Fallout
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Coming to terms with my game backlog
I used to be scared of the RPG genre. Growing up, I played plenty of video games like any other kid, but I stuck to stuff I could pick up and put down. Mario, GoldenEye, Doom. I lacked the dedication, the loyalty and the skill to tackle an intimidating dozens-of-hours role-playing adventure. And yet I would ogle screenshots in GamePro or exotic box art like on the SNES game Secret of Evermore or even just mysterious, enticing names like Chrono Trigger. The idea of these cartridges, and the fantastical little universes they contained, had a pull over me: They promised a story-based experience that's unique to the medium of the video game. Sure, I made some stabs at playing the games, but even the high-school-freshman version of me was too busy for the commitment. I had just gotten a car and a part-time job. I played sports, there were girls to date. You know, non-nerd stuff. But oh, how I longed for the nerd stuff.
Intel's RealSense camera made me the star of 'Fallout 4'
Over the holidays, I've really been putting the hours into Fallout 4. So when Intel and Uraniom said that it'd be demonstrating its RealSense 3D camera to embed people into that vault suit, I knew what I had to do. Uraniom's tech includes machine learning, geometry processing and 3D game engineering to ensure anyone that plants themselves into games (including GTA, FIFA and Skyrim) gets suitably freaked the heck out by the fluid, not-too-out-of-place results. After getting scanned by a HP tablet with RealSense cameras, the data was transferred to a work PC, where one of Uraniom's guys added trackers around my eyes and and mouth. (My fluffy Tintin hair isn't usually well-suited to 3D scanning, but the results this time are still uncanny.) Less than a minute later, I was looking slender and radiation-free in my vault suit and soon I was equipped with a jetpack powersuit and flying around a devastated Boston.
Video game tie-ins shouldn't feel 'cheap'
It used to be that if you loved a video game, your options for showing it beyond buying the cartridge or disc were pretty limited. Now there's a whole cottage industry for gaming fandom. Want a rad vinyl soundtrack for a hyper-violent indie game? Say no more. How about an evocative statue showcasing the duality of a game's strong, female protagonist? You're covered there, too.But for every one of the former, there were seemingly a dozen tasteless cash-ins. When these brand extensions are done right, we wind up with heartfelt keepsakes or ways to keep a game in our lives while we're away from the controller. But when a company blows it, you get crap like tacky game-branded mini-fridges.
Man sues Bethesda over his 'Fallout 4' addiction
There's little doubt that Fallout 4's gameplay is involving when you can spend dozens of hours on the main storyline alone. However, one Russian man is convinced that it's too involving. RT says that he's suing Bethesda for 500,000 rubles ($7,030) for failing to warn that Fallout 4 would "become so addictive." Supposedly, the man went on a 3-week gaming marathon that cost him his health, job and wife. Had he known how alluring it was, he says, he would have either waited until the holidays to buy the game or avoided it entirely. We've reached out to Bethesda to both confirm the lawsuit and get its take on the claims.
The best stories in 'Fallout 4' are the ones you can't spoil
A few weeks ago, a malicious person created a new user account on Engadget (a time-consuming process in its own right) and dropped a massive pair of Fallout 4 spoilers in the comments of my Pip-Boy edition write-up. Why? Because some people just want to destroy the fun of others. I absentmindedly read these "comments" and was bummed out because I thought the game I'd been waiting for since 2009 had been ruined. As it turns out, that wasn't the case.
Someone made a giant Rubik's Cube in 'Fallout 4'
It seems there are two types of Fallout 4 gamers: those who want to do nothing but take out bad guys, and a very patient few who painstakingly create some incredible stuff. Case in point, this giant floating Rubik's Cube. User "Theowest" spent a whopping 25 hours gathering and assembling 128 generators, 36 terminals and thousands of wires to create this neon behemoth, but we're not entirely sure whether or not it's a cube that can be "solved." It seems to be missing a top and bottom panel and each square is able to change color. So if you're not a gamer who would make anything like this, then take a second to appreciate its complexity -- right before you get back to kicking bad guy butt.
The freedom to explore most open-world games is a lie
Open-world games aren't going away anytime soon, but more often than not when we play them we're being led around by a breadcrumb trail instead of actually exploring. Sometimes even quite literally. The reasoning for that is because it's much easier for game developers to stick a mini-map or quest directions in the heads up display than it is to integrate means of navigation into the game world itself. It's a topic YouTuber Mark Brown knows well and he's taking it for a spin in developer Bethesda Softworks' sprawling Fallout 4. In his latest entry into his Game Maker's Toolkit series he explains why he's turning off the quest markers in Fallout's irradiated Boston and trying to let his nose lead the way, so to speak.
Fallout 4's greatest asset is its color palette
Of all the ways Fallout 4 outshines earlier entires in the series, the way it uses color is perhaps the most apparent. The game is a vast improvement over its predecessors in one simple way: It's loads more vibrant. In 2008's Fallout 3, nearly everything in the post-nuclear apocalyptic Washington D.C. was a sickly shade of green, a deliberate choice by the developers at Bethesda Softworks to sell an omnipresent feeling of sickness and decay (it still persists in certain places here). B-team developer Obsidian Entertainment's Fallout: New Vegas introduced a bit of chroma to its irradiated Las Vegas landscape in 2010, but it was still primarily a brown game. Bethesda's triumphant return to the Wastes is what shakes the series' palette up the most. As you'll see in the gallery below, the use of vibrant colors and a tightly defined palette serves a couple of purposes here: It differentiates one room or Boston-area landmark from the next and keeps everything in Fallout 4 looking visually fresh.
Playdate: We're giving away the 'Fallout 4' Pip-Boy Edition!
The Fallout 4 Pip-Boy Edition proved insanely popular, so much so that developer/publisher Bethesda Softworks had to apologize when it couldn't meet demand for the plastic wrist-computer. You know who isn't saying sorry? Us at Engadget. That's because we're giving away the PlayStation 4 premium edition of this fall's most anticipated game during our Twitch broadcast today. All you need to do is hit the contest widget after the break. Join Sean Buckley and myself as we stream two hours of irradiated galavanting around the Boston Commonwealth starting at 6PM Eastern / 3PM Pacific. Sean's playing the PC version and you can watch us here on this very post, the Engadget Gaming homepage, or Twitch.tv/Joystiq if you'd like to participate in chat. How many hijinks will we get into? You'll just have to tune in and find out. So go grab a Nuka Cola Quantum and settle in. Oh, and good luck! Winner: Congratulations to Onelson G. of Brooklyn, NY!
Fallout 4's Pip-Boy is a glorified smartphone case
"The Pip-Boy is an important part of Fallout and we love it so much we made a real one." Those words, delivered by game director Todd Howard at developer Bethesda Softworks' first-ever E3 media briefing this year, triggered cheers around the world. And thus, the Fallout 4 Pip-Boy Edition was born: a $120 special edition peripheral bundled with Fallout 4 that aims to mimic the game's wrist-bound menu and stat-tracking system. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the premium version of the game proved insanely popular, prompting Bethesda to apologize when it couldn't make any more units to meet demand. Not bad for a rather awkward looking piece of light brown plastic that sits on your arm and holds your cellphone. But is it actually worth the hype and high price?
The 'Fallout 4' launch trailer has robots, beasts, mutants and more
Fallout 4 is poised to be a massive game (even by Fallout standards) and today's three-minute launch trailer really drives that point home. You want a city of giant, horned, Doom-like monsters? Check. Do you want to build a base? Yep. Is it your dream to be in a post-apocalyptic gang with an android? Got it. Do you love friendly dogs? Oh yes, there's a friendly dog. Fallout 4 launches on November 10th across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC (with DLC incoming).
The 'Fallout 4' Pip-Boy app is available right now
Attention future Commonwealth explorers: The Fallout 4 Pip-Boy app is available for you to download. Unlike the gap between the release of Fallout Shelter on Android and iOS, both versions are available right this very moment. More than just acting as a mobile menu setup, you can play any holotape games you find in Fallout 4 within the app (with what sounds like a version of Missile Command built in). Sounds cool, right? Well, now you've got another something to keep you busy until November 10th -- even if you have an oversized phone. Update: A Windows Phone version has been promised, but as of this writing hasn't gone live yet.
Nuka-Cola Quantum available in time for 'Fallout 4'
No one really knows what's in those bottles of Fallout Beer, but they likely won't hit US shores. What will however is Nuka-Cola Quantum. The folks at Fallout developer Bethesda have teamed up with the purveyors of funky fizzy drinks, Jones Soda, to put the "irradiated" refreshment on Target shelves just in time for Fallout 4's launch. Come November 10th, you'll be able to start slugging down what looks like the company's Berry Lemonade (a picture's embedded after the break) in preparation for what we're affectionately calling "Vault Day" here at Engadget. You know, what everyone else is referring to as November 10th, a.k.a. Fallout 4's release date.
Fallout Beer is a real thing
Miss out on the special edition of Fallout 4? You know, the one that comes with a real-life, smartphone-enabled Pip-Boy? Never mind, you can always drown your sorrows with some Fallout Beer instead. That is, if you live in the UK anyway. Developer Bethesda has teamed up with Carlsberg for the promotional beverage, which it says is inspired by Vault-Tec Industries and the rest of the post-apocalyptic game franchise. A 12-pack will set you back £29.99 on Amazon, with delivery expected around November 5th. Fallout 4 arrives five days later, meaning you should have the perfect brew ready for your inaugural adventure in Boston. Bethesda describes it as a "pilsner lager, with a refreshing zesty hoppy taste and a floral aroma" -- we'll let you decide if that's better than an ice-cold Nuka-Cola.
$30 'Fallout 4' season pass guarantees all add-on packs
A real-life Pip-Boy might be painfully out of reach, but Fallout 4 developer Bethesda has something else that might make up for it: a season pass for add-on content that actually sounds like a hellacious deal. Bethesda admits that it doesn't even know what future packs will look like, but says that they'll start hitting early next year. Thirty bucks for "all of the DLC we [Bethesda] ever do" sounds like a great idea, though. Almost every piece of post-launch content for Fallout 3 fundamentally changed how the game played in pretty significant ways, be it turning the role-playing game into an objective-based affair with "Operation: Anchorage," a survival horror romp in "Point Lookout" or "Mothership Zeta's" corridor-shooter sensibilities, so there's precedent for some neat stuff coming down the pike.
'Fallout 4' won't support user mods this fall
One of the biggest surprises from E3 this year was that Fallout 4 would support user mods across PC and Xbox One. That's still in the cards, but it definitely won't happen at launch. Of course, that's because the tools that'd allow you to, say, replace the game's fearsome bear-like enemies the Yao Guai with 3D models of Yogi the Bear don't exist yet according to IGN. Publisher Bethesda Softworks' vice president of marketing Pete Hines says that the team's focus is on making sure the game ships on time. "Our entire focus is on finishing the game," he said. "Nobody cares about mods if the game sucks." Concise! Once Fallout 4 proper is done (and the team likely takes a bit of a break), work on The Creation Kit will begin; it'll take "clearly into next year," according to Hines.
Free mobile game 'Fallout Shelter' hits Android in August
Fallout Shelter is a nifty little mobile game that puts you in charge of your very own post-apocalyptic Vault in the Fallout universe. It's your job to make sure the Vault Dwellers are as happy, healthy and protected as possible -- which is sometimes trickier than it sounds. Fallout Shelter launched for iOS on June 14th directly after Bethesda's E3 2015 conference, and now we know when it's coming to Android devices: August 13th.
Bethesda's 'Fallout Anthology' collection comes in a mini nuke case
If you're a big fan of Bethesda's Fallout franchise, or you just like collecting things, you'll soon be able to nab a nuke. Not a real one, of course, but a miniature bomb case (complete with sound!) that houses all of the Fallout titles for PC that have been released to date. This means that you'll get Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. You may have noticed that the upcoming Fallout 4 isn't on that list, which you'll have to purchase separately when it arrives in November. The Fallout Anthology collection actually arrives before the new title -- September 29th in North American and October 2nd in Europe. There's an empty slot for the new game to join the rest, though, and the set offers a refresher before Fallout 4 is released with a few extras of its own. Bethesda didn't mention a price in its blog post, but Best Buy has a pre-order page up with the set listed for $50.
The iPhone 6 Plus won't fit Fallout 4's Pip-Boy (and I'm sad)
Thanks a lot, Bethesda. After the outfit's first E3 media briefing, I pre-ordered the Pip-Boy Edition of Fallout 4 because of course I want to put a real-life version of the game's stat-tracker and menu system on my forearm. All good, right? Well, I'm also in the market for a new phone and was eyeing an iPhone 6 Plus because it has a better camera and battery life compared to its smaller sibling, the iPhone 6. That's where the problems arise: Bethesda recently announced that the real-world Pip-Boy comes with foam inserts that fit the iPhone 4 and 4s, 5 and 5s and the 6 in addition to the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5. The company also promises a customizable foam insert that'll accommodate "most other popular" handsets.
Your 'Fallout 4' PC mods will work fine on the Xbox One, too
Take a quick tour of YouTube and it'll become clear that PC gamers get to have more utterly ridiculous fun since their games are so much easier to mod. Wanna fire cars out of a gun? Simple. How about turning Skyrim's dragons into monstrous, angry former wrestlers? You get we're going with this (and that video is definitely worth a watch). Anyway, Bethesda is working on bridging that cross-platform insanity gap with the upcoming release of Fallout 4 — director Todd Howard just confirmed that mods made for the PC version of the game can be "transferred, played and shared for free" on the Xbox One.
