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Fallout 3 DLC and Games For Windows Live Woes 121

A reader writes with news that the Operation Anchorage downloadable content for Fallout 3 has been released. Rock, Paper, Shotgun details the extensive difficulties encountered by users of Games for Windows Live while trying to locate and install the new content. This is the first in a series of three DLC releases, and they are exclusive to the PC and Xbox 360. The last, Broken Steel, will allow players to continue within the game once the main story is finished. Unfortunately, Bethesda apparently doesn't plan to patch that ability into the PS3 version.
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Fallout 3 DLC and Games For Windows Live Woes

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  • by ActionJesus ( 803475 ) on Thursday January 29, 2009 @05:38AM (#26651245)

    According to one of the comments in linked article, the manager for Games for windows has been recently fired.

    Im glad to see someone taking the fallout for such a mess!

    Sorry, Ill go back to my corner now.

    • by elrous0 ( 869638 ) *
      Aside from the fallout pun, why is this being modded funny? Informative, yes. But someone losing their job in this economy (and I gathered he was laid off [pcworld.com], not fired) is not particularly humorous to me.
  • by Aggrajag ( 716041 ) on Thursday January 29, 2009 @05:44AM (#26651269)
    Make sure that hidden files are shown in Windows Explorer, check the settings! Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Xlive\DLC Vista: C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\XLive\DLC Copy the files to: C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Fallout 3\Data (change the drive letter if necessary) You have to use the launcher to select the mod: click on "DATA FILES" and check the box next to Anchorage.esm.
    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Zumbs ( 1241138 )
      Unless the patch fixed the bug where the launcher would uncheck mods, you may want to have a look at Fallout Mod Manager [chorrol.com] which is a community made mod manager. If you want to check out the community-created mods, you could also check out Fallout 3 nexus [fallout3nexus.com].
      • I've had no problems with the launcher and thanks for the links!
      • by Repton ( 60818 )

        Also, if you use Fallout Mod Manager to launch the game, you don't need the DVD in the drive :-)

        • by Zumbs ( 1241138 )
          You don't need FOMM for that. The DVD-check is on the Fallout 3 launcher, not the Fallout3.exe ;-) It's like Fallout 3 came with a no-DVD crack.
    • My question is how I'm supposed to purchase it without Live.
      • I don't think you can. Too bad as I detest Windows Live but I bought it anyway.
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by X0563511 ( 793323 )

        Yaarrrr, there be ways, matey.

        Bethesda: Fix your shit and dump Windows Live, or customers like me will have to do the dirty deed instead.

        • That ship sailed days ago. I really would consider actually buying the stupid mini-expansion and giving Bethesda more money--even though I very recently was certain I wouldn't even purchase FO3--if I didn't have to jump through their lousy software hoop.

          I bought into EA's worthless content delivery system for the BF2142 expansion. That ended up taking me for the biggest ride of my gaming life. I don't really want to go through that kind of trash again, and I don't like supporting badly-implemented conten
  • Firefox 3.1 decided to post HTML formatted even if I chose Plain Old Text, so here it goes, again... Make sure that hidden files are shown in Windows Explorer, check the settings! Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Xlive\DLC Vista: C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\XLive\DLC Copy the files to: C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Fallout 3\Data (change the drive letter if necessary) You have to use the launcher to select the mod: click on "DATA FILES" and
    • by Aggrajag ( 716041 ) on Thursday January 29, 2009 @05:51AM (#26651301)

      Fuck

      This is the last goddamn time:

      Make sure that hidden files are shown in Windows Explorer, check the settings!

      Windows XP:

      C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Xlive\DLC

      Vista:

      C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\XLive\DLC

      Copy the files to:

      C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Fallout 3\Data (change the drive letter if necessary)

      You have to use the launcher to select the mod: click on "DATA FILES" and check the box next to Anchorage.esm.

      • So that'd be "do it the sensible and easy way and just do what you did in Oblivion" then? I did wonder whether the Games for Windows Live would actually add anything or whether it'd just cause problems (ditto for Dawn of War 2).

      • There -is- a Preview-option, you know that?

        You might consider using it next time you make your fifty informative posts.

        Btw, thanks for the information :)
        • Nice, can use the "uid comparison" meme. My uid your uid ;) Seriously though I did do the preview both times.
      • Now that's perseverance and dedication to completing the mission!! :-) *absolutely no offense intended*

        And yes, I agree that something as simple as posting a comment on /. can be trying on occasion.

        Oh yes, and many thanks for the info!

  • That's what it boils down to. Personally I prefer Steam, although I can apreciate the cost savings and ease of use that would atract games developers to Live.

    I've tried both platforms, and right now its clear that slashdot opinion aside, Live has the upper hand in tutorial support and ease of use.

    I've decided to go with Steam for my project, but it was by no means an easy choice. In spite of the reflex 'omg microsoft are teh evils!!!111one' reaction, Microsoft make pretty good game development tools.

  • So tired (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Thanshin ( 1188877 ) on Thursday January 29, 2009 @06:00AM (#26651347)

    I'm starting to be a bit tired of all the "games for windows", "rockstar whatever club", "funny happy spend-five-minutes-filling-info superfun club".

    It's starting to ressemble the forced trailers in movies, the "don't copy or I kill you" warnings, and all the other crap that only pushes people more and more towards downloading movies and cracking games.

    The school of thought based on countering the flaw "people won't like it" with "fuck'em they'll buy anyway" must die, now that "they won't necessarily buy".

    • Re:So tired (Score:4, Insightful)

      by GF678 ( 1453005 ) on Thursday January 29, 2009 @06:40AM (#26651551)

      There will eventually be a point where even the most hardened PC gamer will think: why am I bothering with this crap when all I want to do is play the fucking game? It's not worth the effort when a console provides a much smoother experience.

      The sad thing is that PC gaming CAN provide a superior experience - but shit like this isn't helping.

      • There will eventually be a point where even the most hardened PC gamer will think: why am I bothering with this crap when all I want to do is play the fucking game? It's not worth the effort when a console provides a much smoother experience.

        Not flamebait. This is a perfectly appropriate assessment, if a little hyperbolic. I mean THE most hardened PC gamer will probably never think that. But a lot of hardened gamers that I know do think that.

        I would almost include myself in that category, if it weren't for the clear and obvious superiority of the PC platform for FPS, MMOs, RTS, etc. (Put simply, it's a PC version or nothing when it comes to the latest RTS).

        But I do play almost exclusively on my console now. I played thirty, maybe forty gam

        • Re:So tired (Score:5, Insightful)

          by mobby_6kl ( 668092 ) on Thursday January 29, 2009 @11:10AM (#26654263)

          Unfortunately, trying to be more like the consoles is precicely what causes most of these problems. Games for Windows Live, Rockstar Super Adventure Club, and Steam (which for some reason usually gets a free pass) all attempt to create a more console-ish experience. Fuck that, it doesn't even matter whether they succeed or not. A decent server browser works perfectly fine, somehow I don't think a half-competent developer will have a problem implementing it if Epic could get it right back with UT99.

          All the points, achievements and all the other pointless shit can fuck right off. And really, what's with the idea of yet another instant messaging system? PCs have this thing called "multitasking" which allows us to use existing communication channels to talk to friends. But no, apparently that's too hard for some of the drooling retards to understand. And of course the whole DLC thing is another bastardization of an old PC concept, known as Expansion, Add-on, or Bonus Pack. Buy it if it costs something, download the content, run the installer, and BAM! There's the expansion, right next to the original game.

          Contrary to how it might seem from this post, I'm not actually foaming at the mouth. Still, I'll probably have to play some Quake Wars to release some steam, as it's actually one of the few recent (if you can call it that) games that gets almost everything right. There's no DRM besides the serial, the game doesn't really need to be "installed" and I think can even be played from a network share. The server browser is very nice and has plenty of useful filters, while the friends system is simple and unobtrusive, and the permanent statistics have no impact on the game besides your virtual dick size. Just the way it should be, unfortunately judging by the sales figures people enjoy grinding XP just too much.

          • by Sigma 7 ( 266129 )

            And really, what's with the idea of yet another instant messaging system? PCs have this thing called "multitasking" which allows us to use existing communication channels to talk to friends.

            Unless you are playing the game in a window, you generally need to Alt-tab out of the game (causing a small delay in reloading.) Some games aren't playable in a window, especially when they're almost as dark as Doom 3 or Left 4 Dead.

            I believe that's why XFire was created...

          • by Rewind ( 138843 )

            , and Steam (which for some reason usually gets a free pass)

            Steam gets a free pass, from me anyway, for being the best bridge between the two sides atm. You have the big wigs who want the game locked down so that no one can pirate it or resell it (despite that being impossible) and users who just want to play the game and not pay more for an inferior version (in comparison to pirates who often pay nothing for the better experience).

            Steam still is DRM for the most part, but at least it offers me stuff in return. I don't have to mess with CDs. After a reinstall I j

      • by Dunbal ( 464142 )

        It's not worth the effort when a console provides a much smoother experience.

        I think that's the whole point. They want you to move to a console.

        Case in point, I just went back to the US earlier this month after an absence of several years. Computer stores that used to have entire back walls full of PC games have reduced to half an aisle, and most of their games are multiple facings of the latest WoW release, or other "guaranteed" sale items. There's no variety any

      • by KDR_11k ( 778916 )

        I look at the PC version and determine it's inferior so I won't buy it, I look at the console version and determine it's more expensive than the PC version so I won't buy it. Outcome: I don't buy it at all.

      • by chrish ( 4714 )

        This is exactly what happened to me about two years ago now. One too many cycle of "I need this beta video driver to play game X, but game Y won't load with it" and "I have two hours to play a game, why am I spending an hour updating my OS, my video drivers, and my game?" Not to mention the various "WTF, this plays smooth on the original XBox, why is my P4/Radeon x1600 system struggling?!" types of hardware upgrade treadmill issues.

        On my consoles, I pop the game in and it goes, nothing to it.

        Ironically, g

      • by DAldredge ( 2353 )
        Wake me up when consoles can due 720p at 60fps then I might listen.
    • by wild_quinine ( 998562 ) on Thursday January 29, 2009 @06:58AM (#26651639)

      I'm starting to be a bit tired of all the "games for windows", "rockstar whatever club", "funny happy spend-five-minutes-filling-info superfun club".

      Absolutely. This kind of bullshit, combined with aggressive DRM, is turning the first twenty, thirty, or more minutes of 'gaming' on the PC into an experience equivalent to filing tax returns.

      All the top dogs in the industry are barking on about piracy being their biggest problem. Their biggest problem is that if you take the FUN out of an entertainment product, it fails, utterly, in its most crucial objective. The clue is in the word entertainment.

      You can remove enjoyment from a product in a number of ways: directly, by making mediocre games or by forcing you to jump through hoops before you can play them... but also indirectly: by acting like such an asshole that nobody can relax long enough to get into your game.

      Seriously... if you went out to the local bowling alley, and the guy on the desk said 'You're a fucking thief, and a liar, and we'll be watching you. Here's your shoes and have fun!' ... I would not be having fun at the bowling alley.

      Even on the off chance that I didn't leave immediately, I'd spend eight frames thinking 'What a fucking asshole' instead of getting into the bowling.

      If you have DRM that makes my purchase into a rental, you don't get my money. That's a given. But there's a bigger problem than that:

      I no longer care enough to pirate most of these games. They're the work of assholes.

      • by myspys ( 204685 ) *

        Seriously... if you went out to the local bowling alley, and the guy on the desk said 'You're a fucking thief, and a liar, and we'll be watching you. Here's your shoes and have fun!' ... I would not be having fun at the bowling alley.

        The guy at the desk also have to tell you to wait 20-30 mins, even though all the lanes are free, because that's how long it takes to fire up a lane.

        • by wild_quinine ( 998562 ) on Thursday January 29, 2009 @08:29AM (#26652221)

          Seriously... if you went out to the local bowling alley, and the guy on the desk said 'You're a fucking thief, and a liar, and we'll be watching you. Here's your shoes and have fun!' ... I would not be having fun at the bowling alley.

          The guy at the desk also have to tell you to wait 20-30 mins, even though all the lanes are free, because that's how long it takes to fire up a lane.

          And then he says 'Yeah, we're just rigging security cameras to make sure you don't play more than ten frames, or get any redos, or let a friend share your go... (whispers) or bring their own shoes. We know you're a fucking cheat, and a liar, see. This is for your own good. If we didn't spend millions on our high tech security system, and pass the cost directly on to our customers, whilst simultaneously alienating them, and disenfranchising them from the whole bowling experience... well... if we didn't do that we might go out of business.'

        • Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)

          by Bigbutt ( 65939 )

          As an aside, we went bowling with a couple of my wife's friends a month ago. The first time I'd been bowling for quite some time, mostly due to bowling alleys being big smoker havens.

          Anyway, it took 3 or 4 tries to get the neeto keen graphics scorekeeper up. It kept blue screening. Once we got playing, all the flashing disco lights kept us from enjoying the game. When the lights bailed (they had to reboot the server again), we got some pretty good bowling in until the lights came back on.

          Yea, we won't be go

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by caitsith01 ( 606117 )

        I am a diehard PC gamer, and I wholeheartedly agree.

        I now read reviews first and foremost to find out what manner of fucktard-inspired DRM and compulsory tracking/on-line registration is involved. I also return games which contain these things but do not say that they do on the box (e.g. I recently returned Company of Heroes because if it detects an Internet connection it phones home to Relic to let them know you're playing... no, not ok).

        I only wish reviewers included specific and exhaustive details of th

        • I now read reviews first and foremost to find out what manner of fucktard-inspired DRM and compulsory tracking/on-line registration is involved.

          I only wish reviewers included specific and exhaustive details of the DRM and on-line 'features' of every game they reviewed.

          Along those lines, here's something I've been wondering about lately. With all the bitching that people do about DRM on PC games (and I've done my share of it, too), why isn't there some kind of site that lets you search for a game, and it'll tell you what kind of DRM/copy protection/other crap is included with it?

          Before I buy games, I want to know if they have version x.y of SecuROM or StarForce or just require a SN be entered or a disc check or have a code wheel or make you look up the fourteenth word of

          • This site [reclaimyourgame.com] has a good list of securom games - not sure about other forms of DRM though.

            • Thanks. That's a useful start, and it's interesting to see who uses it on how many games. EA is apparently the worst, to no one's surprise. The link to this page [daemon-tools.cc] on there is good, too, which includes a bunch of StarForce and SafeDisc stuff, among other things.
    • I hope Bethesda will see using GFWL as the huge mistake it is re: their pocketbook. There are people desperate to give Bethesda money and being turned away. And that's what really matters in the end rather than any "INFORMATION WANTS TO BE FREE!!!!11!!2" BS

    • I've always been a fairly committed PC gamer. Not that I game extensively, but that was my platform of choice; other than a Nintendo DS and a Sega Master System I had years ago I owned no other console. Then I got a PS3 for Xmas.

      Now I have little interest in PC gaming outside of an occasional Flash or small indie game. It's nice to not have to deal with the pain of worrying about performance and stability. One thing that has frustrated me over the last 10 years of PC games has been starting a game and then

    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      I'm starting to be a bit tired of all the "games for windows", "rockstar whatever club", "funny happy spend-five-minutes-filling-info superfun club".

      It's starting to ressemble the forced trailers in movies, the "don't copy or I kill you" warnings, and all the other crap that only pushes people more and more towards downloading movies and cracking games.

      The school of thought based on countering the flaw "people won't like it" with "fuck'em they'll buy anyway" must die, now that "they won't necessarily

  • Screw the DLC (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dangitman ( 862676 ) on Thursday January 29, 2009 @07:21AM (#26651793)
    If they can't be bothered fixing obvious bugs in the original game, why would I want to add further complications and bugs on top of that?
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by filekutter ( 617285 )
      I totally agree with you on that... Bethesda sat on their hands while the players spent months finding fixes just so we could play a $50 game. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it immensely, but I don't get any feeling of snuggly goodness from that company at all. And then to top it off they jump in bed with Microsoft whose GFWL is the most annoying piece of navigating I've ever seen... I give up. Bethesda should have made the first DLC free as an apology for their mangled product release. Though I want to play
    • Despite such obvious bugs, many people loved the Fallout 3 and would gladly pay for more.

      This is like Linux or DRM-free games or non-Internet Explorer browsers, etc - enough people don't care that many companies can go on just fine ignoring those markets.
    • I have played the original game on PC several times through with hardly any bugs at all which all were resolved after properly updating my sound and video drivers. *shrug* Even though I do a lot of tinkering and optimizing with my copy of Windows XP I experience relatively very few problems with modern games. On consoles, where the hardware is all the same one can and should expect things to be pretty bug free. On PC, with millions of component and driver combinations things get much more tricky. However w
      • The bugs arent driver related. The bugs people complain about have to do with missions getting stuck and critical NPCs falling into the abyss (gaps in the 3d world) and dying. There's no logic in the game to verify that missions move properly or that NPCs stay alive when needed.

        I experienced one stuck mission and used a work-around I found on the fallout3 wiki to fix it. I have two missions which are stuck with no fix. I have finished a few missions that were buggy the whole time but by screwing around and

        • by Zumbs ( 1241138 )
          If you're on PC, a new patch came out on January 13th. You can find it here [bethsoft.com]. It fixes a lot more than alt-tabbing, but I don't think it fixes all the bugs found by the community.
      • On consoles, where the hardware is all the same one can and should expect things to be pretty bug free.

        And yet, the console versions of Fallout 3 were just as bugged as the PC version. As mentioned above, the bugs have nothing to do with drivers or hardware. They are in the game's logic and design. If you've not encountered any of these bugs, then either you haven't noticed them, or not played the game very extensively.

    • Does it actually work on normal PCs yet?

      A very significant number of people appear to have crash-to-desktop issues with random parts of the game. AFAIK this still isn't resolved, despite one patch and now this additional content.

      I have seen this myself on two different, up to date PCs which run everything else (Oblivion; Far Cry 2; STALKER; etc) completely fine.

      • Yes, it can run perfectly on a 'normal' desktop PC. You do need to at least download and install the first official patch and then disable FFShow for Fallout 3 in FFShow's options. Also recommended that you disable the in-game radio on your Pipboy, to stop sound issues. I now run it fullscreen with AA at 4x. 3.2 dual core and ATI HD3850... definitely NOT your upscale gamer but more than adequate.
        • It has always worked on some ordinary PCs, but it has also had massive stability issues on others. On mine it crashed 100% of the time in the vault area as soon as you tried to kill the first radroach. Nothing you've described there sounds like it would cure that problem.

    • by rts008 ( 812749 )

      While you have a valid point, this seems to follow the Fallout tradition. (this tradition seemed to work for Interplay and Bethesda in the past)

      Disclaimer:
      I am a rabid FO and FO2 fanboy(yes, I have saved games I am currently playing in WINE on Kubuntu 8.04), but the facts stay the same, regardless of fanboyism.
      When FO3 works as well as 1&2 in WINE, I will give it a go. (I had set up an XP SP3 partition just for 3, but then deleted it in favor of 98SE to run my PS1 emulator to play Front Mission 3)

  • by Anonymous Coward

    DLC Fallout 3 Operation Anchorage

    http://www.mininova.org/get/2226613 [mininova.org]

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by linzeal ( 197905 )
      I own the boxed version of the fallout game and had to pirate a copy to get the game to work on my system. Checking to see if this DLC works with my pirated copy I am not going to be giving them money again.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 29, 2009 @08:35AM (#26652273)

    This is not about Windows Live! and not Fallout 3, but still somewhat on topic.

    All the games I had for the Amiga 500 were, of course, pirated (I did not even know you could actually BUY games). Then I switched to PC and started to buy my first games (Tie Fighter was the first one, I think).

    For years the I played a lot of pirated games and some bought ones (as my money allowed; you could say noone lost anything since I could not afford more than I had already bought).

    Then came the time of 10Mbit-Ethernet-LAN Parties and basically everything I had was "for free" but as years went, I started to get less and less copied music, movies, and games. Up to the point where I for over half a decade only had bought and no copied games. I was happy with that but then came DRM.

    I bought Mass Effect, even if it caused some pain in my stomach, I also bought Fallout 3, which I felt a bit bad about. Each time I thought "Why am I supporting it". I would have bought GTA 4 quite some time ago... but the DRM and other crap scared me away.

    Now, after nearly a decade of "basically no pirating" and some five years of "virtually no pirating at all" I'm back at the point where I really consider just downloading some cracked version of GTA 4.
    Great achievement, large publishers. It's a bit like I'm 12 again and sit in front of my Amiga, asking myself why anyone could even think of spending the saved pocket money on games... it's not that I could not find other industries which will gladly take *the amount of cash I have available to spend on fun-stuff*.

    • Last games I tried on my computer - Civilization which brought with it some sort of DRM that has screwed up my computer since. Sins of a Solar Empire that wouldn't update or register for me, I get through to customer service and they tell me I need to do the Stardock thing, no thanks. Plenty of games I've wanted to buy but DRM and being treated like a criminal - no thanks and screw you guys too.
      • Sins of a Solar Empire doesn't need to be registered to play. Just update. It's also DRM free. The registration/regular updates are the benefit to purchasing.

        And if Civilization screwed up your machine, why are you blaming Sins of a Solar Empire / Stardock?

    • by garylian ( 870843 ) on Thursday January 29, 2009 @11:10AM (#26654277)

      Wait, so you are just now figuring out that DRM is a hassle, after all these years? What rock were you under?

      I remember the days of the Apple II/II+/IIe when the copy protections were often more evil. Remember the code wheels with "Align the 3 symbols and then enter the word into this box" protections? Remember the "Look on page 26, paragraph 3, 8th word, and enter it here" protections? I remember the speed copy protections that games like Wizardry used that got so annoying that I eventually had a hole drilled into the side of my 5 1/4" drives so I could get the speed closer before using the keys for fine adjustments. And yes, you had to have the game in the drive to play...funny how that seems like such a hardship these days!

      Game makers have been putting protection onto games since back the early 80's and probably even in the late 70's. Many of them make today's DRM seem easy, and made curbing the 2nd hand market a little easier. Losing the code wheel meant nobody else played that game unless you cut out the protection. A task a lot harder back then than today's simple "oh, I just use Daemon Tools" type workarounds.

      As for the price argument, I remember paying I believe 39.99 for Wizardry back in 1982. More than 25yrs later, games generally release at 49.99 on the PC, or about a 50% increase. A paperback book back then cost around 3-4 bucks. Now they cost 7-9 bucks, or about a 125% increase. I don't see folks screaming about paperbacks, and they still sell, even with a nice 2nd hand market that is probably better than for games.

      I fully understand that buying games only to find out they suck is a problem. I've downloaded games before, and tried them out. If they are any good, I almost always buy them, especially since they are usually so buggy that gameplay sucks on the pirated version. This, I am convinced, is on purpose. Game developers want people to pay for the full product, so they leave easy to spot bugs in game so that pirates famous "0-day" releases are crap. Notice how fast those patches come out???? But if a game sucks in its basic gameplay, I won't buy it.

      I use pirated software as a demo, since demos are generally the absolute flawless section of the game, and often some of the best play. It's a highly polished lure, but I'm tired of being a fish.

      Justify it any way you want, but the bottom line is you don't want to pay for your games. Why not be honest about it, instead of building up these straw houses?

  • I'll wait (Score:3, Interesting)

    by gEvil (beta) ( 945888 ) on Thursday January 29, 2009 @09:12AM (#26652689)
    I'll wait for them to release all 3 DLC modules on a single disc that I can pick up for 10-20 bucks. I realize it means I won't get to play them for another year, but that also means that the numerous bugs and problems people have been encountering should be ironed out. I thoroughly enjoyed the original game, and I still fire it up every few days to run around and discover new things, but taking a break from it for a while isn't such a bad thing...
    • I'll pirate it and consider it payment for the time I spent trying to get the game to work on my desktop (never did, and yes the hardware on it is plenty capable; I had to played it on my laptop, first game I've seen in YEARS with problems like that) and fixing broken quests (some of them in the main storyline).

      I paid $50 and got a broken, incomplete game. Now a few months later they want more money for a bit more content (lord knows the game needs it)? No. I'll take what I need to until I feel the game

  • by Blimey85 ( 609949 ) on Thursday January 29, 2009 @09:33AM (#26652899)
    I have the Xbox 360 version and on Tuesday I bought the first DLC. I then spent nearly two hours trying to find the stupid thing because what I read online said to go west from the factory when in fact I only needed to go a short distance south. Had I not read that, I would have probably found it on my own in five or ten minutes.

    That said, I've been more than happy with both the original game and the expansion. I don't feel that the expansion does the game justice as it's too linear and doesn't quite have the same feel, but I feel like they pull it off because it's a simulation of something else so it still fits. I've had the game lockup a few times and I've gotten stuck three times. The last time I was stuck happened within the expansion and it was when I cut the corner on a walkway and stepped off the beaten path. My character could turn around but could not jump nor move in any direction. I reloaded from my last save and all was fine. I've learned when playing Fallout 3 you need to save early and often and I do just that.

    I realize from reading a lot of material concerning the game that there is literally a shitload of bugs in this game but I wonder if that has anything to do with the sheer size of the game. I've never played anything else that allows you so much freedom. Games like HL2 are nice and long but very linear. It has to be easier to test a linear game. In Fallout you have so many options, so many ways you can do things. Do you follow the guidebook and do things in order or do you just wander all over the place? And is there even really an order to it at all? You have so many sidequests and encounters that a huge number of variables need to be considered when testing the game.

    Honestly I think the game rocks. It's immensely fun to play and I've logged close to 40 hours in game thus far. Are there bugs and problems? Sure. But don't you find that in nearly every game these days? Can Bethesda really be expected to find every single bug? They worked on this for years. It's massive. At some point they need to turn a profit to stay in business. How many testers and how many hours would it take to test every possible scenario? To do so would be crazy. They test most of it and hope they get all of the major bugs.
    • by Piata ( 927858 )

      I've played the game on the 360 and PC and the PC version is pretty bad. The game has identical bugs to Oblivion. I use headphones when playing games. For whatever reason, Bethesda writes their games with surround sound and only surround sound in mind. It doesn't detect headphones or a stereo sound system, resulting in silent, almost not existent voices and sound effects unless your cursor is pointing directly at it.

      The easiest fix for it? Set Hardware Sound Acceleration to it's lowest level. Bravo Bethesda

      • This is why I don't bother with PC games anymore. The last game I bought for PC was HL2 and then I picked up the Orange Box for 360 and have never looked back. Sure 360 games have some bugs but I don't have to worry about what hardware I have, are my drivers up to date, do I have the latest patches, and all the other crap that goes along with pc gaming. Plus, I know a year from now my 360 will still play all of the 360 games (unless it breaks of course) whereas with pc gaming, my hardware that I have today
      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Amasuriel ( 1176527 )
        I would figure on /. of all places people wouldn't be modded up for PC configuration issues; and yes, that is what your issues are.

        I play with headphones all the time and have never had sound issues. I use the onboard sound on my 680i motherboard.

        VATS never lags at all for me, and I have very similar system specs...an extra gig of RAM and an 8800 instead of a 8600. That being said the 8600 is (no slight intended on the card) a budget model, so maybe you should try NOT running everything on max setting
        • I would guess that over half of the bugs are configuration related. I have an almost identical setup as the other guy (2.4ghz C2D, GF 8600GTS, 3 gb ram, Vista Home premium, except I use a 37in tv for a monitor, so its at 1280x720. I somtimes get stutters and framerate drops, but VATS is smooth as silk for me. I also have the exact oposite audio problem. I have a surround sound system hooked up, but whenever I set it to 5.1, it defaults back to 2.0. All my Steam games do this as well. So, similar setup, almo

    • by Pathwalker ( 103 ) *

      I then spent nearly two hours trying to find the stupid thing...

      It seemed pretty straightforward to me:

      • Pick up the radio transmission
      • Mark that quest as active
      • Go to the marked location on the map
    • by p0tat03 ( 985078 )

      Don't excuse Bethesda for their technical incompetence. There are plenty of open-world games out there that are relatively bug-free (GTA4 comes to mind). I liked Fallout 3 the gameplay, but I hated Fallout 3 the code. Bethesda is by now infamous for shipping some of the shoddiest code in the industry with the best gameplay. Sad.

      A lot of these bugs don't smell like lack of QA. They smell like really, really bad design. Rockstar did a game that's just as complex, if not moreso, than Fallout 3, and they've don

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Can Bethesda really be expected to find every single bug?

      Yes. why the fuck am I paying them money for?

  • Fallout 3 is on Steam, why isn't the DLC on it?

    • Putting on my tinfoil hat, might the 360 approved sticker require Bethesda to give Live an exclusive lead time on providing the DLC. So retail disks or Steam might be a possibility in 6 months or so.
  • Sue Bethesda (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Khyber ( 864651 )

    If I paid for the PS3 version of Fallout 3 only to find out I'm not going to get the same treatment as those who own it on PC or 360, I'd be suing the living shit out of Bethesda for anti-competitive practices and bait-and-switch. Note that the *MICROSOFT* systems get the Broken Steel DLC the *SONY* system will not.

    This is BULLSHIT.

    • by Khyber ( 864651 )

      I'm flamebait? How so, moron moderators? If I pay for a game and my system is capable of doing what the same game on others systems can do then by fucking god I'd better get the SAME CONTENT.

      This exclusive to Microsoft bullshit needs to STOP.

    • by biovoid ( 785377 )

      We both paid for the same game. We both got the same game. I have the option of paying for additional content, you don't. We still paid for and got the exact same game though.

      I can't play LittleBigPlanet on my 360, yet you don't see me crying... get over it.

  • I don't have a 360, so it would have had to be PS3 or PC for me.

    Sounds like they focused mostly on the 360 version to the detriment of the other platforms. I never played the old Fallouts, so no big loss for me!

    • by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Sounds like they focused mostly on the 360 version to the detriment of the other platforms.

      Minor correction, the press (paid shills) focused on the Xbox 360 version. The PC version is less problematic then the Xbox version and looks a lot better. The gaming magazines were all paid to do reviews on the Xbox 360 to give people this impression. If you read independent (or even semi-independent) reviews the PC version is the better out of the two (or three if we include the PS3). In addition to this the mouse

    • by Huntr ( 951770 )

      I never played the old Fallouts, so no big loss for me!

      Actually, that's a mistake. The 1st Fallout is one of the greatest games of all time. The 2nd isn't too shabby, either. This FO3 iteration doesn't share a lot in common with either of those - its more like a post-apoc Oblivion mod. Fun, but not really Fallout. Pick up the 1st 2 games pretty cheap, head over to nma-fallout.com and look for any patches or mods that might help you get started (the 2nd in particular had some bugs that were fixed). If you don't mind the old graphics and like in depth turn-

  • Are we going to see full massive expanions, or just these three pieces of DLC? I love Fallout, but I'm thinking of waiting to see if they release a Game of the Year edition like Morrowind and Oblivion.

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