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Bethesda announced Fallout 3 PS3 DLC date, announces GOTY edition

It was recently announced that the PS3 DLC for Bethesda’s critically acclaimed Fallout 3 will be made available for download on September 24th. This date, however, is just for the game’s first batch of DLC entitled Broken Steel. Operation Anchorage and The Pitt will drop on October 1 while Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta will be dropping on October 8th.

If you’re not willing to download these seperate DLC packs you can just purchase the recently announced Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition for the PC, PS3 or Xbox 360 that includes the full retail game in addition to all of the above mentioned DLC packs.

via joystiq

Fallout 3 trophies now on PlayStation Network

A number of Fallout 3 trophies have made their way onto the PlayStation Network today, prior to the upcoming DLC package release. Bethesda Softworks’ Ashley Cheng claimed that the publisher was aiming to release the DLC before the end of September, although this news may indicate an earlier release than previously planned.

Here’s a list of the trophies available:

• Aiding the Outcasts (silver)
• The Guns of Anchorage (silver)
• Paving the Way (silver)
• Operation Anchorage! (gold)
• Into The Pitt (silver)
• Unsafe Working Conditions (silver)
• Free Labor (gold)
• Mill Worker (silver)
• Death From Above (silver)
• Shock Value (silver)
• Who Dares Wins (gold)
• Devil (bronze)
• True Mortal (bronze)
• Messiah (bronze)
• The Local Flavor (silver)
• Walking With Spirits (silver)
• A Meeting of the Minds (gold)
• Bog Walker (silver)
• Not of This World (silver)
• Among the Stars (silver)
• This Galaxy Ain’t Big Enough… (gold)
• Alien Archivist (silver)

via Kotaku

Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta DLC trailer

A trailer for the upcoming Fallout 3 DLC, Mothership Zeta, has surfaced. In this DLC, the aliens are back and they’re not exactly happy. You’ll even be able to experience an alien abduction first hand. This will be the fifth and final downloadable content available. It will be released August 3rd for the Xbox 360 and PC versions. The PlayStation 3 version will have to wait until the rest of the packs have been released.

What’s left for Fallout 3 after Mothership Zeta has launched? We know that a Game of The Year edition, which includes all five of the DLC installments, will be out in stores this October.

Fallout 3 half price on Steam this weekend

Steam is running another one of their popular weekend offers, this time it’s none other than the post apocalyptic behemoth Fallout 3, which gets a 50% discount, effectively making the title only $25. If there’s anyone who hasn’t tried Fallout 3 (both of you out there), this is a great offer.

Fallout 3 Point Lookout Game Review–They Really Mean It, Folks

I know, it’s something of a non sequitur and a pun all at the same time, but basically, when they say Point Lookout, they mean, look out.  Because for some reason, they’ve stuffed some serious baddies in that swampy ground, and it’s not going to be easy to get through.

This time in the greatest first person shooter that man has ever known, you’ll board a riverboat bound for Point Lookout, Maryland (which is, apparently, an actual place, unless I’m being hoaxed.  This is possible as I’ve never been to Maryland, but a cursory net search suggests that there really is a Point Lookout) with a goal in mind before you even get off the boat–to find a young woman’s missing daughter.  Of course, once you’re actually in Point Lookout, you’ll discover that there’s an incredible opportunity to be had here, as there’s virtually no one in sight when you actually get off the boat.  You can loot as you please!  And there’s PLENTY of loot to be had here–you’ll walk into a mostly abandoned seaside town / amusement park complex where there’s only one person, and she’s tending a shop.  But right away, you’ll notice there’s something very wrong with Point Lookout, and it’s not just the psuedonuclear shambles that every other place in the Capitol Wasteland is.  The Point Lookout motel contains scenes of horror even a raider would shrink from.  The Pint-Sized Slasher even makes a bit of a reappearance (he’s not just a newspaper blurb any more!) and the secrets, lies, and mysteries contained in that swamp are more than you could ever imagine.

There’s all manner of new equipment to be had here, but most of it is a little on the mundane side.  An axe, a shovel, a lever-action rifle that fires 10mm rounds and a double-barrelled shotgun will all make appearances, as will simpler things like workman’s coveralls and a Confederate cap, which is somewhat ironic as Maryland was a border state that leaned heavily toward the Union with only a few dissenters.  In fact, a whole LOT of Point Lookout seems to be done in that antebellum style of the Civil War-era South.  The huge manor houses, the relentless bayous…a lot of it just screams Louisiana.

Now, just so you know, I didn’t go in there cold.  I had recently reset my character to get the full experience back when Broken Steel came out, so I was a bit behind, but I took the riverboat at level fourteen, with the full loadout from the Project Anchorage vault.  I had my Chinese stealth armor, I had my Gauss rifle and a laser rifle with plenty of microfusion cells, I even had a Gatling laser, and I was getting chewed up at virtually every turn.  I don’t know how these “swamp people” who seem to have no more armor than their overalls are managing to absorb metal pellets fired at near-relativistic speeds when I’m blowing away Enclave troops in powered armor within three hits with the same hardware.

That’s about my only real gripe here–Point Lookout is some amazing fun, even if I do need to bring the equivalent of a light armored division or maybe Liberty Prime itself just to pacify the populace.  I love the darker tone and the subtle infusion of horror gameplay, something that game companies should definitely take note of.  Imagine this game with ZOMBIES.  And I’m not talking ghouls, but actual zombies.

One thing, however, remains crystal clear–Fallout 3, and by extension Point Lookout, is still the best action RPG I’ve ever played.

GameStop breaks Fallout 3’s Point Lookout DLC street date

Fans of Bethesda’s Fallout 3 will be happy to hear that GameStop has begun selling the game’s newest DLC pack, Point Lookout, pior to its scheduled June 23rd release date.

Now, we’re not sure how long they will be selling Point Lookout for but Kotaku has confirmed that they are in fact shipping the content. Better yet, they have also confirmed that the codes shipped by GameStop are working and will give players the chance to play Point Lookout early.

So Fallout 3-ers, what are you waiting for?

Read (GameStop)

Interview Gives More Fallout 3 DLC Details

An interview linked to from a Facebook Fallout 3 page gave more details regarding the upcoming Fallout 3 content packs, Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta. Most of the information contained therein is about the first of the two, likely because it’s the more mundane of the two, featuring more commonplace quests in a new location. They’re keeping a little more of a lid on Mothership Zeta because it’s definitely more unusual.

As you may know, Point Lookout is set in the actual area of the same name, though residents of the area will notice that they have taken a generous amount of artistic license with the geography, they also drew inspiration directly from certain features and landmarks. It’s set in a location that’s not accessible by foot from the rest of the Capital Wasteland and though it wasn’t hit by any bombs it’ll still have evidence of the war, likely in the form of mutated residents.

Things there will be pretty low-tech, with new weapons being more like lever action rifles and double barrelled shotguns. The main thrust of the story will revolve around a ghoul named Desmond and a band of tribals, though there will be other quests to undertake and non-quest related areas to discover.

Mothership Zeta sound very nearly the opposite with a more linear quest and of course more advanced technology. They were pretty tight-lipped regarding anything beyond the most basic details, but what they did give is pretty interesting. The aliens are standard Roswell greys, as were the bodies at the crashed ship, though there’ll be various robots to battle against on their ship. You’ll begin simply trying to escape, though after finding out their aliens ultimate goals you’ll have more to do. There’ll also be other abductees you can interact with, and a new rifle called the disintegrator. Both DLC packs will offer some quest-related perks, but no new level-up perks.

Bethesda’s Morrowind and Oblivion coming to Steam?

If the above image is anything to go by the guys over at Steam seem to have uploaded said image clearly displaying Bethesda’s Morrowind and Oblivion before they were announced to hit the service.

The ad was displayed on the homepage for a brief period of time before it was taken down. However, you can still view the ad to verify its legitimacy here, which is clearly located on the Steam’s servers.

I think its safe to say that both of these games will in fact be hitting the service at some point in the very near future. I mean, Bethesda’s Fallout 3 is available from Steam, why not some of their back catalog too?

Read (Gamerlimit)

Fallout 3 might come to iPhone

Fallout 3 developer/publisher Bethesda is riding on a massive wave of success with Fallout 3, both commercial and critical success. Bethesda’s Todd Howard said that they’ve considered porting Fallout 3 to the iPhone (and iPod touch), but that the ideas so far haven’t met their standards. However, he certainly sees the iPhone as a viable platform for the game.

Bethesda dates new Fallout 3 DLC, releases trailer

After learning that Bethesda’s Pete Hines was so surprised at the sucess of the already released Fallout 3 DLC, it’s no secret that they would do what any company would and release another pack.

This time it’s Point Lookout which we heard briefly about last month when Bethesda was pondering releasing Fallout 3 DLC across multiple platforms. Point Lookout looks to be centered mostly in what some would call the boondocks as hillbillies and broken down cabins are plentiful.

As stated at the end of the trailer, Fallout 3’s Point Lookout will be released on June 23rd.

Former President Turned Down Fallout 3 Voice Role

Bethesda has managed to get some top shelf talent for their last few games; Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean lent their voices to characters in Oblivion and Fallout 3 had Liam Neeson, Malcom McDowell and Ron Perlman. If things had gone differently, we might have had a familiar yet somewhat bizarre voice added to that list.

As happens with most creative industries, Bethesda outsourced the recruiting of voice actors to Blindlight, a firm which specializes in connecting actors, writers and musicians with video game projects. One of the people they sought to gain the sultry tones of was none other than former US President and continual joke-butt Bill Clinton.

As you might expect he was being sought primarily for the voice of President John Henry Eden, though I think hearing the former President’s subtle drawl instead of Malcom McDowell’s voice over the radio would have given it quite the gravitas they were aiming for.

Unfortunately it seems like Mr. Clinton might never have even heard the offer, since the response indicating a lack of interest came directly from his attorneys.

Fallout 3 DLC Going Multiplatform, More On The Way

Sure, there have been some major issues with two out of the three downloadable content packs Bethesda has released for Fallout 3, but in spite of that they’ve been selling well. Soon they’ll be selling even better since Microsoft’s exclusivity is coming to an end and more content packs are on the way. All three of the existing DLC packs are going to be available for the PS3 this year. Operation Anchorage releases in June with The Pitt and Broken Steel following after with a four to six week interval between each.

The two new content packs will be released for PS3 eventually, but they’re going to be released for the Xbox 360 first. Point Lookout will bring the player to a new swampy area with new quests based around the real Point Lookout State Park of Maryland. Although the Fallout universe is set in an America where events eventually diverged from our reality, some of the events will draw on the collective past, including the Civil War.

Mothership Zeta continues with the running reference in the Fallout universe to the existence of aliens. In previous games you could get your hands on a powerful albeit short ranged alien blaster if you stumbled upon their crashed ship. In Fallout 3 the same thing happens, but in the DLC pack you’ll find yourself abducted by the alien ship responding to the distress call you can pick up on your Pip Boy.

As with the previous packs there’ll be new quests, characters, items to collect and even some new perks, but at this early stage no details are being discussed about what they might be, though they did say that we can expect a ton of new art for Mothership Zeta. Lookout Point is set for a June release and Mothership Zeta for July.

Broken Steel Game Review–A Perfect End To A Nigh-Perfect Game

And so, the last addition to the Fallout downloadable content block has emerged, and amazingly, it will change the way you play Fallout 3 forever.  It’s called Broken Steel, and what it’ll do to the game is create a series of changes that are vast and downright unnerving.

This time around, you’ll be able to resolve one of the most frustrating problems with Fallout 3—what happened AFTER you retake Project Purity.  You’ve just made the Capitol Wasteland a better place to live, and quite possibly killed yourself in the process.  Only now, even IF you were the one to take the poison pill yourself, you’ll manage to survive it and carry on the good fight, as our old buddy Three Dog would say.  And now, you’ll be assisting the Brotherhood of Steel (and not those Outcast putzes either—they got their chance in Operation: Anchorage and did they EVER screw it up!)  in three important overarching concepts.

1.    Help get the newly cleaned water out to the various ports and settlements of the Capitol Wasteland.

2.    Blast the godless heathen savage Super Mutants into insensate smoking oblivion, once and for all.

3.    While you’re at it, put paid to those miserable soulless heartless Fascisistic thugs known as The Enclave.

Sound like a plan to anyone else?  Oh yes.  Yes it does.

Considering how many times I’ve railed against first person shooters in these pages, you might well wonder how I live with the hypocrisy of loving Fallout 3, which is a first person shooter itself.  And if you were to ask me that, I’d look at you sorrowfully, shake my head with regret and tell you that Fallout 3 isn’t JUST a first person shooter.  It’s a first person ADVENTURE.  Most first person shooters like to focus on that last word at the cost of everything else, but it’s the rare ones like Fallout 3 that open up a world to you and let you run riot therein.  You can be a hero or a criminal in these games, and the sheer variety of things to do holds my interest with every step.

And indeed, Broken Steel will, as I’ve said, change the way you play Fallout 3.  One, the level cap has been lifted from level 20 to level 30.  Of course, there will also be a collection of new items for you to lay hands on, and you’ll have several new plot elements to tangle with as well.  The already deep, rich story of Fallout 3 gets nothing but enhancement from Broken Steel.

However, as good as this is—there are still some problems here. For those of you thinking the broken level cap will be an opportunity to catch up on those skills you missed, think again.  For some strange reason, the game will give you new skills and perks when you reach a new level.  I’m not terribly pleased about this, but I guess it could be worse.  And there are many folks who will discover, seemingly randomly, that they’re unable to even play the game in the first place—but for those people, it’s not even that much of a problem.  While you’ll miss out on the new items and new plot challenges, from what I understand the level cap will remain broken, allowing you to try out the new features.

As fond as I am of Fallout 3, I’m of the mind that the downloadable content so far has added spice to the original as opposed to really opening up game experiences.  Broken Steel, meanwhile, has done a solid job of opening the world up even further.  All I can say is, after six months of fantastic gaming, great work, Bethesda…and see you in Vegas.

Fallout 3 patch 1.5 released

Bethesda has released the 1.5 patch for Fallout 3. The new update is available for the Xbox 360 and PC and includes:

New Features:
New achievements for Broken Steel

Bug Fixes:
Fixed issue with VATS calculations not appearing properly for perks (PC)
Fixed crash related to altered references between master files
LOD objects render properly when loaded from DLC worldspaces
Fixed issue with companion NPCs not loading into cells immediately after player

Fallout 3 DLC retail pack revealed

Online retailer Amazon has revealed the retail packaging of the upcoming Fallout 3 DLC pack. The pack will include Operation Anchorage and The Pitt, and will retail for $20 — the same price for the online DLC. Although, you’ll get a physical game box plus a Pip Boy poster as well. The new pack will be released on Amazon on May 26, but will not include the upcoming Broken Steel DLC — which will retail for $10 as well.