Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Beyond Black Mesa turned up to a mixed reception last week, and due to taking a few… liberties led to internet troubadours suggesting what they felt were superior fan-films. Here’s one of them, set in the Fallout 3 universe. As well as being built on a whole lot of love, attention to detail and – gasp! – decent acting, it starts with a heartfelt plea that Bethesda doesn’t sue them, which I think we can all get behind. Recreated weapons, costumes, crumbled bridges and 50s ad reels await…
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We don’t know much, but there are some clues. The most recent of these was bagged by Eurogamer.dk (via VG247) which suggests that the new game is not only in development, but is a direct sequel to Oblivion. An Elder Scrolls game had previously been touted for a reveal at this year’s E3, but did not show. Of course that doesn’t mean it’s not already a long way into development. Bethesda boss Todd Howard has already mentioned that two new games are in the works and we’re going to speculate that one of those has to be an Elder Scrolls game. The big question for many people has been whether the technology would move away from the Gamebryo engine – the recent id acquisition probably wouldn’t have provided time enough to base the game on id tech 5, but we can still dream – and a quote in this interview suggests that it is that familiar engine: “That’s our starting point – the Fallout 3 tech,” said Howard. “The new stuff is an even bigger jump from that.” Perhaps we’ll get something concrete about the release in the new year.

So, engine aside, what would you want from a new Elder Scrolls game?

Emil Pagliarulo started his career this side of the fence, writing for the venerable Adrenaline Vault. Since kicking his way into development, he worked in the twilight years of Looking Glass – where he was designer on the eternal Life Of The Party – before moving to work on Bethesda, where he was Designer on Oblivion (Think “Dark Brotherhood”) before becoming Lead Designer on Fallout 3. He’s optimistic about the future, will surprise you by how big an influence Deus Ex was on Fallout 3 and has enormous sympathy for Eidos Montreal…
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I think Alec is writing a preview for one of the other denizens of the game-o-sphere about this game right at this moment. I am sure he’ll link to it later. But anyway, the new bit of Fallout 3, which is being developed by the lovely Obsidian for release towards the end of this year, is called New Vegas, and it’s looking like it might please a few apocalypse-lovers. Bethesda sent over their latest images, and I’ve posted ‘em up below. Click for full size!
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The trailer. The trailer never changes. Yes, the first teaser for Obisidian’s upcoming Fallout 3.5, New Vegas, has arrived. As has a release date, ish – this Autumn. I.e. yer traditional pre-Christmas silly-season, then. Find the video and some words about it above. I mean below. Gosh, you’d have thought I’d have learned that by now, wouldn’t you?
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Thanks to Jun Shen Chia for sending in a link to this first episode of what proposes to be an ongoing series made in Fallout 3, which I’ve posted below. Further episodes can be found here. I have to admit it’s been a while since I’ve paid any attention to the machinima scene, so do feel free to send in other efforts that are out there on the web. This particular piece is by Drakortha Productions, a chap who has done a whole bunch of game movies before now.
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While on the surface this is act of love… it’s rather peculiar. It’s a Fallout 3 mod created for a single purpose, and a single person: to ask a Fallout 3 player player to marry the girl who – with the help of the Fallout 3 modding community – made it. The full story begins here on the Bethesda forums, and continues here. To cut a very long story short: a video of the marriage proposal mod being played is below. And he said yes.
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We don’t waffle much about Fallout 3 here, as it wasn’t a game that especially grabbed any of us. Which hardly matters a jot inna final analysis: the rapturous reception from other critics and gamers alike has meant Bethesda have cheerfully been DLCing up it to the eyeballs since release (with, I gather, wildly varying degrees of success). The upcoming Mothership Zeta caught my eye more than the others (aside from the ‘yeah, we did mess up Fallout 3′s ending’ admission that was Broken Steel), simply because it takes us out of that desaturated post-apocalyptic wasteland and onto a fully armed and operational alien battlestation, via the fun plot-twist of having you suffer alien abduction. Are there colours in space? Find out after the break…
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The notion of open game worlds has always appealed to me, ever since Elite. When there’s even the faintest whiff on a free roaming environment, or virtuality that I can go off an explore, I’m interested. It’s an impulse that leads me to spend endless hours in Stalker, or to expend an entire day driving around Fuel. But whatever game I play, I end up feeling somewhat dissatisfied. It’s kind of dissatisfaction that does not seem to be so common with linear or arena games. I think it’s to do with a specific tension that open world games create: between what the game is about, and what the environment – and its openness – implies.

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News just in from Gamasutra. Bethesda’s Pete Hines, speaking in London, revealed that KOTOR2/NWN2 veterans Obsidian are working on a new Fallout game going under the name “Fallout: New Vegas”. The only facts we have are that it’s not Fallout Tactics, Brotherhood of Steel and doesn’t impact what the actual main Bethesda Fallout team are doing. Which does make the puzzle be exactly what it could be. My gut response guess would be something using the Fallout 3 engine, in a locale well away from where Bethesda are operating – perhaps, I dare say, in Vegas – and probably set in a different period. But that’s just nonsense I’ve just made up, obv. It could be a Fallout Slot Machine Game for all I know. The comments thread is your place for speculation.

I’d have enjoyed Fallout 3 a whole lot more if it had more than three colours in it. Fortunately, an enterprising modder felt the same way, and has taken it upon himself to restore the chlorophyll to the wasteland’s washed-out world. On paper, making the trees and grass clinging to life in a post-nuclear landscape a healthy shade of green sounds absolutely ridiculous, but in practice it makes an incredible amount of difference to a game that often coasts on limited artistic imagination. It doesn’t end up looking like Oblivion 1.5 – rather, it still looks very much like the devastated wasteland it’s supposed to. It’s just that, now, plantlife’s doing okay for itself even if humankind isn’t. And it makes me want to explore so much more.

Grab this green and pleasant mod-ette from here.