Hello. I am James Halliday. If you're watching this, I'm dead. Before I died, I created what we in the biz call an "Easter egg." A hidden object in a game that gives special powers to whoever discovers it.
Ready Player One
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Those were key. Halliday made sure the OASIS was littered with enough randomly powerful stuff that anyone could win if they had the skills. Death matches and artifact hunts are a good way to coin-snatch, but depending on your level of armor, they're risky. (LAUGHS) You see, everyone starts the same, but the more coin you make... -Mom! Mom! -...the more you level up. If you get killed, your avatar can come back to life... Go get your dad! ...but you lose all your stuff.
Ready Player One
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...go anywhere.
Ready Player One
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WADE: I was born in 2027. After the Corn Syrup Droughts, after the Bandwidth Riots. After people stopped trying to fix problems and just tried to outlive them.
Ready Player One
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ART3MIS: Ow! (GRUNTS)
Ready Player One
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The day the contest was announced, the Halliday Journals appeared. He told us to look in his brain. This was the next best thing. At first, it was jammed with gunters looking for answers. Now, the once-crowded halls of Halliday's memories are left to people like me. Parzival. Oh, joy! And how will you eat up my valuable search time today? Gregarious Games, 2029... Office party. Office party. Yes, you've only seen it a thousand times. Why not go back? Each entry into Halliday's Journals is meticulously assembled from personal photographs, home video recordings, surveillance, and nanny cams. All rendered into a three-dimensional virtual experience. Also, Halliday archived every film, game, book, and television program he ever saw, located on the mezzanine. No weapons or mature-themed avatars are permitted within the Journals. Please enjoy your time with us, and happy gunting! HALLIDAY: I like cleaning up. MORROW: Okay, Jim, I'm, uh... I'm going.
Ready Player One
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James Halliday saw the future. And then he built it. He gave us a place to go. A place called the OASIS.
Ready Player One
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Maybe it's 'cause Art3mis said it, and she's hot. Maybe it's because she called me out, sitting here in my tiny corner of nowhere, protecting my small slice of nothing. Or maybe... Maybe it's because that line means something and I missed it. (POP MUSIC PLAYING)
Ready Player One
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(TIRES SCREECHES)
Ready Player One
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(GRUNTS)
Ready Player One
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"Halliday hated making rules." Why is that line sticking in my head?
Ready Player One
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It was you, Mr. Morrow.
Ready Player One
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(YELPS)
Ready Player One
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(TIRES SCREECHES) Yeah, I see it. That's Kaneda's bike from Akira. It's a licensed skin over a standard frame. WADE: No, not the bike. Forget the bike. The girl, I think it's Art3mis. The Art3mis? The Sixer Fixer? I've seen all her walk-throughs, her Twitch streams. It's her. It's definitely her.
Ready Player One
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(HORN BLARES)
Ready Player One
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Aech, are you seeing this?
Ready Player One
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(ROARS)
Ready Player One
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(SOBBING) You idiot. No, but I only lost 'cause of the bad gloves. Our house! Our goddamn house! WADE: My boys were in that challenge. You couldn't have beat them in a bootsuit, you noob. Stop! No! No! Alice, call the police! No, we are not calling the cops. Go to your room, Rick. Aw, come on, Alice. Why do you put up with this guy? He's a shitshow. I ought to kick the both of you out. I swear to G-O-D, Wade Watts, if I catch you touching my stuff again, not joking... Out.