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

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.

Microsoft kicked off E3 with a press conference not unlike a firecracker that has been dipped in water: it starts off exciting, but then the fuse runs out and all you get a a little “pop” if you’re lucky. Similarly, they brought out the big guns for an opener, leaving everything but the last few minutes pretty unsurprising. Read on for a play-by-play of Microsoft’s big E3 announcements. Read the full article »

Bethesda Softworks has released a gameplay movie from Fallout 3, and once you get past the campy but fun beginning of the trailer, you get to see some actual gameplay footage of the post-apocalyptic game.

To say that it looks a bit different from any other Fallout title is stretching it – it looks vastly different. I am still happy to have pre-ordered the game though, October cannot get here soon enough in my opinion. Let’s hope it was worth the wait, because although I trust Bethesda, I am still slightly worried about so many changes being made to my second-favorite franchise.

CD Project is bringing Good Old Games to modern PCs without the need for a emulator. Gamers will be able download their classics favorites which are guaranteed to work with Windows XP and Vista. There is no DRM involved, I repeat none.

The site makes it tremendously easy for gamers to buy, download and install some of their all-time favorite PC games. The games will be sold for $5.99 or $9.99, are guaranteed to work on Windows Vista and Windows XP systems and are available to download as many times as needed. This is very nice, yes? The DRM-free games, low prices, the site’s ease-of-use and the community are some of the main features that make Good Old Games something more than just another digital distribution outlet.

Some of the companies that are in on this deal include Interplay and Codemasters. Gamers will be able to find Fallout, Freespace 2, Operation Flashpoint: Game of the Year Edition and TOCA Race Driver 3 among others.

A closed beta for the service starts August 1. You can get more details on Good Old Games and sign up for the beta at GOG.com.

Gamers can now find Sacred Gold on Valve’s Steam service. As the preparations for the coming of Sacred 2 accelerate, some gamers may want to take a shot at the first game to get to know the setting or revisit an old favorite. The Sacred Gold digital download contains the original award winning game as well as Sacred Plus and Sacred Underworld.

It seems that gamers are waiting breathlessly on several games based on old favorites these days. Between Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Fallout 3 and Sacred 2, players seem happy to over look the absence of new titles out there. I know that if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it; but that will only please the masses for so long.

via Steam

E3.. once the premiere event of the video game season is now a shadow of its former self. While we’ve discussed this in the past and even lamented a bit about things long gone, Ron and Shawn choose this week to discuss the upcoming event and related coverage plans for the File-N-Forget Podcast and Gaming Today in general.

Readers and listeners should send suggestions for E3 coverage and possible developer questions to the podcast email. We’ll happily address them and if possible pose them to the guilty parties during the event and report back.

Once we move on from that topic the infamous Jack Thompson makes himself a topic of discussion again. In light of the recently released recommendations for his disbarment in Florida and then we move on to the “Jack Thompson” memorial Rant & Rave segment where Ron actually praises a Gamestop store, and Shawn laments the state of aussie censorship.

This weeks show is available by direct download here.

As always, you can get past episodes from our podcast page at http://podcast.filefront.com, and you can send your comments, questions, suggestions, or snarky comments to podcast@filefront.com.

File-N-Forget is also available on the iTunes Music Store.

This is certainly one of the coolest promotional events I’ve heard of in awhile. In order to promote their upcoming post-apocalyptic RPG, Fallout 3, Bethesda has partnered up with the American Cinematheque and GEEK Monthly magazine to sponsor a post-apocalyptic film festival. Dubbed “A Post-Apocalyptic Film Festival Presented by Fallout 3,” the event will showcase some of the works that helped inspire the game as well as some of the finer post-apocalyptic movies out there. These films will be shown at 7 PM at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica on Friday, August 22nd and Saturday August 23rd:

Friday
‘Wizards’ (Directed by Ralph Bakshi)
‘Damnation Alley’ (Directed by Jack Smight)
‘A Boy and His Dog’ (Directed by L.Q. Jones).

Saturday
‘The Last Man on Earth’ (Directed by Ubaldo Ragona)
‘The Omega Man’ (Directed by Boris Sagal)
‘Twelve Monkeys’ (Directed by Terry Gilliam)

I already know my favorite out of those (Chuck Heston FTW!). That’s definitely a cool lineup, but even cooler is the fact that each day only costs $10, which gets you three films, a bag of popcorn, a large soda, and a free Fallout 3 giveaway. Tickets go on sale July 25th through Fandango.com.

Via Press Release