These days, reality is a bummer. Everyone is looking for a way to escape, and that's why Halliday... That's why he was such a hero to us. He showed us that we could go somewhere without going anywhere at all.
Ready Player One
2.3s
-You can do anything... -(CROWD CHEERING)
Ready Player One
46.2s
WADE: The challenge is to find three keys, but in five years, no one has even gotten one key. And the big scoreboard? Still empty. Some long-forgotten gunter cracked the first clue and found the first challenge. Then, this portal appeared. But the challenge to win the first key was a race designed by Halliday that was so hard, no one had ever finished it. The only ones still trying are the gunters, as in "egg hunters," like me and Sho and Daito, and my best friend, Aech. Oh, and of course, the Sixers. The Sixers work for IOI... COMMANDER: Sixers! WADE: ...Innovative Online Industries. They're the second-largest company in the world with designs on becoming the first. Which is why they're putting everything they got into winning Halliday's contest. Buckle up!
Ready Player One
32.6s
Tall, beautiful, scary, a different sex, a different species, live-action, cartoon. It's all your call. Yeah, that's me. Well, that's my avatar. At least, until I feel like changing it. Except for eating, sleeping, and bathroom breaks, whatever people wanna do, they do it in the OASIS. And since everyone is here, this is where we meet each other. It's where we make friends. Locate Aech. -(BEEPING) -COMPUTER: Locating Aech.
Ready Player One
1.3s
AECYou got it, you got it!
Ready Player One
15.3s
My parents, they didn't make it through those times, so I live here in Columbus, Ohio, with my Aunt Alice. In 2045, Columbus is the fastest-growing city on Earth. It's where Halliday and Morrow started Gregarious Games.
Ready Player One
52s
The first person to find the egg I've hidden somewhere inside the OASIS will inherit my stock in Gregarious Games, currently valued in excess of half a million do... Uh, half a trillion dollars' worth, and total control of the OASIS itself. In the form of my avatar, Anorak the All-Knowing, I created three keys. Three hidden challenges test for worthy traits revealing three hidden keys to three magic gates. And those with the skill to survive these straits will reach the end, where the prize awaits. Off you go, keys.
Ready Player One
2.3s
(PEOPLE CLAMORING)
Ready Player One
1.4s
(MRS. GILMORE CHUCKLES)
Ready Player One
22s
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
30.1s
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
1.2s
...go anywhere.
Ready Player One
11s
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
1.9s
ART3MIS: Ow! (GRUNTS)
Ready Player One
59.6s
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.