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Fallout Belongs to Bethesda, Period – Rights to the MMO Taken from Interplay

Justin Carter — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:36:30 +0000

Bethesda and Interplay have finally reached a settlement regarding their dispute over the Fallout IP, mainly regarding the Fallout MMO Interplay announced five years ago. Regarding the MMO, Bethesda now owns it. As part of the settlement, the license “granted to Interplay to develop the Fallout MMO is null and void, and all rights granted to Interplay to develop a Fallout MMO revert back to Bethesda, effective immediately.”

The hits just keep on coming. Interplay has no ongoing right to the Fallout brand or any Fallout IP. They’ve also got until December 2013 before their rights to sell the original Fallout, along with the sequels Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics, along with any merchandising rights associated with the properties. Here’s what Bethesda had to say regarding the lawsuit:

“The lawsuit against Interplay arose after Bethesda Softworks acquired all Fallout intellectual property rights from Interplay in April 2007, and conditionally licensed back to Interplay certain trademark rights to make a Fallout MMO, provided Interplay secured $30 million in financing for the MMO and commenced full scale development of the game by April 2009. Bethesda alleged in its complaint that Interplay failed to meet either condition of the license back agreement but refused to relinquish its license and insisted it would develop a Fallout MMO.

Back when the MMO was theirs, Interplay also subcontracted Masthead Studios to help with the project. That’s no longer the case. Masthead no longer has rights to the Fallout MMO, and they received no payments. Interplay, on the other hand, is receiving $2 million from Bethesda’s parent company Zenimax.

via Joystiq

GOG.com and Interplay Team Up for Summer ‘Staycation’ Offer

Matthew Sims — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:16:43 +0000

GOG, better known as Good Old Games, is teaming up with Interplay to deliver 50% savings on all 32 Interplay titles in the GOG.com catalog. Interplay was a giant in the 90′s releasing such classic games as Fallout 1 & 2, Earthworm Jim 1 and 2, and MDK 1 and 2.

A Staycation is where you stay at home to save money, and with these classic games going as low as $2.99 you can save some cash and enjoy some classics you may have missed.

Be sure to check out the classic Fallout games, they are easily the highlight of the bunch. You can check it out at GOG.com where games are always DRM free.

This Staycation event lasts until July 4th.

Check Out This Awesome Pip-Boy 3000 Replica

Dave Oshry — Thu, 26 May 2011 00:22:01 +0000

Few things are better at helping you along your way in a post apocalyptic wasteland than a trusty Pip-Boy. This staple of the Fallout franchise is useful for keeping you up to date on your quests and letting you know just how close you are to an irradiated death at all times.

Well, this has just been brought to our attention. It’s one hell of a replica:

UPDATE: We have found out who made this magnificent piece of post-apocalyptica!! He goes by the name of Chanced and he makes all sorts of Fallout replicas!!

Yes, that’s an iPhone in there. So, this thing tracks your quests and gets crappy reception! zing!

Some of his other replicas include Nuka Cola bottlecaps, a Laser Pistol and what appears to be a second Pip-Boy replica made from that god awful Pip-Boy clock that came in the Amazon collector’s edition of Fallout 3. Yes, I’m still mad about that…

Want to get all nerdy about Fallout with me? Shoot me an email at Dave@RipTen.com or find me on Twitter @DaveOshry

Fallout Movie That Never Got Made is Finally Revealed

Dave Oshry — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 08:05:04 +0000

Did you know that there was once an Interplay Films? Did you know that they almost made a Fallout movie? Well, that movie never came to be, but the writer who was to script it has finally revealed all the details.

According to The Vault:

A Fallout movie script was to be written by Brent V. Friedman. Several studios were interested in the concept, but before a deal could be consummated, Interplay Films was disbanded around 2000 and the movie was canceled.

Friedman never did get to write a full script, but he did pen a 15 page film treatment which more or less tells the tale of the entire film. I highly suggest you read it for yourself. Personally, I think it wold have made a pretty damn decent action flick in it’s day.

The film was to be loosely based on Fallout 1. Yet, there are certain things from the Fallout universe that are definitely missing such as The Brotherhood of Steel. However, Vault 13, theVault Dweller, The Overseer and The Master all play starring roles.

After finally revealing this information, Friedman told The Vault:

It was surprisingly fun to read it after all these years (it was written around 1998 when Fallout 2 was released). There are some things I would definitely change (obviously, there are many outdated references, etc.) but there are also scenes and aspects of this story which I still love.

What do you think? Would this have made a great film? Would it have achieved the cult status of the original games?

I fear those answers are forever lost beneath the sands of the wastes…

[Thanks, as always, to Ausir]

Bethesda: “The license is ours. Fallout belongs to us.” Interplay: “ORLY!?”

Dave Oshry — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 12:50:35 +0000

On today’s episode of, “Tales of Our Post-Apocalyptic Lives” – Bethesda says Interplay has the rights to nothing. Low and behold – Interplay isn’t having it. Drama ensues. Dun dun dunnnnnnnnn *cue dramatic music*

Be sure to check out the last episodes of, “Days of Our Post-Apocalyptic Lives” here, here and here

People on both sides of the argument have been giving their two cents to various gaming outlets. Of course, our good buddy Ausir who runs TheVault has compiled it all so guys like me can make sense of it all. Here goes:

Eric Caen, Presidente of Interplay recently told Eurogamer that if the sale of the Fallout IP is terminated due to this whole legal mess – the Fallout franchise may end up coming back home to Interplay. The original deal was for three Fallout games and DLC – meaning that the next game after New Vegas would technically be Bethesda’s last. This obviously sparked some interest around the net – here is his full statement:

We sold the Fallout IP to Bethesda in exchange for a certain amount of cash and the right to do the Fallout MMO,” he said. “If they refuse to let us do the game, then the sale of the IP is terminated, and they will be allowed to do only one more Fallout, 5.

“But in that case, the IP will come back to us, and of course, we will complete our work and release the Fallout MMO.”

“The original licensing deal was for three games and their DLC,” Caen continued. “So they already did Fallout 3, then Fallout: New Vegas, and they can only do one more Fallout, 5, if the sale of the IP is cancelled by the court.

“We will love if we have to do Fallout 6 and sequels. But we will see what happens in court. It can be this year or later… We have the back-up of our shareholders to fund this fight.”

But does a Fallout MMO really even exist? You bet your irradiated ass it does. According to Caen:

“Since early 2009, we have a virtual Fallout world that exists and grows every day. We don’t want to release too many elements because of the litigation. We don’t know yet when we will reveal more. Sorry! “Our team, led by Chris Taylor and Mark O’Green [two of the creators of the original Fallout], loves Fallout and what we are putting together. We all hope we will be able to show you soon more of our work, and that you will like it.”

However - VG247 also reached out to Bethesda’s Pete Hines for comment. He had some interesting things to say:

“We own the rights to the MMO,” he said when asked if Caen’s comments were true. He continued: “We own the rights to everything Fallout. The license is ours. Fallout belongs to us. That’s what I’ll clarify.

“Beyond that, I’m not commenting on anybody else’s comments. It’s a legal matter. A specific MMO or project or any of that stuff, the lawyers are all going to sort it out.”

Once again – to summize: Bethesda says they own everything Fallout and Interplay is more or less entitled to make jack squat. However – Interplay thinks they have a real case here and if the sale of the IP ends up being terminated they may end up with the Fallout franchise again sometime in the not so distant future.

Stay tuned as the drama continues on – “Days of Our Post-Apocalyptic Lives!!”

Bethesda’s Motion to Dismiss Interplay Counter-Claims – DENIED

Dave Oshry — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:41:46 +0000

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the, “Days of Our Post-Apocalyptic Lives”. On today’s episode of the soap opera that is the Bethesda/Interplay legal battle – Bethesda’s motion to dismiss Interplay’s counter-claims have been – denied.

Be sure to check out the last episodes of, “Days of Our Post-Apocalyptic Lives” here and here

To recap: Play called Beth’s claims absurd – But Beth said she’d been consistent with her claims about Play and asked the court to have Play’s counter-claims against her dismissed. The court said that they would not dismiss these claims because Beth’s argument was not strong enough. The court then told Play that he had until February 7th to get his shit together and present the court with a litany of evidence. Beth was ready to storm out of the courtroom in a fit but just then Stefano walked in . . . !!

As usual, Ausir over at TheVault, who has been working overtime because of all this nonsense, compiled all the facts much more succinctly than I have. He states:

During a motion hearing held earlier today, Bethesda‘s partial motion to dismiss Counts I and II of Interplay‘s recent amended counterclaim was argued in court and denied by judge Deborah K. Chasanow. As a reminder, Bethesda wanted the court to dismiss Interplay’s counterclaim because the agreements that, according to Interplay, Bethesda has breached, are “clear and unambiguous” and that “no cause of action for breach has been stated” as, according to Bethesda, the agreement clearly does not require Bethesda to allow Interplay the use of any Fallout intellectual property assets other than the name Fallout itself. The court’s denial to dismiss the motion does not necessarily mean that the judge agrees with Interplay’s interpretation, simply that Bethesda’s interpretation is not as “clear and obvious” enough to dismiss it.

Additionally, however, the court stated that Interplay has until February 7 to comply with the court’s ruling on Bethesda’s “Motion to Compel”. Judge Chasanow dismisses some of Interplay’s objections, stating that:

“ Many of Interplay’s responses to Bethesda’s discovery requests – including many of its supplemental responses on the motion to compel – are boilerplate objections. These objections are not useful and the parties are urged not to use them. ”

The judge also states that Interplay is mistaken when suggesting that Bethesda’s requests improperly state the terms “Minimum Financing” and “Full-Scale Development” “as fact” and do not meet the specificity requirement of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. According to the court statement:

“ The terms are found in an agreement that Interplay signed, and it is not unreasonable to expect that Interplay could form some good faith understanding of what Bethesda is asking for. ”

Interplay is also ordered to provide:

The monthly sales of pre-existing Fallout games worldwide, including Fallout Trilogy, in dollars and units in order to establish any damages from Bethesda’s trademark infringement claim

A response to “contention interrogatory” that seeks to glean the factual basis for Interplay’s claim that it complied with the Trademark License Agreement’s (“TLA”) financing provision

Facts concerning any financing it secured after April 4, 2009 and any development efforts after the same date

Documents documenting the company’s relationship with Interactive Game Group and Masthead Studios

The long-form agreement with Masthead Studios

Documents concerning packaging for the Fallout games

Documents concerning distribution for the Fallout games

Documents relating to Interplay’s affirmative defenses of estoppel, waiver, ratification, acquiescence, consent, laches, and unclean hands

Documents relating to Interplay’s counterclaim

Documents relating to Glutton Creeper, an Interplay licensee

Due to Interplay’s hesitancy to provide some trade secret design documents as court evidence, they are to be provided only to Bethesda’s outside counsel and not to any of Bethesda’s “business decisionmakers,” including its in-house attorneys, and are to be designated “Confidential – Outside Counsel’s Eyes Only”.

Interplay is not required to reveal privileged information, but “must expressly assert the claim and describe the withheld material”.

Both parties will jointly advise the Court of any discovery disputes by March 1, 2011.

So there you have it. Will Play be able to come up with all the evidence the court requires in time? Will Beth ever back down from it’s initial claims? And what about the fact that Play was sleeping with Beth’s sister Sidian!? Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of, “Days of our Post-Apocalyptic Lives”

Source: TheVault (Thanks to Ausir of course, as always)

Bethesda Says They’ve Been Consistent With Interplay Claims – Or Have They?

Dave Oshry — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 22:46:24 +0000

The drama continues as the future of the Fallout MMO hangs in the balance. More legal documents have been poured over and it looks as if Bethesda may have been caught with their pants down.

Just yesterday we reported that Interplay had called Bethesda’s claims that they were only given the Fallout “name” and not allowed to use any elements from the Fallout universe, “Absurd” Well today, this is what Bethesda had to say:

Ignoring these determinative facts, Interplay seeks to create confusion and ambiguity where none exists. Interplay’s opposition is in its entirety based on the unsupported contention that the term “FALLOUT-branded MMOG” is somehow “ambiguous.” Interplay seeks to introduce extrinsic evidence to alter the clear language and terms of the parties’ agreements. Parol evidence, however, is neither permitted nor warranted here. The term “FALLOUTbranded MMOG” is plain and clear on its face – it means an MMOG named FALLOUT. Bethesda gave Interplay a license to call its MMOG “Fallout” if it met the conditions of the TLA. (See Bethesda Mem. at p. 5.) Nothing else was licensed to Interplay. The APA and TLA also contain undisputed, unambiguous integration clauses prohibiting admission of extrinsic agreements or understandings.

Now this seems reasonably iron clad based on the legal language – so let’s just assume for a second that Bethesda had NO IDEA Interplay planned on making a Fallout MMO that would actually take place in the Fallout universe. Are we all imagining that? Good. However – concept screenshots submitted as court evidence back in 2009 clearly show Interplay developing a game that contains Super Mutants and Nuka Cola. Two very persistent elements of the Fallout universe.

Yep, that's a Super Mutant alright . . .

Refreshing Nuka Cola.

According to TheVault:

“Bethesda only recently learned of Interplay’s multiple infringements from Interplay’s public marketing materials”.

Interplay actually started releasing official materials using Fallout assets in June 2010, over 6 months before Bethesda made this claim. And proof of concept screenshots with super mutants and Nuka-Cola were admitted as court evidence back in 2009.

So why now Bethesda? You really had no idea Interplay was going to make a Fallout MMO set in the Fallout Universe? You never saw those concept screenshots that were submitted as court evidence that even ‘we’ have seen?

Bullshit.

Source: TheVault (Thanks as usual to Ausir)

Interplay Calls Bethesda’s Fallout Claims, “Absurd”

Dave Oshry — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 06:42:49 +0000

Can’t we all just get along? No? Ok, then how about we get this mess sorted out and get back to making games.

Not long ago, Bethesda Softworks stated that Interplay was only given rights to use the fallout name and not any other elements or assets from the franchise. Well, Interplay has responded calling that claim, in a word, absurd.

According to Interplay’s Lawyers:

“First, this is not only absurd, but is specifically prohibited [emphasis Interplay's] by the agreement because Interplay was only granted a ‘license and right to use the Licensed Marks on and in connection with its FALLOUT-branded MMOG … and for no other purpose,” the filing added.

“It was not the parties’ intent that Interplay create, for example, an online baseball game or poker game called ‘Fallout.’”

I don’t know . . . a Fallout poker game sounds pretty sweet to me. In all seriousness however, the fact that Interplay was given license to make a Fallout MMO and can’t use any elements of the Fallout universe is absurd.

Source: TheVault (Thanks as usual to Ausir)

NEW Fallout MMO Info Surfaces – Actually Tells Us Something

Dave Oshry — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 00:22:53 +0000

Another cryptic email about the Fallout MMO has arrived from Interplay – but this time there’s actually some solid information within it.

The first bit of actual news is that Ghouls have been announced as a playable race (duh?)

Ghouls are the first announced playable race in Fallout® Online. Like humans, there are many different types of Ghouls and not all are the sterotypical pacifist or weakling. Ghouls get bonuses to trade and engineering skills. They enjoy fixing broken technology more than most survivors in the wastelands but that doesn’t prevent them from being dangerous opponents in combat. Ghouls have high radiation resistance and slightly better than normal Intelligence. Their gear tends to be in better condition than other races, but that’s not always true.

Ghouls start with two racial abilities: Complaint Department and Geiger Counted. Ghouls have two unique racial Traits added to the available pool: Radiant One and Tech Wizard.

All of this information comes courtesy of a Pip-Pad – which is totally a pseudo 1950′s post apocalyptic version of the iPad. :-)

There’s a lot to read in this edition of The Armageddon Rag – Read the whole thing here.

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL

Upon venturing deeper into the forums, Interplay’s Chris Taylor (that guy who created Fallout 1) also discusses the combat system and guilds within the game. (Thanks to NMA via The Vault Wiki for posting this)

Chris Taylor about the combat system:

We try to read as much as possible, but lately, it’s been hard to keep up with everything! ^_^

Some things are pretty locked down, like the combat system. We had a strong concept for the combat system from the very beginning. It’s not FO1/2, and it’s not VATS. It’s a SPECIAL based system that works in a MMO environment. You can say it’s specially designed for us. We never intended for it to be a FPS or pure shooter. Character skill and stats are very important to the combat system. Probably 50% of the equation. Character gear, player skill, decision making and timing make up the other half.

Like I’ve said in the past, what gets said here does influence us, naturally, but we do have a very strong vision for the game, so we’re not rewriting it based on what we read.

There have been more than a few moments where this forum has made us realize that there was something missing (hey, it’s a big game design, there are gaps here and there) or we could tweak it one way or another because we hadn’t fully fleshed out that particular feature.

We’ve got our own strong idea of what the game should be, and we’re confident in our skills and experience as game developers. But that doesn’t mean we don’t listen to the community. Honestly, however, I’d say that it’s very difficult for the community to understand the game as a whole at this stage. When we get to beta testing, and people have a chance to play the game instead of discussing it in theory, it will be better for everyone involved.

And Guilds:

I saw a post or two about the naming of “Guilds”, and hoping for something other than “Guild” as the name of a player-based social group.

Well, we tried. Internally, we called them something else. We set up wiki pages for the new name, all references in the design docs used the new name, etc… And we kept referring to them as guilds whenever we had a discussion.

Finally, we caved in. If people are going to call them guilds, we might as we support that.

So, our “guilds” are Guilds. Yar, it’s not quite appropriate (“Faction” is reserved for something else, and “blankity-blank-blank”, the name that we tried to get people to use, was stolen by another part of the design and co-opted to do something else), but it’s what everybody uses.(1)

(1) Geek op-ed piece: It annoys me when a paper-and-pencil RPG calls the DM something besides DM, if fantasy, or GM if anything. A GM is a GM. It’s not a keeper, or a storyteller, or a HPIC or whatever. It’s a GM.

So, what have we learned here today? Ghouls will be a playable race – there will be giant shrimp monsters – the combat will not be like Fallout 1/2 or 3 – and there will obviously be guilds.

It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.

Stay tuned to RipTen as this story unfolds into the apocalypse.

Ripten Retrograde: Fallout (1997)

Gavin Bard — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 20:00:38 +0000

I guess I should explain what this is.

This isn’t really a traditional review of a game, because video games just advance too quickly to do a traditional bullet-point type review of these older titles. Sure, there is a score at the end, but that is just because most people need to grind up quantified scores and inject them into the webbing of their toes or else they get the cold sweats. I don’t like when people detox during my articles, it lowers my hit counts. Don’t be fooled by the score though, this “Retrograde” experiment isn’t so much a review as it is a stream of consciousness commentary on interesting screenshots from gaming’s past. Sometimes there will be anecdotes or personal stories, other times I will actually discuss the game, and at even other times I’ll probably just make borderline offensive jokes, beat a running gag into the ground, or spoil the ending for you. Think Mystery Science Theater 3000 meets me looking for an excuse to dick around playing awesome retro video games instead of doing real work. This might seem familiar to the three and a third of you who follow me on Tumblr, and it generally seems to entertain one of you, so what the hell, let’s slap a fresh coat of paint on this lemon and call it a Chryslus .

Ah, Fallout. I was around the tender age of 12 when this game came out, and it was one of the first games I can really remember knowing inside and out like it was a warm Tauntaun. I played and beat this game in every possible combination, and fully believe that it deserves it’s place as a near holy relic of those glorious PC gaming salad days. Oh, the 90s, you sure sucked for mainstream music and fashion, but you were awesome for computer RPGs.

For people who haven’t played the original Black Isle (not yet called so) developed Fallout games and are only familiar with the more recent FPS variants of the series, you may be surprised by how familiar a lot of the stuff in this game really seems. Even despite Fallout 1 and 2 being completely different games from a different publisher than Fallout 3 and New Vegas, the attention paid to keeping the lore and atmosphere intact across the entire series is really impressive to look back on.

The plot of Fallout revolves around the Vault Dweller, a member of Vault 13 who is sent into the unknown wasteland to find a replacement for their malfunctioning water chip. What makes the game quite unique, especially for 1997, is that you initially only have 150 days to do it. The wasteland is a huge and dangerous place, so this can be quite challenging on the first playthrough … unless you just Google it or something, but that would make you a time traveler since this game out 13 years ago. You’ve also got to figure that the corpse three feet away from the Vault door probably wasn’t the best first choice for this mission. What possibly could have killed him? Was he deathly allergic to rocks?

All the traveling in the game is viewed through your trusty Pip-Boy, and going from one point to another is what takes the vast majority of time from your main quest. Many of the important destinations can be discovered through talking to NPCs and can help cut your travel time a bit, so it really encourages you to absorb as much of the atmosphere as you can.

At first I thought it seemed really asshole-ish of the Overseer to sit in a huge cyberpunk throne well above the people he is in charge of, but then I realized that in his free time the Overseer fights Sonic the Hedgehog in that thing.

Hey, I didn’t know your mom was in this game. HAH! Burn!

The references to the post apocalyptic inspirations for Fallout are purposely noticeable. Whether it be A Boy and His Dog or Mad Max, you see a lot of little winks and nods to the movies and novels that helped inspire the universe. Two men enter the waist high wooden gated enclosure and one man leaves the waist high wooden gated enclosure.

Darkwaters? Then why isn’t that scantily clad Morrigan chick selling me guns? Wait, that was Darkstalkers. I think I’d rather do my shopping there.

The dialog is one of the strongest points of the game. Fallout brings the wit as well as Wu-Tang brings the ruckus. It’s so hard to resist picking some of the more ridiculous options even though you know they are going to get you into trouble. It makes it easier if you tend to roleplay as a raging asshole though.

Skum Pitt. Still sounds classier than the places I usually go to.

By far, the most impressive part of the first Fallout game is the atmosphere. Every single piece of the game just exudes nuclear wasteland. From the caravans and the trader communes to the insane cults and technology hoarding armies, the aesthetics combine to make this really feel like the retro-futuristic apocalypse it is supposed to be.

Suddenly, I have the overwhelming urge to watch some Troma films.

Meanwhile, on the set of Starship Troopers…

Now I know how my black friend feels anytime he visits the south.

Another aesthetically pleasing strong point is the game’s voice acting. While there isn’t a ton of it, and only a handful of characters have rendered animation or voice acting, the parts that are there are highly professional. You’ll probably be doing the whole, “Where do I know that voice from” thing plenty of times, so to save you some time I’ll get that part over with for you- Hellboy, MacGyver, The Lobe from Freakazoid, Monk, Raymond’s brother from that show about everybody loving him, Childs from The Thing, Bull Shannon, and Mortanius. This has been a public service.

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it Boba Fett, stay away from that Sarlacc pit!

The combat plays out in a strategic RPG fashion. Depending on a number of factors, you or your enemy will start the battle, at which point you have a number of action points to spend on things like using your inventory, shooting your weapon, and even reloading. For those who have only ever been exposed to the franchise through Fallout 3 or New Vegas, VATS is present in its original form here and helps to add another level of tactics to the game. The combat isn’t overly deep, although there are a fair amount of weapons to decimate the games various mutated baddies with, but it is certainly deep enough. Oh, and if you said, “That’s what she said,” chop yourself in the throat for me.

One of the best things about Fallout is how organic the world seems. Whether through the rich dialog, clues in the surroundings, or just good ol’ fashion history collectin’, pretty much every aspect of the game you would be curious about is explained or, at least, made to make as much sense as can be made in a world where radioactive ghouls and super mutants roam the land.

This is actually exactly what it looks like when you cross the Benjamin Franklin Bridge into New Jersey.

“You may be a doctor. But I’m the Doctor.”

Like any good game of this type, most of the major quests have plenty of different ways to finish them. There are some hiccups with this, as there seem to be in every Fallout game, and some of the quests are as fragile as Sam Jackson in Unbreakable. The littlest misstep can make quests impossible to finish no matter how far through one you are. Sometimes it is a bit on the realistic side, most people won’t give you money after you make fun of them even if you did kill a horde of raiders, but more often than not it just seems like programming loose ends.

Figures. It’s the end of the world and they still have Republican National Conventions.

Doesn’t this guy know what happened to the last person with a name like “Mr. Handy” when they got sexual? At least he wasn’t asking for a horse right! Haha-

…ha.

In the end, Fallout is really one of the best PC games ever made. In the wasteland of PC gaming, Fallout is living a lavish existence in a cobbled together village with games like Deus Ex, Diablo, and Planescape: Torment. With a ton of concentrated atmosphere, engaging gameplay, and a great story with an appropriately wow-the-world-fucking-sucks-doesn’t-it ending, this is definitely the classic that all the cool kids always said it was. If you haven’t played this, you probably should or else you might lose your geek license. In fact, you should play through it before you even start New Vegas, just like I’m doing. That way you don’t have to write about anything substantial or important and can just make tasteless jokes relating to screenshots you took of a 13 year old game.

I mean, uh, I’m a serious journalist!

Fallout was developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay for DOS, Windows, and eventually the stupid Mac like a hundred years later probably, amirite! The game released in North America, the best America, on September 30th, 1997. The copy used in this review was for Windows and given to me by my dad for Christmas 13 years ago, even though my mom totally wasn’t happy with me playing a mature rated game which probably lead to their divorce or something. Fallout was played until completion infinite times for around My Entire Adolescent Life hours.

Next time: Fallout 2

More Mysterious Fallout MMO Propaganda Has Appeared in Your Inbox

Dave Oshry — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 07:55:55 +0000

Any news is better than no news . . . but what sort of news is this!? Today, all of us who’ve signed up for Fallout Online received yet another strange piece of propaganda via email. This time we’ve been given a pamphlet for the, “Church of Harold.”

If you are not aware of who Harold is, then you are clearly not a fan of the original Fallout or Fallout 2. Hell, he even made an appearance in Fallout 3!! In fact, he’s the only character to appear in every Fallout game so far.

But what of this church? Apparently it was created by worshipers of Harold, who aim to rebuild the world, “One twig at a time.” The entire pamphlet is very tongue and cheek, but perhaps it is hinting at an actual faction or church that will exist within the Fallout MMO? Perhaps a starting point for young mutant adventurers? Perhaps a quest hub? Who knows!? One thing is certain, it’s better to get some news about the Fallout MMO, than no news at all.

Fallout Online – The Armageddon Rag

Bryce Wilson — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 09:01:54 +0000

With Interplay working away like busy beavers on the much anticipated Fallout MMO, this little bundle of joy arrived in my inbox only a short time ago. Titled the “Armageddon Rag” I think the purpose is to give a brief insight into the world of Fallout Online. Tales of the life in the wastelands you could call them. Check it out below and let us know what you think.

Fallout Online Announced, Sign Up for the Beta

Sam Naylor — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:54:24 +0000

Interplay have finally revealed that they will be releasing a Fallout MMO named Fallout Online, and Beta signups are already beginning.

The game will be co-developed by Masthead Studios and Interplay, with Chris Taylor, designer of the original Fallout, as lead system designer.

After a legal dispute with Bethesda over the IP, Interplay have finally managed to get this thing on the road. We can only hope the game will be at least as good as Fallout 3, albeit in a slightly different genre. I must admit I’m not hopeful, however. MMOs just don’t seem like a viable option any more unless you’re playing one of the bigger ones- they seem to just wither and die after a few months these days.

Don’t You Miss The Good Old Days?

Roly Reyes — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:58:17 +0000

Classic PC games on the cheap? If you deem that statement worth your while, it would be prudent of you to take a look at GOG.com (Good Old Games). What started as a side-project from the guys that made PC RPG, The Witcher, managed to take it as far as making it an entity of its own. Although not yet live, we do know that Codemasters and Interplay are in with GOG.com as well as the existence of an early access beta.

I want to liken it to Gametap, with some very important differences. Firstly, no exclusive content or at least none that’s been announced or hinted at, thus far. It’s not on a subscription model; you pay for games, you keep them, and are free to download and re-download as much as you see fit. And most importantly: all games have had their insides turned out in hopes of creating the maximum amount of compatibility between both Windows XP and Vista.

If you yearn for the olden days of PC gaming, this looks to be one of the best ways of going about it. If interested, there’s an early access beta go to GOG.com and sign up prior to September 7, 2008 before 12:00am (EDT, convert time zone accordingly.)

Source: GOG.com

Interplay Re-Registers The Descent, Baldur’s Gate, and Clayfighter Trademarks

Jonathan Zungre — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:45:17 +0000

We missed you, Bad Mr. Frosty.

Could we see Clayfighter’s clay snowmen fighting clay Elvis again? That’s a whole big bag of “maybe,” but Interplays re-registering of those game’s trademarks could give us some fun hope for the next-gen updates of these classic franchises.

Further signs that Interplay is restarting its development studio include the recent (December 2007) registering or re-registering of trademarks related to its past games, including Descent, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, Die By The Sword, Clay Fighter, Run Like Hell, Virtual Chess, Stonekeep, Lionheart and Messiah.

Extra points if you caught the fact that they re-registered the Die By The Sword trademark, a game created by Mark Nau, who Chad just interviewed about his work on the new Incredible Hulk game. Do I sense an updated Wii swordplay game coming?

[Thanks Mork]

“	Many of Interplay’s responses to Bethesda’s discovery requests – including many of its supplemental responses on the motion to compel – are boilerplate objections. These objections are not useful and the parties are urged not to use them.	”

“	The terms are found in an agreement that Interplay signed, and it is not unreasonable to expect that Interplay could form some good faith understanding of what Bethesda is asking for.	”