Fallout 3
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Fallout: Nuka Break goes episodic, first episode out now
Wondering what happened to your favorite trio of Wasteland wanderers from Fallout: Nuka Break? After a run-in with the most dreaded creature of all -- fundraising -- Wayside Creations is back in business and producing a full webseries. And lucky you: the first episode is already available!
Fallout Monopoly is something we wish we could buy
Guys, if you're wondering if your significant other is The One, there's only one question you need to ask yourself: Would he or she go through the painstaking process to create something as awesome as this Fallout-themed Monopoly board just for little old you? If so, put a ring on it! This was created by deviantART user PinkAxolotl, who swapped out classic Monopoly stops such as Baltic Ave and Park Place for locations from Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. The Go space has been changed to G.O.A.T. and the Free Parking space has been changed to the "Please Stand By" screen. The only similarity between this version of Monopoly and the classic? Your cousin Brian is still guaranteed to throw a hissyfit when you eventually trade all your railroads for a ham sandwich.
Direct2Drive offering new deals all month
While Steam users gorge themselves on a two-week-long carnival of deals and specially-created achievements, Direct2Drive is going full-on bacchanal with a full month of savings, changing both daily and weekly. Today, for example, you can pick up Fallout 3: GOTY Edition for $9.85 and Empire: Total War for just $7.95. Sorry to be crass, but if we have to gobble up deals like this for a whole month, we're gonna need a feather and one heck of a vomitorium.
Skyrim DLC to have more of an 'expansion pack feel'
They say you can't have too much of a good thing, but Bethesda certainly put that to the test with its seemingly unending releases of downloadable content for Fallout 3. Project lead Todd Howard said that the developer has learned its lesson, and those who play the studio's next game, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, should expect heartier, less frequent updates. "Right now I can say that we'd like to do less DLC but bigger ones -- you know, more substantial," he told AusGamers. "The Fallout 3 pace that we did was very chaotic. We did a lot of them -- we had two overlapping groups -- and we don't know what we're going to make yet, but we'd like them to be closer to an expansion pack feel." In short, expect huge horse armor collections this time around, in every size, shape and hue imaginable.
Oblivion expansions, Fallout 3 DLC half off on XBL this week
It's been nearly five years, but that notorious Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion "Horse Armor" DLC is finally on sale. Along with the "Shivering Isles" and "Knights of the Nine" expansion packs, the equine armor is discounted by 50 percent as this week's Xbox Live deal. Keeping with the Bethesda theme, three of Fallout 3's DLC packs -- "Mothership Zeta," "Operation Anchorage," and "Broken Steel" -- are similarly discounted, as well as a handful of Avatar items. There has never been a better week to dress up an Avatar as a Vault 101 wastelander and buy virtual armor for a virtual horse. Head past the break for the full list of discounts.
ZeniMax Online Studios builds new MMO customer support facility
The folks at ZeniMax Online Studios have founded a new support facility in Galway, Ireland with the intent to provide customer service for "players of future massively multiplayer online games." While some of you are probably wondering just who in the heck ZeniMax is, others have no doubt seen the parent company name scrolling by on the startup screens for Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. ZeniMax Media owns not only ZeniMax Online but also Bethesda Softworks and id Software (the brains behind the Doom franchise). ZeniMax Online is headed by Mythic co-founder Matt Firor, and ex-World of Warcraft dev Rich Barham is serving as the director of customer support. Though the studio has yet to make an official game-related announcement, it's clearly laying the foundation for something big.
Fallout: Nuka Break fan film released, we want at least ten sequels
We assumed the team at Wayside Creations was onto something special when we saw a trailer for its game-inspired short film, Fallout: Nuka Break, last month. Today, we found out just how right we were: The full movie is out, posted right here, and one of the best darn fan flicks we've ever seen.
Refresh yourself with a DIY Nuka-Cola six pack
Is your palate in need of some cleansing after drinking that disgusting, irradiated toilet water? Why not slurp down some crisp, refreshing Nuka-Cola? "Because it's not a real thing," you say? You obviously haven't been following the efforts of Joel Guelzo, who recently made that dream a reality.
Bethesda 'demakes' Fallout 3 for Japanese New Vegas website
"Demakes" have become a trend in the last couple of years, thanks to things like TIGSource competitions and Eric Ruth's "Pixel Force" games. Now that trend has officially entered the mainstream, as Bethesda has released an 8-bit style demake of its own game, Fallout 3. Well, sort of. The Japanese Fallout: New Vegas website is designed as a Dragon Quest-style RPG, presenting the menu and links as areas on a pixelated map of Fallout 3's Capital Wasteland, with each link leading to an amusing faked gameplay segment, along with a Japanese-language explanation of that particular game element. It's designed to introduce Japanese gamers to the "Freestyle RPG" design of the Fallout games, but it also has the side effect of being awesome.
Fallout 3 tribute song now available on Rock Band Network
There's a lot of overlap between folks who love Fallout 3 and folks who love Rock Band. Here's some news that caters to the inner portion of that particular Venn Diagram: Nerd-rock duo Kirby Krackle's Fallout tribute song "Vault 101" is now available on the Xbox Live Rock Band Network Store.
Fallout 3's Megaton recreated in Halo: Reach
Put a megaton of Fallout 3 in your Halo: Reach with an impressive Forge World recreation of the town that has an undetonated nuke* as its centerpiece. *Nuke does not actually explode in Reach version.
All Fallout 3 DLC half off this week on Xbox Live Marketplace
As the Bethesda blog conveniently points out, the entirety of Fallout 3's downloadable addendums -- from forays into virtual Alaska to intergalactic excursions -- are half off their normal asking price this week. At 400 MS Points ($5) a pop, you'll only be $25 less prepared for Fallout: New Vegas. No worries, though -- we're pretty sure the employees at your local GameStop will happily accept Nuka Cola bottlecaps in place of US currency should you be a few pennies short come October 19. Xbox.com: Fallout 3 DLC on Xbox Live Marketplace
Homemade Fallout 3 plasma rifle makes our post-apocalyptic future seem less bleak
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Homemade_Fallout_3_Plasma_Rifle'; The A3-21 Plasma Rifle is quite the little devastator in Fallout 3 and it doesn't look half bad in the so-called real world either. Lovingly pieced together by one Ryan Palser, this homebrewed replica (the lower of the two in the image above) took five months to complete and involved the enrollment of his wife's painting skills for the weathering job. The final result is enough to convince us that Fallout would be well served by a movie adaptation, if only so we can see more of these retro-futuristic rifles get their shot at corporeality. You can scope out one more image showing off the lights inside the rifle after the break, but only if you promise to hit up Ryan's Flickr account for the full set.
We'd sell our plasma for this Fallout 3 plasma rifle replica
It's been a while since we've seen a really cool Fallout 3 weapon replica, so it's extra-nice that this handmade A3-21 Plama Rifle is so very awesome. It's the work of Ryan Palser, who sent us word of his just-completed project -- a five-month process. Check out a bonus photo after the break!
Bethesda's new game is for current platforms, 'pretty far along'
After two years of silence, Bethesda is very used to deflecting questions about its next, still unannounced game. But executive producer Todd Howard finally shared some info about the forthcoming project at this year's QuakeCon, telling Eurogamer that it's "pretty far along." Around 90 people are working on the game, and Howard predicts that the stretch between the project's announcement and launch will be the "the shortest it's been for us" (Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was announced in September 2004 and released in March 2006, and Fallout 3 was announced in July 2004 but not released until October 2008). Additionally, he pointed out that the upcoming project will run on existing consoles and is built on the same engine that powered Oblivion and Fallout 3. "That's our starting point -- the Fallout 3 tech. It started with Morrowind, we went to Oblivion, we did a lot between Oblivion and Fallout 3 because now we had final hardware -- with Oblivion we had six months on final hardware, so Fallout 3 technically does a lot more than Oblivion. The new stuff is an even bigger jump from that," he said. He wouldn't get too specific on when we'd hear more, saying he didn't want to disappoint people by announcing an ... announcement that might shift later on. Hopefully, Mr. Howard knows that disappointment will be harder to avoid if that announcement turns out to be anything but Elder Scrolls V.
How Ellen DeGeneres got Matthew Perry his role in Fallout: New Vegas
Who should ex-Friends star Matthew Perry thank for landing his latest job, a role in Fallout: New Vegas? Not his agent. According to senior producer Jason Bergman, Perry's role was cemented thanks to talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. On the April 24, 2009 show, Perry appeared not only to promote 17 Again, but he also gave Ellen an Xbox 360 system with a copy of the game. "I played this video game so often that I injured my hand so severely that I had to go to a hand doctor and get injections in my hand because I love this video game so much," Perry told Ellen at the time. "The game is called Fallout 3. I'm not affiliated with this game at all, I just love it. But I signed it, so it looks like I created it." Apparently, that act earned him the good graces of Bethesda and Obsidian, leading to his eventual casting as Rat Pack-esque character Benny. With his name now cemented in the game's credits, he'll able to give away signed copies of New Vegas ... and actually have it mean something.
Please stand by: Fallout Online gets its own website
The Interplay/Bethesda Fallout legal battle is one mired in as much speculation as it is in fact, although we do know that Interplay has been attempting to get a Fallout MMO project off the ground for some time now. Code-named V13, Fallout Online is currently Interplay's baby, although we haven't seen a clear go-ahead due to the legal struggle over the rights. It was a bit of a surprise, then, to see a teaser website for Fallout Online launch with little fanfare. Currently, there isn't much there, just a brief glimpse at a workshop desk with various Fallout references to the Master, Brahmin, and Nuka-Cola before a form obscures the screen. You then can sign up for their mailing list, as well as a beta opt-in. Following that, you are unceremoniously sent to the Interplay forums. It looks legit, too: Interplay is promoting Fallout Online from their main website, and the new teaser site is indeed registered to Interplay Entertainment Corp. Seeing as how Fallout fans are incredibly passionate about this franchise, even a hint that this MMO is progressing toward launch should come as a jolt of radioactive bliss. Check out the website and let us know what you think! [Thanks Eric "Nickelpat" Minaker!]
Steam sale: Fallout 3, Oblivion, Morrowind
Bethesda's suite of RPGs have been discounted on Steam -- specifically, its Game of the Year offerings. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind gets the most drastic cut at 75% off, down to $5, while Fallout 3 has been discounted by 50% to $25. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion straddles the middle with a discount of 66%, down to $8.50. As far as sheer hours-to-dollars ratio, you're probably looking at something like eleventy kajillion. [Thanks, Brian]
PC Gamer's reader poll honors EVE as the #3 PC game of all time
Reader polls always tend to be an exercise in popularity, bucking conventional wisdom and surprise upsets -- and perhaps never so much as a recent annual PC Gamer poll that asked readers to rank the top 100 PC games of all time. EVE Online scored a surprising #3 spot on the list (falling from last year's #2 position), behind only Fallout 3 and Half-Life 2. This certainly is a testament to EVE's devoted and outspoken fans. Several other MMOs appeared in the top 100, including World of Warcraft (#10), WURM Online (#20), World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (#25), Lord of the Rings Online: The Mines of Moria (#31), Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (#36), RuneScape (#45), Guild Wars (#72), World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (#97) and EverQuest (#100). Of course, reader polls should always be taken with a grain of salt (mmm... salty goodness), as large organizational efforts and promotion from one studio or group of fans is often enough to create a skewed result. Still, it's a decent list, and terrific to see so many MMOs given the top honors.
Interview: Josh Sawyer on Fallout: New Vegas
Imagine going to work on "Van Buren," the original Fallout 3, as a designer for Black Isle Studios, only to see the title canceled due to parent company Interplay's financial problems. Then, imagine Bethesda buying the Fallout 3 license and developing an entirely different game, which goes on to win multiple awards and accolades. Now, imagine you're brought back into the franchise, as a designer for Obsidian Entertainment, to create a sequel to Bethesda's popular title. Preposterous, you say? Josh Sawyer is the lead designer on Fallout: New Vegas and, after having the rug yanked from under him on the original Fallout 3, he's happy to be working on the latest new Fallout project -- one that will be released later this year. Read on for our conversation with Sawyer. Joystiq: What's your history with the Fallout franchise? Josh Sawyer: I worked on what's called "Van Buren," which was the codename when Black Isle started to work on what would have been Fallout 3, and we had worked on it for maybe half a year, and then it was canceled because Interplay had a lot of financial problems.
