Google's 'Unexplained Phenomenon' Mystery Deepens

Intended or not, Google has managed to get people talking about its latest doodle of a flying saucer 'abducting' one of the 'o's in its name. Google provided some hints and, over the weekend, some believed the mystery was solved, as the doodle was thought to celebrate the 20th birthday of the Japanese video game Zero Wing. Others aren't convinced, though, and there are several other theories including support for a non-profit campaign called the “O Campaign.”

Google sported the doodle on September 5th with the image itself linking to a search for “unexplained phenomenon.” Several other clues with the same theme were also spotted. The logo's full URL was google.com/logos/go_gle.gif, notice the missing 'o,' and the URL for the search contained the ct=go_gle parameter. When asked for comment, the company supplied a less than helpful statement.

“We consider the second 'o' critical to user recognition of our brand and pronunciation of our name. We are actively looking into the mysterious tweet that has appeared on the Google twitter stream and the disappearance of the 'o' on the Google home page. We hope to have an update in the coming weeks,″ Google said.

A later message on the company's Twitter account saying, “1.12.12 25.15.21.18 15 1.18.5 2.5.12.15.14.7 20.15 21.19,″ provided some clues once properly 'decoded.' The message read, “All your O are belong to us” a throwback to the early 2000's meme that went, “All your base are belong to us.” The phrase comes from a very poor translation of the 1989 Zero Wing Japanese video game and some digging showed that September 5 was the anniversary of the launch of the game, leading some to claim the mystery solved.

But, while the launch date was no coincidence, there may be more to it than just this. A post on Google's South Korean blog revealed that this was the first of three similarly themed doodles coming in the next few weeks, along with several other clues leading some to believe that the series might be in relation to the famous science-fiction author Herbert George Wells' birthday on September 21.

Finally, TechCrunch has yet another theory, linking the doodle to a non-profit campaign, the O Campaign, which is set up to forge “alliances between the public, academia, corporations, and institutions in effort to efficiently channel resources for high-paced development of cutting-edge research in cancer prevention.” Further supporting this idea is the the fact that the Co-director of the campaign, Joseph James Jung, has known ties with Google. Whatever the truth, it should be revealed in the coming weeks.