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Black Ops 3 Snapchat Viral Teasers 8-15 (Including Analysis and Speculation)

Although Black Ops 3 has officially been announced, that hasn’t stopped Activision and Treyarch from sneakily teasing the game in the form of a viral marketing campaign.

To recap, the official Call of Duty account on Snapchat has been uploading some short video clips every now and then. Generally, there’s been a recurrent theme throughout where a Doctor called Dr. Salim is ‘treating’ a patient in some way. The mind and brain are also themes that are mentioned a number of times. We’ve gone into much more detail on some of the speculation regarding the teasers in this article.

Since our last viral-related update, there’s been a bunch of new teasers released. Eagle-eyed members of the community have managed to capture most of the teasers, and we’ve provided them for you below along with some summaries and speculation.

Viral Teaser #8

Ah Dr. Salim, it’s good to have you back. We still don’t know whether he’ll play a role in the game or if he’s more of a backstory influence, but he’s played a starring role in each of these clips. This teaser was released just a short while before the game was announced last week. Visually-wise, we’re not treated with anything special other than the flames which make the backdrop of the game’s logo effect. Here’s what Salim says: “Our greatest barrier is our own fear… Our own doubts.” This is also the same audio that appears in the game’s teaser trailer. In that trailer, important bits of dialogue is used from previous titles, so we imagine it’s an important quote.

As mentioned in this article, I feel that there’s enough evidence to indicate that soldiers in Black Ops 3 will be robotic in some way. Whether completely or partially, and whether alive or AI, remains to be seen. From this quote, I further speculate that Salim is talking about the human mind and its ability to hold us back. In pretty much any person, there’s a barrier that we wouldn’t cross. In terms of war-related scenarios, there’s a lot of people who wouldn’t want to be put into the feet of a soldier, but even the toughest soul would have a barrier they wouldn’t want to cross. But what if you could modify a person’s mind? What if you could remove these doubts and make them ‘superhuman’ in a sense? I certainly get a vibe that this is an option that Salim is exploring. A robot doesn’t have any feels. A robot can act on its master’s demands.

Viral Teaser #9

This one is very similar to the previous one and both were clearly designed to be released either side of the game’s announcement and teaser trailer. Here we can see the same Black Ops 3 logo unveiled like it was in the teaser trailer. There can be no doubt that the Snapchats are directly related to Black Ops 3 now (not that there were any). Here’s his quote: “The only thing holding us back… Is how far we are willing to go.” Again, this is the rest of the Black Ops 3 quote taken directly from the teaser trailer. Again, we’re getting a very mind-specific sense. Again, we speculate that Salim is hinting at using robotic technology (or any type of transformation) to help remove the shackles from ordinary human behaviour. If we had no barriers (feelings? doubts?), where would the future take us (wealth? powerful armies?)?

Viral Teaser #10

With the first few teasers, I got a feeling that Dr. Salim was talking directly to a patient and that we were looking into the mind of the patient. The last two went off course somewhat and were used to directly relate to the game’s announcement, however, after a short hiatus, the Snapchats returned this week and we start off from where we left off; looking directly into the patient’s eye. The patient’s head moves around the camera in a bit of a strange way (maybe just for dramatic effect) before the camera zooms in as he closes his eye. The next few shots mainly refer to the patient’s brain. As we’ve seen previously, we get a few more glimpse of a CT scan. Is there some wrong with the patient’s mental state? Is the scan used to monitor the patient’s transformation into a ‘robot’? Of course, the two could go hand in hand. If we continue to speculate that the game centers on humans turning into robots, then it may be likely that a human is chosen to turn into a robotic soldier because they’ve either passed or have serious health issues. We also get a glimpse of what appears to be the patient looking at doctors/nurses, surgery lights, and a hospital bag storing blood (?). From this, we can certainly deduce that the patient is having surgery of some sort. Given the hints and speculation so far, it may be possible that this is the surgery that will transform him into a ‘robot’. Either way, the purpose behind this patient’s medical treatment seems to play a key role.

As for the audio, here’s what Dr. Salim says this time: “I am deeply optimistic about this project’s potential. Of course, the human consciousness is fundamentally unpredictable.” One of the key things worth noting here is the use of project. If this was a standard medical procedure, it would likely just be seen as a normal thing to do, not a ‘project’. This suggests that whatever the treatment is (a robotic transformation seems the likely option right now), it’s being done for the first time and isn’t fully operational (although Salim is optimistic about its success). As for potential, what is the potential? We don’t know for certain what the doctor is trying to do or why. Continuing on our robot line of thinking, we have one of those questions possibly answered. But turning humans into robots wouldn’t just help create better soldiers. Robot technology could be used for a wide variety of possibilities. Not to mention that the specific features of a robotic creation could be endless; wall running, healing, boost jump, invisibility etc. The last line is another clear relation to the mind. When you search for definitions of consciousness, a few keywords that pop up include awareness, feelings, thoughts, senses and concern. Generally speaking, robots wouldn’t be able to exhibit a lot of these functions. How does this sentence relate to the robotic theory? Is Salim perhaps looking at ways to change a person’s mind through surgery rather than transforming them into a robot? Or is he just referring to the difficulties of understanding the human mind and using this research as a way to create a human-like robot? It’s also interesting to note that in the first few teasers, Dr. Salim appears to be talking to his patient whereas that no longer appears to be the case. Is he talking to himself? Creating a diary? Or perhaps providing a progress update to the person/organization that has provided him with this project?

Viral Teaser #11

While this clip was released before the previous one, we’ve decided to include it afterwards for the purpose of our analysis. The two clips are quite similar. In this one, we again get a few glimpses of the patient’s eye, his eye, and doctors/nurses performing surgery of some sort. Here’s what Dr. Salim says this time: “The human mind holds many mysteries.” We imagine Salim has done extensive research on how the mind works and is the ideal expert doctor for this project. Question is: How is he using his knowledge of the mind to perform medical treatment which enhances someone (either from a damaged state back to a normal one, or from normal to improved)?

Viral Teaser #12

It’s quite difficult to make out exactly what this clip is showing, particularly towards the end, but one frame appears to show a patient in a hospital bed. It looks as if the patient is wearing a facial cast of some sort. I would speculate that this is a patient who has had the surgery seen in the previous two clips and is now recovering. The cast appears to cover the patient’s whole face with a few large holes over a particular part of the face. If the whole face has been covered, that might suggest that the brain certainly isn’t the only thing that has been operated on. Could it be that this cast is the framework for what will become a robotic face/head?

Here’s Dr. Salim’s quote this time: “Trials are now underway with a new set of subjects.” The project is still clearly in the experimental stages. What was the need for new subjects? Did they not receive the right results in the previous tests, or was this planned? Most likely, they started off small at first and then gradually increased the scale of the project. As with most trials, they would have also wanted a variety of subjects to get a wide range of test results. What happened to the old subjects? Are the trials focussed on specific parts of the body before focussing on a complete transformation?

Viral Teaser #13

This clip begins with a short look at a peaceful location comprising of trees, rocks and a lake, a type of visual that hasn’t been shown in the past few teasers but appeared heavily in the first lot. We see more brain scans followed by what appears to be something on a table/floor with a person walking by next to it. The last shot appears to show another patient lying in a hospital bed. A cloth/curtain of some sort appears to be moving towards him.

It’s a bit more difficult identifying what Dr. Salim is saying here, but here’s what we have: “Similar physiology, … environmental …” From a quick research, the community have come up with different interpretations of what fills the gaps. For the first one, ‘integrated’ and ‘different’ are popular options, while for the last, ‘conditions’ is a popular interpretation. Either way, the use of physiology gives us something to go on. Physiology is defined as the study of living organisms. This certainly seems to relate when speculating on robotic creations. A robot is a human creation and for it to function properly, the creator would need to look at ways in which the robot can function like a human, including the different body parts and their functionality (e.g. using arms/hands to pick up and hold items). In what way is the physiology ‘similar’ and what are the two things being compared? Human vs. human? Human vs. robot?

Viral Teaser #14

This teaser primarily shows a nurse supporting numerous patients within a hospital. The nurse appears to be taking samples from the patients, which will then presumably be used as results to aid the project. The patient’s appear live and well, but have they already undergo any treatment or surgery? Or is this the earlier stage where they are monitored first?

As for the audio, here’s what’s said: “Following minor seizures, subject D2 reported a brief period of impaired hearing. Similarly, D5 complained of a decreased sense of taste.” From this, we can tell that Dr. Salim is highlighting the test results for two patient’s who have been given the names ‘D2’ and ‘D4’. If the patients have undergone some treatment already, then these results suggest that some patients have experienced side effects such as seizures, hearing problems and a lack of taste. The last two side effects, in particular, indicate that some sort of treatment has affected their senses (taste and hearing). Given that the brain is an important part of these teasers, and that surgery is altering a patient’s brain, it’s no surprise that senses are affected in some way. However, the question we need to keep asking ourselves is whether this project involves turning humans into robots, or if it simply resolves around enhancing body organs. Of course, the use of ‘robots’ makes this speculation sound much more far-fetched. It’s possible for technology to enhance a human-being without turning them into Robocop. For instance, the game could resolve around surgery and implants (of which Treyarch has talked about recently on their Facebook page) being used to enhance a person. These surgical enhancements and implants would still perhaps add some sort of robotic functionality without meeting the criteria of your stereotypical robot. As spotted by LiamFTWinter, a message is hidden in the audio which spells out: “Let your mind relax.

Viral Teaser #15

Last of all, this new clip was released earlier today. This teaser appears to show a metal grated ceiling/floor. We’re not completely sure of what to make of this clip, but we get a feeling that the room is quite isolated. Is this perhaps where we head into the more dark, forced and torture-style of the story? It’s still not clear whether patients are being treated willingly or if they’ve been forced, but I kind of getting a sense of seeing this clip through the eyes of a patient who is either locked up or being interrogated/tortured. Interrogation, torture, and mind control are all key areas that the Black Ops series has previously touched upon.

Here’s Dr. Salim’s quote for this teaser: “Several Subjects have experienced fleeting bouts of Paranoia.” With this quote, it appears that Salim is following on from his previous act of describing the troublesome effects that patient’s have suffered. Given the nature of providing experimental treatment to a carefully selected and monitored subject base, it’s no surprise the doctor is keen to examine how patients are responding. That is the point of a trial, after all. But we still don’t know the doctor’s intentions. For all we know, these side effects are exactly what he wants. However, I would say it seems likely that the response he is after is evidence that a human mind and senses can be directly altered. How he intends to use that in the prototype or production stages of this project is a matter for another time. In terms of this example’s side effect, following the senses, paranoia is another human behaviour defined by the mind. Like the senses, altering someone’s mind would likely also result in a change in their thought process. If we go back to a few of Dr. Salim’s older quotes, he has often mentioned how a normal human mind can hold a person back (e.g. having doubts). If he can successfully affect someone’s anxiety or fear, then he may be able to create soldiers who don’t let mind barriers get in their way. However, is it possible that the increase in paranoia is not caused as a result of the medical treatment, but how the patient’s are being treated by the people around them? Are they there unwillingly and locked up?

Stay tuned for future clips and remember that everything said in here is just speculation and not necessarily true or false! It’s fun to speculate ahead of the game’s reveal in 10 days and we’d love to hear your thoughts.

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