A few months back at PAX East, we had the opportunity to speak to Bethesda's Pete Hines about the company's future plans and what they had lined up for E3. In the course of our conversation, Hines ended up using a frequent expression that grabbed headlines and caused many to think that he was potentially teasing a new game. That didn't happen -- at least not purposefully.

[pullquote]"Whether or not folks realize it, this is the hell on Earth time for us with E3."[/pullquote]

"Whether or not folks realize it, this is the hell on Earth time for us with E3," Hines told us during our conversation at PAX East. Many other outlets saw this "hell on Earth" comment specifically and thought it was a surefire tease that Hines was casually dropping into our conversation to let fans know that a new DOOM game would indeed be appearing at E3. Turns out, Hines wasn't playing four-dimensional chess in the middle of our conversation.

Plagued with self-doubt following the DOOM Eternal E3 teaser, we caught up with Hines after Bethesda's showcase event to ask him if he was indeed teasing the newly announced DOOM game to us during our interview. He responded and said that his use of "hell on Earth" wasn't meant to intentionally tease DOOM Eternal. He was just used as a casual expression because, you know, that's what it is.

Hines went on to tell us that other members of his team relayed to him that his use of the phrase ended up becoming newsworthy, to which he found funny. "It was the perfect tease, according to my team." He didn't even remember saying the phrase to us and he seemed surprised that he did so. In the end, though, he found it to be poetic that he did use the expression. Obviously, he full-well knew that DOOM Eternal would be revealed soon, although he was by no means trying to tease it to us at that moment.

Is this a story we really needed to follow-up on? Not really. This is more just me being petty and proving to other outlets and readers that claimed I had missed an obvious tease from Hines that I hadn't missed anything.

Catching some subtle grief from both journos and comment sections for supposedly making an error in my reporting wasn't bothersome to me personally. However, I find it hilarious that many outlets thought they knew more than I did about my one-on-one conversation, despite not being an active participant in that chat that took place with Hines. This is why you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet (even though I guess in this case, you kind of could have). Welcome to gaming journalism in 2018.

So what have we learned? When developers or publishers use casual phrases that might be related to their franchises, there's a good chance most of the time that it means nothing. That said, Hines did tell me tonight that he thinks Bethesda might be on the BRINK of something new, so, you never know. /s

For more on the actual hell on Earth that will be DOOM Eternal, be sure to check out the reveal trailer from Bethesda's conference.