Similar to their earlier Game of the Year edition of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Bethesda have announced that a version of Fallout 3 that includes all of the DLC released so far in the price of admission. Undoubtedly this will be the definitive version, just as it was with the Oblivion GotY version.

The game will release on October 13 and will cost $60 for the console versions and $50 for the PC version. Bethesda have also announced that the DLC for PS3 is coming very soon. Broken Steel is coming on the 24th of September, followed by Operation: Anchorage and The Pitt on 1st October, and then Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta on the 8th. Good news all round, then.

Bad news for anyone who was a fan of TESIV: Oblivion or TESIII: Morrowind (or should I say, anyone who playes TESIV: Oblivion or TESIII: Morrowind)- Bethesda says they have made no plans for a fifth game in the series.

At QuakeCon 09, a fan asked Bethesda’s Todd Howard if their future plans included a fifth Elder Scrolls game. But rather than give a flat out “Not gonna happen” and destroy the hopes of millions, Howard simply gave the standard “we have no plans for that game at this time” answer, which, unsurprisingly, still crushes the hopes of millions.

A second fan asked if there were any plans for an Elder Scrolls MMO as rumored, and Howard said “There’s always a chance.” For those of you not as skilled in the art of PR talk, that’s practically a “Hell yeah, its coming!”

[via Destructoid]

Bethesda have today released the second of the Elder Scrolls series as a free download to all. The game, as with all of the Elder Scrolls series, is set in a huge fantasy land, with the two provinces in Daggerfall being Hammerfell and High Rock, the homes of the Redguards and Bretons. Old games becoming free is always good news; it reminds me of Project Gutenberg- a free collection of books no longer covered by copyright laws.

There is, of course, bad news too. The game only runs under DOS, so there’s a complicated method of getting the game running on more modern operating systems. Luckily, Shacknews have put together a nice guide which can be found here to help you along. Good luck!

In perhaps one of the strangest videogame bundles since Beyond Good and Evil was packed in with some cheese, 2K and Behtesda have joined force to create the BioShock & The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Bundle. the deal will be released July 7 in the US, at $39.99 on Xbox 360 and $29.99 on PC. Considering that I got Bioshock on Steam for $5 and Oblivion is currently around $18 on Steam right now, this isn’t the best deal I’ve ever seen. My advice: buy the Orange Box instead.

Still, if you don’t already own these two games, I can’t recommend them enough. Oblivion holds my attention years after its release (in fact, I played it just yesterday for hours on end) and Bioshock’s heavy narrative was an industry wake up call (since they seemed to ignore that of Half-Life 2). Both are must-buys, but with a little sleuth you can get them for much better prices individually.

Bethesda Softworks announced today that Obsidian Entertainment will be developing a brand new Fallout game in the style of Fallout 3, although it is not a direct sequel. The game is expected to ship in 2010 for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Obsidian Entertainment are the development team behind Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II and Neverwinter Nights, and was formed from several members of the team that developed the first two Fallout titles, Black Isle Studios.

“It is not a sequel to Fallout 3. It is simply another game in that universe,” Bethesda’s Pete Hines said, adding: “It’s definitely an RPG. Same sort of experience as what folks got in Fallout 3. It’s not Fallout Tactics, it’s not Brotherhood of Steel. It’s another Fallout game.” Perhaps the die-hard fans of the originals will be more partial to this one. With he success of Fallout 3, I won’t be surprised if this sells well in the mainstream market as well.

Tired of the constant grey wastes in Fallout 3? Convinced that nuclear fallout wouldn’t be all bad? Maybe this mod is for you. It turns all the shrubbery in the game green, essentially removing the harshness of the climate and making the wasteland into a lush, liveable landscape. Really takes the edge off of surviving in a post-apocalyptic nightmare. Remember, you’ll only be able to use this mod on the PC version of the game.

Unless you’re living under a rock, I’m sure that you’ve heard about Fallout 3 and how awesome it is.  If there is any doubt, or you just want some more to read about the game because your sickeningly addicted to it, then feel free to absorb my words as they project into your eyeballs and are interpreted by your brain goo.

Fallout 3, to put it simply, is one of the greatest games ever made.  Frankly, you shouldn’t even be reading this if you haven’t played the game yet.  Turn off your computer, rub your eyes a little bit, and go out and get the game.  Trust me, you won’t regret it.

If you don’t want to read my long-ass review, watch this video (SPOILERS!) which shows enough crazy awesomeness that you may be convinced here and now. Lots of words will follow if this isn’t enough for you.

The game takes place in the not too distant future of mankind.  Nuclear fire has ravaged the world and now the survivors do what they can to eek out an existence in a land of hostile extremes.  You play as a child raised in an underground vault, where the privileged few hid away during the nuclear firestorm.  You’ve spent all of your life in the vault, as has everyone else that lives there, so it’s all you or anyone else knows.  “We’re born in the vault, we’ll die in the vault” as the saying goes.

That is until your father suddenly disappears one day, leaving the vault (and you) behind as he heads out into the capital wasteland.  He leaves no information behind as to his motivations, but you quickly head off to find out the whole story when it turns out the leaders of the vault want you dead.

From the moment you turn the game on and start a character, the developers are tugging at you with emotional puppet strings.  For some reason, playing through the tutorial as a baby and growing through to adulthood really brought about a sense of connection with the characters in the game.  While I might not have really gave a crap about the father character had I just popped in the game and had a story handed to me, the interactions that your character has with their father really makes you feel the bond between them.

It’s just a great example of Bethesda’s attention to detail and love of their craft.  The entire game screams polish and care.  It’s very obvious that Bethesda’s people were and are fans of the Fallout franchise that they’ve lovingly resurrected.  There are those who will still complain that it’s not like the original Fallout games, but I call it progress.

Yes, there are problems.  It is still Fallout, though, and Fallout doesn’t have to be an isometric 2D CRPG.  It does definitely feel a lot like Oblivion, so if for some crazy reason you thought Oblivion sucked, then you should probably go back to your cave and chill with the rest of the inhumans because you probably won’t get much from Fallout 3.

Unlike Oblivion, you don’t have different experience points, so you can’t just jump around to build up your athletics.  Pretty much everything you do, from killing a bastard to picking a lock to disarming a landmine, will grant you some experience points, and it all goes to the same pool for leveling up.  Once you level up, though, you have a lot of hard choices to make.

Unlike a lot of other RPGs, you will not get to a point in Fallout where you will max everything out.  Trying to be good at everything will make you good at nothing, and probably dead a lot of the time.  Specialization is the key here, and while certain situations will arise that will make you wish you had put points elsewhere, that’s just the nature of the beast.  I can’t tell you how many times I had wished I’d have put more points in lockpicking, for example, but I made up for it with a quick wit (high speech) and computer skills.

This is where a lot of the beauty of the system comes from.  Talking to other people who play the game, you will constantly hear different things that happened at the same point in the game.  While Dan may have pickpocketed the codes to a door from some wasteland raider, I sweet-talked him into just handing them over, for example.

Every level you get to spend a certain amount of points on your skills, which include the obvious, like guns and explosives, to slightly more mundane (but quite useful) things like speech and repair.  You also get to pick perks that will do strange and wonderful things depending you what you pick and what your stats are.  Some do simple things like increasing your small arms skill while others do crazy things like having a mysterious dude in a trenchcoat show up every once in a while and blast the living hell out of your enemies with his magnum.  His mystery is only exceeded by his power.

The graphics and sound are incredible, and I’ve never felt such wondrous loneliness while playing a game before.  Wandering around the destroyed countryside surrounding the D.C. area just takes one’s breath away.  I would lose myself in the visual and areal experience for hours, just… walking and being out there in the middle of a destroyed Washington.  It really is something that has to be experienced to be understood, but trust me when I tell you to turn the sound up and the lights down and just… explore.

You’ll probably be better off exploring anyway, as the main game’s storyline probably only takes fifteen to twenty hours to complete if you don’t get sidetracked at all.  It’s a stupendous story with plenty of twists and turns along the way, but if you just play through that and don’t do anything else, you’re missing out on what makes Bethesda such an awesome developer.  Frankly, I think most anyone will find it hard NOT to get sidetracked, at least for a while.

The characters are all unique and the rewards for helping them are often too good to pass up, and I’m not talking simply better weapons or money.  Each side quest could be a part of the main story on their own.  I recall one quest where I was trying to track down the whereabouts of a runaway android that took me all over the capital wastes looking for clues.

There are side quests and hidden locations aplenty in Fallout.  As big and empty as things seem when you’re out there wandering around, it also seems like a new adventure is just hiding around every stone or inside every trashcan.  You’ll experience things as simple as escorting a lady across the wastes to as complicated as stealing the Declaration of Independence from the National Archives.

There are even “quests” which will not even show up in your quest log, like helping the guy in charge of the pump house in Megaton fix leaky pipes.  He’ll simply mention that it needs done, and you can go do it whenever you feel like it.  If you do it he’ll keep paying you for any scrap metal that you find, so it’s very much worth it.

The greatest part of Fallout 3 is the feeling that your decisions actually make a difference.  The sort of things that you do in the wasteland can have far-reaching and permanent consequences.  If you kill someone, they will not be replaced by another faceless NPC.  That dude is dead.  This includes anyone you have following you in your party.  If Dogmeat (your faithful canine companion) bites the big one, he’s gone forever.  It really forces you to think about what the people who may be following you are up to, whether or not to get into certain fights, and what equipment they should have.

For the most part, this includes quest givers also, though apparently anyone related to the continuation of the main story will simply fall unconscious instead of outright dying.  I don’t really agree with this being that this is a game about hard choices, but I understand where Bethesda is coming from.  They have to cater to a much weaker and coddled gaming public than in RPG days of yore, so no more will you see messages like Elder Scrolls 3 telling you that you just killed a pivotal storyline NPC and that the main story can no longer be completed.  Gamers these days just don’t like to have failure as an option.

Another thing that bugged me is the apparent fear of sex by Bethesda.  Fallout was never an overtly sexual game, but sticking to it’s mature themes there were sexual encounters in the two previous iterations of the franchise.  I remember two very vividly.  One was getting caught sleeping with some farmer’s daughter and being forced into a shotgun wedding.  For the rest of the game (or at least, until she died) she would follow you around the wasteland nagging you about everything.

Another was being able to star in porno movies for cash in San Fransisco.  You got to pick a porn name and once you were in one, some NPCs would notice you from the movie and yell out about how much they enjoyed your films.  I always went with Arnold Swollenmember.  Hell, in both games there was a perk you could pick up called Kama Sutra Master which made you very good at sexual encounters.  Again, it wasn’t anything that played into the game on a constant basis, but it was there and it was an option to get certain quests and stuff moved along.

So far, I have noticed only one sexual act in the entirety of Fallout 3, and it was so bland you could hardly even consider it mature at all.  There is a prostitute in the bar in Megaton who says that if you rent a room, you get her also.  If you pay for the room, she’ll go up and go to sleep on the bed.  That’s it.  You can then use the bed to sleep in, but nothing happens.

Now, don’t get me wrong — I am a pervert, but I certainly don’t get my jollies banging video game chicks or anything. The simple fact that I can shoot a dude in the face in slo-mo and watch his brains and eyeballs go flying yet can’t even get one black screen with some sound effects seems a little bit strange to me.  Maybe it’s just the pervert in me, but seeing how the world of Fallout is so shitty and people are desperate to do whatever it takes to survive, you’d think selling one’s body for money or food or something would be a little more prevalent.

Perhaps some of my disdain for this design decision comes from playing Fable 2, where you can bang pretty much anyone who has genitals.  Fable 2 seems so much more cartoony and childlike compared to Fallout with the exception of it approach to sex.  Fallout makes Bethesda seem like they’re afraid of the carnal pleasures or something and to me it really is a missed opportunity to further show the desperation of wasteland life.  Granted, it doesn’t really detract from the game in any way, it’s more of a matter of principle for me.  Blood and guts and eyeballs are perfectly fine, but God forbid we see a nipple.

My only REAL problem with the game (it’s virgin-esqe stance towards sex not withstanding) is the few glitches and bugs that pop in from time to time.  It’s a huge game so these things are bound to slip through the cracks, but I did encounter at least one glitch that prevented me from completing a quest.

I had the option to teach a town how to defend themselves by using skills that I was good at.  One of the options was to help them build robots to use as guards, but after I made my decision, the robot parts I was supposed to use were not to be found.  Apparently, there is a problem with the physics engine and fast traveling that will sometimes cause dead bodies and such to “bounce” off the ground at tremendous speeds, sending them flying to God knows where and, with this quest at least, making it all but impossible to find them.  It was simply a matter of loading a save game and choosing a different path, but the simple fact that I had to do that, to me, makes that a game-breaking bug.

The only other bug or glitch I can think of are strange graphical anomalies and placement problems.  There were several times when exploring the ruins of a school or church or whatnot that I’d see things clipped through the walls.  You know, severed arms or coat racks just poking through a solid brick wall.

The other was a strange inky black craziness that seemed to follow me wherever I went for a while.  It was apparently a rocket launcher that I shot out of someone’s hands that went into some physics engine nightmare and was stretched and warped into incoherency.  It was a little freaky and a bit annoying but nothing that was disastrous to the overall experience.

Overall, I’d say that things were pretty smooth.  You can definitely see improvements over Oblivion with this version of the engine.  There are no more of those annoying pauses every so often as you travel the world, for instance.  There is a bit of pop-in and the like, but nothing too dramatic.  The sound, as I said before, is fantastic.

I recommend turning the music soundtrack the whole way down to really experience the desolation of the wasteland in all its glory.  Hell, even if you don’t the in-game music is decent enough and generally doesn’t get in the way of the aforementioned desolation.  The radio stations bring a lot to the game though and listening to them while exploring can sometimes make you feel even more like you’re the last living thing alive.  I highly recommend the Agatha’s Song questline and unlocking that radio station.

Fallout 3 is definitely a must-own game for anyone with a gaming system at all.  Hell, if you don’t own one, you should go out and get one or upgrade your PC or something.  Games like Fallout 3 are why people play games in the first place, and it should not be missed under any circumstances. It’s a 10 out of muthafuckin 10, biznatches.

Anyone who has seen or played Fallout 3 knows that the slo-mo VATS system can provide some pretty gruesome scenes — this is no exception. Possibly the goriest headshot I have ever seen in my life, complete with distinctive flying eyeballs and a lower jaw, is contained herein. Mature content warning!

(Also be warned that the volume is ridiculously loud, so you may want to turn it down before you start the video.)

Warning: The Watercooler is the best thing you will see on the Internet today, mainly because it is the best thing I saw on the Internet yesterday. Be advised that these Watercooler stories are not necessarily videogame related (they usually won’t be), and are often silly, controversial, and/or not safe for work (NSFW). If this type of content frequently offends you, please be aware that I just warned you — if you still click through and get offended, it will be your own stupid fault. Otherwise, please continue…

Today’s Watercooler features a recorded call from a radio show in which the caller describes these “crazy dreams” he’s been having. For some strange reason, I feel like I’ve experienced this, too.

Thanks, Sam!

You’re welcome.

For anyone that doesn’t get it, shame on you. Go buy Fallout 3 right now and see what you’re missing.

Think you have something that could be Watercooler material? Send it to dlandis@ripten.com. If your submission gets featured, you will win a prize package full of pride and accomplishment.

Warning: The Watercooler is the best thing you will see on the Internet today, mainly because it is the best thing I saw on the Internet yesterday. Be advised that these Watercooler stories are not necessarily videogame related (they usually won’t be), and are often silly, controversial, and/or not safe for work (NSFW). If this type of content frequently offends you, please be aware that I just warned you — if you still click through and get offended, it will be your own stupid fault. Otherwise, please continue…

Today’s Watercooler features a little dance compilation thrown together by some YouTuber using the various mods available for Fallout 3 — a perfect example of what you could do if you had the time and patience to mess around with stuff. This video was suggested by our own Sam Naylor, and it really is the best thing I saw on the Internet yesterday… and so far today. I don’t know why, but I got a huge boner about a third of the way into the video.

Looking back on it, I think there must be something really wrong with me.

You’re welcome.

Think you have something that could be Watercooler material? Send it to dlandis@ripten.com. If your submission gets featured, you will win a prize package full of pride and accomplishment.

Owners of the PC and Xbox 360 versions of Bethesda’s blockbuster Fallout 3 are in for some good news today as the developer have announced both mod tools and downloadable content for both platforms, to be released in December and next year respectively. The DLC includes a continuation of the main quest and a giant battle sequence. The Mod kit (for PC only), called the “G.E.C.K” (Garden of Eden Creation Kit”) in reference to an object of the same name in Fallout 2, allows users to “create, modify, and edit any data for use with Fallout 3, from building landscapes, towns, and locations to writing dialogue, creating characters, weapons, creatures, and more,” according to Bethesda. Hit the jump for the list of DLC.

Available for 360 and PC, here’s the rundown of upcoming DLC:

* Operation: Anchorage
Enter a military simulation and fight in one of the greatest battles of the Fallout universe – the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska from its Chinese Communist invaders. An action-packed battle scheduled for release in January.
* The Pitt
Journey to the industrial raider town called The Pitt, located in the remains of Pittsburgh. Choose your side. Scheduled for release in February.
* Broken Steel
Join the ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel and rid the Capital Wasteland of the Enclave remnants once and for all. Continues the adventure past the main quest. Scheduled for release in March.

Looks like owners of the PS3 version are really missing out here; both the DLC and the Mod kit are sure to be great additions to the game. Hopefully we’ll see the embargo break and get the DLC on the PS3 as well. As for me, well I’m just lucky that I got the game on PC, eh?

Vault 101 just got plundered.

The eagerly anticipated Fallout 3 is nearly upon us, yet a full three weeks before its release rapacious pig-fuckers cracked the game and offered it via various torrent sites.

This is the third AAA title that has been hacked and cracked in as many months, leaving publishers frothing at the mouth as they consider even more draconian digital rights management.

To the casual observer this may seem like an overzealous response to retain the vast sea of greenbacks the industry seems to float upon. And that certainly is a concern, after all Electronic Arts is not motivated from a position of altruism. This is about control of their product, control of their intellectual property, and control of the consumer.

Flinchingly I have read DRM proponents scathing insinuation that, and I’m paraphrasing, that “nothing is safe! Nothing is sacred! We must protect ourselves at any cost!” Yet the price of that protectionism is at the expense of the consumer. Pirates care little for the mores of the videogame industry and will, and are, molesting their games as we speak. However it’s not the pirates that are feeling the brunt of the industry’s wrath, it’s us.

Citing piracy concerns, EA slapped DRM restrictions on Spore that prohibited more than one installation per copy, turning it into a $60 rental. Yet that did not keep Spore from being cracked and on the day before its release.

Activision recently pounced and monetarily mauled some assclown for distributing their wares on torrent, and rightfully so. Yet has their Torquemada approach to prosecuting infidels resulted in scaring away such a nebulous enemy? Perhaps, but not enough. Swinging a big stick in a fight is only good if you can find someone to hit with it and so far, it’s been hit and miss.

Fallout 3’s rape and pillage is unfortunate. I’ve interviewed Pete Hines and have gotten the distinct impression that this was a fellow who, along with a talented and motivated crew, created something worth spending my hard-earned money on. And I don’t mind spending that $60 because A) I feel I am buying a superior product and B) spending that kind of jack will only encourage another Fallout title, but hopefully encourage the same stringent adherence to quality and making a game worthy of its namesake.

The piracy of Fallout 3 is an unfortunate byproduct of the age we live in, a casualty of commerce. Yet it’s not the rallying cry that DRM proponents are looking for. If anything it’s a rude awakening that DRM isn’t working as intended.

Restrictive DRM that affects the end user will only drive off wary consumers and if nothing else, encourage reporters such as myself to call companies who employ it on their collective shit.

Games shouldn’t punish gamers. Selah.

Fallout 3, one of the most highly anticipated titles for Xbox 360 and PS3, is already available for illegal download. It seems that PC games are not the only ones to fall prey to the digital cutlasses of piracy.

With only three weeks until the game’s official release (Oct. 28), the leak will only serve as bragging rights to asshole gamers who simply need to play the game before anyone else does. The pirated version of the game is brought to you by the same people that ruined Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

The strange thing about this is that only the 360 version is available to torrent. With all of the controversy surrounding DRM on PC games, a pirated PC version would have caused a much more explosive outcry in the gaming community. Where it stands now, it just makes people feel awkward and upset. Like when you find out your girlfriend’s been cheating on you with a furry.

Pete Hines responded to inquiries by saying,  “We’re looking into it. Since we haven’t sent out a single disc, it greatly reduces the number of places this might have come from.”

Hopefully this won’t have too much of an effect on sales. Seeing as you would need a modded 360 to play the pirated version, those who which to enlarge their e-dick Gamer Score will have to wait for the official version.

Edge-Online has details on the system specifications for the PC version of Bethesda’s upcoming epic Fallout 3. While those of us running ancient machines will bow our heads in shame, most recent PCs should be able to handle the beast.

Fallout 3 releases October 28, 30 and 31 in North America, Australia and Europe, and the UK respectively. Hit the jump for the full specs.

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
Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM (NVIDIA 8800 series, ATI 3800 series)

Supported Video Card Chipsets:

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

Game advertisements, from the Halo 3 commercials last year to the Gears of War “Mad World” ad the year before, have gotten pretty damn impressive in recent times – and the trend’s continuing heading into this fall’s blockbuster season. Take this Fallout 3 ad, for example, snapped in a DC metro station by Ripten reader John Cangany.

It’s a pretty powerful image (and maybe a potentially controversial one) – the battered and broken Washington monument looming behind some twisted version of the American flag, and that robot guy that’s in all the Fallout media (sorry Fallout fans I don’t know what he’s called).

According to John’s account, plenty of people, most presumably unaware of the context of the game’s setting, found the ad totally compelling:

Anyway, metro riders were transfixed by this ad…people STARED. Like, legit stared, as if the ad were either a really pretty or really ugly, disfigured lady.

Nice way of putting it. In other words: good advertising.

Bethesda Softworks, developers of the soon-be-be-realized apocalypse that is Fallout 3, have recently launched a new promotional site for the game. Designed in the retro-futuristic informational style that we’ve all come to love, prepareforthefuture.com is presented via a Radiation King television set.

The TV features some channel buttons on the side, each of which presents you with a little video and is followed by a mini-game of sorts. Here’s one example:

Following this video, an interactive version of the map appears, allowing you to click on the different landmarks and view an in-game flyby of the location. Other channels describe V.A.T.S. and then let you shoot of body parts, or it will talk about the GOAT and then let you take a mini version of the test to find out what your job should be (mine told me I should be awesome — mission accomplished).

Like most of the stuff I’ve seen recently for Fallout 3, this new site has me incredibly excited to get my hands on the game. Even with just a month left before release, I still feel like the game can’t get here fast enough. Seems odd that I’m looking forward to the end of the world, but Bethesda does a good job of making the apocalypse seem fun. Maybe they should do PR for the government (SNAP!).

If you plan on playing Fallout 3 on a PC, then this old school case mod, made to look like a 1960s television set, has got to be the way to go. Decked out with hardwood paneling, the foundation for this bomb shelter essential is a Soviet TV receiver REKORD, 1961.

So buy a few cases of Nuka-Cola, find an unfinished basement, bar the door shut, power this baby up and you’re ready to roll.

[Thanks Jason]

Have something you think we should show on Geeked-Out? Email it to us.

Let the countdown begin.

Bethesda’s long-awaited Fallout 3 is coming out on October 28, the studio announced today. The release will be “one of the biggest launches of any game this year,” boasts Bethesda president Vlatko Andonov, and will hit all platforms simultaneously. The game will be available in Europe three days later, on Halloween. Which begs the question: Do they even celebrate Halloween in Europe?

Full press release after the jump.

August 20, 2008 (Rockville, MD) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax Media company, announced today that its highly anticipated title, Fallout® 3, will be available on store shelves and online in North America on October 28, 2008 and in Europe on October 31, 2008. Developed at Bethesda Game Studios – creators of the 2006 Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® – Fallout 3 is slated for release on the Xbox 360®video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and Games for Windows.

“We are very excited to let gamers get their hands on Fallout 3, the latest chapter in this beloved and highly acclaimed franchise,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “To meet the huge demand for this title by our fans worldwide, we are planning one of the biggest launches of any game released this year.”

Fallout 3 features one of the most realized game worlds ever created. Set more than 200 years following a nuclear war, you can create any kind of character you want and explore the open wastes of Washington, D.C. however you choose. Every minute is a fight for survival as you encounter Super Mutants, Ghouls, Raiders, and other dangers of the Wasteland.

Hailed as one of the most anticipated games for 2008, Fallout 3 has already won numerous awards including Best of Show from the official Game Critics Awards at E3 2008, a selection voted on by an independent group of journalists from 36 leading North American media outlets that cover the videogame industry.

Fallout® 3 has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

My inability to read Chinese will probably lead to an article mistranslation, but courtesy of Kotaku & cng4u, we now have 137 images of Fallout 3, from the ZeniMax Asia Expo (ZeniMax Media is the company that owns Fallout 3 developers Bethesda.)

Though I’m sure those in attendance at the expo were all forced to comply with an NDA before seeing game footage, there’s always that one guy that never takes the NDA seriously. Hit the jump to see the fruits of his labor.

Fallout 3 hits the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC simultaneously in North America on October 7th of this year.

130+ Leaked Fallout 3 Images

137 Photos

 

Source: Kotaku (via cng4u)

“Hey Ladies and Gents, purchase little Jimmy an ice cold Nuka-Cola! It’s twelve ounces of liquid refreshment, tastes great, and scientifically proven to help his skin grow! Yum! The Taste of a Dead Generation!”

Bethesda’s Peter Hines recently touched on why they prefer the Xbox 360 over the PC and other gaming systems and also confirmed plans for Fallout 4. Read it up after the break.

“If you have the PC as your lead machine you have the problem of not knowing what configurations people have, how many gigs of RAM or what graphics card they have.”

“Obviously we are more familiar with the Xbox because we have used it for longer and the other thing is that the Xbox is much easier to take to tech shows. We can just pop the hard-drive off the Xbox and put it on any machine which is an advantage. Taking the PC or PS3 to these things just isn’t convenient.”

He also drove home the fact that the downloadable content that will be available for Fallout 3 is exclusive to PC and Xbox 360.

“When I say exclusive I mean it is exclusive to just the Xbox 360 and PC. If you want to play the Fallout 3 downloadable content you will need to have an Xbox 360 or a PC.”

And finally, we have confirmation of more Fallout after Fallout 3.

“We didn’t buy the Fallout franchise to just do Fallout 3 and then stop. But let’s get this one out of the door before we worry about the next one.”

I think a lot of gamers are already worrying about the next one, Pete. I can almost guarantee it.

Source: Tech Radar

You may remember Vault-Tec as the company that built all of the underground vaults in the Fallout game series, which takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. The recently released Fallout 3 trailer tells us to reserve our vaults by calling 1-888-4VAULT-TEC, so I did just that.

Here’s the complete transcript of the audio recording I got. They even had a creepy mutant voice do the numbers.

Thank you for calling Vault-Tec, your first choice in post nuclear survival. We’re sorry, but due to unexpectedly high call volumes, all representatives are currently busy. Please stay on the line and someone will be with you as soon as possible. There are 101,000,000 callers in front of you. Estimated wait time: 78,643 hours.

Thank you for calling Vault-Tec. Have a wonderful day.

I’m not a patient man (and it doesn’t actually go down) so I hung up. I deal with enough of this shit with my cable company.

A lot of times you’ll hear about religious lunatics who can’t wait for the impending apocalypse. I never understood how they can look forward to something as utterly tragic as Doomsday.

Well, I have seen the blasted, radioactive future—and it is fun. Assuming our hands and eyeballs haven’t melted into goo, we can all anticipate an endlessly entertaining nuclear aftermath, as portrayed by Fallout 3.

The best way for me to describe Fallout 3, at a glance, is “Sci-Fi Oblivion”. The game controls just like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but with a prevalent futuristic style. Everything from your initial exit from the vault (akin to the eye-opening “sewer escape” moment from Oblivion), to the options menu you carry around on your character’s arm, screams high-tech.

Of course, it’s futuristic to a point. After the bombs fell, humanity was blasted back a couple of centuries in terms of civilization, so you’re essentially wandering around a post-nuclear version of the Wild West. Tons of irradiated animals, gangs of outlaws, and struggling denizens are scattered throughout the baked landscape. The survivors have cobbled together a few makeshift machines, like an automatic turret I encountered that was protecting a scavenger’s filthy RV, but for the most part these people seem to live off the land.

It’s soon apparent that your cushy life inside Vault 101 has only delayed your exposure to the char-broiled real world. When you first exit the Vault, you’re struck with a blinding light—after all, this is the first time your character has ever seen the sun. On the ground outside is a handwritten sign: “We’re Dying, Assholes.” A nearby road sign declares “Scenic Outlook”, but the only view is of a broken overpass and miles of blasted desert.

We only had thirty minutes to explore this world, so we’ll have to wait until later this year to enjoy the other 99 and a half hours of gameplay that I expect from the developers of Elder Scrolls IV. Fallout 3 lets you customize every little perk and stat, and one of the more intriguing abilities is “Lady Killer”, which gives you the option of seducing the women you talk to, and an attack bonus when fighting against female enemies.

Speaking of combat, much has been written about the VATS combat system in Fallout 3, a sleek combination of real-time first person shooting and turn-based strategy. Hitting the right bumper lets you individually target body parts, but this hardly assures a quick kill. You might pause the game, aim four shots right at a creature’s head, and afterwards find that you’ve only made it angry. Then you have to run away to replenish your action points and repeat the process, or suck it up and go toe-to-toe in real time like a regular shooter.

Needless to say, this system works beautifully, and it is completely unlike any FPS or RTS game I’ve played. The possibilities seem pretty cool—you can wait until a giant radioactive gopher is in mid-pounce before pausing the game to target its ugly face. Later enemies may require you to target particular body parts in the correct order to disarm them or inflict the most damage.

With time for the demo running short, I equipped my portable radio. This lets you pick up transmissions, which can only be heard if you’re within range. The one I settled on was a radio address from the President of the United States, who was explaining the necessity of keeping the details of his election a secret for matters of national security. “Rest assured,” he said, “I was fairly elected by the right people.”

He went on to explain that at the time when his term expires, he will leave America’s democracy in the hands of the people with a worthy successor. This sort of makes you wonder—can my Fallout 3 character pursue the highest political aspirations? Can you become the President of the United States?

It seems almost anything is possible in Fallout 3. From the character customization, to the extremely dense wasteland for you to explore, this is a game that will send players down hundreds of different paths, tied together with a story and humor that can’t be found anywhere else. Begin the countdown— Fallout 3 launches on October 7.

As a longtime Fallout fan, the possibilities of Fallout 3 have me quite excited.  When I saw the first teaser for the game, I got goose bumps.  Now Bethesda unleashes this “new” trailer over a year later, and it is almost the same trailer all over again!

Here is the new E3 trailer for Fallout 3, just released today:

And now here is the original announcement trailer, released in June of 2007:

Do you see what I’m saying? The new trailer is basically the old trailer except a lot shorter and with a television instead of a radio. If this is the kind of “creativity” that’s going into this game, then I’m suddenly not very excited any more.

Hopefully Bethesda’s advertising skills are not indicative of their actual game design skills. I can’t say I’m looking forward to an open-world role-playing game that consists of a hundred hours’ worth of quests that all have me slowly backing away from a media device while listening to music from the turn of the century only to discover that the world around me is all blown up and shit.

I’m crossing my fingers that they show something that’s actually good at E3, like, I don’t know, some gameplay or something.