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Fallout: New Vegas pre-order DLC errors explained
Due to the PlayStation Network's update schedule, folks who bought Fallout: New Vegas for the PS3 may have experienced "error 80023156" while attempting to download bonus DLC yesterday. If you lost your cool and emailed us about it, here's your answer. Bethesda's Pete Hines explains, "That is the error you get when you try to enter a code too many times (unsuccessfully). Most likely because they were entering the code yesterday before the packs were live on PSN. The user just needs to wait 24 hours and enter it again. Once you download the content it will work with any existing save game." The PSN needs to update on Tuesday before content becomes available. In the case of pre-order DLC bonuses for newly released games, it's best to wait until the update occurs on launch day and then try using the code you received. [Thanks, Arthur]
Metareview: Fallout: New Vegas
You've already had time to sup on our opinions on Fallout: New Vegas, but we imagine you must be hungry for more, like a lost courier in the Mojave who's been attacked and left for dead. Actually, you know what? That's, like, exactly how this game starts. Weird, huh? Anyway, let's satiate that appetite for words you've got going, shall we? Eurogamer (90/100): "Obsidian has created a totally compelling world and its frustrations pale into insignificance compared to the immersive, obsessive experience on offer. Just like the scorched scenery that provides its epic backdrop, New Vegas is huge and sprawling, sometimes gaudy, even downright ugly at times – but always effortlessly, shamelessly entertaining." GamePro (90/100): "This laundry list of complaints might seem like a game breaker, but that I could suffer through them repeatedly during my marathon New Vegas weekend and still walk away feeling not only satisfied but hungry for more says something about the power of the formula that Bethesda has crafted." IGN (85/100): "In New Vegas, the fun Fallout 3 formula is intact, with more polished combat, high-quality side missions, and the exciting setting of the Vegas strip. Unfortunately, the bugs also tagged along for the ride." Game Informer (85/100): "Gamers should expect more of the same from this follow-up. If Fallout 3 holds a place among your top 10 games of this generation like it does for me, another rewarding 200-plus hours of survival awaits you." PC Gamer (84/100): "More wasteland to wander. New Vegas is good, but the failure to move the series on makes it feel a tiny bit stale." Giant Bomb (80/100): "It's not a surprise that Fallout: New Vegas sticks closely to Fallout 3's structure and style. But if it weren't for the game's way-too-long list of technical issues, New Vegas would actually be better than its predecessor. Instead, it's a well-written game with so many issues that some of you might want to take a pass, at least until some of this nonsense gets fixed." %Gallery-87609%
Fallout: New Vegas dev diary takes us on a tour of 'The Strip'
Unlike a lot of the landmarks in Fallout 3, the Vegas strip in Fallout: New Vegas mostly survived the apocalyptic meltdown of America in tact. Sure, the roads are a bit scarred and the buildings could use some paint, but it's all there. Vegas, baby!
Fallout: New Vegas developer diary is choosing sides
Man, deciding who to support was pretty easy in Fallout 3. The hardest decision you had to make was "do I want to blow up this entire village or not?" If the developer diary for Fallout: New Vegas below is any indication, these decisions are going to be a little ... thornier this time around.
Direct2Drive offers Fallout: New Vegas collector's edition
Direct2Drive is pushing an awfully hard bargain to nab your business -- provided you're planning on purchasing Bethesda's upcoming apocalyptic RPG, Fallout: New Vegas. The digital retailer is offering pre-orders on an exclusive "Digital Collector's Edition," which includes a 48-page digital graphic novel titled "All Roads." The comic, created in conjunction with Dark Horse Comics and penned by Bethesda's Chris Avellone, tells the backstory of the town of New Vegas, and sets up the plot of the upcoming game. If digital comics aren't your thing, pre-orders of the Collector's Edition also come with the "Tribal Pack" -- a DLC pack which adds a handful of relatively primitive weapons to your arsenal, including a machete, doses of venom and throwing spears. Those sound ... nice. Just fine. We're going to stick with our gun that shoots mini nuclear warheads, though. But thanks, all the same!
Fallout: New Vegas dev diary is all about the tech and sound
We were about to comment on the aesthetics of 1950s technology, as examined in this new Fallout: New Vegas dev diary, but then we saw the machine gun that shoots grenades. Seriously -- it's a machine gun that just happens to shoot grenades.
Bethesda reveals Fallout: New Vegas companions
Bethesda rep Matt Grandstaff notes in a spoilery PS blog post that Fallout: New Vegas' version of the wasteland is "a dangerous and desolate place." Like Fallout 3, New Vegas is filled with companions to help you endure the journey. You can find their images past the break and more info here.
Dungeon Siege 3 gameplay footage lays siege to your eyes
We got a first look at Obsidian's upcoming third Dungeon Siege title back at E3 -- and even caught a glimpse of its CGI teaser shortly thereafter -- but, up until now, we hadn't been able to show it to you in motion. Y'know, actual gameplay. That's just what you'll find after the break. As for the video's content, we're compelled to relay that it looks awfully JRPG-influenced to us, in addition to being extremely lush and heavy on the flowing bits of fabric on characters' costumes. Other than that, well, have you seen Torchlight or Diablo? If the answer's "yes," you've got a good idea of what to expect.
Fallout: New Vegas comic previewed on iTunes
A 12-page preview of the Fallout: New Vegas - All Roads comic is now available on iTunes, but if you end up liking what you read don't expect to buy the full thing off of Apple's virtual store shelf. The graphic novel is a prologue to events in the game and is "exclusive" to the Fallout: New Vegas Collector's Edition. The un-interactive text adventure is published by Dark Horse Comics and written by New Vegas' senior designer, Chris Avellone. The comic also apparently gives "clues to in-game missions for the sharp-eyed reader." Now we totally want Where's Waldo: Fallout Edition.
Fallout: New Vegas brings back Ron Perlman
War. War never changes ... and neither will the narrator for the intro to the next Fallout game, either! Ron Perlman has been tapped to do the voice work on Fallout: New Vegas' introductory cinematic, once again regaling us with the tale of post-apocalyptic America and introducing us to the game's main character: you. For the sake of potential spoilerz, we're going to go ahead an embed the audio past the break. Oh, and sorry non-Americans -- you likely won't be able to access the player.
Wayne Newton, Felicia Day lending voices to Fallout: New Vegas
Narrators. Narrators never change. Yes, of course Ron Perlman will be featured in Fallout: New Vegas, but you might be interested in hearing about the cadre of other famous folks lending their voices to the forthcoming Obsidian-developed RPG. Wayne Newton will play radio DJ "Mr. New Vegas," while Matthew Perry will voice "Benny, the head of the Geckos family." Felicia Day is handling the voice of "Veronica, a sarcastic Brotherhood of Steel scribe." In addition, From Dusk 'Til Dawn favorite Danny Trejo will give his gravitas to "a third playable companion," hilariously named "Raul the Ghoul." Kris Kristofferson, Michael Dorn, William Sadler, John Doman, and Rene Auberjonois make up the rest of the star-studded list. We're not quite sure which one is the biggest celebrity -- and thus can't predict which character will disappear after the first ten minutes. It was so much easier when we were dealing with Liam Neeson and Patrick Stewart!
Alpha Protocol sequel denied, low sales to blame
Sega West president Mike Hayes has stated that the espionage RPG, Alpha Protocol, won't be receiving a sequel. In an interview with CVG, the executive plainly expressed, "Let's speak very commercially; the game hasn't sold what we've expected, therefore we won't be doing a sequel." He continued that the game didn't have enough to get into that "upper echelon" of RPGs, because the amount "you need to invest to get there is so large because RPGs are naturally big projects." The Obsidian-developed game suffered numerous delays, alleged tweaks and eventually launched this year to middling reviews (across the industry). It seems Alpha Protocol will have a future akin to that other oft-overlooked espionage classic: Leonard Part 6.
Obsidian leads talk about their favorite Square Enix franchise
In a recent interview with Siliconera, Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart and lead designer Nathan Chapman pondered which of Square Enix's other RPG franchises they'd like to get their hands on post-Dungeon Siege 3. Their decision was unanimous: "If I could come across everything that I played I would have to go with Chrono Trigger," Urquhart explained. "I think Chrono Trigger was one I really enjoyed." "I think we're going with Chrono Trigger because it has elements of a Western RPG," Chapman added. "It's more open, it's still mostly linear, but there are parts you can explore more." Yeah, we guess that's a good reason to go with Chrono Trigger. You know what's another good reason to go with Chrono Trigger? How about because Chrono Trigger is the best game ever made, and every video game developer in the world secretly wants to work on the next Chrono Trigger. We think that's a pretty good reason, too.
Preview: Fallout: New Vegas
The chance to play Fallout: New Vegas has been hard to come by -- we've seen it in action before, but it wasn't until a little while back at a pre-E3 event that I was able to finally grab a controller and explore Obsidian's take on the streets and surroundings of a post-apocalyptic Sin City. But it turns out, as I wandered into the dingy casinos and off into the desert for a few quests, that I had already played the game anyway, back when it was called Fallout 3. %Gallery-87609%
Fallout: New Vegas vaporizing mutants on Oct 19 in US, Oct 22 in EU
What more do we need to say? We'll be heading back into the future '50s world of Fallout, sculpted by Obsidian, on October 19 in the US and October 22 in Europe. In case you hadn't already seen in the recently released E3 trailer, the Las Vegas ... er, New Vegas setting is positively packed to the gills with seedy characters. So it's a lot regular ol' Vegas then, but with more Geiger counters.
Fallout: New Vegas gets retailer-specific pre-order items
Click image for a rundown of the pre-order bonuses Anxious to wade through the wastelands of Fallout: New Vegas this fall? It's already got a plethora of pre-order bonuses available through select retailers. Walmart, Best Buy, GameStop, Amazon and Steam are all vying for your pre-purchase dollars through custom in-game bundles, featuring armor, guns and some useful items. Head past the break for a description of each and check out the gallery below for shots of the bonuses in-game. Enjoy your additional decision-making process! %Gallery-94870%
Metareview: Alpha Protocol
While we may have found Alpha Protocol to be a "technical nightmare," it doesn't mean we should all just close the book on it. No, other outlets surely have opinions on Obsidian Entertainment's "Espionage RPG" and we'd be remiss if we didn't bring them into the discussion. Let's get to it! CVG (8.4/10): "Alpha Protocol's a technical turkey but it's also a gripping, innovative and deserving of both success and a sequel. It might look like a dog, but dig deep and you're in for an undercover treat - it's a stonking feeling when a game we were expecting to stink turns out to be a revelation. If you've any interest in RPGs that also deliver explosive action, don't let this double agent slip through the net." Eurogamer (7/10): "Like Worcester Sauce, Alpha Protocol's separate ingredients might be slightly unappetising, but they come together in a quietly effective manner. Unlike Worcester Sauce, it will certainly frustrate you more than it should, and in between the deathlike character models and bizarre misapplications of things like depth of field effects, it will struggle to convince you the team had enough time to finish it up." Videogamer (6/10): "Despite its myriad of shortcomings there's a moderate amount of fun to be had with Alpha Protocol. It's a game that's more enjoyable than it probably should be, a game that's better than the sum of its parts. There's a lot of potential hiding under the flawed shell, and although Obsidian has failed to coax it out this time around, I hope somebody does the concept justice in the future." Destructoid (2/10): "Alpha Protocol, to its slim credit, has its basis in noble and ambitious ideas, and those ideas are even well executed on the whole. However, while the ambitious stuff hits the mark, the bog standard gameplay has suffered beyond measure. You can build the most magnificent castle in the world, but if the foundations are made out of wet feces, everything's going to crumble and fall apart before your very eyes. Alpha Protocol is a castle that's collapsed in crap. Proof that even the most accomplished of visions are worthless if the fundamentals aren't in place." %Gallery-19776%
For every Alpha Protocol video, there's a Joystiq post
Being a spy means being versatile. Sometimes you have to scrap the plan and just wing it. Believe us, we know all about that. This latest Alpha Protocol trailer embodies the importance of impromptu solutions to unexpected problems. It shows us that for every ambush, there's an escape; for every system, there's an override; and for every chicken nugget, there's an appropriate dipping sauce. Okay, we contributed that last nugget of wisdom, but that doesn't make it any less sage! Alpha Protocol launches on June 1 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
Alpha Protocol's Michael Thorton goes globetrotting in latest trailer
When he's not busy being formally introduced or eloquently headslamming foes, Alpha Protocol's Michael Thorton is hopping on planes, trains, and automobiles around the globe. In the game's latest trailer (found after the break), Thorton travels to exotic locales the world over ... and kills people! He's a lot like that James Bond fella, but without the namby pamby English accent getting in the way (we kid, Brits!). AP is due to hit retailers in under two weeks -- just enough time for Thorton to tour the globe three or four more times. We'll be watching our backs just in case he stops by.
The Fallout: New Vegas box art is stoic
We struggle to find anything else to say about the Fallout: New Vegas boxart that's been revealed via the Bethesda Blog. Depicting a single New California Republic Ranger standing alone (you know, the guy from the first trailer?), he wields his pistol, presumably ready for any ne'er-do-wells lurking. Or maybe he's just showing his gun to us? We can't imagine it's very impressive, what with all the sand in the post-apocalyptic desert. Of course, if the regular edition of the game doesn't do it for you, don't forget there's a collector's edition you can snag for $79.99 on PS3 and Xbox and $69.99 on PC -- or about 7,162 bottle caps.* *Note: Please don't mail bottle caps to Bethesda.
