There has been much speculation lately surrounding the development of Fallout 4 and according to leaked documents from Bethesda the game is indeed in development and will be set in the city of Boston and the technologically advanced Commonwealth – the Fallout universe's version of MIT.
The first whispers that something was afoot began several weeks ago when a website entitled TheSurvivor2299.com went live and has now seemingly been taken down because alas, it was revealed as a haox by its creator.
While there always those who doubted the legitimacy of the site, the prospect of a new Fallout proved too tempting and so many played along when a timer seemed to suggest a countdown to something significant – Fallout 4's reveal perhaps.
It helped too, that The Survivor came with cryptic clues which took some dedication to solve. The first puzzle was the series of beats in the background which were found to be Morse code. For a touch of seeming legitimacy, the site also bore a Vault Tec. logo.
Anticipation was building as ever more members of the Fallout community dared to hope but days before the countdown timer hit zero Bethesda's Pete Hines dashed expectations with a simple tweet.
Despite the fact that Bethesda never promoted the site they never exactly denied it either and so fans clutching at slightly irradiated straws continued to pray to the Power of the Atom that news was coming at least, until it wasn't.
No, folks. I am not going to VGX. Bethesda is not showing/talking about anything at VGX. Just some PR meetings in LA. Take deep breaths.
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) December 5, 2013
And so it was that hopes were dashed. After the falsehoods of The Survivor, a prank which cost $900, some are reluctant to believe the leaked documents which have not been confirmed by Bethesda either.
In the video below from Yogscast Will, we're given a breakdown of why TheSurvivor2299.com was never real but the casting slips might very well be.