Fallout fans Down Under are celebrating as the word on the web is that Fallout 3 will be coming to Australia. Despite the initial ban hammer over in-game drug use, according to The Gamer Chip, EB Games and GAME representatives have assured fans that they will be getting the game in a slightly modified format.

After the announcement that Fallout 3 had been banned gamers and the media were whipped into a frenzy pointing out that games with similar mechanics such as BioShock had been approved. One Australian gamer went quipped in a post online, “What are the syringes in Bioshock filled with – magic fairy dust?” The controversy culminated in a rather embarrassing broadcast where a panel of politicians displayed their ignorance of Fallout 3 and video games in general live on ABC’s Q&A.

Gaming Today is waiting for the official confirmation from Bethesda itself. Stay tuned for the final verdict on Fallout 3.

Fallout 3 is still a few months away from release, but that doesn’t mean Bethesda isn’t already looking toward the future. In a recent interview, the company’s Peter Hines pretty much confirmed a fourth installment in the series would coming later on:

“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.”

Of course, there’s plenty of things that can go wrong between now and then. With the reaction just the previews of Fallout 3 have been getting though, I’m certain gamers will already be clamoring for a fourth game by the end of this year.

Via TechRadar

Bethesda is pleased to announced that Fallout 3 has received three nominations for the Game Critics Awards’ “The Best of E3″ 2008. Fallout 3 claimed nominations in the Best of Show, Best Console Game, and Best Role Playing Game categories.

Winners will be announced August 5, 2008. To view the competition check out the Game Critics Awards website.

via Bethesda Blog

Amazing as it may seem, Bethesda’s executive producer Todd Howard actually had to clarify that the release of Fallout 3, which takes place in a post nuclear holocaust Washington DC, isn’t any kind of political stance or statement. There’s no connection with the impending presidential election at all.

Having put that outlandish rumor to rest, Howard did have a few enlightening things to say about Fallout 3. He talked about everyone’s favorite canine companion Dogmeat and about the tongue in cheek perk upgrade system.

“I think leveling up in this game can be funny and you always get kind of cool [abilities],” Howard told me, as we discussed the franchise’s Perks system. “My current favorite one — and this was one of my favorites in the old games — it’s called Mysterious Stranger. And what that perk is is basically a mysterious person comes and helps you every once in a while. In the early games he would just pop up behind a barrel and shoot somebody. He’s a guy in a trench coat and a fedora. The way we do it in this game is: you go into VATs, and you go to shoot somebody, and if you miss for some reason and you have the perk, the mysterious stranger may show up. This guy in a trench coat just goes — BAM! — and kills somebody. And you go: ‘Where did that guy come from?’ It’s really funny.”

Howard also gives details on the game’s controls, combat and camera as well as life inside and outside the vault. He also explains more about the massively multiple endings that are generated by the game. you can get the full scoop on MTV Multiplayer.

The World of Western RPGs is a new article exploring the evolution of the Western RPG. The piece is a companion to a previous article on Asian RPGs.

The author starts off by talking about how broad a term RPG is and how practically worthless it is for describing a game. He uses Bioware and Bethesda to make his point in that these developers are both know for their RPGs, but have very different styles. He then goes on at length defining what different concepts associated to the RPG mean to him personally so that the reader can be on the same page when he gets down to the meat of the piece.

Western RPGs were born from “numbers and dungeons” games inspired by pen and paper RPGs. Over the year they have added art and split into two basic types; world focused and story focused RPGs. The article will take from the infancy of the form to todays modern vastly differentiated RPGs. You find references to Wizardry, Ultima, Might and Magic and the Elder Scrolls as well as Fallout, Diablo, Gold Box and Mass Effect along the way. Just remember this one important piece of advice as you explore RPGs:

Keep in mind that the word “classic” is not a synonym for “good”.

I heartily recommend this work for gamers who are interested in game design or die hard RPG fans.

via Moby Games

Gaming Today reported on a recent panel of Australian politicians that revealed just how ignorant they were when it came to video games. The whole discussion was caught on video and is shown with a transcript courtesy of GamePolitics.

The audience member that brought up the question on Fallout 3 that made a panel of Australian politicians look foolish is actually an editor for the Aussie site GameArena. “Joaby” brought up the ban of Fallout 3 hoping to open up a serious discussion about video game ratings and censorship that degenerated into the panel slamming video gamers and developers.

As you can see, what happened was far from a serious discussion on the merits of an R Rating for video games and government censorship. Instead, at large, the panelists were led into a discussion of violent video games and, due to archaic views of the average gamer, the discussion primarily devolved into the same “protect the children” commentary the public has heard for years.

Fortunately, what occurred on the show only served to highlight the exact issue at hand… Due to the format of the show it was nigh on impossible for me to refute even the more ludicrous and fantastic claims (Avatar: the rape game by Barnaby Joyce was particularly hard to keep quiet about) meaning the show simply continued to propagate the same antiquated idea already present in the general media about video games.

via GamePolitics

A panel of Aussie politicians put on a stunning display of their ignorance where video games are concerned on ABC’s Q&A last night.

As audience members raised the issue of the recent Fallout 3 ban, the panel exhibited a great deal of confusion over video game ratings systems: they were completely unaware that Austrailia has one. Sen. Barnaby Joyce brought up “rape in games” going so far as to equate adult video games with snuff films. Only Senator Mark Arbib (pictured at the right) maintained an unbiased equilibrium rather than condemn video games without having played them.

A transcript from the video footage follows the break.
Read the full article »

As if there wasn’t already enough excitement over Bethesda’s Fallout 3, check out these shots of full sized Brotherhood of Steel models. They’re especially impressive in a group at the warehouse waiting to be shipped out to retailers. However you really get a sense of the scale in the shot of a Bethesda dev aiming a Fat Man at one.

I would love to get my hands on one of these. I’m sure they’ll be big on eBay after retail is through with them.

via Bethesda Blog

A pair of downloadable games have been released on the PlayStation Store for PC: the PS1 Classic Rayman and the formerly available-only-on-UMD PSP title Star Trek: Tactical Assault. Rayman is just $6, while Star Trek is available for the much higher price of $20, which seems pretty high for a game that’s nearly two years old and wasn’t received well by critics.

You can also find Sony’s E3 press conference in three chunks, just like on the PS3 Store, but you better have quite a lot of free space on your memory sticks — they each take up between 1.17GB and 1.5GB.

Downloadable Games

STAR TREK: Tactical Assault ($19.99) (also downloadable via PS3)
File size: 140 MB

Rayman ($5.99)
File size: 97 MB

E3 Video

PlayStation E3 2008 Press Conference – Part 1
File size: 1.26 GB (HD)

PlayStation E3 2008 Press Conference – Part 2
File size: 1.17 GB (HD)

PlayStation E3 2008 Press Conference – Part 3
File size: 1.5 GB (HD)

I’m a Fallout fan. I’ve been following this game since it was a GURPS title. I was saddened when Interplay lost their way and the franchise seemed doomed to obscurity but when Bethesda scooped up the game three years ago I found renewed hope.

Last year Todd Howard, and the team fresh off of The Elder Scrolls Oblivion showed a very tight, controlled demonstration of the game in action, and this year I actually got 30 minutes of hands on time with the title. While the areas shown in the live demo area covered much the same content as last years presentation I didn’t care. This wasn’t my shot to gauge the story or the acting; this was about finding out if Fallout could translate to the 1st person RPG space and not lose its charm.

Well I have good and bad news for Fallout fans. Fallout 3 makes the transition well but only if you’re a fan of the Oblivion style of gaming (which I most definitely am). Controlling the character, implementing stat points and choosing perks using the Pip boy interface were all simple and intuitive.

Unlike Oblivion, Fallout 3 does not rely on a clunky interface. There is inventory management but its reminiscent of the older Fallout’s turn based grid with a few modern updates. The change of setting – from a medieval combat system to a modern gun-slinging wasteland works well also. I demo’d the game on the 360 and the title showed the same visual finesse of Bethesda’s earlier game. Those who found fault with the dialog interface or camera system of that title will find it virtually unchanged.

I spent a good deal of time navigating and interacting with NPCs. Dialog choices that could be influenced by skills were set apart – including the percentage chance of success, though the actual “roll” was hidden it was obvious when you succeeded or failed. This little tweak felt like a good reflection of the classic games and the content of the dialog also followed a more adult, humorous bent in the area of Megaton.

Wading into combat with some rabid scavengers in an old elementary school, I used every chance possible once engaged to test out the V.A.T.S. targeting system. This turn-based mode freezes combat momentarily and displays a digital overlay of a foe. The various target spots of the baddie glows and players can choose trick shots with likely success indicated by percentages based on skills and perks your character has.

All in all I’m just as excited about this game as I was last year. The hands on experience felt familiar in many good ways and with the game coming soon on the 360, PC and PS3 at least I won’t have to wait long to wander around at the end of the world nuking super mutants.