Just two days, news came pouring in that the first Grand Theft Auto V DLC was leaked in terms of screenshots and other game-related information. As it turns out this whole shindig happened to be an elaborate hoax carried out by GTAforums user NGclan. The report also had news of some previous characters from earlier games in the series making a return.
The news first broke out when unsuspecting members of the GTAforums discovered code in the files of the recent GTA V title update that seemed to reveal information such as characters, weapons, locations, radio stations and clothes that would be available in the first DLC.
North Yankton was allegedly the name given to the area shown in the introduction of the main game where Niko and Roman Bellic were supposed to be hiding. As to the exact location of this place, it was touted to be based somewhere in North Dakota or close to the Canadian border, if not in Canada itself.
The user NGclan had devised this hoax with so much care and forethought that he had managed to create a full list of weapons, new characters, possible music and radio stations and of course a new storyline. NGclan had even managed to create some videos of the area to make it seem real.
Later confining the news that he generated as false, NGclan explained that he was getting angrier at every popular thread on GTAforums that kept increasing every day. In order to de-popularize these threads, he made negative criticisms of the game to divert the attention.
But even he had not expected that his web of lies would be picked up by so many eager fans that would fall for his gag. The extent of his hoax is such that many people even built-on his news with their own personal additions. He revealed that he decided to come out and admit all of this was his own doing so that he alone could take credit for it.
I guess the moral of the story is that we need not pay too much attention to any news except if it’s coming right from the horse’s mouth.