Gamers caught on very quickly when CNN used images from a popular video game to report on Russian hacking

CNN screenshot

Either the folks over at CNN really loving gaming, or they made a hilarious mistake.

Videos by Rare

Regardless of whichever one it is, that doesn’t change the fact that CNN finished out 2016 with an interesting screenshot for a story about Russia, hacking and President Obama’s proposed sanctions against the country. Fans of the popular “Fallout” video game series noticed a familiar sight on the news organization’s website, which was then posted to a “Fallout” Reddit forum by u/Poofylicious:

CNN uses Fallout hacking footage to show how Russians hack. from fo4

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Boy Genius Report (BGR) explains how hacking in “Fallout” works:

In “Fallout 4” — as well as “Fallout 3” and “Fallout: New Vegas” — the player can hack computers to gain information or unlock doors and safes. It’s performed like a word puzzle, where the player has to find a specific word in a huge mess of letters and random characters. It’s simple but fun, but it has absolutely nothing in common with actual hacking, which is what makes it perfect for mainstream news viewers.

As pointed out by Kotaku, this is hardly the first time video games have made it to the mainstream news media. The BBC once reportedly mistook the fictitious United Nations Space Command symbol from the “Halo” video game series for the United Nations logo. The child soldiers from the “Metal Gear” video game series have also reportedly appeared in broadcasts about real child soldiers.

What do you think?

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