Fallout 3's Vault-Tec toll-free number wants you to hold forever

by Kevin Kelly { Jul 15th 2008 at 3:00AM }

If you call the Vault-Tec toll free hotline at 1-888-4-VAULTTEC (dang novelty 800 numbers!), you'll be stuck on immediate hold and told there are 101,000,000 callers in front of you ... which leads to an extremely long hold time. In fact, a mutant voice lets you know it's about 78,643 hours (unless we're hearing it wrong). We checked back to see if it's counting down, and it doesn't seem to be.

Any hackers out there with Rain Man-like number skillz who want to try and decode what this could possibly mean for Fallout 3? Maybe it's the date of the apocalypse. Have at it, and have fun. Also, please don't stay on hold that long and blame us later. If you're phonically challenged, just watch our special Joystiq audio-only recording of the call posted after the break.

[Thanks, Robert]

Tags: Bethesda, Fallout-3, marketing, phone, Vault-Tec

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Foetoid @ Jul 15th 2008 3:09AM

It obviously decodes to say:

"Fallout 3 Wii Port Officially Announced"

Jono Stars @ Jul 15th 2008 3:10AM

I got the same numbers as you folks...78,643 hours

Taco_Hell @ Jul 15th 2008 3:11AM

Well, according that message, the end of the world will be in 9 years...so the Mayan calender was wrong!

Dustin @ Jul 15th 2008 3:17AM

Well for starters, if 101,000,000 is a binary number, its decimal equivalent is 320. Let you know if I figure any significance of the other number.

etkelley @ Jul 15th 2008 3:54AM

Does anyone else find this extremely creepy?

Chase @ Jul 15th 2008 4:16AM

Nah. It's the end of the world (as we know it) and I feel fine.

aacman007 @ Jul 15th 2008 3:28AM

(From the airing of the trailer)

2 months

15 days

13 hours

aacman007 @ Jul 15th 2008 3:31AM

Or wait...

3 months

20 days?

DEAR GOD!

MY BRIAN IS TEH PHAILING NOWS!

Foetoid @ Jul 15th 2008 3:33AM

You know you've failed when you mispell the part of your body that's failing.

Mike M. @ Jul 15th 2008 4:25AM

Clearly Brian is the idiot-savant he keeps to do his calculations for him.

Imadogg @ Jul 15th 2008 5:15AM

"Clearly Brian is the idiot-savant he keeps to do his calculations for him."

I usually don't laugh at joystiq commenters' humor but you win

dark_inchworm @ Jul 15th 2008 9:07AM

Foetoid, congratulations on: A) missing the joke, and B) misspelling "misspell."

Ahmedz @ Jul 15th 2008 3:54AM

hmm i predict a november 18th release..........

aacman007 @ Jul 15th 2008 7:00AM

I have the same feeling... but it's SO damn close to winter... and that's TOTALLY not fall...

I'm feeling October or November.

FSK405K @ Jul 15th 2008 4:23AM

It's a 888- number, which is toll-free. Go ahead and leave your phone on hold, just use a landline. It's Bethesda's dime. Maybe the real secret is revealed only after you're on hold for 24 hours....?

Mike M. @ Jul 15th 2008 4:40AM

Wait, "mutant voice"? That is clearly a robot voice. Why would there be mutants? this is a pre-nuclear apocalypse recording.

Dustin @ Jul 15th 2008 4:47AM

Ok, so here's some more rampant speculation:

Take the quoted number 78643, and assume that those are minutes. Divide by 60 to get 1310.72 hours. Divide by 24 to get 54.6 days. If this is the release date, that would put it on Sept 7, which is a month sooner than GameStop's and Amazon's current projection of Oct. 7.

Sadly, this doesn't make much sense, publishers don't release games on Sundays typically. Also note that Bethesda has already stated that there will not be a demo, so that's not a demo date.

DJ @ Jul 15th 2008 8:02AM

or take the 101,000,000(hours) the number of people and that comes down to 78643. That comes out to 1284(hours per person). Divide that by 24(hours) and you get 53.5112(days rounded). From the 14th, that would put us at around a midnight launch of Friday Sept. 12th? Who knows

Eggy @ Jul 15th 2008 4:57AM

Don't mess this up Bethesda!

Lonin @ Jul 15th 2008 5:44AM

78,643 hours = 3,277 days.
3,277 days from July 14, 2008 will be Tuesday, July 4, 2017.

Start building your bunkers now. Expect larger than usual fireworks for that independence day.

hilu @ Jul 15th 2008 9:06AM

Excel gives a date: 25th April 2155

valdemiro @ Jul 15th 2008 9:20AM

oh man...oh man...I just hung up and lost my place in line!

Vladeon @ Jul 15th 2008 10:39AM

It seems to me that since 101,000,000 in binary comes to 320 in decimal, that it is meant to mean 3 months and 20 days from july 14th. This comes to October 24th, A day after the bombs dropped in 2077 in the fallout history. As for the 78643 hours to wait deal, it could be an zip code, which would correlate to Llano, TX. Which is near where the Secret Vault where the FEV was being developed is. My guess is that the zip code correlates with Attis, a Super Mutant who travelled east to Texas after the Master was destroyed to find out the truth behind the Forced Evolutionary Virus and to subsequently empower his group of super mutants to overtake Southwest California once again. Who's to say that after finding the Secret Vault, he didn't decide to take his group even further east with the goal of finding more and more powerful versions of FEV, leading him to the center of the research done on the virus, the Pentagon. I must admit though, the connections are tenuous and it is only rampant speculation, but the connections are there and it would explain why there are Super Mutants in the DC area.