Updated: Fallout: New Vegas viral marketing campaign? NOPE

Post by **King of Creation** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 8:55 am

[ Game -> Update ] - More info on <a href="http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout: New Vegas">Game: Fallout: New Vegas</a>

NOT FOR FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS AS ORIGINALLY SPECULATED: Check out the latest updates towards the bottom of the post.
 
Sorry for the lack of updates the past few days...I moved house and still have no internet. I have logged on to to flood of emails, however, and Mr. Anonymouse, Captain Vegas, and Roger B were all kind enough to point out some potential Fallout: New Vegas viral marketing. Here's <a href="http://ps3.ign.com/articles/108/1081856p1.html">the story from IGN</a>:
<blockquote>
April 5, 2010 - A bunch of gaming outlets were sent USB drives with no return address today. The only information on the drive appears to be a MP3 file with a cryptic audio message and a text document. Little help?

When viewing the audio file in Microsoft Word, these lines of code are revealed.

00000000 00000210 00000825 000000000037474B 00000000 0016FDA0 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000TCON

A person on the audio file reads out the letters below:

MOD ZZZ JNQRYD3FRP

The separate word document also only has these six words posted.

Cryptography

Isotope

Philanthropy

Hydrogen

Ember

Rebirth
<img src="http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/artic ... 658247.jpg" alt="" width="480" height="360" />
<img src="http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/artic ... 021730.jpg" alt="" width="480" height="318" />
The postage stamp says it came from Maryland. Could this be from Bethesda as a tease for Fallout: New Vegas?

Update: Ok, wow, monster updates here. Joystiq was able to put together a lot of the clues.

The code MOD ZZZ JNQRYD3FRP is deciphered into the website http://www.gknova6.com/.

The recorded message found on the website can be deciphered using the Baconian Cipher into APRIL WEEK TWO. You can also mess around with the TV dial to see nuclear imagery,

So it looks like something is coming next week. 
<img src="http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/artic ... 503683.jpg" alt="" width="480" height="320" />
</blockquote>
So - long story short: Go to <a href="http://www.gknova6.com/">this website</a> the second week of April to see if any Fallout: New Vegas things happen. Perhaps we will get a better trailer rather than just the teaser? Or perhaps this has nothing to do with Fallout: New Vegas at all.
Click here to download the <a href="http://ps3movies.ign.com/ps3/audio/arti ... mp3">audio file</a> and the <a href="http://ps3movies.ign.com/ps3/text/artic ... .txt">word file</a> that were on the flash drive to see if you can find anything new.
 
UPDATE: The rumors flying around the internet have 3 games in the running for this ARG now: <a href="http://www.movieviral.com/2010/04/05/gk ... ">Call of Duty, Fallout: New Vegas, and Singularity</a>. Check out what MovieViral user Dane has to say about the Singularity possibilities:
<blockquote>
It’s possible, as he suggests, that this is for the upcoming game Singularity. A quick <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singularit ... eo_game%29" target="_blank">Wikipedia read</a> on the game says it’s based around the Cold War and involves a nuclear incident occurring on an isolated island, so the connection to John Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis makes sense. And get this, it’s being published by Activision. If you read his comments, he also suggests the red lights on the TV read R – A – I – S, which would be another reference to the game, but I can’t really confirm that. So, I’ll put it at 1-2-1 in favor of Call of Duty, but this definitely tightens up the race. The only real beef I have with this newest guess is the fact it was sent to Call of Duty fans. So, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what this site is really about.
</blockquote>
You can also view a Youtube video of the viral website below:

<object width="640" height="385" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/lQ0jBkIhKfw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash">
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" />
<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" />
<param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lQ0jBkIhKfw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" />
<param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" />
</object>

 
UPDATE 2: Thanks to a tip from DAC forum member stillalive, we can now officially count out Fallout: New Vegas from the running. Here's the scoop:
<blockquote>
You can now count Fallout: New Vegas out. On the official Bethesda website forum, an administrator Bethesda’s community manager posted the following message: “Whatever this is seems cool, but it doesn’t relate to our games.” So, Fallout is out of the race, and that leaves either Singularity or Call of Duty. We’ll take the latter by a 2-1 count in favor of Call of Duty. Time will once again be the decider.
<a href="http://www.movieviral.com/2010/04/05/gk ... nown-game/" target="_blank">http://www.movieviral.com/2010/04/05/gk ... a>
</blockquote>
Oh well. It would have been an interesting turn of events from the complete lack of excitement, or anything at all, in the Fallout: New Vegas PR department.

Kashluk · Post by **Kashluk** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 12:13 pm

Cool stuff.

I love how much time, money and effort is spent on marketing instead of actual game developement.

TheBearPaw · Post by **TheBearPaw** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 1:21 pm

Kashluk wrote: I love how much time, money and effort is spent on marketing instead of actual game developement.

lol

Ausir · Post by **Ausir** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 2:17 pm

The Google Analytics ID is the same as for some Activision websites, so it's not FNV. Still pretty cool.

gobbleykins · Post by **gobbleykins** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 1:35 am

Kashluk wrote:I love how much time, money and effort is spent on marketing instead of actual game developement.

QFE

Kickstand27 · Post by **Kickstand27** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 2:46 am

the way some of you talk, you should have your own game studios making superawesome games for superawesome gamers like yourselves

djbausch · Post by **djbausch** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 2:50 am

has anybody tried to see if the blinking red light is morse code?

stillalive · Post by **stillalive** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 3:16 am

UPDATE #2: You can now count Fallout: New Vegas out. On the official Bethesda website forum, an administrator Bethesdaâ€™s community manager posted the following message: â€œWhatever this is seems cool, but it doesnâ€™t relate to our games.â€� So, Fallout is out of the race, and that leaves either Singularity or Call of Duty. Weâ€™ll take the latter by a 2-1 count in favor of Call of Duty. Time will once again be the decider.
http://www.movieviral.com/2010/04/05/gk ... nown-game/

Kashluk · Post by **Kashluk** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 4:38 am

Kickstand27 wrote:the way some of you talk, you should have your own game studios making superawesome games for superawesome gamers like yourselves

Yeah, that's true. To comment on something requires to be part of it, just like anyone commenting on football must be a professional NFL player.

ekkaman · Post by **ekkaman** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:02 am

http://www.news.com.au/technology/lads- ... 5850507467

Well i never.

Post by **King of Creation** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:37 am

Updated the news post again.

jetbaby · Post by **jetbaby** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 11:42 am

Good article, ekka.

Kickstand27 · Post by **Kickstand27** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:21 pm

Kashluk wrote:
Kickstand27 wrote:the way some of you talk, you should have your own game studios making superawesome games for superawesome gamers like yourselves
Yeah, that's true. To comment on something requires to be part of it, just like anyone commenting on football must be a professional NFL player.

you know what i mean..
take me with a grain of salt here, but you all do a lot of bitching. no one even knows which game this is for or what that gameplay will be like, but somehow the marketing for it has already surpassed the gameplay.....

dunno about you but it comes off like being an armchair quarterback to me.

Kickstand27 · Post by **Kickstand27** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 5:21 pm

Yonmanc · Post by **Yonmanc** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 6:15 pm

Paper Mario

Kashluk · Post by **Kashluk** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:36 pm

Kickstand27 wrote:you know what i mean..
take me with a grain of salt here, but you all do a lot of bitching. no one even knows which game this is for or what that gameplay will be like, but somehow the marketing for it has already surpassed the gameplay.....

dunno about you but it comes off like being an armchair quarterback to me.

And my point was that I'm not that much of a 'viral marketing' fan. Not to mention that none of these gimmicks have come cheap. There's got to be some serious brainstorming, dozens of meetings, creative assemblies etc. behind it. To me, it would just seem smarter to make the product that X much better than hype it even more that same X amount.

Yonmanc · Post by **Yonmanc** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:25 pm

Kashluk wrote:
Kickstand27 wrote:you know what i mean..
take me with a grain of salt here, but you all do a lot of bitching. no one even knows which game this is for or what that gameplay will be like, but somehow the marketing for it has already surpassed the gameplay.....

dunno about you but it comes off like being an armchair quarterback to me.
And my point was that I'm not that much of a 'viral marketing' fan. Not to mention that none of these gimmicks have come cheap. There's got to be some serious brainstorming, dozens of meetings, creative assemblies etc. behind it. To me, it would just seem smarter to make the product that X much better than hype it even more that same X amount.

Not to mention this kind of thing has been before and it never works.

Thor Kaufman · Post by **Thor Kaufman** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 9:46 pm

be part of the apple and starbucks community guys and make a flashmob come on

Kickstand27 · Post by **Kickstand27** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:02 pm

Kashluk wrote:
Kickstand27 wrote:you know what i mean..
take me with a grain of salt here, but you all do a lot of bitching. no one even knows which game this is for or what that gameplay will be like, but somehow the marketing for it has already surpassed the gameplay.....

dunno about you but it comes off like being an armchair quarterback to me.
And my point was that I'm not that much of a 'viral marketing' fan. Not to mention that none of these gimmicks have come cheap. There's got to be some serious brainstorming, dozens of meetings, creative assemblies etc. behind it. To me, it would just seem smarter to make the product that X much better than hype it even more that same X amount.

i reckon that to an extent youre right, at least on the need of the product being better than the hype. I think perhaps i am just not as cynical or something..
I mean, you have to market your product.. any ad campaign is gonna need creative and administrative meetings to make it happen. though this one isnt costing anything more than postage and a jump drive to actually market.. this forum (and of course others)is doing that job right now.. i also think it makes the potential consumer feel clever if they are able to figure out parts of the riddle, which is pretty clever in and of its self.

i may be way off base.. it could be a seaming pike of crap, this game (whatever it is),,, but i dont know that, so i cant really say they should have spent less on marketing and more on the product. :shrug:

Frater Perdurabo · Post by **Frater Perdurabo** » Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:22 pm

Kickstand27 wrote:
Kashluk wrote:
Kickstand27 wrote:you know what i mean..
take me with a grain of salt here, but you all do a lot of bitching. no one even knows which game this is for or what that gameplay will be like, but somehow the marketing for it has already surpassed the gameplay.....

dunno about you but it comes off like being an armchair quarterback to me.
And my point was that I'm not that much of a 'viral marketing' fan. Not to mention that none of these gimmicks have come cheap. There's got to be some serious brainstorming, dozens of meetings, creative assemblies etc. behind it. To me, it would just seem smarter to make the product that X much better than hype it even more that same X amount.
i reckon that to an extent youre right, at least on the need of the product being better than the hype. I think perhaps i am just not as cynical or something..
I mean, you have to market your product.. any ad campaign is gonna need creative and administrative meetings to make it happen. though this one isnt costing anything more than postage and a jump drive to actually market.. this forum (and of course others)is doing that job right now.. i also think it makes the potential consumer feel clever if they are able to figure out parts of the riddle, which is pretty clever in and of its self.

i may be way off base.. it could be a seaming pike of crap, this game (whatever it is),,, but i dont know that, so i cant really say they should have spent less on marketing and more on the product. :shrug:

Off the top of your head. name 3 games released in the past 2 years that are worth playing. Thought so.

Yes, I am cynical, yes I am aware that there are good new games out there, but quite frankly, most of the shit that is released even by "reputable" companies just isn't worth the time.