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PSP Price 'Hoax' Widely Circulated

PSPA report that Sony has priced the PSP at $349 has appeared on Slashdot Games, linked from GCAdvanced, which attributed the news to the as-yet-unlaunched PSPAdvanced site. But it appears this daisy chain of attribution may have started with a fake post Friday on a gaming message board.

An "Anonymous Coward" posting as Amir0x interrupted the Slashdot thread to announce that the PSP price was A 100% COMPLETE HOAX, and provided links to two posts Friday on the Torch The Bridge forum, one announcing the news as having originated from the Tokyo Game Show (complete with a dead link to GameSpot), and a later post confessing that the original post was a fake.

Amir0x called his efforts "an experiment to see how QUICKLY people would jump on a story like this about Sony, despite NO evidence at all and a dead link and even a F**KING MESSAGE IN THE ORIGINAL POST THAT THE STORY WAS FAKE (albeit in small text)."

Well, lots of folks fell for it, and it illustrates how "news" can travel around the Internet without ever being checked. It's important to note that it's not only gaming sites that are susceptible to this; supposedly "mainstream" media have made the same mistake. A nugget of information appears in an obscure corner of the Internet, and begins to circulate and build buzz, appearing on additional blogs and news aggregators. As the item moves up the food chain, the source appears increasingly credible. Before you know it, it's a news story on GCAdvanced.

Stories posted Monday from the Tokyo Game Show noted that "Sony ... has yet to release the price for PSP." In fact, one story from the show focused specifically on the speculation about PSP pricing. Obviously, that kind of story ought to make folks skeptical about reports that a price was announced at the show.

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Posted by RichM at 01:26 PM | TrackBack

ha ha

 

[Wario64]

Oh Amirox...you anonymous coward. STOP SENDING FAKE NEWS!

 

[TekunoRobby]

Thatsah mah boy!

 

[Amir0x]

Hahaha, yup.

The story is even funnier, if you want to hear it. FYI, the "anonymous coward" wasn't me. The reason they called it "Anonymous Coward" was because that's the name the person actually used on Slashdot. In actuality, it was my friend Penfold who did that.

I started the hoax, though. I made a perfect little story saying that PSP would be 349.99 with 12 games at launch, and I even wrote a nice article and linked to Gamespot. Nobody checked to see that the link was fake at all. When everyone was buying it, I told them that they must have taken the link down because it's no longer up. Then it hopped from Penny-Arcade forums to GCAdvanced, to eToychest, to Slashdot.

That was when Penfold thought he should apologize for what I did at TTB

But boy I had a good laugh!

 

[Odnetnin]

I didn't know about this. How many people on GAF knew. Search also uncovered this

http://www.igniq.com/2004/09/psp-price-hoax-circles-internet.html

Amir0x (who started the story), posted the message on the TorchTheBridge.com forums but later admitted the story was 100% a hoax:

ANYWAY...

As any NON idiot already knew (no offense fellas), this story is...

A 100% COMPLETE HOAX

It was...

a.) An experiment to see how QUICKLY people would jump on a story like this about Sony, despite NO evidence at all and a dead link and even a F***ING MESSAGE IN THE ORIGINAL POST THAT THE STORY WAS FAKE (albeit in small text)

and...

b.) Because I was bored, and wanted to see how many people fell for it!
The PlayStation Portable was recently featured at the Tokyo Games Show 2004, and will have a Japanese release in November, with a U.S. release in the first half of 2005.

 

[Amir0x]

I didn't know about this. How many people on GAF knew. Search also uncovered this

http://www.igniq.com/2004/09/psp-price-hoax-circles-internet.html

Yeah. It was funny. This was exactly taken directly from my quote that I wrote:

ANYWAY...

As any NON idiot already knew (no offense fellas), this story is...

A 100% COMPLETE HOAX

It was...

a.) An experiment to see how QUICKLY people would jump on a story like this about Sony, despite NO evidence at all and a dead link and even a FUCKING MESSAGE IN THE ORIGINAL POST THAT THE STORY WAS FAKE (albeit in small text)

and...

b.) Because I was bored, and wanted to see how many people fell for it!

I was angry because I had actually wrote in the original hoax post that the story was fake, but everyone overlooked it! So when everyone was buying it, I was floored. And then I used it as a vice to see how many people would fall for it before they started questioning the source. This was wrote to TTB, because they were so lively for any negative Sony news so I went with it and it helped prove my point how gullible they were if they liked the story

P.S. Nice to see you searchin' for me on google. So I searched for me too! I found an old post I made on the Sentimentalist on game ratings:

I have to say that, for all the essays good points, what AngelKnight highlighted out does seem to be the truth of the matter - most of the "mature games" supposedly advertised to children are not at all. In fact, if I remember one of the commercials correctly... it resembled something out of the Godfather. Toward the end of the commercial the announcer said "This Game is Rated Mature." Now, Rockstar obviously thought it important to make sure that kids knew it was not for them if they are under 17... and for parents to take responsibility if an underage kid is interested. Last time I checked, that's a clear indicator that it's not being geared toward kids.

I respect your opinion, I really do Mark. But I do have a slight problem with the implication that a kid with a videogame is anywhere near as dangerous as a kid with a gun. Now, I'm not saying there isn't probably an underlining link between how violent a kid becomes and the amount of violent activities a child partakes in - be it videogames, movies, television or even paintball. And I completely agree that society is not doing enough. I even would go so far as to say I urge someone to pass a bill that would force penalties to videogame distributers who did not ensure that games are not sold to children under 17 if they are rated "M".

But the reality is so far it has not happened. And at the moment is does lie solely in the hands of a parent/guardian. I have seen so many times a mother or father walk up to the counter with their child and buy the most violent or sexually explicit game on the market. Either way, these games will get into the hands of kids - even if a bill is passed making it law for it not to occur. Teenagers are not allowed to buy cigarettes, but in most states they will not be apprehended if they sit outside a building a smoke. Thus, they will continue to get a hold of cigarettes and smoke - just as children will continue to get a hold of violent videogames and play.

I do think that the industry needs to try harder, I do. But what I really feel is that SOCIETY as a whole needs to try harder. That is, if the parents really feel that violent videogames will create a Dylan Klebold or an Eric Harris then it is their responsibility to make sure they do not play these games. Set restrictions and the children will have less chance to play violent videogames.

Anyway, besides that, I think your entire essay is excellent. I think that we've spent too much time meditating on this one issue and not looked at the other aspects I do agree with. But that's for another time, hm?

 

[TekunoRobby]

Do it again.