Fallout 3 Changes in Germany

Not for Germany

Eurogamer.de and NMA are reporting that Fallout 3 will have content cut from the release version in Germany:

Eurogamer.de reports that PR man Sam Brace (representing Bethesda for PR agency Lunch) stated at the LGC that the level of violence in Fallout 3 will have to be lowered in the German release. Says German person Lexx:

It still isn’t clear how much will be cut out, but shooting heads and body parts off will definitely NOT be possible. The explanation for this was to make the age classification easier for the USK and to not risk indexing of the game (which would mean that it is not allowed to advertise the game in the media).

I’ve been expecting this for quite some time now, we’re expecting more info on this situation soon.

A Bit Late For Leipzig

Enclave Soldier

There’s a lot of catching up to do by this blog regarding Fallout 3 in Leipzig, so let’s start, with the help of NMA’s Leipzig news coverage.

First the spoiler heavy UGO Gamesblog Vault 106 walkthrough:

In no time I had my task: deliver a letter from a Megaton denizen to her relatives in Arefu, a nearby settlement built in the middle of a raised section of the DC highway. And so I was off, setting my waypoint on my pipboy and heading straight for it. A few giant moles and rabid dogs pestered me along the way, but for the most part, things were going smooth, until…

Until I got distracted. You’re a man with purpose, and suddenly something pings on your map, and you just have to check it out. The phenomenon happened all the time in Morrowind and Oblivion (and even in Fallout 1 and 2), so it’s not a big shock that it happened. I was just more surprised as to how easy it was for the game to take me off course.

What drew my attention was a sign pointing to a nearby fallout shelter. Not Vault 101, mind you…I was quite a ways from my old home. No, this was Vault 106. I made my way into a cave dug into a large cliff and quickly discovered the telltale massive vault door. A switch in front of it blinked expectantly and, much to my surprise, the vault door clanged open the moment I touched it, gears and levers sliding out of place like the day it was built.

Next up is Gamespot:

We encountered some new enemies after leaving the house: huge insects such as the bloatfly, as well as new armoured human characters called raiders. We used the VATS system (see previous coverage) to take out most of the enemies that we came across, and then played around with stealing more of the things that were left behind. One of the raiders was wearing a hockey mask for protection, and we were able to remove it from the dead body and wear it ourselves. You can press the left bumper to switch to a third-person view, and you can then use the right analog stick to tilt around your character to check out the view from the front.

After making it through the Meresti Trainyard and its abandoned train wrecks, we came across the outskirts of a small settlement. The problem was that it was protected, and we were immediately shot at by a sniper upon entering. We spun around and tried to use the VATS system to hone in on the sniper, but we couldn’t see them, and they’d soon incapacitated us via our arms and legs. When we reloaded the game, we decided to head back and check out the school that was not too far from the starting bunker. The building had been torn apart, but a number of books and chalkboards remained complete, with writing from children and teachers. Underneath the school, a small dungeon with a number of raiders awaited, and we were able to pick up a sawed-off shotgun as a reward for heading inside.

And now MTV Multiplayer Blog:

During press demos, I like to try things I don’t think the developers are expecting. So when I stepped my character out of the vault and fumbled with the buttons on my Xbox 360 controller, I wasn’t just reacquainting myself with the mechanics of a game I hadn’t played since a pre-E3 event in June. I was also trying to find surprises. Hitting the 360 controller’s back button, I got my wish. Tapping the button brings up the option to make time pass more quickly. I jumped the game’s clock 12 hours. I would roam the D.C. outskirts at night. I bet the E3 gamers didn’t do that either![…]

I chose a different path, a path that left me securing my very own house in Megaton with my very own robot butler. I could get a haircut from this butler. Or I could get amusement. That’s what I selected, and he/she/it told me a joke. It was about two electrons walking into a bar. One saying it lost an electron. The other asking: “Are you sure?” Response: “I’m positive.”

I asked my robot butler to tell me another joke. The robot butler replied: “My humor emitter ray needs recharging.”

And finnally GameSpy:

Killing enemies in Fallout 3 is very satisfying, and not just because of the finely blended real-time first-person shooting and the tactics-heavy strategy of the VATS system. It’s also fun because of all the loot. You’ll literally strip your victims down to their underwear when you loot their armor, steal their guns, and empty their pockets of valuable bottlecaps, the currency of the wasteland.

The itemization abounds, with many different kinds of food (like delicious dog meat, squirrel-on-a-stick, and Fancy Lads snack cakes), drink (dirty water, Nuka Cola, all kinds of booze), weapons, armor, and drugs. You may want to indulge in some recreational drug abuse to fight off the effects of radiation or to give yourself a little performance-enhancing boost, but the dangers of addiction are very real.

Again thanks to NMA.

Igromania Previews Fallout 3

From Igromania/Bethesda Softworks

NMA is reporting that Russian mag Igromania has a Fallout 3 preview:

Once they got into the river and saw some kind of shell there. They swam up closer and it appeared to be alive and attacked the PC.

You can give your companions orders like “Stay here” or “Attack”.

Megaton’s crime boss Moriarty has a computer which contains some important information on the main quest. There are different ways to get access to that information:

• You can pay Moriarty for it.
• You can make friends with the ghoul bartender, who will tell you how to access the computer.
• You can also talk to the prostitute, who’s working for Moriarty, and get the info from her.

You receive some sort of “holographic message” from your father when he leaves the Vault.

The article is mostly praising Fallout 3 for being a very interesting game.

It also mentions the lack of good animation.

There is more info there, Incognito got us some notes with other stuff, but it’s SPOILER HEAVY. If you still want to know more read after the break.

Fallout 3 Gameplay Demo (Bravo)

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Fallout 3 Gameplay Demo (Bravo)“, posted with vodpod

Remember the Bravo gameplay and interview video? NMA made a YouTube version, here it is for the few that still haven’t seen it.

Finnish Fallout 3

NMA gaves us a few ideas taken from the Finnish Plaza.fi Fallout 3 preview:

About Action points:
-It takes about 20 seconds for action points to charge full.

About Fatman:
– With nuclear grenade launcher you could calm even the suburbs of Paris. But bigsized nuclear nades are so sturdy widgets, that their after-radiation stands up even in the well-bombed Washington. It is not recommended to walk over radiation field that nukes produce. Although nuclear nades are quite effective weapons, at the same time they limit the player – the gun weights a lot and projectiles are rare. If player has too much stuff with him, it’s harder to move.

– A funny detail: Enemy was shot in a VATS-mode, but the nuke missed him just slightly. But instead it hit a column behind the enemies, exploded and the pressure wave hurled mutant in to air.

About missions:
– There doesn’t seem to be any “kill 50 rats and bring their tails”-style missions in the game.

About AI:
-There is still a question that has not been answered, regarding the A.I of enemies. How will enemies act and move? From what we have seen, we are hopeful. The smarter human opponents could move and take cover during firefight. Occasionally they started firing from their cover, then they hide or changed location. They are not the smartest guys around, but they’re not the most senseless idiots either. Some enemies tried to escape when starting to lose, some accepted to stand still and get their ass kicked.

-Even though the AI didn’t yet shine, the situation is promising. Game is still unfinished, the tested version was over a month old and there still time before release date. That means that Bethesda has time to work on AI. Lets keep our thumbs up.

Fallout Fries

French CanardPlus Emil Zoulou is asking for questions from fans about what he saw in the Fallout 3 demo, here’s something from NMA:

Here’s some chances to scratch out some more info from the meager offerings of this E3. First, Canardplus (who you may remember from this preview) contacted us to extend the offer to try and clarify any questions we have based on what they’ve seen:

This morning, we had the opportunity to try the 360 version of Fallout 3. The cheats weren’t enabled. So ask your vicious questions and we will try to offer some honest answers.

If you know French you can ask them here, if not place them at NMA or in this blogpost and we’ll try to translate them for you.

Meanwhile he already started answering the first batch of questions, and NMA got a (very good) translation from Vaultaire with the help of Mr.Bumble and posted them in English:

Is the gore associated with violent death logical or over-the-top?
That is the problem with E3. During the Fallout 3 Demo, Bethesda wanted to emphasize the games “adult” content and pushed the gore through the roof. During the initial demo, Peter Hines did the same: using the “Bloody Mess” trait, which makes every death really bloody, really pushed the gore over the top. Shoot someone in the foot and the entire body explodes in a fountain of blood. When actually playing it is a lot less impressive, the enemies die without too much fuss. On the other hand, the inconsistencies are apparent, like when a mini-nuke just cuts off an enemies foot.

Is playing Fallout 3 with a controller a good experience? How will the interface be adapted to mouse/keyboard combination?
We are not big FPS aficionados, I had a lot of trouble controlling my character and aiming was really hard. VATS helped with this a lot, something I was not expecting. When confronted by a group of enemies, it seems like the most sensible solution. On the other hand, I was much better on the PC. The mouse/keyboard interface allowed for more accurate aiming. One can imagine that the RT aspect will resemble Quake 3 where the player strafes around his enemies; avoiding their shots while simultaneously emptying clips into them – totally negating the need for VATS. Like Oblivion, character skill along with line of sight plays a factor in determining to-hit success but the translation to FPS must be tempered with the next question:

If the PC version is exactly the same as the one tested for the Xbox 360) ; it is very likely that this is the case, will the interface be marred by this (interface, save/load, …)
Oh yes, I think that on the PC the interface will prove unwieldy. Bethesda has chosen to put all the menus inside the Pipboy affixed to your arm. If it is a question of immersion, the intention is commendable, ergonomically it’s an absolute disgrace: A stick to switch between 3 large menus (stats-item-data) the other to navigate within the window and all the sub menus. On top of that, the inventory is reduced to simple lists of names, a miniature picture of the item appears to the right for each item. Also, forget about the two quick items found at the bottom of your inventory (in the originals) as Turn-based is completely dispensed with. In this system, one is faced with equipping a single thing or weapon at a time.

With real time combat, Is the concept or use of Action Points ala “Turn Based” useful or even captivating?
Like I said on the 360, the VATS system is indispensable for survival. Often, melee enemies get within range very quickly and VATS allows the player to get out of tight situations. I did not feel it was over-powerful and I was often forced to close the gap to improve my chances of hitting the target. In addition, aiming for specific body parts will appeal to the jokers amongst us: Fire at a super-mutants weapon and it will fall from his grasp. Such accurate shots are difficult to reproduce in real-time mode. In practice, we find ourselves using all our APs to fire at an enemies chest not even trying for the head. APs recharge in real-time mode but don’t affect ones ability to access the inventory. It seems to me that AP could be used for so much more than aimed shots. It is a terrible blow for the tactics of combat that existed in the franchise previously.

Adaptive difficulty Yes or No (Level Scaling)
Big question. The Bethesda lot have assured us for months that level scaling; railed against by Elder Scrolls Fan; was out. Permit me to cast strong doubt on this. See: towards the end of my half hour, whilst wandering through Washington DC, I fell upon a group of three super mutants. One was equipped with a Gatling. I was level 3 and I was only equipped with light Raider armor. For weapons, I had a baseball bat and a basic 10mm pistol and an ammo-less laser piston. I switch to VATS and aim for the Gatling mutant in the hopes of making him drop his weapon. I miss and the other two mutants head straight for me. I grab my baseball bat and alternate between VATS and real-time whilst waiting for my AP to recharge. The first mutant is downed, I loot a bat with a nail in it and kill the second mutant in much the same fashion. During this some sort of mutant spider joins the fray and attacks me. I kill it with my bat. The third super mutant fell to a combination of grenade and 10mm pistol. I’m a half hour into the game, level 3 and I manage to take down three super mutants and some unidentified thing without much trouble and find myself in possession of a Gatling fun. All is good.[…]

Once again, it is not easy to get a fair idea of what Fallout 3 will be like on release. All in all, the development team has a pile a bugs of all types to fix. It is in all cases certain that this will not shine on technical merits, with empty interiors, outdated and badly used character models, “Rigor Mortis” animations..
Disassociated from the gameplay of the preceding Fallouts, Bethesda try to impose their view of an action RPG, in the same vein as Oblivion. It is impossible for me to guarantee that this will be a good fallout game, or even a good game at all…

A must read, there’s a lot more there.

Fallout 3 Australian Style

There’s a large and detailed Fallout 3 preview at Gameplayer, here is a small snip:

You can switch between first and third person at any time.

The objects you can select in V.A.T.S differ per enemy. For example, when we were attacked by giant ants, we could aim to shoot for their Antenna. Without these the things lost perspective and went berko, often attacking other ants.

Weapons will gradually degrade and when weakened will be more likely to jam. But you can pillage other versions of the same weapon for parts to ensure you always have one at full strength.

You can kill someone with a teddy bear. You have to find the teddy bear, then use it as ammo, and then get real lucky. But still, we love the option…

You can build your own weapons from scrap you find lying around: all you need is the components, the schematics and a workbench. We heard of one involving a leaf-blower and a vacuum. Weapon, or sex toy… time will tell.

There are mini-games to enjoy, like lock-picking, and tuning in you Pip-boy to find radio signals which may give you directions to quests and survivors.

The Bloody Mess perk is in the game, as are a host of others. Pete Hines claimed that you will receive a perk every time you level up. Then later said you level up 19 times to a maximum of 20. Which means around 19 perks by out maths.

There’s a lot more where this came from, and I really mean a lot! Spotted at NMA.

Fallout 3 Greek Style

No Mutants Allowed is reporting that there’s a Fallout 3 preview at Greek magazine PCMaster, and Flamescreen provided us with a translation:

Q: Can you estimate total playing time including sub-quests?
Hines: At this point to fully complete the game you’d need to spend over 100 hours.

Q: Do you intend to create a Fallout 3 that will be…mod-friendly? In other words provide people with the toolset to experiment on?
Hines: We have not yet decided on this. Right now, we have not announced any plans for the tools issue. It takes time to perfect a toolset in order for it to be usable by players and so far we didn’t have time, working on the game itself.

Q: There is a sensitive issue attracting the attention of many; the presence(or absence)of children as NPC’s. The impact on game’s rating is a given(especially if the player will be able to chop kiddies in half through critical hits). How are you handling that?
Hines: There are, in fact, children in the game. How we’ll handle them on game is a matter we haven’t concluded on yet.

Q: Can you name the various guilds and factions of the game? Will they work like the ones in Oblivion?
Hines: There are many groups and factions that you shall meet in your way…Super Mutants, Slavers, Brotherhood of Steel, enclave and others. These are groups you shall meet and will have to make choices on how you will interact with – but htey’re not factions that you can join and increase your rank.

Q: We’re curious regarding how stats work during a first person battle. For instance if the player is, say, half a meter away of the target and shoots, will it be possible to miss for some mysterious reason, just for having low stats?
Hines: Your stats and weapon you use, will definitely affect your efficiency during battles.
How often you hit your target, damage done, all that stuff has to be affected up to a point by the character you made.The factor of that influence is something we’re very concerned about at this phase. We’re playing the game ourselves and watch what seems to have the best, most “normal” feeling.

In a possible scenario you’re referring to, well, you’d hit the target most times, but you wouldn’t damage them so much. The goal is the numbers to have a meaning in a way that seems logical to the player.

This is only from the interview with pete Hines, there’s more at NMA.

GI To Harass Todd Howard

Todd Howard

Game Informer is now more available for those that live in the States, it has an interview with Todd Howard:

In honor of Fallout 3’s recently announced fall release[Briosafreak: What?!], we felt it was time to dig up new details on the game. The best way to do that is to harass Bethesda’s Todd Howard with a No Mutants Allowed-like fury[Briosafreak: What?!!].

Previously you told us the game would feature licensed music from the 1940s and ’50s. Any chance you could give us a few track examples?

We have a few from the InkSpots, “I Don’t Want To Set The World on Fire” being one of them. Some tracks from Bob Crosby I love including “Way back home”. Probably my favorite is a song called “Butcher Pete” by Roy Brown, a great song about a serial killer who “chops up all the women’s meat”, but is actually about him having sex with everyone’s wife in the neighborhood. It’s Americana-meets-ridiculous-violence at it’s best.[…]

It’s been almost a year since we saw the game for the first time. What is the biggest thing that has changed in the design since then?

The game’s gotten bigger. We removed some elements we had been working on that fortunately we never announced, but we also added a lot of space and elements for the player to interact with out in the wasteland. We struggled for a while with the “fun” that occurs in a desolate wasteland, but we’re finally beyond that, and the game has the right mix of scavenging and survival, while constantly showing something new.

Seems we won’t have downloadable Dogmeat armor too. I’m sure Killzig is cursing the universe for that.

Spotted this at DuckAndCover.

Canard PC Eight Pages Preview Yet Again

I still couldn’t get the CanardPc magazine but, with the reservations that I haven’t seen it by myself, others did and here are some impressions, starting with Seboss at RPGCodex:

Seboss:I have the preview right here. It’s 6 pages long so I won’t do a full transcript but I could give you guys some more excerpts if you’re interested.

[right after the ability points allocation] Daddy comes back in the room, is very pleased by your agility […] and cites an excerpt of the Apocalypse (“I am the Alpha and the Omega”), a passage of the Bible your former Mom used to like a lot, an element not so insignificant that should play an important role in the main quest.

Fade to black and you’re now at your tenth birthday, ready to get your Pipboy3000, “the indispensable companion of the modern man”. This scene introduces your first social interactions.
You’ll go then from a little flirt with a girl your age through the confrontation with a little bully desiring to strip you from your birthday cake, to a surrealist discussion with a schizophrenic Mr Handy.
And there, I feel reassured. The dialogs and the argument with the dumbfuck in the making come right into the series spirit. During your conversation with the little scum, the game offers you ten different dialog options: immediate cowardly capitulation, insult leading to a brawl, lies, […] spitting on the cake before offering it to him. The list is more than satisfying.

Seboss: The author states that many dialog options have tags like [Lie], [Charm], [Intimidation], [Science] and so one. Very Biowary.

A little later, you’ll eventually receive your first AirSoft Gun, the famous RedRyder that allows you to familiarize with the combat system, then you choose your skills on the benches of the Vault’s school.
Teenage hood will also be the occasion to solve a number of optional quests that influence the perception the other vault dwellers might have of you, as well as your karma and your personality. Undoubtedly, these first minutes make me comfortably euphoric.
[…]
While I was expecting an outright treason of the Fallout setting, more because of ineptitude than vice, I have the feeling the game is spot on. The ambiance, scenery and lighting of the Vault seem perfectly faithful to the series, with just the right dose of rust to enhance claustrophobia.
[…]
In opposition to Oblivion and Morrowind that just kicked you into the game without bonds of any sort, this time Bethesda clearly states its will to make you a part of a community, to create relationships right from the beginning. […] What is the better way to make the player feel lost in the irradiated desert and make him realize the importance of his mission than create a genuine bond to his home just before kicking me out.

Seboss: Well, kicking him out right away worked pretty well in FO1 if you ask me.

About the SPECIAL system:

First satisfaction, the SPECIAL system have really been kept, no facade without substance. Every actions in the game, from the combat to bluff attempts through gambling are resolved by dice rolls against your skills and abilities. However, we can observe a whole lot of discrepancies, starting with this confession painfully extracted from the demonstrator: atypical character builds, like very low intelligence characters, won’t have as many options as in the previous games. Some dialogs are heavily influenced by your IQ, however you can forget about your project of roaming the wastelands with a complete moron barely able to string two syllables together . What’s more shocking for hardcore integrists like me, you can forget about beating the game as a cowardly pacifist weasel: most combats will be inevitable especially during travels and desert and ruins exploration.

Seboss: The wastelands are 65% the size of Cyrodiil, blah blah, the game is supposed to have a lot of landmarks like collapsed buildings, junkyards, diners, motels and baseball fields. These places are inhabited by people influenced by the nature of the location. Baseball fields should have descendants of the Baseball Furries from the movie Warriors, stuff like that.
The author hopes these places won’t feel as generic as the bandit/goblin/wraith tombs of Oblivion , but he seems confident about that.

The game will have a significant dose of level scaling for the main quest. There are three difficuly levels (as you already know), but that seems a bit cheap.

Stimpacks won’t have any side-effects anymore. There are just the regular “Cure Light” potions now.

To this point, the author was pretty confident about the quality of the game. Now there’s the negative part:

Now here’s the point where things get messy. We’re going to get onto the thorny problem of the combat. […] We’ll note that the developers repeated ad nauseam that the efficiency of your shots depend on your statistics and that the FPS skills of the player don’t have any importance, and that all shots fired in real-time mode will be automatically aimed to the torso. [Here goes a lengthy description of the VATS system]
The idea seems to stand theoretically, but in facts I’m far from convinced. Firstly, during the presentation, either he was wearing a Power Armor and holding a Gatling gun and fighting hordes of super mutants armed with heavy machine guns, bakookas and supersledges or fighting ghouls with a 9mm and wearing just a leather armor, the demonstrator was just standing there, shooting long bursts without using any kind of tactics.
Besides, aimed shots, possible even with a minigun, looked far less effective to me than just “run right next to the baddy and empty my magazine in one burst”.

Seboss: Ouch. He also says that “bullet time” death animations are just as pleasant as stuffing rusty nails in your urethra after the third one. Or something like this.

Bob’s Iguana Bits Market Stand Kit

From NMA:

Hello there, Fallout Fan. Why so glum chum? What? You haven’t gotten any Fallout swag?
Well, fret no more friend. You can make some yourself with the new Bob’s Iguana Bits Market Stand kit. It’s EASY and FUN! Best of all, it’s FREE! Yes, that’s right. So download yours today and enjoy the pride and prestige of owning your very own unofficial swag, suitable for office, den, trophy case, fallout shelter, Fallout shrine, etc.
Get yours today!

Available at an NMA download site near you.

Really good work Octotron, you can also get a Papercraft VaultBoy in the last issue of PCGamer US, but it’s not that good.

NMA: Brotherhood of Steel Contest Winners

The NMA Brotherhood of Steel Contest has ended, and we’ve got a winner:

Well, it was a busy month for many of us and we got a pile of submissions, but after lots of reading and a short period of fisticuffs over which one was the best, we’re ready to present the results.

Running away with first prize and his very own poster print of Defonten art is Tucker. He had a lot of competition to fight off, and we’d like to congratulate him on his win.

Closely behind Tucker are the two stories by Kirby Go and Aaron Moyer, both of whom just missed the grand prize but are still worthy of publishing here.

Besides the first three places you can check some of the other stories in this forum. Congratulations to the participants and NMA for a great contest.

Look What The Cat Brought In

Right after I got this picture from a friend I also got the mag, I’m leaving for a few hours and will inspect it thoroughly.

In the meantime you can read more about the article and the pictures on the Bethesda Games Fallout 3 Forum, No Mutants Allowed, Falloutnow! (in German) and Nukacola (in French).

Emil Talks, People Talk About Emil

Discussions about Emil Pagliarulo’s interview with Next Gen and his thoughts as posted at the Bethesda Games forum continue, with NMA reporting on diferent reactions at qj.net, Destructoid and Evil Avatar.

On the Bethesda Games Fallout 3 forum Matt “Gstaff” Grandstaff had this to say:

Speaking with Emil this morning, it sounds like it’s something he’s willing to do more often. We’ll see.

Anyways, feel free to continue your discussions from yesterday/today here.

Jay “Radhamster” Woodward brought his idea about what Emil said on the issue of immersion in games:

My point was not the sort of point that needs sources, unless you want me to cite a book of logic. I was just saying that “FPP/RT equals immersion” is a different statement from “FPP/RT implies immersion” or even “for me, FPP/RT is typically the best way to provide immersion.”

On the other hand, quasimodo alluded to a “constant equating of FPP/RT and immersion.” That is the sort of point that needs sources: namely, examples of people saying that immersion in some sense requires FPP/RT. I highly doubt the existence of such examples, but I can’t turn over every rock in the universe to prove that they aren’t there.

The important thing to realize is that there’s actually no disagreement between Emil saying that FPP is the way to achieve immersion for Emil, and Brio saying that FPP isn’t important for immersion for Brio. Both statements are just subjective, personal statements about what’s effective for a particular person. Likewise, the statements, “for many people [FPP] isn’t even the most important way to achieve [immersion]” and “for many people FPP is a very important part of achieving immersion” can both be true. Because there are many “manys” in a “many.”

Usermember Rabish 12 added this to what RadHamster was saying:

I think the “for me” in the quote you brought up really illustrates that. Emil’s surprisingly careful with his words a lot of the time, and seems to go out of his way to make it clear with most of his statements that he’s doing what he thinks works best or what he prefers. I think he tries to make it clear that he’s not saying “either it’s done this way or it doesn’t work”, but rather “this is the way we prefer to do it”.

It’s like what’s been repeated several times by Emil and (I think) others on the development team: they’re making the game that they think will be the most fun. I don’t think they’re ignoring the wants of the fanbase entirely, but at the end of the day it comes down to what they think is going to be the most entertaining way of doing things. That doesn’t mean that it’s going to have universal appeal, but… well, I think that designing a game based on what other people like is a huge mistake. Better that they make something that they’re passionate, and pour that passion into their work, than just make something that they’re pretty much indifferent about but that other people have a passion for, and end up releasing a soulless husk of a game.

And that got the seal of approval by Emil:

Rabish 12 — Very well said. You pretty much nailed it.

Later he added:

Damn, this thread gained some serious momentum.

Just wanted to let you guys know I’m still here. Still reading.

I know since that initial impromtu “interview,” a lot of you guys have posted questions about Fallout 3. I’m more than happy to talk about my opinions on things (well, most things). But I’m still not at liberty to share a lot of Fallout 3 information. I just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page.

Anyway, great discussion.

That might cool things off a bit.

That PA Is Weird

After the Fallout 3 OXM cover was shown many complaints surfaced against the Powered Armor that we can see depicted there. On the long discussion about it on the Bethesda Games Fallout 3 forum a few more creative ideas were put forward, but now Brother None at No Mutants Allowed, someone that actually saw the PA’s in the Fallout 3 demo, brings some his views to this issue:

In fact, back on topic, I don’t remember powered armor looking like this in the demo. SuAside might remember differently, but while powered armor looked more “smooth and segmented”, so to speak, so less like a tank and more like body “plated” armor, it didn’t look so emaciated.

It’s quite possible the magazine editor stretched it, though that would be unusual and stupid of them – so it’s not likely.

He also clearly remembers the female and male NPCs wearing the same Powered Armor models.

Spotted at NMA.

Update: all is explained now.

NMA Brotherhood of Steel Contest

From No Mutants Allowed:

A little while ago, Bethesda released a developer diary describing for the first time the background events leading up to persistent Brotherhood activity in war-torn Washington D.C. Opinions on the piece were vocal and divided. Some thought it was a reasonable take showing that even Elders of the Brotherhood can undergo character growth in the face of wasteland realities; others decried it as a hamfisted retooling out of step with Fallout lore. Obviously such an argument can have no definitive resolution.

But why leave it there? We at NMA invite you to don your creative hat and present your own vision of the Brotherhood, where they are now and how they got there. Your assignment is to write your own version of this story, to tell it the way you would want it to be told, to set the Brotherhood up for the game you would want to play.

Your entry must be centred on the premise that the Brotherhood of Steel, or some group using their name and trappings, are operating on the East Coast. Who are they? What do they represent? What’s their history, what state do we find them in, what’s their agenda? We’re looking for stories that are ambitious, well-considered, well-written, consistent and believable.

All surrounding details are mutable. You can but do not have to refer to other aspects of the setting and plot of Fallout 3 that have been revealed or hinted at, or try to guess at undisclosed plot points. You can frame your piece however you like, but don’t forget about the content.

To fuel your creative efforts at fan writing, we’ll be offering up a desirable fan prize. The winner will receive a poster-sized print of any one art piece by renowned fan artist Defonten: City Ruins, Cafe of Broken Dreams or Brand New Reno.

For the rest of the details, the rules and where to submit to, go to:
NMA Brotherhood of Steel Writing Contest.

Also, let me take this chance to remind everyone that stuff like the Fallout 3 preview and this only happen thanks to your generous donations. NMA is a non-profit site, we do not make money from our banners. So thank you, Mr Donating Man!

ChrisT Talks

Original Mr.Handy sketch-Chris Taylor/Interplay

Yesterday we read some some replies from Dan Ross, Gary”VXSS” Noonan and Ricardo “200x” Gonzalez on questions regarding Fallout, and so did Chris “anarchy” Taylor, Lead Designer on Fallout 1, creator of my favorite game manual and Senior Designer on Fallout: Tactics, that shared some thoughts on what he read at NMA:

Two comments on the interview:

1. Interface & Hotkeys
I’ve been playing FO again and there are definitely areas of the interface I would re-design using the experience I’ve gained over the years. Skill use and Inventory are _way_ up there. Bummer the guy didn’t find the hotkeys, it makes the game so much more enjoyable to play.

2. Weapons
The gun choices in FO1 were 90% mine. I felt that weapon technology would have developed differently in the Fallout universe after the split with our timeline, so I tried to make less of the weapons “real-world”. The two exceptions (that I can remember) are the Desert Eagle .44 and the 9mm Mauser. The DE was my favorite gun at the time and I had to include it. The 9mm Mauser is an older weapon that I think has a very cool, unique look to it.

Others, like the .223 and the 10mm guns, were based on real-world weapons. (There are guys out there that make pistols that shoot rifle cartridges, like the .223. I applaud their insanity. ^_^)

The 14mm is pure speculation.

And the energy weapons are just plain out fantasy.

My only regret is not including a Colt .45. It fits in the same category as the Mauser. I think it was a question of trying to keep the number of ammo types down.

Nowadays, it’s a more interesting question of what weapons to include because more manufacturers pay attention to how their products are used in computer and video games. You might (erm, probably) have to get permission from Glock, for example, to use their likenesses and marks in a game.

-Chris

Heard that Dan? Use the hotkeys man, much better that way. By the way Chris rocks!