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Star Studded Voice Cast of New Vegas Announced

Dave Oshry — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:23:40 +0000

Viva New Vegas!! The voice cast for what is sure to be a contender for RPG of the year has been announced, and it’s filled with some suprise and not-so suprising names!!

Heres the full press release . . . find my comments shortly thereafter.

August 10, 2010 (Rockville, MD) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax® Media company, today revealed the star-studded voice over cast for Fallout®: New Vegas™, the follow-up game to the critically acclaimed Fallout® 3. Fallout: New Vegas features Golden Globe-winner and two time Emmy nominated actor Ron Perlman (“Hellboy”, “Sons of Anarachy”), Screen Actors Guild-winner and Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor Matthew Perry (“Friends”), Mr. Las Vegas himself, Wayne Newton, William Sadler (“Shawshank Redemption”), Zach Levi (“Chuck”), Felicia Day (“The Guild”), Michael Dorn (“Star Trek:The Next Generation”), Kris Kristofferson (“Blade Trilogy,”), Danny Trejo (“Machete”, “From Dusk Till Dawn”), John Doman (“Mystic River”, “The Wire”) and Rene Auberjonois (“Boston Legal”, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”).

“The Fallout franchise has taken narratives in interactive entertainment to the next level, and we could not be more excited about the all-new celebrity lineup for Fallout: New Vegas,” said Pete Hines, Vice President of PR and Marketing for Bethesda Softworks. “The voice acting provided by these actors helps drive the compelling and immersive story of Fallout and further adds to the overall gameplay experience.”

Ron Perlman returns to voice the narrator in Fallout: New Vegas, a role he has played in every major Fallout game to date. Matthew Perry plays Benny, a smooth-talking, two faced gangster, and Wayne Newton takes on the role as “Mr. New Vegas,” the radio DJ of the Mojave Wasteland.

Three celebrities take on roles as playable companions in Fallout: New Vegas: Danny Trejo is Raul the Ghoul, a mechanic and former gunslinger; Zach Levi is Arcade, a member of the Followers of the Apocalypse who hides a mysterious past, and Felicia Day is Veronica, a sarcastic Brotherhood of Steel scribe.

The epic cast continues with Kris Kristofferson as Chief Hanlon, a grizzled soldier at the end of his career, and Rene Auberjonois as the enigmatic and reclusive Mr. House. Michael Dorn reprises his role as Marcus, an intelligent super mutant, who was last seen in 1998’s Fallout® 2; John Doman is Caesar, the charismatic and powerful dictator at the head of Caesar’s Legion. William Sadler plays Victor, a friendly robot with the personality of an old fashioned cowboy.

Ok, so we’ve got Ron Perlman, that’s a no brainer as he has narrated the entire series since the original game.

Matthew Perry, (you know that guy from friends and that bad Zac Efron movie) will join the fallout universe, no complaints here.

Wayne Newton as Mr. New Vegas sure sounds a whole lot better than Three Dawg, bow wow. Seems to be a perfect fit for the new radio DJ in the Mojave wasteland. Viva Mr Newton!!

Danny Trejo (Con Air, Desperado, countless other films) is practically a ghoul in real life (don’t tell him I said that) and has a great voice to play Raul the Ghoul. Nice addition in my opinion.

Everyone’s favorite lady from The Guild, Felicia Day will be playing a brotherhood scribe, and I’m sure she will have some great and witty dialogue.

We’ve also got the legendary Kris Kristofferson who will undoubtetly provide some great voicing for Chief Hanlon.

Half the cast of Deep Space 9 is also in this game,(Rene Auberjonois, John Doman, William Sadler) but I’m not going to detail everyone, except Michael Dorn. Because as a Fallout 2 fanatic, the fact that he’s back interests me the most.

You may know Mr. Dorn as Worf from Star Trek, but to me (since I was never a Trekkie) he has always been the voices of Marcus the Super Mutant Sherriff (who is returning) and Special Agent Frank Horrigan (uber scary giant enclave bossman) from Fallout 2.

While it is great to see that Marcus is back, I am not ruling out for a second that since Dorn is back, that Horrigan may be back as well. Sure, we all (SPOILER ALERT) killed him at the end of Fallout 2 on that oil rig off the shores of San Fransisco, but who’s to say the Enclave didn’t somehow retain his genetic code and create a new Horrigan! Stranger things have happened, this is science fiction after all. I for one would welcome to absurdity of bringing Horrigan back, because no enemy in the Fallout universe ever compared. In fact, the fight against Horrigan is one of the only “true” boss battles ever fought in the series, and I welcome the opportunity to do it all over again in brilliant 3d. Have I ranted and raved enough now? I think so.

Fallout: New Vegas is coming to a gaming wasteland near you this October.

Want to get all geeky with me about Fallout? Then get @DaveOshry on Twitter, I can talk about this shit all day long. Be sure to look for our upcoming interview with Obsidian’s Chris Avellone as well, for some real insight into what makes this universe, and the man himself, tick.

Girl Bakes Boyfriend Left 4 Dead Cake, Vault Boy Cake Approves

Chad Lakkis — Sat, 29 May 2010 15:57:00 +0000

There are two very lucky men out there right now, and both are probably suffering the effects of an extreme sugar high thanks to the baking efforts of their loving girlfriends.

The Left 4 Dead cake (shown above) was one girl’s second video game themed gift to the man she loved. Her boyfriend told reddit that the first was a Portal cake that he received a few years prior. As for the beautifully well done Vault Boy cake below, it was no doubt crafted with an equal amount of love.

Time to start shopping for some Bejeweled sized wedding rings boys.

Even MORE Fallout: New Vegas Info, Vault Boy’s PRO-Abortion!!

Dave Oshry — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:53:57 +0000

What!? You thought I was done!? You thought the endless list of New Vegas bullet points had actually ended!? Well, you were wrong!!

As Ripten’s resident Vault Dweller, I have managed to compile even more information on Obsidian’s upcoming sure to be best selling gigantasaurus megahit, Fallout: New Vegas. Read or die mutant scum!!

During the opening sequence: the courier (that being you) is executed with a headshot. No ambush.
Character look creation: Mitchell holds a mirror in front of your face “I hope I put you back together properly so you recognize yourself.”
Character creation: G.O.A.T. is replaced with a psychoanalysis test.
Weapons: picture of a hunting rifle included. Available modifications are scope, larger magazine and a 3rd one for faster load between shots.
Weapons: picture of a normal and a unique 9mm Pistol. Shown mods: scope and magazine enlargement. One gun shown with both scope and enlarged magazine.
Weapons: The unique pistol has a unique skin, engravings and a picture of Virgin Mary on the grip. This could mean that every unique weapon has its own skin. “These rare guns not only look UNIQUE, but have unique properties.”
Weapons: Concept art of a guy in the trenchoat from the teaser wielding a Fallout 3-style minigun (It’s a little bit smaller though).
Some choices you make during the game reveal their consequences far later.
Some NPC companions will have their own quests too.
Radar: A new yellow bar for companions is added by Obsidian.
“Caps” are mentioned as currency, not poker chips or dollars.
Hint that weapon modifications can be found in the wastes. (May be speculation).
Some statements hint that the NCR and the Brotherhood of Steel somehow work together (Scandalous!).
Game world will be as big as the one from Fallout 3.
Chris Avellone on game development: “We are currently working on the dialogues and places. The rest looks pretty good for now.”
The dialog-system has been reworked. Each and every possible answer is shown even if your skills are too low. (Like Mass Effect!!)
In Goodspring you get to do the tutorial. The tutorial can be skipped!!
New California Rangers wear modified LAPD riot armor.
The player will be able to have two or three companions in their party.
With Raul the ghoul in your party, you’ll start to pick up clues that he’s more than just a simple mechanic.
Unsurprisingly, deathclaws and radscorpions are mentioned.
From the screenshot, Fore! indeed looks like an attack on the head, not groin, as mentioned in an earlier preview.
NCR is described as large and powerful but bureaucratic. (on par with Fallout 2).
Chris Avellone: “It’s a very amusing location design-wise. Vegas is like a whole city-wide amusement park. We can play on different themes, different styles. It’s fun for the artists, it’s fun for the designers… I don’t know how much fun it’s going to be for the programmers”
J.E. Sawyer: “The Karma system is mostly the same as in Fallout 3, but checked less often. Mostly we rely on reputation, because that’s what people know. Karma is just a general indicator of how much of a sonofabitch you are.
If you murder people in secret, your reputation doesn’t go down because no on knows you did anything, so you can maintain a good reputation but your karma has tanked really heavily. Karma does influence some things, but reputation is usually what most people in the world base their opinions of you on.”
Character creation is virtually identical to Fallout 3, with cosmetic changes like the Gene Projector being replaced by ReflectionTM, “You’re SPECIAL!” by Vit-o-Matic machine and GOAT by a psychological test.
The local super mutants are pretty tough and will keep you from wandering aimlessly in the early portions of the game – they tend to be eveb tougher than deathclaws.
The Varmint Rifle is a low-power .22 that does significant damage to limbs and has a high critical bonus.
If your Barter skill is high enough, Chet the shopkeeper give you the 9-Iron golf club and some weapon mods.
Every skill will have use in conversations at various points.
Each firearm has a maximum of three modification slots. Once you affix a mod to a gun, it’s permanent. Hunting Rifle modification examples given are scope, custom action and extended clip.
Temporary followers will also be controlled through the companion wheel.
Concept art of Hoover Dam and screenshots of the Black Mountain radio tower and the character standing inside the mouth of Dinky the Dinosaur are shown.
With high local reputation at Goodsprings, you’ll get a free bed to sleep in and a discount at the store (woot).
Neil, a super mutant who hates Tabitha, can help you storm the mountain.
Tabitha is actually a male super mutant gone completely insane.

Skill magazines” you find in New Vegas will only temporarily boost your skills (Not permanently as in Fallout 1-3)
There’s a rollercoaster in Primm (Hooray)
The combat gameplay was tweaked to be more first-person-shootery (Cool?)

Also, here is a look at the new NCR Ranger Armor.

In other useless Fallout News, Brian Menze, the man behind the Vault Boy, has published an unused Vault Boy image on his DeviantArt account (though the image shown below has been removed) :

In his own words . . .

“This image was unused and the only Vault Boy image to ever be cut from Fallout 2. (I’m sure you can figure out why) I remember when I got the request to do a perk illustration for “Child Killer” that there would be no way to keep in from being offensive. I mean really! how do you make an illustration of “child killer” and keep it from being offensive? Anyway for some reason, I thought this was the least offensive way to do it. I have no idea what i was thinking. Even the designer who requested it realized it was a bad idea, so we nixed it. Looking back on it now, I can’t beleive I drew this.”

This image has sparked fans around the world to submit their own images . . . Enjoy!!

See the rest of them HERE

That’s all for now . . . until next time.

The Fallout from Fallout 3’s Piracy

Justin Arnold — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:14:35 +0000

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 Computer Case Mod

Chad Lakkis — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:58:56 +0000

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]

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