Epic and Microsoft are running a scavenger hunt viral marketing campaign for the upcoming Gears of War 2 release on November 7th and members of 2old2play.com are actively participating.

The campaign consists of the LastDay website (gearsofwar.com/lastday). A basic amount of the website was unlocked revealing videos, wallpaper, story and icons. In order to unlock content on the website, CSID codes need to be entered first and the CSID codes are printed on the back of a three inch COG tag disc which have been hidden across the world and also left to be found at various events like “E for All”. There have also been various COG Tags sent out to industry related websites like IGN and Ars Technica, although those are delivered in fancy boxes to specific people and not hidden.

The hunt started with media websites getting the COG tag and typing in their CSID codes and then random ones were found at events. Now however, the website is revealing hidden GPS coordinates that point to an area were a hidden COG tag can be found. GPS coordinates are also appearing on Epic Community Manager, SixOkay’s Twitter page which ignites a flurry of posting in the LastDay forums as people band together to get someone to go look and others act as eye in the sky support using Google Earth.

Yesterday in the early afternoon on SixOkay’s twitter the following appeared "37.838248, -122.262351 They Marched Into Sunlight..."

Typing those coordinates into Google maps revealed a spot in Berkeley which is familiar territory for me as well as many UC Berkeley students. I was in San Francisco so I knew I’d have to move fast if I wanted the COG. No doubt Timmy’s from UC Berkeley were also alerted to it’s location and they were a lot closer but may be tied up in class.

A 20 min train ride and an 11 block walk up Telegraph Avenue, I found myself outside of a library.

I hit the usual hiding spots, this wasn’t my first attempt to find a COG, this was in fact my third attempt. I checked the windows, the sewer grates, around the plants, under a couple benches, utility areas, fencing and alleys. There was even a cool staircase in the back that would have been similar to a scene in Gears 1 where a COG was hidden inside the mansion, but no COG tag to be found. So I called Waterborn up to get a second mind on the hunt since he was home needing something to do.

He plugged the GPS numbers into Google Earth and got me to the exact location and I started looking but it was pretty much just double checking where I’d looked previous. Then Waterborn noticed the Library had a skylight and maybe that’s where the clue “They Marched into Sunlight” came in. So I hung up and went inside but there was no skylight in the common areas. Next I thought maybe it’s on a book end, so I began searching the book racks and then it dawned on me, maybe “They Marched into Sunlight” was a book title. It was about that time Waterborn called me back and was like dude, it’s probably a book, go ask the Librarian.

I found the Librarian and asked if they had a book with the clue as the title. She taps away on the computer for a few minutes and said yes. I was like wait, what, SERIOUSLY? She wrote the number down and pointed in the general direction. I hurried over there quickly scanning for the 900 section , then the 950’s and there I see it… They Marched into Sunlight by David Maraniss. I took a deep breath and had a flash back of the Library of Congress scene from National Treasure 2 and pulled the book out. There it was… back against the back wall of the book case waiting to be found! I wanted to yell and jump up and down but it was a Library so I snapped a quick picture and got out of there, I called Waterborn up to celebrate on the phone with him.

I gave Waterborn the CSID number to post and let everyone know I’d found it so other people weren’t wasting their time. I had an instance where someone found it and didn’t post they had which left me searching for 2 hours for no reason at all and I wasn’t happy about it. So I didn’t want to be ‘that guy’ to someone else. Apparently three other people were in route to the Library, one of them posting just three minutes after I’d left the Library that he had just arrived and got a text from a friend that it was found.

The COG tag is 3 inches in diameter made out of stainless steel I think with a little dog tag attached by a chain that says if found please enter the CSID number into gearsofwar.com/lastday. So after 10 hours and about $30 invested in past attempts, I was finally able to get my hands on one ! I’ve got my BLING for the 09 Chicago LAN !