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Editor, DLC Coming To Fallout 3 98

Bethesda has announced that an editor for the Windows version of Fallout 3 will be coming in December. They also said the first additional downloadable content for the Windows and XBox 360 versions will follow in January. MTV's Multiplayer blog got a few more details from Bethesda's Pete Hines, who said additions to Fallout 3 will resemble the Oblivion expansion pack Knights of the Nine in size and scope. MTV then brought up the question of how early publishers should provide DLC, pointing to Fallout 3 and Fable II as examples of games for which the expansions were planned to go live only a few months after launch.
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Editor, DLC Coming To Fallout 3

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  • by Fallingcow ( 213461 ) on Thursday November 27, 2008 @05:21AM (#25907485) Homepage

    Yes to a construction set. Thank god.

    No to DLC. Since nearly all of it for Oblivion sucked horribly, I don't think anyone familiar with that game will be buying any for Fallout 3. Please just release expansion packs, Bethesda, especially since you have an odd habit of making ones that have better main story lines than the game that they're expanding.

    Now if the community can just get some money together to have the narrator do some more lines for a better, more varied, truer-to-the-series ending, we might be on the way to making this decent-but-not-great game worthy of the name it bears.

    • *Possible Spoilers*

      I believe the ending was done in a way to leave it open for more content. And lo-and-behold there is one. As was mentioned in a MaximumPC article: [maximumpc.com]

      Broken Steel. Join the ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel and rid the Capital Wasteland of the Enclave remnants once and for all. Continues the adventure past the main quest. Scheduled for release in March.

      Having a game this open ended have a very closed ending is just a clear indicator they want people to pay some cash to have any sort of pos

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Fallingcow ( 213461 )

        Would have been nice to have some "and this is what happened in such-and-such town due to your actions" scenes, as we've seen in prior installments. I probably wouldn't have done nearly as many side quests if I hadn't expected some of those. I mean, I really thought I'd get one for helping the Crater side Supply chick with her book. Some of those quests were just boring.

        Given how much other great stuff they cut (you can't even go through the game in "dumbass" mode; there are just regular options and [int

        • If your problem is with releasing incomplete games then valve is the LAST developer you want getting anywhere near bethesda.

          You'd wind up with an unholy bastardization of bethesda's inability to release a complete game and valve's inability to get anything done on time.

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by KillzoneNET ( 958068 )

          Would have been nice to have some "and this is what happened in such-and-such town due to your actions" scenes, as we've seen in prior installments. I probably wouldn't have done nearly as many side quests if I hadn't expected some of those. I mean, I really thought I'd get one for helping the Crater side Supply chick with her book. Some of those quests were just boring.

          You're right. I never really believed the number of endings they were touting to having, in all honesty I've only heard about that once.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            y'know what's really ridiculous about the ending?

            (spoiler)

            so, the danger is radiation, and you are given the choice between two humans to send in. why can't we send in my super mutant buddy? he is immune to radiation... and there's a ghoul you can get as a bodyguard too.

            (end spoiler)

        • by yoyhed ( 651244 ) on Thursday November 27, 2008 @10:26AM (#25908839)
          You can also get speech options for all the other SPECIAL attributes, if they're high enough.. although you're right, I never saw anything for having an attribute too low.. my 3rd character, a highly specialized killing machine, has 1 charisma and 1 perception and makes it by just fine.

          If you're just a total bastard throughout the game the ending is pretty funny, and it does mention some specific things, but you're right that it doesn't really mention side quests. I do think the main quest got a little silly and felt rushed at a certain point, which sucks because before that it was sweet.

          As far as Oblivion: at least Bethesda improved on that by hand-placing stuff in the world this time around. Oblivion just wasn't worth playing once you realized it was all leveled and you could just tool around the same starting areas as you leveled up to get the best items, and even worse, that you COULDN'T get those items at an earlier level. Fallout 3 vastly improves on the fun and replay factor of Oblivion with VATS and hand-placed items and locations.

          And Morrowind: sure the NPCs were lifeless, the combat sucked, et cetera.. but at the time, had you ever played such a vast and hand-detailed game, with so much freedom? At least Morrowind's main quest was actually interesting (it had a ton of back story at every turn if you were willing to read) and took you through all sorts of places and trials, unlike most of Oblivion's and half of Fallout 3's. Although, you're right: in Morrowind even, Bethesda managed to make the ending feel half-assed, among other things.

          Regardless, Morrowind still ranks as my favorite game of all time, just for the initial 250 hours or so of amazement as I explored every little nook and cranny of that world. And Fallout 3 is still a game I keep installed now, because it's so much more FUN (if you don't do the main quest after a certain point) to just explore and kill things. And Oblivion, well, I loved it at one point, but Fallout 3 has totally eclipsed it, since it is essentially a better version of Oblivion.
          • And Morrowind: sure the NPCs were lifeless, the combat sucked, et cetera.. but at the time, had you ever played such a vast and hand-detailed game, with so much freedom? At least Morrowind's main quest was actually interesting (it had a ton of back story at every turn if you were willing to read) and took you through all sorts of places and trials, unlike most of Oblivion's and half of Fallout 3's. Although, you're right: in Morrowind even, Bethesda managed to make the ending feel half-assed, among other th

          • There are some hand placed items in Oblivion, if you know where to look, the Fin Gleam being a famous example.

    • by Narpak ( 961733 )

      No to DLC. Since nearly all of it for Oblivion sucked horribly, I don't think anyone familiar with that game will be buying any for Fallout 3.

      First of all; if you don't like the DLC then Do Not Buy It. If Bethesda want to release DLC perhaps it sucks, perhaps not, extremely hard to predict I would say. Personally I didn't like Oblivion at all, so based on that personal opinion I would perhaps be predisposed to not buying Fallout 3; however I did; and enjoying it immensely (even after playing through it once). I expect there will be some reviews of the DLC when it arrives so you can read up on it before deciding if you want it. Saying that since y

    • You know, I am really tired of Bethesda's lies and spin. Maybe it's not lying exactly to say, ohh, we don't know yet if we're going to release a toolkit, it's a lot of work" [wordpress.com] and then announce it one month after the game launches, but it's pretty cynical. They know the modding community kept Morrowind and Oblivion alive and selling copies far longer than the duration of their in-house content for the game ever could. They know the modding community encouraged sales of their game. But instead of saying thanks

      • Actually who cares if you have to wait 1-2 months for the toolset, most games dont even have one.
        I can live with it.

  • It's shocking (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Dr. Hellno ( 1159307 ) on Thursday November 27, 2008 @05:43AM (#25907565)
    that the fallout 3 expansion will be similar in size and scope to the oblivion expansion! It seems obvious to me that in between Oblivion and Fallout 3 they jettisoned their old design paradigm and followed a radical new direction! This is so totally unexpected!

    Srsly though, I bought fallout 3 a while back and rolled a (sort of) melee character. So I basically got "oblivion with guns" without the guns.

    There are some quality artists at Bethesda. Beyond that, I have absolutely nothing good to say about them. Writing? fucked. Combat? fucked. Quests? oh boy. Character progression? there isn't any, thanks to that ridiculously stupid difficulty scaling. In fact, I propose a trade. How about you, Bethesda, get to keep your DLC, and in exchange you stay the fuck away from decent, god-fearing franchises like Fallout. Thanks guys.
    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by altloser ( 1113413 )
      So you played Oblivion with Hats
    • Re:It's shocking (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Fallingcow ( 213461 ) on Thursday November 27, 2008 @06:36AM (#25907727) Homepage

      Writing? fucked. Combat? fucked. Quests? oh boy. Character progression? there isn't any, thanks to that ridiculously stupid difficulty scaling. In fact, I propose a trade. How about you, Bethesda, get to keep your DLC, and in exchange you stay the fuck away from decent, god-fearing franchises like Fallout. Thanks guys.

      Heh, maybe they'll somehow manage to get the rights to do System Shock 3 next. *shudder* Or Thief (screw the critics, I even liked 3).

      Thankfully they do release very capable modding tools, and a lot of problems can probably be fixed, but they left a number of holes that just can't be filled by anyone other than a professional team without seeming out-of-place or of inferior quality, largely due to the ubiquitous voice acting in the game.

      I wish they could find the people who generate the good ideas at Bethesda (they do generate a lot of those, which is what keeps me coming back to their half-finished games), give them all raises, and then fire the ones who push unfinished products out the door and create or approve totally goddamned stupid things. They could replace them with some fresh blood, and, oh, I don't know, maybe start running their games by some playtesters and paying attention to what they say, so they'll spot things like, "huh, it's weird that I can't actually join the Sixth House, when the story and a few specific bits of dialogue seem to indicate that I can. I bet those quests would be fun!" or, "Jesus, these Ayleid ruins are boring, can't you give them some variety and/or create some free-form quests to make them worth visiting?", or "wow, that was dumb, why the hell did my dad just do that? I don't feel sad, I feel confused and irritated."

    • Re:It's shocking (Score:5, Insightful)

      by BenevolentP ( 1220914 ) on Thursday November 27, 2008 @06:53AM (#25907779)
      There is no very limited Level scaling in FO3; All creatures have a certain level range that scales with the player. But if you progress a few levels, you will one-shot every raider or mole-rat that gave you serious headaches before. And previous mole-rat teritory will not suddenly be infested with deathclaws or something.

      FO3 isnt really great as a melee character, i give you that.

      The combat is the best ive ever experienced in any not-strictly-turnbased game. Ever. The VATS isnt optional, youll die a lot if you dont use it.

      I loved Fallout 1 & 2 and i absolutely love FO 3. The sheer amount of places, quests - i finished it after 85 hours and have visited about 70% of the places (judging by the map).

      The writing isnt as good / funny as in FO1/2, but thats the only, minor fault i can find with it.
      • by Jellybob ( 597204 ) on Thursday November 27, 2008 @07:01AM (#25907827) Journal

        FO3 isnt really great as a melee character, i give you that.

        And why would anyone expect it to be? It's set in a world where the majority of people are packing guns, lasers, and rocket launchers. I can't imagine Iraq is much fun if you decide the only way you're going to go into combat is by hitting people in the face either.

        • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

          by meringuoid ( 568297 )
          It's set in a world where the majority of people are packing guns, lasers, and rocket launchers. I can't imagine Iraq is much fun if you decide the only way you're going to go into combat is by hitting people in the face either.

          TROGG CAN PUNCH BETTER! [fromearth.net]

        • I agree. I just pointed it out since the original fallouts where better suited for that, since you could use your action points for moving instead of just attacking.
          • In fact, you HAD to use your action points, for both kinds of actions, ALWAYS. Making a truly interesting and balanced strategy game. Fallout 3 is some bullshit fast-paced, action-packed arcade shoot 'em up game with a skeleton RPG attached to it.
        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by westlake ( 615356 )
          It's set in a world where the majority of people are packing guns, lasers, and rocket launchers.

          I can't help wondering why you should be trusting a pre-war weapon in a Mad Max world. Why the thing hasn't rusted into uselessness or blown up in your face.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by fortunato ( 106228 )

            I believe that was what the "repair" skill was for.

            I can't believe people still fire revolutionary war era weapons in a modern world. Why the things haven't rusted into uselessness I just don't understand. ;)

            • I can't believe people still fire revolutionary war era weapons in a modern world. Why the things haven't rusted into uselessness I just don't understand. ;)

              Most of them have.
              The "replica" long rifle - as a presentation piece or a gentleman's sporting gun with over-elaborate inlaid decoration in brass or silver - appears as early as 1825. Something more authentic can be had today for $600-$700. Pennsylvania Rifles [possibleshop.com]

              • The "replica" long rifle - as a presentation piece or a gentleman's sporting gun with over-elaborate inlaid decoration in brass or silver - appears as early as 1825. Something more authentic can be had today for $600-$700. Pennsylvania Rifles [possibleshop.com]

                The point, that you apparently missed, was that all of them have not. If people's lives depended on them, in the way carrying a firearm does in Fallout 3, there would be a heck of a lot more because people would be constantly repairing and maintaining them any way they can.

                Hence the repair skill.

        • Re:It's shocking (Score:4, Informative)

          by justinlee37 ( 993373 ) on Thursday November 27, 2008 @04:01PM (#25911079)

          And why would anyone expect it to be?

          Because Fallout 2 had a very in-depth unarmed combat system, with the option of switching between punches and kicks, new moves as your unarmed skill increases, and a smorgasbord of unarmed combat perks. Also in Fallout 2, you could do targeted shots with unarmed attacks; blinding a guy with a karate chop to the eyes never got old.

          Especially because, in Fallout 2, perception was used to determine ranged combat distance modifiers, and blindness reduced your perception to 1. This meant that blinded characters had exceptionally low % chances to hit anyone with a firearm. Additionally, blinded characters often stopped fighting altogether and ran away. Now, if you used sneak to ambush someone, you could potentially blind this adversary with your eye-gouging karate chop before they even had a chance to get a single shot off.

          However, I did have fun as a melee character in Fallout 3. It's all about the deathclaw gauntlet and the shiskebab.

        • by mcvos ( 645701 )

          In Fallout 2 you had to survive with a melee weapon for quite a long time, and a couple of your companions were pretty effective despite being entirely melee oriented.

      • by mjwx ( 966435 )

        The VATS isnt optional, you'll die a lot if you don't use it.

        This isn't my experience, VATS is of a hindrance than a help, I've only used it twice, the first time was with a save reload combo until I got successive criticals and the second time was when I couldn't see to aim (at the fire ants). Apart from that my FPS skills have been more than sufficient. It seems to me that VATS was designed for a platform where you don't have an accurate aiming device like a mouse. Not that I'm complaining, I quite lik

        • The humor is one big thing why I thought in the beginning the game was seriously missing.
          And I still think they shouldnÂt have gotten rid of it. The first fallout had really black humor, well it has sort of worn off. While Mr Handyman for instance was really funny the first time, it is not humourous in Fallout 3 anymore. The second fallout felt like a monti pyhton episode. Fallout 3 made the mistake not to add too much humor to the in jokes Fallout 1 already had so it does not feel humorous except for

        • by mcvos ( 645701 )

          also its exactly 1 1973 V8 away from Mad Max town.

          I liked the car you got in FO2. Maybe the DLC will add something like that?

    • Re:It's shocking (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sammyF70 ( 1154563 ) on Thursday November 27, 2008 @07:44AM (#25907997) Homepage Journal

      Not too sure which Fallout3 it was you bought "a while back". The game by Bethesda has been out for slightly less than a month [wikipedia.org], so either you fell through a time warp, you are aging superfast, or you have a very low attention span.

      So far (with something like 30 hours of gameplay on a single character and only halfway through the main quest), I didn't think the writing was fucked at all. Most quests I found offer many different possible paths, some of which aren't obvious at first, and the dialogues have been consistently very good and well performed considering the aforementioned freedom and the fact that there is an incredible amount of spoken text in there.

      Fucked combat? It wasn't through time you fell through, it was from an alternative universe . Combat in FO3 is stellar ... for what it is trying to be, namely a Roleplaying Game. It is not a FPS, never was intended to be (nor were the previous Fallout instances). You are supposed to use VATS in most circumstances. The only ones I can think of where you don't use VATS are

      • very easy foes (radroaches after you reached a certain level, for example)
      • whenever you don't have any action points left but don't want/can't wait. In that case, and here I might be mistaken, your luck (the game stat) plays a bigger role in whether you'll hit or not than during VATS events where your skills are more important.

      If you play like it's an FPS (or in your case as melee, as if it was Dark Messiah), then of course, you won't have much fun. Not Bethesda's fault that you can't read game descriptions though.

      Character Progression? *PLENTY* of that, thanks to the very complex and involving quests (or show me any other relatively recent RPG who let you make as many moral choices during quests), and as someone else stated earlier, the difficulty scaling only defines what you'll meet in certain zones based on the level you have the first time you actually enter the zone. Oh wait .. I suddenly see the light! I know what you've been rambling about! You see, the game we're talking about here is Fallout 3, it is NOT W.O.W.! The character progression isn't defined by how much you grind, but by the choice you make concerning your character's personae and how it affects the character's future decision. This should of course be reflected in the way you set your skillpoints and the way you choose your perks. And that's something Fallout3 does very well, considering it's only a computer game and not a human GM.
      But of course, if you thought we were talking about W.O.W. (or maybe FFXI, or basically any MMORPG, along with most other single player ~RPGs~ (Diablo???) which came out lately), then all your comments make sense :
      "Shitty combat?" "check!" "Fucked writing?" "There was writing??? oh! ... check!" "Character Progression?" "lots of that! I used a template I found on Tw1nK-R-Us, and was able to get to lvl 125 in a mere 5 hours ... Basically I play a Mutant Dwarf Mage with Ranger and Animal Companion. Doesn't make sense in the story, but who cares. That's the winning build. Everybody is playing those"

      lots of talk just to tell you : you are wrong

      • Re:It's shocking (Score:4, Insightful)

        by MemoryDragon ( 544441 ) on Thursday November 27, 2008 @08:02AM (#25908057)

        Amen to that... I personally like Fallout 3 as well, it is not the same as the old Fallouts and I would loved to have seen some of the old Black Isle guys doing parts of the game (But from what I read there were really bad issues between Bethesta, Interplay ans Black Isle - Basically Black Isle got screwed by both parties in many ways!!!)

        But that does not reduce the fact that Fallout 3 is an excellent RPG in the best sense. And definitely not a shooter or level grinding game!

        • by mjwx ( 966435 )

          And definitely not a shooter

          I seem to be reading this a lot. I'm playing Fallout 3 on the PC and this is definitely not my experience. quite the contrary I've found VATS to be far less useful then playing it as a straight FPS, I score more hits (and faster) aiming manually using the mouse. The combat reminds me a bit of System Shock 2.

          • Actually since I am not a shooter guy I basically always refer to the VATS where it makes sense.
            The VATs generally gives a more relaxed pace to the game (one reason why I hate shooters)
            From what I found is, that if your skills are low, the VATs makes more sense in the smaller distances while straight shooter style especially if you have sniper rifles or similar weapons make more sense in the longer ranges.
            But at higher levels both systems even out and the VATs in my opinion becomes more effective than strai

      • by Narpak ( 961733 )

        he only ones I can think of where you don't use VATS are

        * very easy foes (radroaches after you reached a certain level, for example)
        * whenever you don't have any action points left but don't want/can't wait. In that case, and here I might be mistaken, your luck (the game stat) plays a bigger role in whether you'll hit or not than during VATS events where your skills are more important.

        Personally I play on hardest difficulty setting (on a computer) and I often don't use VAT. Of course I realize that using VAT gives me a huge advantage; but for the most part I don't really need it. I have plenty of ammo and after years of Doom, Quake, Quake II, Quake III, Team Fortress, Team Fortress 2, Counter Strike and etc I have learned to aim and shoot pretty quick. Of course I am a bit of a walking armoury, but for the most part I use Hunting Rifle (or later Lincoln Rife), Chinese Assault Rifle and C

        • by c_forq ( 924234 )
          Except that aim doesn't do anything. It is completely based on stats. It doesn't matter if you unload a shotgun at close range, if your stats re low it is very possible every shot will be a miss.
          • by Narpak ( 961733 )

            Except that aim doesn't do anything. It is completely based on stats.

            That is in fact wrong. While stats greatly increases accuracy and damage I can still aim with my Cross-hair and hit my target (even with low skill). Not only that but if you unload a shotgun at close range into the head of a raider his/her head does come off.

            And of course the fact that I am doing it proves that it can be done, claiming that aiming doesn't work is clearly wrong.

            • by c_forq ( 924234 )
              Pete Hines: Yes, all combat is governed by die rolls. So if you fire in real time and aim perfectly, you might still fail a roll and miss your target.

              Source:http://www.nma-fallout.com/article.php?id=38623 [nma-fallout.com]
              • Pete Hines: Yes, all combat is governed by die rolls. So if you fire in real time and aim perfectly, you might still fail a roll and miss your target.

                Source:http://www.nma-fallout.com/article.php?id=38623 [nma-fallout.com]

                I second that I noticed that several times, that you still can miss with a perfect target. But using the sniper rifle shooter style still can give you an advantage in a plain shooter situation if you have the reflexes. There are certain weapons which work better in shooter style than in VATs style. The sniper type weapons for instance or the flamer, which is usually the close range combat option for me for groups of enemies.

      • Fucked combat? It wasn't through time you fell through, it was from an alternative universe . Combat in FO3 is stellar ... for what it is trying to be, namely a Roleplaying Game. It is not a FPS, never was intended to be (nor were the previous Fallout instances). You are supposed to use VATS in most circumstances. The only ones I can think of where you don't use VATS are
        * very easy foes (radroaches after you reached a certain level, for example)
        * whenever you don't have any action points left but

      • The game by Bethesda has been out for slightly less than a month [wikipedia.org], so either you fell through a time warp, you are aging superfast, or you have a very low attention span.

        So far (with something like 30 hours of gameplay on a single character and only halfway through the main quest)

        No, he just put more time into it than you did. I had nearly 120 hours dumped into the game by the end of the 2nd or 3rd week. So yeah, it was "awhile ago." We've basically seen everything Fallout 3 has to offer

        • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

          by sammyF70 ( 1154563 )
          or I do have a life and you don't. /shrug
          • The point is that you're a smug, snarky bastard. Obviously some people have had more time to play the game in the past month than others, so the "short attention span" stab is just that: a stab. And you know it. Yeah, I probably blew off a little too much of my Calculus class to play Fallout 3 when it was released ... so what? We've been waiting in vain for 10 years for the sequel to hit the shelves.
            • You can be glad that you still have that much time. I have mostly sunken 20-30 hours into the game.
              Between Girlfriend, her pregnancy, job and various tasks for the new family there is is not much more time left...

              A life as a full blown adult and its merits :-)
              Btw. you never really stop gaming even if you are in the late 30s ;-)

              • Yeah, I think I have 14 hours in the game. Full time work, school, girlfriend, family. Games are the very last priority... I don't think the word priority is even applicable at this point. LOL

                And, FWIW, I feel that Fallout 3 is a great game, but I also never liked the first two (combat system) due to action points. I'm huge on strategy games, and Fallout 1&2 should have been right up my alley. But I just never liked the engine enough to play. Oh well. So, whether or not that is good for the Fallou

      • Allow me to be more specific.

        combat
        VATS as a combat system has absolutely nothing to do with role-playing. In fact, they couldn't have found a better way to break up any sense of immersion I was starting to feel. It's silly of you to assume that I expect the game to be more like an fps; my whole point was basically that Bethesda took the franchise in the wrong direction. Now, I think what this game needed was some kind of legitimate, turn-based system, but frankly FPS would have been okay too, so long a
        • I didn't finish the main quest yet (having been spoilt about the fact that it's a) The End and b) it kind of sucks, even though I made my best to avoid hearing about specifics, I'm doing my best to just push it as far away as possible), and I haven't been to Rivet City yet (one thing people don't complain about but which really bugs me is the whole metro system thing). But concerning the rest of your points ...

          Radiation, plentiful drugs (incl. stims), crippled limbs and some of the shortcomings of the VATs

    • Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by ravenshrike ( 808508 )
      Fallout isn't god-fearing, Fallout would shoot god just to see him scream. And then it'd shoot all of God's children, just because it fucking could.
    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by citylivin ( 1250770 )

      "Writing? fucked. Combat? fucked. Quests? oh boy. Character progression? there isn't any"

      Are you kidding me? Its the most revolutionary game put out in years. Every day at work I cant wait to get back to the wastes just to explore. Nothing beats cresting a hill, hunting rifle in hand and seeing an abandoned sewer grate in the distance. As you move closer you spot some feral dogs who also have an eye on you. Raise your rifle, toggle into VATS and BOOM HEADSHOT - the head is now cleft and flying through the

      • No, just no. They fucked the combat system. It should have used action points; instead, I can make a character with 1 agility and shoot as wildly and rapidly in real-time mode as I want. Then no matter how much I've been shooting, I can ALWAYS tab into the Pipboy at a moment's notice (no action point expenditure) and take 1-25 stimpacks to get to full health. Did you even PLAY the first two fucking games? Fallout 3: better than Oblivion, fun game, shitty Fallout sequel.
  • I wish more game companies would provide the kind of fan service Valve and Epic have with the bonus packs in the Unreal series (+tons of official/endorsed mods like in the GOTY editions) and new features and content Valve has been providing with stuff like the Team Fortress 2 updates (new game modes, maps, achievements, etc (and hopefully they release bonus content for Left 4 Dead down the line!))

    Morrowind had some really nice free downloadable content plugins [elderscrolls.com]

    Some of the "for sale" Oblivion DLC weren't as

  • Is it really a good game? I'm not sure. I bought it for the 360 a week ago and was unhappily surprised how much of the codebase of Oblivion was reused for this game. I've done a couple of quests and while everybody is happy with the work they've done I really belong to the camp of the "Oblivion with Guns" people.
    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      It depends, at the beginning I felt it lacked... but I am now 20 hours into the game and I am really happy with it. And I loved the old Fallouts!
      The game becomes better the longer you play!


    • I just interpret that as good programmers doing exactly what they should. As I have never played oblivion, the fact that the package was so reusable for a game of a completely different tone, I say kudos.
  • What's so difficult about porting between Win/360 & PS3? Do they even have to do anything extra? It's the same engine and the same game, don't they interpret the same assets in the same way?
    • by tepples ( 727027 )

      What's so difficult about porting between Win/360 & PS3?

      Xbox ran an operating system forked from Windows 2000, and Xbox 360 runs an update to that. And the Xbox 360 graphics API looks a lot more like Windows Direct3D than like OpenGL ES, which is what the PLAYSTATION 3 uses.

      Do they even have to do anything extra? It's the same engine

      Not exactly. Xbox 360's Xenon CPU has three CPU cores, which allows the same sort of scheduling used on multicore PCs. The Cell CPU of the PS3, on the other hand, has one CPU core and a half dozen signal processors, which need a different form of time and memory scheduling. So some of the en

      • Actually the biggest issue probably is that the PS3 architecture is so inherently different to anything else. The PS3 almost is like a pentium with two high end graphics cards added on top of it. You get a lousy general purpose core and two units of SIMD procecssing fast as hell.
        (both the cell and the Nvidia card are pretty equal in speed)
        So if you program against a normal CPU with multiple cores do some serious threading which you can rely on and use the SIMD stuff mainly for pushing graphics and maybe add

      • I think what Hal is getting at is that since Oblivion is already ported, then Fallout 3 should be that much easier to port. Just get the same people on it and they should already know what they're doing. But 'should' is a relative term.

        Yeah, the architectures are drastically different, but they've already got a working blueprint.

        • The PS3 version of fallout 3 was released the same day as the windows and 360 versions. The question was about the new content.

  • by crow5599 ( 994334 ) on Thursday November 27, 2008 @11:33AM (#25909431)
    Seriously. Where's our patch? This is one of the buggiest games I've ever played in my life. I couldn't finish the main quest on the PS3 version because of a game-ending glitch. I had to watch the damn ending(s) on YouTube.
    • by mjwx ( 966435 )
      OK, Bethedsa

      Additional content is all good and well and I don't mean to sound unappreciative but...
      FIX THE FUCKING BUGS FIRST.
      That is all. Cary on, nothing more to see here.
  • That's what you blasphemers get for ordering it on the XBOX 360.

    I'll be enjoying all sorts of new toys.
  • Time for piracy... (Score:3, Informative)

    by VinylRecords ( 1292374 ) on Thursday November 27, 2008 @12:57PM (#25910029)

    And companies wonder why we don't pay for their games.

    I pre-ordered a BRAND NEW copy of Fallout 3 for my PS3 (Survival Edition from Amazon) the day it first became available.

    It arrived at my doorstep the same day that the first reviews started appearing, reviews like the one at IGN where they said that the PS3 version was riddled with bugs and glitches and made parts of the game unplayable...of course IGN is in the pocket of the game companies so the PS3 version was given a ridiculous 9.4 out of 10.

    Really 9.4 out of 10 when the game has massive glitches, bugs, and freezes constantly? Many quests cannot be completed due to glitches including sometimes the final quest. 9.4 for that? No ending to the game? NO downloadble content? This is a 9.4?

    So the 360/PC versions get a 9.6/10 meaning that all of these things: massive glitches, tons of bugs, terrible draw distance, no downloadable content whatsoever...........are all worth a combined score .2 out of 10.

    I thought, "ok be optimistic, so I might encounter some glitches that's fine," but before I had even left vault 101 I had to HARD reboot my PS3 not once but three times as the game froze THREE times while I was taking the g.o.a.t. at school. Did Bethesda test the PS3 version? (Rhetorical question. Answer: no)

    Now that the PS3 won't be getting down-loadable content I will be downloading a PC copy and playing that.

    If I had known during my pre-order of Fallout 3 for the PS3 that the game would be nearly unplayable without encountering massive problems and that the game would have no ending to the story...and no DLC to resolve the story in the future...I would have opted to just avoid the game entirely.

    I know some people are going to respond, "you should have gotten the PC version" but as a hardcore PS2 fan (Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, God of War), unless a game is exclusive to the PC (Starcraft II!), if it's multi-platform I usually go for the PS3 version (like I did with Dead Space).

    IGN :

    "Fallout 3 is a top notch shooter-RPG that fails to disappoint in any substantial way. There are minor problems with the game -- issues such as clipping, the occasional framerate chug, and some questionable animation (especially in third-person view) -- but nothing that takes away from the overarching enjoyment you should derive from even a few hours of gameplay."

    This is from the PS3 review. Top notch? No. Better than average. Yes. Worth $60 on the PS3. No way.


    • Solution: Take your game back.

      Seriously, I own the PC copy, no major glitches thusfar, but if it contained even half as many bugs as you have described, I'd take it back and demand a full money refund.
      • No retailer would ever offer a full refund for an opened game. The only way to circumnavigate a full refund is of course to pirate a retail version of the game on a different platform. In my case, I will be keeping my PS3 version, collecting dust in its case, and then pirating the PC version to play.

        And because the PS3 version has no DLC available I will without question be pirating the DLC for the PC unless Bethesda decides to violate the ridiculous cartel that is Microsoft and actually go multi-platform w

    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      reviews like the one at IGN

      There's your problem, relying on a commercial game site to provide you with accurate information on a game. You'll often glean more facts out of the "official" game forums, you may get to a critical thread before they delete it.

      Personally I no longer buy a game until I've heard what proper game critics have to say about it. I now work on the theory that I should find out everything that's wrong with the game and if I can live with the problems (weather they be technical, sto

      • by Zumbs ( 1241138 )

        Fallout 3 is a PC game ported to PS3

        No, It's a XBox game ported to the PC and PS3. If you look at the User Interface that should be pretty obvious. But you are right in one point: PS3 is getting screwed. XBox users get extra downloadable content, PC users get a SDK (aptly named G.E.C.K.) and access to the downloadable content ... PS3 users get neither.

        Why is this, you may ask. Microsoft paid Bethesda (the developer) a hefty sum to get an exclusive for MS (XBox and PC), which would make XBox more attractive that PS3. This is a move by MS to pu

        • by mjwx ( 966435 )

          No, It's a XBox game ported to the PC and PS3.

          No, it was originally written using the Windows PC API's (Direct X 9). Due to the similarities between the Windows and XBOX API's it was a trivial matter to develop an Xbox version.

          f you look at the User Interface that should be pretty obvious.

          Don't know how you drew that conclusion? The UI is fairly standard FPS fare which has been around on the PC for over a decade and the XBOX for about half that. If you've bothered to play the game on PC (I've got it on P

    • Well you really should have gotten the PC version it is very stable. I just have hangs when the game quits but then I simply kill the process. Never had a hang so far in game!
      The hangs at game quit have more to do with Windows Live than Bethestas code :-(

  • by Channard ( 693317 ) on Friday November 28, 2008 @10:46AM (#25916297) Journal
    No matter how odd producing DLC so soon after the game's release may seem, it can't beat the Beautiful Katamari DLC for sheer audacity. Which actually unlocked levels that were already there in the game.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. -- Arthur C. Clarke

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