October 28th; almost two months from now. Mark your calendars, because that’s the day countless lives will be lost to the near endless exploration of the Wasteland to hunt mutants, visit old ruins, and fend off Raiders. That’s when Fallout 3 is coming to store shelves, and probably when hundreds, if not thousands, of gamers will sequester themselves in front of their computers or TVs to play what’s sure to be one excellent game.

“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.”

Something tells me he’s not nearly as excited as the numerous fans who have been waiting for a new Fallout game for the last decade. I really need to start clearing my schedule for that day.

Via Press Release

What do you get when you combine a special event from Bethesda with a few people who don’t mind ignoring their NDAs? A whole lot of unofficial screenshots for Fallout 3. Recently, Bethesda held a press event in Taiwan where people were able to get some hands-on time with the beginning of the game. And some of those people took pictures; a lot of pictures. There are 145 different screenshots available at the link below, which show almost everything from the dialogue to the combat to the title screen. Naturally, I should warn you that the screenshots are full of spoilers, particularly since it walks you through the first portion of the game. Still, if you don’t mind that, you can get a very close look at the gameplay from them.

Via UnderOne [via No Mutants Allowed]

All the votes are tallied for the Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 2008. Fallout 3 took two wins out of the three nominations it received including Best of Show. LittleBigPlanet was the only other game to win two categories and took Best Console Game. Here’s the official Game Critics Awards Winner’s Circle for 2008:

Best of Show
Fallout 3
(Bethesda Softworks for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Original Game
Mirror’s Edge
(DICE/Electronic Arts for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 36)

Best Console Game
LittleBigPlanet
(Media Molecule/Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3)

Best PC Game
Spore
(Maxis/EA)

Best Handheld Game
Resistance: Retribution
(Bend Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)

Best Hardware/Peripheral
Rock Band 2 Ion “Drum Rocker” Set
(ION Audio/MTV Games for Xbox 360)

Best Action Game
Gears of War 2
(Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)

Best Action/Adventure Game
Dead Space
(EA Redwood Shores/EA for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Role Playing Game
Fallout 3
(Bethesda Softworks for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Racing Game
Pure
(Black Rock/Disney Interactive Studios for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Sports Game
Madden NFL 09
(Tiburon/EA for All Systems)

Best Fighting Game
Street Fighter IV
(Capcom for Arcade)

Best Strategy Game
Tom Clancy’s EndWar
(Ubisoft Shanghai/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Social/Casual/Puzzle
LittleBigPlanet
(Media Molecule/Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3)

Best Online Multiplayer
Left 4 Dead
(Valve/EAP for PC, Xbox 360)

Interestingly enough only one of the winning games, Madden NFL 09 will make it to the Nintendo Wii or the DS. Far be it from me to suggest that it could have anything to do with Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata’s declaration that E3 is no longer the appropriate venue for core games.

The Vault Wikia is a vast repository of knowledge for all things Fallout. You can find information on Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel as well as the latest on Fallout 3.

According to the Bethesda Blog, the wiki has recently topped 3,350 articles on the Fallout series and counting. Gamers wanting a crash course on the Fallout timeline, the Vaults or the Brotherhood of Steel can find all the information they need to prep for the release of Fallout 3.

I am an avid Fallout fan. Not as dedicated as the Non Mutants Allowed fan base but I was pretty confident of my store of Fallout trivia. I’m humbled and pleased to learn what I’ve missed. I’ll have lots to keep me occupied while I await the October 7 release of Fallout 3.

Pete Hines, the vice president of Bethesda, was recently speaking with Videogamer in London recently and happened to mention that he personally felt that Fallout 3 was better than Bethesda best-seller and gamer darling The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

When asked if he felt the review scores for Fallout 3 would surpass the wonderful reviews of Oblivion, Hines seemed pretty confident with the company’s first foray into the world of Fallout:

“I don’t have any doubts that on the whole, and I think this is a belief universally shared on the team that Fallout is a better game, but we’re also not oblivious to the fact that we have a lot of extra baggage that we’re carrying, being the guys picking up this franchise, that are re-imagining this series from 10 years ago, and there’s something that comes along with that. We’re very well aware of what we’re up against.

have no doubts in my mind that, at its core and for everything that it provides that Fallout [3]is a better game than Oblivion was- for sure.”

That is saying a lot considering the fact that Oblivion was given the illustrious title of Game of the Year, and is always referenced as one of the best RPG titles to have come out in ages for the PC and Xbox 360. As a matter of fact, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion were the main reasons I purchased the original Xbox and an Xbox 360 to begin with.

Fallout 3 is scheduled for release on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 this autumn.

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