Fallout: New Vegas looks a lot like Fallout 3. This insight and more, right here on CrunchGear!

Long before Fallout 3 there was Fallout 2. And before that, Fallout. Interplay made the two first games, while Bethesda made the third one under some sort of licensing deal that would allow Interplay to create new Fallout games not connected to Fallout 3. Then Bethesda sued Interplay, which puts a game it was working on, a Fallout MMO, in jeopardy. These are screenshots of that game, to be used as evidence during the legal proceedings.

I’d hate to be a cynic and call it Fallout 3 With Grinding, but it certainly is reminiscent of Fallout 3, no? Granted, the Super Mutant looks a little different, a little more pastel, but yeah.

I’d play it. A Wasteland MMO could be a nice change of pace from Night Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs.

Gamer and writer Alexander Gambotto-Burke has written about his descent into madness, and how purely visceral and difficult it is to play a psychopath. He talks about wandering the streets of Megaton using a sledgehammer like a slaughterhouse worker, killing the residents in their sleep. The interesting part is that he starts to really feel bad about it.

If you do decide the read the article, be aware that there are some spoilers for Fallout 3 inside (a few major plot points in fact) and it’s a bit graphic about the killing. This is of course in the spirit of the game (exploding heads and the like) but just consider this a warning.

He’s on part two of his article; part one is still available here. They definitely make for a good read as you go through what is essentially a walkthrough into ultra-violence.

Ladies and gentlemen! Fallout 3 can be yours this weekend for $25 on Steam. That’s a full 50 percent off the regular price. And if you have an extra couple of dollars to spend, may I recommend the two most recent expansion packs, Broken Steel and Point Lookout? I mean, what else are you going to do this weekend, celebrate the birth of your country by lighting dumb fireworks or something? Nope. Spend all day in front of an LCD monitor, I say. USA, USA!

Man, how did we miss this yesterday? Well, if you didn’t already know, all those Fallout 3 DLCs will be coming to the PS3 this year, with the first one, Operation: Anchorage, debuting in late June. The other two will be released thereafter, most likely at 4-6 week intervals.

That’s not all! There’s two more DLCs on the way, too: Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta.

So, if you were to add the price of the game and all the announced DLCs, he total cost of Fallout 3 creeps up to $110 ($60 for the game, plus $50 for the DLCs). Of course, no one’s forcing you to buy the DLCs, but if you do…

Or, you can buy the Game of the Year edition, which will include all five expansion packs for $59.

Well, at least Bethesda isn’t forgetting you PS3 owners!

Also, if you want to read a tome about the meaning of the word “exclusive” vis-à-vis video games—the DLCs were supposed to be PC and Xbox 360 “exclusive”—, hit up Kotaku; it’s a scream.

Looks like Broken Steel, the latest expansion pack (“DLC” in newspeak) for Fallout 3, is giving both PC and Xbox 360 gamers a whole host of problems. PC gamers have reported receiving a cryptic error message when trying to install the game; Bethesda blames a Games For Windows DRM-related glitch for the problem. (I wonder if the pirated copies are affected by this glitch? Good idea, subjecting your paying customers to a worse experience. You’re almost better off downloading the game from wherever, then sending Bethesda a personal check in the mail.) Another notch in DRM’s belt!

Xbox 360 owners also have been experiencing some problems. You can’t talk to one of the main characters (who more or less starts the expansion content for you), and Achievements haven’t been “taking,” as it were.

Oh, how we long for the old days, when an expansion pack meant nothing more than shin, new armor for your horse.

Here lies the Fallout 3: Broken Steel trailer. The expansion comes out tomorrow on Xbox Live and Games For Windows Live. It’ll cost 800 Microsoft points. It raises the level cap from 20 to 30, and it somehow fiddles with the game’s ending. That is all.

Yet another Fallout 3 DLC is coming our way. Available on May 5 for the PC and Xbox 360, Broken Steel takes place on Andrews Air Force Base, just outside the DC Wasteland proper. The level cap is being raised to 30, and there’ll be more guns, perks, enemies, etc. About what you’d expect, in other words.

Broken Steel also apparently removes the game’s ending, or doesn’t have an ending, something about an ending. I say apparently because I’ve yet to finish the original Fallout 3; I haven’t downloaded any DLC yet. (I spent 90 minutes last night getting the stupid T-51b Power Armor, only to discover that I needed special training in order to equip it. What a load of garbage. I’m not made of time, Bethesda, and 90 minutes playing the game for me might as well be 90 hours.) The DLC clocks in at around five hours of gameplay, plus bonus quests.

Observation: Playing Fallout 3 is like going to a job you hate—you do it because you have it.

The Almighty Dollar strikes again, with word that Bethesda is none too pleased with Interplay’s progress on a Fallout MMO. Interplay sold the rights to Fallout to Bethesda a few years ago, and those rights included everything except an MMO. Hence, Fallout 3. But! Now Bethesda, seeing so many dollar signs, is asking Interplay what’s up with its supposed MMO. Translation: Hey, Interplay, if you don’t make that Fallout: The MMO, we’ll gladly do it, and get mad money in the process.

Please note that no actions have been taken just yet. It’s more a shot across the bow more than anything.

Bethesda doesn’t like how Interplay hasn’t secured sufficient funding for the MMO, and that full-scale development didn’t by the previously agreed upon April 4, 2009 date.

It’s basically two companies acting like babies. “Hey, you’re not properly exploiting the license! We could be making money here!”

And how long till someone develops a video game based on those Somali pirates? I bet it’ll be an action RPG à la Kingdom Hearts.

How many times can you tease Sony about the state of the PS3 before you become bored? The news that Bethesda won’t be developing DLC for the PS3 version of Fallout 3 has prompted me to ask this Very Important question.

So, Bethesda told MTV Multiplayer the other day, when the rest of us were too busy contemplating the post-Microsoft world, that it wasn’t considering PS3 DLC. Then, Silicon Alley Insider, predictably, used the opportunity to do one of its famous, “Wow, look how poor Sony is doing” posts. I mean, we get; Sony has seen better days. What good does writing the same story over and over again do?

Am I supposed to believe that developers are simply going to stop developing for the PS3, when development costs an arm and a leg? “You know, developing This Game cost a whole heck of a lot of money, but let’s not release it for the PS3 (and help recoup some of that cost) because we’re partisan.” I mean, really!

/childish rant

Photo: Flickr

3D movie technology, as it stands, is a load of go-nowhere rubbish. If Hollywood thinks that the tech will convince moviegoers to leave the comfort of their homes, filled with HDTVs and Blu-ray (or upscaled DVDs), it’s got another thing coming.

Basically, Hollywood recognizes that home entertainment options—HDTV, Blu-ray, streaming Netflix, playing Fallout 3 in 1080p with a Dolby Digital setup, etc.—are just as satisfying as going to the movie theater; some would say that home entertainment is MUCH better than going to the movie theater. (Hah! You want me to leave my warm house, drive/subway to the theater that has uncomfortable, non-stadium seats, sticky floors, loud teenagers who are more interesting in texting their friends that watching the movie? Sure, that’ll happen.) So, in order to save the theater business Hollywood has turned to 3D, investing millions of dollars with the hope that it’ll get John and Jane Doe out of the house. It hasn’t, and it won’t.

Neither the movie studios nor the movie theaters want to pay for the upgrades. (It costs about $100,000 to upgrade the standard movie theater to a 3D one.) To pay for this amazing moviegoing experience, theaters will charge a premium for the ticket, as much as $25. (Oh, sure, a family of four is gonna spend $100+ to see a two-hour cartoon.) Never mind that 3D can be described as nothing more than a gimmick, and one that Scott here, who recently saw Bolt in 3D, adds “nothing to the show.”

All this to say, no, Hollywood, not too many people are going to spend $arm and $leg to see your terrible films in “3D.” We got mouths to feed; besides, “24” is back on TV, and it’s broadcast in high-def. Looks great on the big, shiny LCD in the living room.

Oooh, a collector’s edition! Today only, Amazon.com is selling the Xbox 360 Fallout 3 Collector’s Edition for $49.98 with free shipping. What do you get for being such an adamant collector, besides the game itself? Things!

• Enjoy your very own Vault Boy collectors item direct from Vault-Tec
• Includes The Art of Fallout 3 hardcover book of exclusive concept art and commentary
• Special DVD The Making of Fallout 3 included for a behind the scenes look at the creative team
• Includes fully customized metal Vault-Tec lunch box
• Receive these collector edition items with the game Fallout 3

All this for a penny less than the standard version of the game. Nee-haw!

Fallout 3 [Amazon.com]

With any luck, they’ll make a few dungeons that are actually challenging. On normal difficulty (I know…) I ended the game with about 80 stimpacks and at least 20 mini-nukes unused. At that point, I could decapitate a super mutant brute with a single shot. Come on!

Get the G.E.C.K. here and check the modding wiki before you break your game.

Yahtzee seems to be not too opinionated on Oblivion with Guns, which I believe means he loved it. I’ve just embarked on the main quest after getting the best unique weapons and armor on the entire map, and the game just got really easy.

I guess technically they’ve shipped an infinite number of copies to Steam, but quoting their shipping levels as “literally immeasurable” may be considered fiscally dishonest.

Yes, yes, there are some other little differences in the way things work, but really both games are just the same thing painted different colors. Not that there’s anything wrong with that; the formula works, it just won’t do to call it anything other than what it is.

The solution? Get that sucker on Steam. I did. No disc, no worries, and it doesn’t seem to have any trouble living next to my Daemon Tools, either. Clicky there –>

The risks associated with digital distribution are all but eliminated at this point, while the difficulty of using discs becomes greater and greater. Like Blu-Ray, boxed copies are going the way of the dodo. It’s too much effort to go kicking and screaming so I’m just going to go limp.
[thanks for the tip, Matt]

It’s been a ridiculously long time since Fallout 2 hit the scene (10 years ago) and available today is Bethesda’s much hyped and highly anticipated RPG Fallout 3. Thousands of retailers stayed open into the early morning last night to quench gamers thirsts for destruction and gore. Some folks in DC didn’t take too kindly to the ads because they depicted our nation’s capital in a decrepit and post-apocalyptic nature. To them I say, “get over it.” The game takes place in 2277 and it’s just, you know, a game! NYC keeps getting bombed and terrorized in movies, but you don’t see the residents of this fine city bitching and moaning about it.

On a related note, game trailers have been pulled from multiple sites for not complying with ESRB guidelines.

In connection with ESRB’s advertising guidelines, you are instructed to remove immediately any of our Fallout 3 trailers from your website, pending further notice.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Pete

What a bunch of babies. Oh, you won’t be able to shoot babies/kids in Fallout 3 either because of the M-rating, says Emil Pagliarulo.

Fallout 3 is an M-rated game—made for adults. Its violence is over-the-top and has been a central focus of not only our game, but the entire franchise. This is a series that in previous installments allowed players to kill children, right? When Bethesda first started developing Fallout 3, we had early conversations about whether you’re going to be able to blow the kids’ heads off . (Let’s be clear, with the ESRB’s rating system, that’s not something that would fly anyway.)

And here comes the struggle again: At the end of the day, I feel like I’m an adult and I’m conscious of my buying decisions. I’m not making a game for an eight-year-old; I’m making a game for a 38-year-old like me, so I’m okay with the content. It’s really tough for me because I am an adult who likes to play M-rated games, and so are many of the people reading this article, as well as many of those who’ve been following the development of Fallout 3 since day one.

Maybe it’s arrogant to think this way, but damn it, it’s my god-given right to blow guys’ heads off if I want to in my videogames!

Cheers to that, Emil!

Who played Fallout and/or Fallout 2 on the PC? Are you getting Fallout 3?

Fallout 3 for the Xbox 360 has leaked onto the Internet, and it’s available on all the big BitTorrent sites, Usenet, etc. You’ll needed a modded console to play it, obviously.

The 6.52GB file leaked sometime yesterday, only a few days after the game went gold.

I would say this is the second biggest leak of the year—Grand Theft Auto IV‘s leak, I think, was a “bigger” event.

Bethesda, the game’s developer, has yet to release an official comment.

The game is scheduled for release on October 31 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

From the FAQ:

What are the PC system requirements?

Minimum System Requirements:

* Windows XP/Vista
* 1GB System RAM (XP)/ 2GB System RAM (Vista)
* 2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
* Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 256MB RAM (NVIDIA 6800 or better/ATI X850 or better)

Recommended System Requirements:

* Intel Core 2 Duo processor
* 2 GB System RAM
* NvidiaDirect X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA 8800 series, ATI 3800 series)
* Supported Video Card Chipsets:

o NVIDIA GeForce 200 series
o NVIDIA Geforce 9800 series
o NVIDIA Geforce 9600 series
o NVIDIA Geforce 8800 series
o NVIDIA Geforce 8600 series
o NVIDIA Geforce 8500 series
o NVIDIA Geforce 8400 series
o NVIDIA Geforce 7900 series
o NVIDIA Geforce 7800 series
o NVIDIA Geforce 7600 series
o NVIDIA Geforce 7300 series
o NVIDIA GeForce 6800 series
o ATI HD 4800 series
o ATI HD 4600 series
o ATI HD 3800 series
o ATI HD 3600 series
o ATI HD 3400 series
o ATI HD 2900 series
o ATI HD 2600 series
o ATI HD 2400 series
o ATI X1900 series
o ATI X1800 series
o ATI X1600 series
o ATI X1300 series
o ATI X850 series