Easter Eggs on Websites?

Cited: New York Daily News

Easter eggs on websites are nothing but hidden code. The code comes from the Konami Code , which is a cheat code that appears in many Konami video games, although the code also appears in some non-Konami games according to Wikipedia. The code was first used in the 1986 release of Gradius for the Nintendo Entertainment System but was made famous in North America in the NES version of Contra, for which it was also dubbed the “30 Lives Code”. While pausing the game or during the title screen, the player could press the following sequence of buttons on the game controller: Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start.

This counterculture has been added to Facebook and when you enter the code, you get a lens flare effect, which is thoroughly useless. Even Google.com has added the code that reveals a cartoon ninja on Google Reader and opens up “Blox”, a Tetris clone, on AIM Express.

If you do not recognize that otherwise nonsensical string of commands, you probably were not a child of the 80s and you certainly were not a gaming geek. Known as the Konami Code, this series of Nintendo controller key presses was the ultimate cheat code for a series of games throughout the ’80s and beyond and it has found its way into the Internet Age. Its newest partner is Facebook.

The Konami Code, also known as the Contra Code for its use with the notoriously difficult 1988 Nintendo game Contra (employing it gave players ten times the usual number of lives), is now being used by popular sites to launch “Easter eggs” with special functions or features only accessible to the initiated.

In fact, you cannot even enter konamicodesites.com - a Web page that lists sites that employ the Konami Code without first typing said code out on your keyboard. Pretty geeky, huh?

As was revealed in numerous reports last month, if you type the code into Facebook (substituting the “enter” key for “start”), you are now greeted with a lens-flare effect that changes as you surf the site. Yes, it is totally useless and simply an inside joke among Web developers, but it is pretty fun being in on the secret.

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Ever dedicated to serving our readers, we have played around with a few of the other sites that employ the Konami Code and here is what we have been able to discover:

• Google Reader: Entering the code changes the background design to include a cartoon ninja, who not-so-stealthily lurks behind your RSS feeds.
• AIM Express: An icon appears in the top left of AOL’s Instant Messenger window, clicking it allows you to play a Tetris clone called “Blox.”
• Jquery.com: The home site of the popular JavaScript library (don’t worry if you don’t understand what that means) launches a Guitar Hero-style game using a YouTube video of Nirvana’s classic rock anthem “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
• Brightkite.com: The Twitter-like location-based social networking site turns every user’s avatar into a photo of Patrick Stewart as “Star Trek: The Next Generation” captain Jean-Luc Picard.
• Gamespot.com: The popular gaming site redirects you to - where else? - their “Contra Hints & Cheats” page.
• Digg.com: All comments are expanded on any given article page on the trendy user-generated news site.
• ESPN.com: Last month, the Konami Code was added to ESPN.com as an April Fools’ joke and decorated the usually testosterone-infused Web site with colorful, glittery unicorns and rainbows (ala Cornify.com). After it was discovered, it became a minor Internet sensation, but was later removed.

Not wanting to spoil any more surprises, you will have to find the many sites out there using the code on your own. You might even try using it on your cell phone! The code is been found to be used as a developer’s code on the Palm Pre-smart phone. If you have any Konami games on your cell phone, try substituting 573 for the B A code and see what happens.

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My Take: What are they going to think of next? These people must not have anything better to do with their time than think up silly stuff to do on the Internet. Of course, it is fun to play around on the Internet and everybody does it.

This hidden code does scare me just a little bit. What is going to stop a hacker who decides to alter the parameters of that code? What kind of damage could that hacker do to anybody who uses it? Is there a defense against a virus like that? Virus protection companies are going to be busy solving that question for a while.

With so many viruses, Trojan horses and worms out there destroying people’s computers, why do we need to give hackers another way to wreck havoc? Because the code is used not only on the Internet but on cell phones as well, can you imagine the problems that would be caused by a hacker using that code for a destructive purpose? I do not believe that I’m going to try this code anytime soon.

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