An Attendee Uses Her Smartphone In Front Of A Fiant Microsoft Xbox Sign At The 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Known as E3, in Los Angeles
An attendee uses her smartphone in front of a giant Microsoft Xbox sign at the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo, known as E3, in Los Angeles, California June 11, 2014. Reuters/Kevork Djansezian

Bethesda Game Studios, the publisher responsible for games like "Skyrim," "Fallout" and last year's "Wolfenstein," has announced that it will be holding its first-ever E3 conference at this year's expo. There's no official confirmation that the long-awaited "Fallout 4" will be unveiled at the event, but Bethesda has been teasing about it. A number of leaks and rumours have emerged over the past two years, which indicate that gamers might soon have something to cheer about.

The announcement, made on the official Bethesda Blog, states that the conference will take place on June 14 in Hollywood, California. Publisher-run conferences are not a new occurrence at E3. In order to stand out in the deluge of news the event generates, publishers like EA, Ubisoft and Activision have turned to dedicated conferences, allowing them to focus the media's attention.

As Eurogamer points out, one of the titles most likely to be announced at the conference is "Fallout 4." The original "Fallout," released in 1997 by Interplay Entertainment, is one of the most highly regarded PC games of all time. When "Elder Scrolls" developer Bethesda Softworks acquired the IP in 2007, gamers were unsure what to expect, but they needn't have worried.

A year later, Bethesda released "Fallout 3" to widespread critical acclaim. "Fallout: New Vegas" was released in 2010, and gamers waited patiently for news on a full-blown sequel. Despite widespread rumours and intense speculation, official news about "Fallout 4" has been thin on the ground. It seems that is finally going to change with the announcement of Bethesda's E3 conference.

The first concrete rumour indicating that "Fallout 4" was in active development came from Erik Todd Elums, a voice actor on the project. Elums voiced the character of "Three-Dog" in "Fallout 3," a radio host and DJ that provided anti-establishment commentary in the game's universe. As IGN reports, Elums sent out a Bethesda-sanctioned tweet in early 2013 stating that gamers should expect more from his character soon. Later that year, Kotaku obtained documents which it claimed were casting papers proving the game's existence as well as the fact that it was set in Boston.

The "Fallout" games are a series of open world RPGs set in a post-apocalyptic vision of the U.S. The games are noted for the morally grey choices they offer players, numerous endings and juxtaposition of a cheery 1950s aesthetic with the sombre reality of nuclear Armageddon. Modern "Fallout" games allowed developer Bethesda Softworks to bring the franchise into a fully 3D open world, populated by unique and interesting characters.

Though the Bethesda conference is an invite-only affair, the publisher has promised to reserve a number of seats for gamers. Information on how fans can register to attend will be shared in the coming months, and Bethesda has promised to stream the entire event live on Twitch.

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