin to Fisher would also make a brilliant nemesis.

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