Giantology
From WikiUeda
Giantology (giantology.typepad.com, now defunct) was the blog that served as the central hub for the viral marketing campaign for Shadow of the Colossus. The blog appeared to be written by "Eric Belson", a man scouring both the Internet and the world for signs that "giants once walked the earth".
[edit] History of the blog
Interestingly, the blog was started all the way back on January 12, 2005 [1]. In his first few posts, Belson introduced himself as an average Joe: he worked at an electronics store (not so coincidentally, he happened to be an avid gamer), was 28 years old, and had a girlfriend named Lauren. He lived in Evanston, Illinois, a city on Lake Michigan just north of Chicago.
He declared himself "the world's first Giantologist", coining the term "Giantology" after finding in a Google search that no one was using the term. He revealed the blog would be used as a place to post his research he was collecting for a book, whose working (and apparently final) title was The Age of Giants.
For nine months, all that was posted on the blog was information on giants in myth, folklore, and religion (as well a a few tidbits on Lauren, despite his mission of keeping a purely "info collection" blog). However, on October 5, Belson posted a news item about a a man named Casper Shilling who had dug up the fossilzed remains of Phalanx - the first of the hoaxes.
Eventually, Belson turned up five subjects:
- Iran Skeleton (October 5) - The remains of Phalanx, found in the Jebal-Barez mountains in Iran.
- Tsunami Giant (October 6) - Valus, washed up on the beaches of Tamil Nadu.
- Underwater Statue (October 10) - The underwater remains of Hydrus, found by Ed Guyler.
- Siberian Ice Giant (October 21) - The frozen remains of Quadratus, found by Arkady Simkin
- Peru Statue (November 18) - A giant statue (of Gaius) found by the Sayre family while on a trip.
The site was taken down in either late April of 2006 or early in the following May.
[edit] External links
Web.archive.org's archive of the blog
| << Ico |  Main Article • Nico • Official Artbook • SCE | [Untitled Third Project] >> |
| Characters: | Wander (Kenji Nojima) • Agro • Mono (Hitomi Nabatame) • Dormin (Kazuhiro Nakata, Kyoko Hikami) • Lord Emon (Naoki Bando) • Shadow creatures | |
|---|---|---|
| Colossi: | Valus • Quadratus • Gaius • Phaedra • Avion • Barba • Hydrus • Kuromori • Basaran • Dirge • Celosia • Pelagia • Phalanx • Cenobia • Argus • Malus | |
| The Forbidden Lands: | Shrine of Worship (Secret Garden) • Save shrines • Fruit trees • White-tailed lizards (and other animals) • Time Attack • Hard Mode | |
| Production Staff: | Fumito Ueda • Kenji Kaido • Kow Otani (Roar of the Earth) • [Full Credits...] | |
| Viral marketing: | Giantology • Iran Skeleton • Tsunami Giant • Underwater Statue • Siberian Ice Giant • Peru Statue | |
