Vice President of Bethesda Softworks Pete Hines has announced that the company will be attending this year’s PAX East event, which will be held in Boston, Massachusetts, between April 11 and April 13. In less than 78 days, Bethesda will attend the illustrious gaming convention to, hopefully, showcase its latest video game wares.

For Bethesda, 2013 was a particularly silent year; surprisingly, the triple-A game developers, Bethesda Game Studios, did not release a single title throughout last year – the first time this has happened since 2005. In light of this, many are beginning to speculate that Bethesda has some pretty substantial projects in the works that are, perhaps, due for reveal in 2014.

It appears that ZeniMax – Bethesda’s parent company – has various subsidiaries currently working hard on Wolfenstein: The New Order, The Evil Within and the controversial Elder Scrolls Online (ESO); these high-profile projects are all expected to be finished and released, at some point, this year. Meanwhile, the fate of Human Head Studios’ Prey 2 remains speculative, at best; a series of leaked e-mails suggest that development of the first-person shooter has now been assumed by Arkane Studios.

However, the afore-mentioned projects are not being worked on by Bethesda Game Studios. The question remains: what, specifically, is Bethesda developing?

On Jan. 16, 2014, PR guru Pete Hines took to Twitter to confirm that Bethesda would be attending PAX East. With a recent flurry of activity centering around the possibility the developers are diligently slaving away over Fallout 4, speculation has shifted to PAX East, and any potential reveals that may emerge at the Boston event.

PAX East would be the perfect setting for a Fallout 4 reveal, as a series of leaked casting documents indicate that the next iteration of the much-loved RPG franchise will feature Boston and many of its distinctive landmarks. The reveal was

originally made by Kotaku writer Jason Schreier, who claims he has confirmed the authenticity of the information. The documents show a character model, dialogue from an in-game mission, and – what appears to be – an introductory narration to the game’s opening.

In addition, the developer company appears to be ramping up recruitment efforts for a “bleeding-edge RPG” project, designed for the PC and console markets. A host of positions have been advertised on ZeniMax Media’s jobs website; the conglomerate has been hunting for level designers, game programmers, user interface designers, quest designers and an individual to fill the role of executive producer. Although the studio has been tight-lipped over precisely what the project entails, the job descriptions provide hints that a Fallout or Elder Scrolls title is being developed. Many of the positions specified that familiarity with The Elder Scrolls Construction Set or GECK would be considered a bonus. GECK is an abbreviation for the Garden of Eden Construction Kit – a set of Fallout modding tools.

Meanwhile, Hines recently tweeted the star-studded cast that is set to feature in the upcoming Elder Scrolls Online game – a multiplayer online RPG, slated for release this fiscal year. ESO will include voice acting from Bill Nighy, John Cleese, Kate Beckinsale, Michael Gambon, Malcolm McDowell, Lynda Carter and Alfred Molina.

By James Fenner

Sources:

Guardian Liberty Voice1

Guardian Liberty Voice2

Guardian Liberty Voice3

International Digital Times

Pete Hines Twitter

Bethesda Blog

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