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Fallout, Medal of Honor devs form new studio
A new development studio has formed in Pasadena, CA, co-founded by former developers of titles like Fallout and Medal of Honor. The new studio, named WhiteMoon Dreams (huh), will focus on creating original IP for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii, but is also open to working with developers on titles in need of assistance.Heading the studio are Jay Kootarappallil -- a former EA technical art director for titles like Ratchet & Clank and Medal of Honor -- and R. Scott Campbell -- lead concept and game designer on Fallout. At the moment the team is working with a "major Japanese publisher" on an unannounced title. The team hopes to focus on innovative gameplay, and "new directions in the visual medium." We wish the newly-formed studio the best of luck in its endeavors.
Fallout 3 interview reveals world size and voice actors
Quite a lot of tantalizing news concerning Fallout 3 was dropped by Peter Hines (Bethesda Softwork's VP of marketing) in a recent interview. He compared the new game to another Bethesda RPG epic, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and revealed that Fallout 3's world would be a smaller size at around 50-80% than that of Oblivion's. A smaller world for Fallout 3 is actually befitting in the sense that interesting locales in a sparsely populated post-apocalyptic wasteland would logically be more far-in-between than that of the bustling Imperial Cyrodiil in Oblivion. Another revelation was in the voice acting department; when questioned about criticism on Oblivion's lack of voice acting, Hines replied that Fallout 3 would have "two or three times more" than that of Oblivion. Hines also declared that Ron Perlman, will reprise his narrator role as he did in the first two Fallouts. Liam Neeson has also been added to the roster doing the voice of the main character's father -- a character central to the plot of Fallout 3. There are quite a few more interesting bits in the interview, so you might want to have a read of it for yourself. [Via Kotaku]
Giant Fallout 3 Interview, plus ... vaults?
We had Mass Effect, Blue Dragon, and more last year, but other than Fable 2 what are our RPG releases for the rest of this year? Well, Fallout 3 should end up being the Oblivion of 2008 (especially considering they're from the same developer). The continuation of the post-apocalyptic dark-humor-filled isometric PC RPG of yesteryear has been in development for a while now, and is still slated for a Fall release. Bethesda's VP of Marketing, Pete Hines, sat down for a ridiculously long interview with the guys from gameplayer.com.au, and the interview is well worth reading even for folks who don't consider themselves either Fallout or Oblivion fans. And if you're either (or both!) of those then this is absolutely required reading.Keep reading the post though, and you'll hear about the vaults ....
Bethesda unveils industrial Fallout 3 concept art
As part of their ongoing development diary series, Bethesda today posted brand new Brotherhood of Steel concept art from upcoming Fallout 3 and our immediate reaction is: delicious. Fallout 3 lead designer Emil Pagliarulo goes on to describe some of the concept art and mentions the Brotherhood of Steel being a faction obsessed with and worshipers of technology. Read about the goods after the jump and take a look at the new artwork in our Fallout 3 gallery below. Oh, and Bethesda also needs QA testers for their little project. Hit that up if you qualify.%Gallery-4995%[Via Joystiq]
Bethesda calls for Fallout 3 QA testers, shows new concept art
Are you the kind of vault dweller not wanting to seek life outside your safe vault dwelling but still longing for excitement? Bethesda is hiring Quality Assurance (QA) testers for the upcoming Fallout 3. Sure, you get to play the game before anyone else, but as an added incentive, Bethesda's Ashley Cheng notes that top testers usually get pulled to be interns for the company. The developer diary for Fallout 3 has also been updated to give a profile for the Brotherhood of Steel, as well as show off some concept art for the game that you can also peruse in our gallery below. Fallout 3 is still slated for a Fall 2008 release.
WotLK is one of Yahoo!'s most anticipated games of 2008
Wrath of the Lich King made Yahoo! Games' list of 10 anticipated games in 2008. It's the only expansion on the list, and it stands proudly alongside other legendary intellectual properties like Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, Halo, Fallout, and Grand Theft Auto.It's definitely unusual for an expansion pack to make a list like this; that just goes to show you how extraordinary World of Warcraft is as a cultural phenomenon. Now if only I knew when this blasted expansion might be coming out, I could stop sitting around and fantasizing about playing as a Death Knight. No, wait ... I'd still be doing that anyway.
The Digital Continuum: Evolving past fantasy Pt.1
Over the past couple of weeks the MMO blogosphere has once again been discussing the ever-pertinent question of "Why fantasy?" in regards to the MMO and its heritage; MUDs and tabletop gaming. The subject has been covered quite well from many different points of view and opinions, none of which are inherently wrong and all of which are worth a read if the subject interests you in any way.The reasons are especially well covered in a round-table that Damion Schubert posted to Zen of Design earlier this year. Many of these reasons that materialized from the round table appear quite valid, yet I don't see eye-to-eye with these concepts. In my opinion, several of them seem arbitrary and some could be applied in opposition of fantasy. In fact, the more I read on the subject of "Why fantasy?" the more I think, "All the more reason to evolve beyond fantasy."I'm going to address the well summed-up list posted by Damion Schubert piece by piece, as it lays out the most compelling evidence for why fantasy continues to reign supreme. So if you find yourself lost on what I'm talking about, feel free to refer to the original article in question. Now, we'll take a look into this list and see just how much of it really holds up against an argument for something other than fantasy.
The Joystiq Holiday Weekend, 2007
A Pip Vault Boy Gingerbread house (of Fallout fame) is delicious and delectable, especially the blood splattered outside the front door. We bet he ate the little gingerbread people and wiped his smiling face on the pavement. Congratulations to Andy Barnes, who submitted this image to Bethesda's blog and won a Fallout 3 t-shirt. Check out the highlights for today:JoystiqueryJoystiq interview: NIS America talks PS2 love, Mana Khemia detailsToday's angriest viral video: Judd Apatow, Rock Band and backlashWeekly Webcomic Wrapup has gone fishingNewsReminder: Rez HD is a tripHD porn studio swayed to Blu-ray by PS3 ownersPatapon trailer delights some, terrorizes restNYTimes names Mass Effect game of the yearRockstar distributing through IGN's Direct2DriveSessler speaks about X-Play format shift'Safer Scotland' places anti-drunk driving ads in 360 gamesNew games this week: Santa hates you editionCriterion (cockily) responds to Burnout Paradise criticismsBlades of Steel, Donkey Kong Country 3 and Rolling Thunder 2 land on Virtual ConsoleSCEA trademarks 'Resistance 2'Nintendo, Monster Hunter score big in part one of Famitsu's end of year listRock Band Weekly: All-American Rejects, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Sounds; PS3 delayed a weekCrytek gives community Crysis map pack for ChristmasSmallville's Kristin Kreuk to play Chun Li in new Street Fighter flickLost Planet star signed to G.I. Joe filmSteam's last-minute Christmas sale: 10-50% off everythingRumors & SpeculationRumor: Indian gaming company to buy out Sony Online Entertainment for $300 million [update]Culture & CommunityHappy (Holiday Name Here) from Aperture ScienceTeam Roomba perfects the art of Team Fortress 2 griefingGet your head in the game with Wii remote VR display
Falling back to Earth
Fallen Earth is an upcoming MMO from Icarus Studios set in the year 2154, long after a plague known as the Shiva has killed off 90 percent of the world's population. Those who remain have divided into six factions (Children of the Apocalypse, Travelers, Enforcers, Techs, Vistas, and the Lightbearers) all struggle for dominance as they try to rebuild on the ashes of a fallen earth. I geek out at all things post-apocalyptic. One of my favorite flicks is The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2). My favorite book is Stephen King's The Stand. Don't even get me started on the Fallout series (so yes, I am completely geeked about Fallout 3!). And I weeped a little when Auto Assault bought the farm. Now, combine all those apocalyptic bits and pieces, roll 'em all together and you got Fallen Earth. Supposedly. Hopefully. The guys at Icarus updated the FE community a few days ago and things appear to be moving along accordingly. Seventy towns have been laid out with fifty or so functional (not polished, functional). Nearly 3,000 missions have been created and upwards of 7,500 items are locked and loaded into the database. The guys answer five burning questions (like how many weapons players have access to at one time, what recipes will be available to what factions, and so on). When is it coming out? Well, when it's done of course. For all the details check out the Fallen Earth forums.
Top 10 MIA MMOs of 2007 - part 1
In the waning weeks of December, we've already started turning our eyes towards the new year. 2008 is already showing a great deal of promise for the MMO community, with the impending release of Pirates of the Burning Sea, Wrath of the Lich King, Age of Conan, and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Though most of these titles are still a good ways away from hitting retailer shelves, we've already got a pretty good idea of what's in store, not just in terms of assets and information that's already been released, but also from hands-on impressions and beta testing. In other words, as excited as we are, there probably won't be terribly many surprises as it concerns these titles. They're practically a given.As luck would have it, those aren't the only titles we'll be drooling over next year – this much we know. There are a number of games in development out there that have shown up on our collective radar screens over the past few months, but only as tiny blips. For the most part, they still represent riddles wrapped up in mysteries with a side of question mark. We've assembled a list of the top 10 MIA MMOs - those mysterious games that represent the future of the MMO... if only we knew what they were.In the first part of this feature, we'll take a look at the first half of the list.
News of MMO "falls out" of Jason Anderson's mouth
Rumors of a Fallout MMO have been floating around for quite a while now, but in this interview over at Gamebanshee, Jason D. Anderson (of Troika fame) basically confirms that Interplay is working on an MMO-- though not necessarily one based on Fallout.Anderson says (whatever he's working on) that his enthusaism for making games has returned. And he says that while MMOs are definitely fun and have really brought the social and character advancement aspects of gameplay to the forefront, there are two things he'd really like to see advanced in MMOs: storyline and character development. Oh us too, Jason, us too. He's ready to break some molds, too-- he says competing with the monster that is WoW is not half as interesting for him as making "an awesome MMO."Whether it is a Fallout game or not, it definitely sounds like Anderson has some good ideas about what to do with his MMO and how to advance the genre a bit. Unfortunately, I don't expect we'll see what he's doing for a while, but it should be interesting to see what Anderson, an old CRPG veteran, can dream up for the MMO genre [Via Curse]
Fallout 3 Create a Perk contest winner selected, 'Grim Reaper's Sprint'
"Every time you kill an opponent, all your action points are automatically restored." So goes the description for the perk "Grim Reaper's Sprint," winner of Bethesda's Fallout 3 Create a Perk contest. The designer, Marc-André Deslongchamps of Montreal, will see his perk included in the final game as well as receive a package of PC-related prizes.The contest, announced in early October, was in honor of Fallout's 10th anniversary. Eleven runner-ups and five random entries were chosen to also receive gifts; be sure to check out their submitted perks at the contest page. We're hoping to see some of these other perks, especially Kleptomaniac, find their way into Fallout 3 in some facet.Now that we know one of the perks, anyone want to place bets on what the others will be?
Bethesda on new MMO: keep waiting!
Sometimes, as bloggers, we feel bad for game developers. They try so hard to give us straight-forward interviews on their pet projects, and all we do in return is try and get them to slip us information on another, even bigger pet project. A Blizzard producer being interviewed about Wrath of the Lich King? I'll bet you ten bucks he gets asked about their "next-gen" MMO. Cryptic employee trying to discuss the terms of their separation with NCsoft? So, how's that Marvel Universe Online going? And in the case of a recent interview with CVG, Bethesda's Peter Hines came in to talk about Fallout 3 and the first question he's asked?So is there any progression down that avenue with the franchise at the moment, with the MMO?Oy vey! Well, in case you were wondering, Mr. Hines didn't have much to say on the subject of Zenimax Online, their new online studio, beyond that because they are a start-up, it's unlikely that we're going to hear any announcements for quite some time. Well shoot, it was worth trying, right? In the mean time, we're going to be left to sit and ponder on this cool Sunday evening about what kind of game they could make if NOT an Elder Scrolls MMO.
Fallout sale to help fund Earthworm Jim, Descent comebacks
With help from money it gleaned from selling the Fallout franchise to Bethesda, Interplay intends to revitalize its in-house game development studio and "has hired a veteran game developer," according to an SEC filing. Interplay also noted that, should it be able to obtain further financing, the developer intends to "develop sequels to some of the most successful games, including Earthworm Jim, Dark Alliance, Descent and MDK." The developer also plans to continue work on a Fallout MMO. The connection to Interplay's former post-apocalyptic franchise doesn't end there; it's as interwoven into this story as the characters from LOST are to each other. The "veteran game developer," as it turns out, is former Fallout designer Jason Anderson, who worked on the first and second games before leaving with fellow Fallout devs Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky to form Troika games. Anderson is reportedly working on an MMO for Interplay unrelated to Fallout. [Via Gamasutra]
Interplay to rez Fallout MMO project, looking for funds
In an announcement that coincided with their third quarter earnings report, Interplay revealed that they were officially reopening their internal development house. What are they working on, we hear you ask? Why, wouldn't you believe it, they are looking to kick-start production of an MMOG based on none other than the revered Fallout series, to which they still own the rights. According to CEO Herve Caen, they're still in the process of securing funding. Interestingly, Interplay also announced that they've hired Jason Anderson, one of the designers for Fallout 2 -- not for the Fallout MMO, but for another as yet unannounced MMO.So what have we gleaned from this? The mysterious Bethesda MMO will definitely not be Fallout, so we can put that rumor to rest. Interplay definitely will be developing the Fallout MMO. And moreover, it appears their strategy moving forward is heavily focused in the massively multiplayer genre. With no other currently announced projects besides Fallout and the unnamed MMO, it appears Interplay is joining the long list of development houses looking to cash in on the MMO craze. To say this makes us worried about the future of the Fallout MMO is a bit of an understatement. We don't harbor much faith in Interplay's management at this point. Just look at their website, if you an indicator of their current financial straits.[Via Gamasutra]
Bethesda opens up about Fallout 3 DLC
Chatting with CVG, Bethesda's Pete Hines talks a bit about development of Fallout 3 and how downloadable content will play a roll in the game's future. In general, Hines says that the studio wants to focus all their energy on the core game, making it the best it can be and if they don't get that right then "nobody's going to want to download anything for it anyway". But Hines' attitude towards DLC isn't completely off, saying that after development wraps up on the game and bug testing kicks off, then the dev team will start looking at their Fallout 3 DLC possibilities. So, we wouldn't expect to see Fallout 3 content hitting the Marketplace the week of or weeks after release. Shucks.
Bethesda MMO studio sees substantial investment
An Elder Scrolls MMO may be closer to conception than we were previously aware, as Gamasutra reports that Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media has gotten a massive buff in cash from Providence Equity Partners to, and here we quote, "Fund future growth, ramp up publishing and development, facilitate acquisitions, and finance MMOGs." This comes on the heels of the formation of ZeniMax Online Studios, an MMOG studio formed by estranged Mythic Entertainment founder Matt Firor in Hunt Valley, MD. While our knee-jerk reaction is to assume they'll be working on an Elder Scrolls MMOG, just given the success of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, it's also worth remembering that Bethesda owns the rights to the Fallout franchise. We normally wouldn't stoop to this kind of scandalous rumor-mongering, but the announcement specifically mentions "MMOGs" in the plural. Assuming Elder Scrolls is numero uno, what else besides Fallout could they bring to the MMO genre? We know Interplay technically owns the rights to a Fallout MMO, but Bethesda just got quite a bit richer... More corporate back-patting after the jump.
NCSoft unveils Carbine, armed with former WoW, Fallout devs
MMO factory NCSoft today took the wrapping paper off of Carbine Studios, its latest developer. According to the press release, Carbine has some very apt cogs in its machinery deriving from 17 former Blizzard employees, "including lead and senior developers from the World of Warcraft team," including lead designer Kevin Beardslee, who is now the vice president of design.Additionally, former Fallout designer Tim Cain has been tapped to be the programmer director. Carbine is currently working on an unannounced MMO, according to their website. No other details have been revealed, but the team definitely has a powerhouse of employees. [Via Gamasutra]
Design a Fallout 3 perk, win notoriety and gaming gear
In celebration of Fallout's 10th anniversary, new IP owner Bethesda Softworks have opened a contest for the aspiring Vault Dweller to design their own perk to be included in the upcoming Fallout 3. The winner will also receive a bunch of gear for either PC or Console gamers (there are separate packages for each, listed on the contest page).You don't have to possess artistic talent to enter, opting instead to use one of Bethesda's 15 pre-made sketches. However, if you want to submit your own art work, photo or whatever, you're more than welcome to. Contest ends 11:59 p.m. ET on October 31.
Joystiq impressions: Fallout 3
In a dark yet comfortable mini-theatre, Bethesda executive producer Todd Howard guided us through the first 45 minutes or so of Fallout 3, played on an Xbox 360. Though a lot of what was shown and discussed was already revealed at their pre-E3 presentation late last month, but we did manage to glean new details on the title and its direction.The atmosphere of the game (and its soundtrack) is very akin to the 1950s look of the first two Fallout titles, yet as Ron Perlman explains, the nuclear destruction happens in 2077. According to Howard, we're dealing with the future as envisioned from the past ... and the future had nuclear-powered cars and apparently never changed their taste in music. (Not that we mind at all.)Comparisons to Oblivion are inevitable, so let's get those out of the way. As previously known, it does use an improved version of the Elder Scrolls game's engine, and you can really tell (for better and worse) with the animation "You can think of Oblivion as our freshman effort on next-gen platforms," said Howard. The movement was much more fluid, thanks likely to their new in-house motion capture capabilities coupled with the Havok physics engine. As many However, in this build, the facial animations (and, as later pointed out by Pete Hines, the gestures) are not at this point realistic, though the lip syncing is accurate. According to Hines, much of the development time between now and its Fall 2008 release date will be spent tweaking such things, and hopefully we'll get some moving eyebrows. Say no to avatar botox!
