Fallout 3

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Fallout 3
Developer(s)	Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher(s)	Bethesda Softworks/ZeniMax Media
Designer(s)	Emil Pagliarulo (Lead Designer) Todd Howard (Executive Producer)
Series	Fallout series
Engine	Gamebryo engine[1]
Platform(s)	Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3[2]
Release date	NA Q4 2008[3] EU 02008-12-33 AUS 02008-12-33
Genre(s)	Post-apocalyptic Action RPG[4]
Mode(s)	Single-player
Media	DVD, Blu-ray Disc
System requirements	TBA
Input methods	Keyboard, mouse, controller

Fallout 3 is an action role-playing game,^[4] currently under development by Bethesda Softworks.^[5] It will be the third major game in the Fallout series, which has also spawned the spin-offs Fallout Tactics and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. It will take place in the year 2277, 36 years after the setting of Fallout 2.^[6]

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Plot 3 Development 3.1 Interplay Entertainment 3.2 Bethesda Softworks 3.3 Reaction to the rights transfer 4 Marketing 4.1 2007 trailer 4.2 Versions 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Gameplay

A cover story in Game Informer magazine revealed that the game will feature both first-person and third-person perspective. Main character creation is implemented by specifying the character's childhood. The character's mother dies in labor in a Vault hospital, after which the player chooses the character's Traits and general appearance during the father's DNA analysis. Afterwards, the father removes his surgeon's mask to reveal a face much like the one chosen by the player for the character. As a child in the Vault, the character receives a book titled "You're SPECIAL," whereupon you'll set the character's seven primary aptitudes. The character receives training weapons and a PIP-Boy during childhood, and the player's performance in various tests determines the rest of the attributes. Additionally, there will be quests inside the Vault that influence the pc's relationship with his or her father. Skills and Perks are similar to those in previous games: the player chooses three Tag Skills out of 14 to be the character's specialties, and the character will gain a Perk every other level. Four skills have been cut out from the game (Fallout and Fallout 2 had 18 skills) but it is unknown which skills have been removed. The maximum level the player can achieve is level 21.^[7]

The Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S., will be implemented. While using V.A.T.S., real-time combat is paused creating a combat system that the Bethesda developers have described as a hybrid between turn-based and real-time combat. V.A.T.S. will also allow the gory deaths in the game to be shown in slow motion and great detail. Various actions cost action points, and both the player and enemies can target specific body areas for attacks, inflicting specific injuries. The game will feature a new health and radiation system as well. The player can measure an object's radioactivity and gauge the effect it will have on the character.^[7]

A cover story in OXM magazine explained how firearms wear out after time: as a weapon degenerates, its rate of fire slows and it loses accuracy. However, worn out firearms can be combined to make more reliable and powerful weapons. Weapon schematics can also be found and used to create various devices such as rocket launchers or the clever shrapnel bomb, made out of a Vault-Tec lunchbox and bottlecaps.^[8]

The player will have a maximum party of three, consisting of himself/herself, Dogmeat, and a single NPC. In addition to having Dogmeat in your party you will be able to send him out on his own to search for items such as arms and ammo, radiation medicine, and stimpacks. Dogmeat cannot be killed nor harmed while he is out searching for items, but can be killed during the game if the player misuses him or places him in a severely dangerous situation and he cannot be replaced.^[9][10]

[edit] Plot

Similar to previous Fallout games, Fallout 3 takes place in post-apocalyptic United States. The player character is a member of Vault 101, a fallout shelter serving Washington, D.C. The player character lives with his father (his mother having died in childbirth) until, one day, the player wakes up finding that his father has left the vault and ventured into the wasteland for unknown reasons. The vault overseer becomes suspicious that the player had something to do with the father's disappearance, and the character decides to go out into the Capital Wasteland in search of him.^[11]

During a March 21, 2008 Official Xbox Magazine podcast interview, Todd Howard revealed that the game had expanded to nearly the same scope as Oblivion. There were originally over 500 versions of the final cutscene, but due to recent upgrades, this expanded to nearly 10,000 possible permutations, all of which are determined by the actions taken by the player.^[10]

[edit] Development

[edit] Interplay Entertainment

Main article: Van Buren (Fallout)

Fallout 3 was initially under development by Black Isle Studios, a studio owned by Interplay Entertainment, under the working title Van Buren. Interplay Entertainment went bankrupt and closed down Black Isle Studios before the game could be completed, and the license to develop Fallout 3 was sold for a $1,175,000 minimum guaranteed advance against royalties to Bethesda Softworks, a studio primarily known as the developer of the The Elder Scrolls series.^[12] Bethesda's Fallout 3 however, was developed from scratch, using neither Van Buren code, nor any other materials created by Black Isle Studios. In May 2007, a playable technology demo of the cancelled project was released to the public.^[13]

[edit] Bethesda Softworks

Bethesda Softworks stated it would be working on Fallout 3 in July 2004,^[14] but principal development did not begin until after The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was completed.^[15] Bethesda Softworks has announced their intention to make Fallout 3 similar to the previous two games, focusing on non-linear gameplay, a good story, and black comedy. Bethesda has also stated the game will be rated M for mature, and will have the same sort of adult themes, violence, and depravity that are characteristic of the Fallout series. They have also decided to shy away from the self-referential gags of the 2 predecessors that broke the illusion that the world of Fallout is real. Fallout 3 will use a version of the same Gamebryo engine as The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,^[1] and is being developed by the team responsible for that game.^[16] Liam Neeson has been attached to the project as the voice of the player's father.^[17]

In February 2007, Bethesda stated that the game was "a fairly good ways away" from release, but that detailed information and previews would be available later in the year.^[16] Following a statement made by Pete Hines that the team wanted to make the game a "multiple platform title",^[1] the game was announced by Game Informer to be in development for Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.^[2] A teaser site for the game appeared on May 2, 2007, featuring music from the game and concept art, along with a timer counting down to June 5, 2007. The concept art was commissioned before The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was released, and has been confirmed by the artist and developers that the images do not reveal anything from the actual game.^[18] When the countdown finished, the site hosted the first teaser trailer for the game, and unveiled a release date of "Fall 2008."^[3]

[edit] Reaction to the rights transfer

Leonard Boyarsky, art director of the original Fallout, when asked about Interplay Entertainment's sale of the rights to Bethesda Softworks, said that he felt as though "our ex wife had sold our children that she had legal custody of."^[19]

[edit] Marketing

[edit] 2007 trailer

On June 5, 2007, Bethesda released the Fallout 3 teaser trailer. The press kit released with the trailer indicates that Ron Perlman is on-board with the project, and cites a release date of Fall 2008. The trailer also features the Ink Spots song "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire," which the previous Fallout developer Black Isle Studios originally intended to license for use in the first Fallout game.^[20] The trailer, which was completely done with in-engine assets, closed with Ron Perlman saying his trademark line as the narrator of the first two Fallout games: "War. War never changes." The trailer shows a devastated Washington, D.C, evidenced by the partially crumbled Washington Monument in the background.^[21] This shot was later used in an Al-Qaeda propaganda video.^[22]

[edit] Versions

Features	Standard	Collector's	Survival
Game Disc & Manual	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bonus DVD	No	Yes	Yes
Concept Artbook	No	Yes	Yes
Vault Boy Bobblehead	No	Yes	Yes
Lunchbox Case	No	Yes	Yes
Pip-Boy 3000 Clock	No	No	Yes

Fallout 3 will be released in three separate versions. The Standard Edition will include the game disc and manual.

The Collector's Edition will include the game disc, manual, a bonus "making of" DVD, a concept artbook, and a Vault Boy Bobblehead, all of which will be contained in a Vault-Tec lunchbox.^[23][24]

The Survival Edition will include everything from the Collector's Edition, as well as a model of the Pip-Boy 3000 from the game which will function as a digital clock.^[24] The limited Survival Edition is available exclusively from Amazon.com to U.S. customers only.^[25]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Fallout 3 Official Website
• Fallout 3 Official Forum
• Fallout 3 on The Vault, the Fallout wiki, a Wikia wiki

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