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Kotaku: The Fallout 4 reddit rumor is BS, says person is lying about giving them info

N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
There's a ton more at the link. Please stop repeatedly posting this rumor.

There are other compelling reasons I believe this is a fake, too. Over the past 24 hours, fans have pointed out that SandraReed got some details correct—like the Boston setting and the voiced player-character—but what some haven’t seemed to realize is that those details originated from Kotaku months earlier. Almost all of the correct information from SandraReed’s post came from our leaked casting documents, including the Boston setting.
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In the Reddit post, SandraReed also says that her username is her real name—”Ask one of the Bethesda Employees about Me (my username is my name) and they will confirm I worked for Bethesda”—but there’s no sign of anyone with that name having ever worked for the company.
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PS. I leaked some of the first Fallout 4 info by accident, and it ended up in the hands of Kotaku. Oops.

We can definitively say this part isn’t true. The only Fallout 4 leak we posted revolved around a set of casting documents we received in 2013, two of which we posted on Kotaku. Those documents did not come from anyone at Bethesda Game Studios. Nobody named Sandra Reed has leaked anything to us or to anyone else who shared any information with us.
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Source: http://kotaku.com/latest-popular-fallout-4-rumor-sure-seems-like-bs-1709009561
 
N

NotLiquid

Member
The rumor always struck me as compiling some of the most popular murmurs about the game and making a lucky guess.
 
S

SocksAndShoes

Banned
I don't want to rush to judgement here. I'll wait for all the facts.

70% of the time, unsourced video game rumors on Reddit are correct.

/s
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
well let's see:

100% of the information is either from the 2013 kotaku leaked documents or reasonable extrapolations thereof

there's no sandra reed from bethesda on linkedin that i can find

the frame story of the "leak" is one of those too good to be true viral things

gee whiz i wonder if it's real
 
Krappadizzle

Krappadizzle

Member
Stumpokapow said:
well let's see:

100% of the information is either from the 2013 kotaku leaked documents or reasonable extrapolations thereof

there's no sandra reed from bethesda on linkedin that i can find

the frame story of the "leak" is one of those too good to be true viral things

gee whiz i wonder if it's real
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Believe.
 
D

Doctoglethorpe

Member
It was obviously fake. Building the game in two separate engines, and releasing the old-gen version a year later then the new-gen one? No female PC? Come on, thats ridiculous.
 
B

ByteSizeRick

Neo Member
We can definitively say this part isn’t true.
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Sorry, but as much as I agree that the post is likely rumor, there is simply no way that Kotaku can say anything definitive about the poster's statement here.

The poster says: "PS. I leaked some of the first Fallout 4 info by accident, and it ended up in the hands of Kotaku. Oops."

The phrases "ended up in the hands of" and "by accident" strongly imply (if not outright state) that the poster did not send the casting information directly to Kotaku, but instead that it ended up there through the actions of another. It's easy enough to imagine a scenario where the poster was in charge of casting materials, accidently left them on a copier, etc., and then a third party forwarded them to Kotaku. Such an accident might have even resulted in the poster's firing.

Kotaku would have no reason to know of the origin, so the fact that they didn't get an e-mail from a Sandy Reed is really of no consequence, and Kotaku should be much more careful about when it uses the word "definitive".
 
B

BreezyLimbo

Banned
I always doubted the sandra reed stuff. For one putting your name out there and saying 'Yeah I worked for Bethesda!' is well...stupid, because alotta time these workers have to sign NDAs for the stuff they're working on. So that would open her up to legal action.

That and the fact that she starts off with appeal to emotion, IE her poor two kids story.
 
P

Patryn

Member
ByteSizeRick said:


Sorry, but as much as I agree that the post is likely rumor, there is simply no way that Kotaku can say anything definitive about the poster's statement here.

The poster says: "PS. I leaked some of the first Fallout 4 info by accident, and it ended up in the hands of Kotaku. Oops."

The phrases "ended up in the hands of" and "by accident" strongly imply (if not outright state) that the poster did not send the casting information directly to Kotaku, but instead that it ended up there through the actions of another. It's easy enough to imagine a scenario where the poster was in charge of casting materials, accidently left them on a copier, etc., and then a third party forwarded them to Kotaku. Such an accident might have even resulted in the poster's firing.

Kotaku would have no reason to know of the origin, so the fact that they didn't get an e-mail from a Sandy Reed is really of no consequence, and Kotaku should be much more careful about when it uses the word "definitive".
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Or they do know the origin, know that it definitely did not come from a BGS employee and they are protecting sources?

Odds are that it was someone from the casting agency who directly passed it to them, and they know the unbroken custody chain.
 
C

Commanche Raisin Toast

Member
Patryn said:
Or they do know the origin, know that it definitely did not come from a BGS employee and they are protecting sources?

Odds are that it was someone from the casting agency who directly passed it to them, and they know the unbroken custody chain.
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What if the source was lying and didn't mention where he/she got the info from and claimed to be the original source?
 
W

wrowa

Member
When you are unemployed in the games industry, the first thing you do is leaking secret stuff about the game your former employer worked on. Under your real name. Obviously. After all, getting blacklisted by potential new employers is totally worth it. And NDAs? Those just vanish when you are getting fired, right? RIGHT? No? Oh.
 
-Plasma Reus-

-Plasma Reus-

Service guarantees member status
So...what exactly is the rumour? People here saying they're sick of it, yet some of us have no idea what this rumour is. lol
 
B

ByteSizeRick

Neo Member
As I said, I really do think the entire post is false, but the poster wrote their "leaked by accident" statement in such a way that it was unlikely that anyone, even Kotaku, could say anything definitely about it one way or the other.

Let's say that someone from the casting agency did leak the document directly to Kotaku and that Kotaku believes it knows the direct "chain of custody" (as put earlier in the thread). Again, it's easy enough to imagine that our poster was in charge of making sure all outside contractors had signed NDA's with BSG, and she failed in her task. The casting agents noticed this and leaked the information to Kotaku without fear of reprisal, and the leak was then investigated by BSG which discovered the poster's error. That could easily be construed as "accidental" leaking which wound up with Kotaku.

The important part of the poster's statement is that the leaked materials "ended up in the hands of" Kotaku. The poster is never claiming any direct contact with Kotaku, so absent additional information to the contrary it is difficult to see how Kotaku can claim anything definitively.
 
V

VectMachine

Member
Had a feeling too much of this was utter crock, especially the male-only protagonist. Considering that Bethesda games are big on character customisation, restricting the character's gender seems like a really poor move. Skyrim also used a generic male Nord in the initial trailer, as does Mass Effect with the generic Male Shepard. It's just a stand-in for the ads, nothing more.
 
T

Tigress

Member
VectMachine said:
Had a feeling too much of this was utter crock, especially the male-only protagonist. Considering that Bethesda games are big on character customisation, restricting the character's gender seems like a really poor move. Skyrim also used a generic male Nord in the initial trailer, as does Mass Effect with the generic Male Shepard. It's just a stand-in for the ads, nothing more.
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Yeah, and judging by the reactions to the idea of an all male character, I'm not the only one that would be extremely upset and most people are not happy with the idea.

Shoot, you don't even get the normal "Let them make the story they want to make" defense for them forcing a male character on the player. I think I've seen a Forbes writer post positively about it but at least judging from Reddit and here (and to a small extent G+ though most of them seem clueless to that rumor in the first place), pretty much almost all Fallout fans don't really like that direction. At best they're willing to wait and see and give the benefit of the doubt the story will be worth it.

I would think Bethesda would know this about their fans. Hell, people joke all the time about spending hours making a character just to not see them again (and it seems more like jokes vs complaining. The games are known for it and the fans seem to like it but like to make fun of themselves that they spend so much time to not see their character <- I'm very guilty of this).
 
M

Minions

Member
Seemed like compiled information that had previously been posted... other than the time line/road map part. We have no idea how accurate that time line is (if at all), however

"June 2015 - Fallout 4 reveal at E3, trailer only
July 2015 - First gameplay trailers
August 2015 - More information"

seems like it is already incorrect. The reveal was pre-e3. If/when game play is shown (possibly at e3?) then the time line is pretty much bunk.
 
I

Industrialist

Member
Wouldn't even have given it the time of day, if I was Kotaku.

Same posting style as the guy going around on Reddit claiming that he has insider information about Red Dead Redemption 2.
 
D

dyergram

Member
Fallout rumours are almost as popular with liars as fake nintendo e3 schedules which have weirdly not shown up yet this year.
 
C

Commanche Raisin Toast

Member
Patryn said:
As much as people deride Kotaku, Jason is a great reporter. People have tried to send them fake documents before.

They will vett the information. I have no doubt they vetted the source, and determined where they got it from.

They won't just run stories based on documents they got from "some guy."
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Right but I guess I'm just curious about the vetting process itself. What all is involved and how can they be sure someone isn't taking credit for someone else's work?

Not that I care about who takes credit for game info leaks, but obviously this warranted a posting by Kotaku.
 
B

BreezyLimbo

Banned
Minions said:
Seemed like compiled information that had previously been posted... other than the time line/road map part. We have no idea how accurate that time line is (if at all), however

"June 2015 - Fallout 4 reveal at E3, trailer only
July 2015 - First gameplay trailers
August 2015 - More information"

seems like it is already incorrect. The reveal was pre-e3. If/when game play is shown (possibly at e3?) then the time line is pretty much bunk.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I mean it's a safe guess from a year past that they would have shown Fallout in 2015. There were no 'rumors' 11 months ago(Which would be after E3 from last year), so it'd be a safe bet to say 'Hey they will show Fallout 4 at E3 next year.' And the trickle of information is pretty much a given at that point.

We'll likely get a gameplay trailer at E3 this year(During beth's conference), which again debunks the timeline.
 
L

Lothars

Member
Patryn said:
As much as people deride Kotaku, Jason is a great reporter. People have tried to send them fake documents before.

They will vett the information. I have no doubt they vetted the source, and determined where they got it from.

They won't just run stories based on documents they got from "some guy."
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I don't have any faith in Kotaku, if anything I would be shocked if they didn't vett the source because that's will kill any credibility they would garner.

So we will see if it's true.
 
dukeoflegs

dukeoflegs

Member
BreezyLimbo said:
I always doubted the sandra reed stuff. For one putting your name out there and saying 'Yeah I worked for Bethesda!' is well...stupid, because alotta time these workers have to sign NDAs for the stuff they're working on. So that would open her up to legal action.

That and the fact that she starts off with appeal to emotion, IE her poor two kids story.
Click to expand...

I doubt the company will seek legal action if this is true. I've known several people that have inadvertently released information about games they've worked on (portfolios, linkedin, resumes, etc) and no legal action was taken. Legal action would happen if they released information of some kind that damaged the product or affected sales (released code or character models).

In the Reddit post, SandraReed also says that her username is her real name—”Ask one of the Bethesda Employees about Me (my username is my name) and they will confirm I worked for Bethesda”—but there’s no sign of anyone with that name having ever worked for the company.
Click to expand...
She could have worked at Bethesda but was a contractor through another company. I've worked at WB Games but my resume and linkedin both reflect that I worked for a contractor for WB. You wouldn't see me listed under any WB stuff on linkedin.
 
B

balladofwindfishes

Member
I doubted it when it said no female playable character. That just didn't seem to be Bethesda's style, they pretty much always allow a female playable character, and they've managed to work both genders into the story plenty of times before.

Like female couriers being able to seduce Benny. The player's gender hasn't ever been an issue before
 
N

neogaffer1

Banned
I read through the original rumor and it's insanely obviously not true. The biggest red flag was the timeline: teaser trailer at E3, gameplay in July (what?) "more info" in August (?), Game launch in October (!) DLC in November and December (wow they must be really quick if they can finish and release two separate DLC within two/three months of game launch), more DLC in January, March and April (that's a lot of DLC).
 
W

whipihguh

Banned
Patryn said:
Sarcasm?
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Someone would post that link yesterday and Solid Samus would largely debunk it, and someone the very next page would ask "Hey, has anyone posted this yet? It seems pretty legit!" and post the link that was debunked a page ago.

This happened at least three times yesterday from what I remember.
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Time to move on from the Reddit rumor, as a much more credible source is now saying it's a cross-gen game.
 
Tal Shiar Agent

Tal Shiar Agent

Member
whipihguh said:
Someone would post that link yesterday and Solid Samus would largely debunk it, and someone the very next page would ask "Hey, has anyone posted this yet? It seems pretty legit!" and post the link that was debunked a page ago.

This happened at least three times yesterday from what I remember.
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It's still happening.
 
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