"Dev" reveals mechanics of how to generate next-gen hoax

[Bligmerk]

There are elements of this hoax that are still circulating, such as the X-Surface. He did it as a social experiment but practically every game site picked it up and several embellished it even more, including neogaf. There hasn't been a single thing confirmed, or denied, by MS or Sony. Not the code names, not any of the hardware, none of the features, nothing. Everything being "discussed" has no basis in reality nor is there any proof for a single thing. He gives good advice: "Don't believe a single thing until MS and/or Sony makes it official". What he did is not new. The same thing was being done before the PS3 and 360 launch, being described as "viral". Funny how virus is bad in computers but viral makes it all good. He has his original email that he sent out, a partial list of sites that picked it up as well as a Google search for even more sites that picked it up. His comments about "game journalism" especially hit the mark.

This is not journalism.

Many games ‘journalists’ have no right calling themselves such things. The vast majority do nothing but copy & paste from other sites, and will willingly publish information without fact checking a single thing or attempting to verify the source.

It’s all about being first. To get such news out (whether you believe it or not) before any other publication does, will guarantee you page impressions, and that all-important advertising revenue. Gaming ‘journalism’ is completely broken.

By tagging a post with ‘rumour’, most writers/editors believe they can get away with spreading false information for their own benefits. They are the only ones to gain from such practices, whilst the gaming fans end up with speculation and, sometimes, outright lies.

http://x-surface.tumblr.com/post/412...thing-you-read

[podsaurus]

That's pretty funny!

[MonkeyClaw]

That is a master level troll! lol! What would make this even better is if he ended up being 100% dead on the stuff he e-mailed!

[J3ff3]

as the piece said - it happened for the 360 and ps3.

but as far as i'm aware the rumours got very close for both. so to claim that these rumours never have any basis in reality isn't strictly true. you've just got to look at them, then compare them to other leaks out their that provide support. you can't just read a website and believe it. look at the source, look at the details provided, and look at other info available.

as i've said before, not all leaks are equal. this one was clearly always bollocks.

[Bligmerk]

This is only the first one he has admitted to in detail. I suspect he has done a couple more hoaxes before this last one and this is the "source" that Kraptaku got Orbis as a supposed code name for the PS4 and then took previous leaked Durango information and twisted it around for the PS4. These things happened in the middle of last year. This was picked up from the postings Charlie "Idiot" Demerjian made in early 2011 regarding the Oban. Why people keep listening and following this braindead shithead that has almost never been right is a mystery almost as big as why so many people still listen to Pachter.

"source" fission (or maybe fishin', as in troll)
|
/ \
/ \
rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor, rumor
becomes
imagined fact, believable fact, undeniable fact

The current direction of PS4 and 720 discussions is strangely like the deterministic discussions that were going on in 2011, awaiting the appearance of the messiah at CES 2012.

Right now, none of us really know anything, except a PS4 and 720 are on the eve of reveal.

Meanwhile, IBM just released their quarterly report with strong projections for 2013, and AMD reported a less than accepted loss with a projection of smaller losses for 2013. Come on, which one sounds like they are working on contracts for millions of chips? Here is a clue, it isn't AMD.

[mynd]

Right now, none of us really know anything, except a PS4 and 720 are on the eve of reveal.

Amen.