rss feeds
@gamegrep
Facebook
"I’ve been pretty clear on the fact that I love Fallout in all its forms. From the classic turn-based RPG by Interplay to the first-person sequels by Bethesda. When I heard that there was a game called S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl that would let me wander around a radioactive wasteland using a mix of first person shooting, RPG and free roaming I was terribly excited because it sounded a lot like Fallout 3. I’m afraid that I wasn’t cool enough to have played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. when it came..."
"Ask yourself, if you will; what is a game?
I suppose you could see the question from any number of angles, any number of interpretations. You could view it mechanically – a typical game involves an actor, maybe several, multiple mechanics, parameters. You could take each individual aspect of a game and put a magnifying glass to it. Or you could take it at its most literal definition; something to be played."
Even though its 2012 there are plenty of games to fill the early year void. The best part of this that so many of these games are less then $20. Games like GTA IV, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Saints Row 2, Mass Effect 2, Fallout 3, and lots of others. There are plenty of other games that offer a lot of bang for your buck.
The second installment in a weekly series examining different methods of storytelling used in video games. This week we are looking at the increasingly popular trend of player choice.
"There’s something about certain games that naturally draw me in. This is considerably easier with any sort of RPG that involves decisions and progression that allow you to influence not only your character, but the actual game itself. I’ve spent so much time with these games because I’m able to make the character my own, affect the environment, and play the game almost exactly how I want to play it."
"The vistas, while fascinating as a torn apart and gritty world, don’t exactly make me want to live in such a world. But they speak strongly for what the game is portraying. The mood created in the game is often lonely, always eerie, and deserted. Most of what you encounter in the Wasteland is going to try to kill you."
"Recently a leak about EA and Starbreeze studio's long rumored remake of the Syndicate game, an Isometric game released by Bullfrog studios in the 90's, was in development, and being turned into an FPS. This got me thinking."
"Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are two of my favorite games to play on my Xbox 360 these days; they have fun gameplay, a rich backstory, tons of content and a fantastic atmosphere. Bethesda is planning on creating a new Fallout game that is called Fallout 4 for right now. Very little is known of the project or if it will even be completed as scheduled but that won’t stop me from listing what I want from a new installment in the series."
The games you know from the article you'd be more than familiar with the skills they possess and really wish you had those skills. Definitely some skills there that would be fantastic to possess.
In this week's edition of The Catch-Up, Kyree posts Part 2 of his second go-around with Fallout 3. He still thinks it's a good, fun game, but distractions may have gotten the best of him...
In this week's edition of The Catch-Up, Kyree gives Fallout 3 a second chance... and so far, it's paying off. If at first you don't succeed, then try, try again.
"Today is Father’s Day, that annual celebration when we all tell our Dads to put their feet up, lounging back in their chair while they drink from that excessively large mug with ‘World’s Best Dad’ on it that we’ve just bought for them because we couldn’t think of much else to get. In celebration of this noble day we here at GamerGaia present to you a fantastic list of memorable Dads from our gaming voyages; some are bad, some are good, some are epic and some are even huge and lumber around wi..."
Gus Mastrapa of Joystick Division explores how video games permit great evils, connecting Lars Von Trier, Tyler the Creator, Hassan i-Sabbah and video game Nazis along the way.
"As a fan of post-apocalyptic themes, I am of course drawn to games take place after catastrophic events. Though this list is not exhaustive, it’s revealing that much of is so top-heavy. With the theme becoming increasingly popular, I don’t seem to be alone in my enjoyment of post-apocalyptic games. Here’s hoping for more to come."
Morality has become the gaming theme of this generation. Black, and White, Good vs. Evil with some choices doing nothing to impact the long term plot. Gamers have experienced morality in games such as Fallout 3, Mass Effect, GTA IV, Bioshock as well as several others. Goozernation takes a look at the bigger questions and asks is morality really needed? Why do gamers always have to make a choice with consequences?
Music can easily be changed depending on the situation or context. Take Fallout’s music for example. Even with simple, old-timey tunes of the 40s can have an entirely different effect when set against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic wasteland of the Fallout games. Is it just coincidence that these signature song choices articulate the concept so well?
"Many video games have inventories. Lets face it, any game that requires you to pick stuff up, carry stuff around, or use something typically has some form of inventory management. Whether its keeping tabs on how much ammo you have or making sure you still have room in your expansive (albeit invisible) rucksack that holds 150 fire arms, 12 outfits, 3 items of food or potions, and a fork, lute, cup, or cat (yeah Anders I’m looking at you) you have to remain aware of something you are lugging a..."
"Linearity. A phrase that, a few years back, wasn't even considered as something to describe a videogame. Can you imagine a reviewer of Crash Bandicoot back in 1996 saying that the game was too linear? No? Me either. Looking back, yes, the game was in fact basically running up or down one straight path, but did that make it any less fun? Again, the answer is no. So why, in modern society, is a linear game considered to be the devil's own evil at work?"
"See? Video games can be educational, so the next time your mom accuses them of rotting your brain, tell her that at least you won’t be the one wallowing in a ditch as radiation slowly separates the blistered skin from her body. That’ll make her be quiet."
"Dear readers, it has come to my attention that I need to get something off my chest, something which will make me seem like less of a man. You see I have a secret. I am a coward, a wuss, why? Because I play games on Easy.
Throughout my gaming life I’ve always wanted to keep pace with my friends, those with somewhat superhuman abilities for completing games on Normal or Hard – or so they say. I didn’t want to miss out on discussions at school regarding a certain narrative point in Final Fan..."
A bizarre natural occurence is being reported out of Egypt as a two-headed calf is born. It's a interesting piece of news that relates itself to the two-headed cows found in the nuclear wastelands of Fallout 3.
4 great FPS are about to arrive on the Xbox Live Marketplace: Left 4 Dead 2 demo version, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Fallout 3 and Far Cry 2. For about $30 each you will be able to play huge FPS on your Xbox.
"Balancing a compelling storyline with non-linear gameplay has always been the biggest challenge developers face when creating an open world game. Sometimes a compromise is made, such as side missions that don't interfere with the main plot (Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed 2). But, more often than not the story is simplified, sacrificed on the altar of player freedom."
"We all have those games that we follow for what seems to be our whole lives. If you don’t, most likely you aren’t reading this column. The game I most anticipated in my life was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Ok, I admit it; at first it was because of how pretty it was and just plain how nerdy I am for an immersive fantasy world. When the game’s producer started to release more information however, I found something that I believe to this day to be one of the best game elements of all time. ..."
"It may seem like a silly thing to consider, yet the portrayal of women in video games has changed significantly since their introduction. You needn’t be a grizzled ancient or sociological bigwig to appreciate the differences. In the earlier days, arcade button-mashers relied on simple stories to drive the action, typically pandering to a young male demographic. The imperative of Double Dragon centered on the heroic duo rescuing a damsel in distress. Mario was compelled to rescue Princess Peac..."
"The Xbox 360 launched four years ago today in Europe, ushering in the current-generation of videogames consoles and putting a full stop in the life of the original Xbox. Only a handful of games for Microsoft’s first console made it to UK shores after 2nd December 2005, as the Xbox 360 began its life as the company’s definite priority."
Legend of Zelda is one of the best known game series, but is it in need of a change or update? Legendzelda.net thinks so, and they believe the makers should take some tips from Fallout 3.
Go to the source to find out why.
[The Legend of Zelda Wii Forum]
"I hear a lot of bitching that innovation is dead in America. That’s a lie. The problem is that we have two industries at odds, neither of which is really equipped to present innovations to the masses.
First off, we have the indie community, which bewails its unrecognized genius and occasionally screams “sellout!” whenever someone in the community actually manages to make a hit.
Then we have the AAA industry, which often claims that it can’t take the kind of risks that innovation require..."
Major Nelson has posted up the Live Activity for the week of May 11th, and with that comes some regulars, along with some .. weirdness... such as the fact that the UFC 2009 Undisputed Demo has made it's way on the top ten for the fourth week in a row! I played it, I don't get it, how is this on the list.. *shrugs shoulders*. Though being out a year and a half, as well as having a sequel, Call of Duty 4 continues to carry a high rank on the list :D
"Why would Zenimax and Bethesda buy the exclusive Fallout rights? Quite simply, ownership leverage. Acquiring the licensing rights allows Zenimax to set ludicrous conditions for Interplay and purposely led them to believe they would still be working on the MMO."
Bethesda has been screwing up a lot lately that isn't up for debate. All these mistakes have been causing gamers to vow not to purchase another Bethesda product again. This article is a closer look at that option and how stupid these gamers are for boycotting one of the best developers around.
"We are a mixed bunch here at OXCGN. We’ve got oldies, teens, parents…basically people from generations W, X, Y, and Z. Each of us likes gaming, but we all have diverse gaming interests. We sometimes like the same games; but sometimes we like different games and some of us play on a variety of consoles too. (ed: Whoaa . . who said that . .)
Here’s what we’ve each been playing last month (March) and what we’d like to play soon. Let us know what you’ve been playing too in the comments sec..."
Binge Gamer's Intern Perry takes a look at the elements that make a game and provides a guide for future games to follow. Listing examples, both good and bad, on some obvious subjects and some not so obvious that need to be taken into account: Play Control, Characters/Writing, Graphics/Glitches, Depth/Replay Value, Atmosphere, Licensing, Hype, Initial concept, Sound and Music. Hit up the source for the in depth read.
Bethesda said this weekend the post-game downloadable content (DLC) for Fallout 3 will not be made available for PS3 owners, in keeping with the company's decision to not bring the Operation Anchorage content to the platform either. It being probably the biggest title of 2008, that certainly sends a message...
With this, AlleyInsider writer Eric Krangel examines what exactly is going on with Sony, and just how much trouble they seem to be in.
"After 12 months of playing and enjoying as many games as possible, its time to take a break, look back and choose the best of the best - the best 10 games of the year 2008. As you can imagine, its a really tough mission, especially because the overall quality of the games released this year was pretty high (there were exceptions, of course), but we must choose the game of the year here, at the Unigamesity!"
Yes, I can be lazy, and a broken record so rather than writing a fanboy and rant filled 4-word page document of a blog story to bore you all, I had one of our better writers do a shorthand version. Here are a few mods I downloaded this weekend (as I worked on my Grampy Bone mod) that are essential for PC Fallout 3 players.
They make the game more dynamic, interesting, and less "dumbed-down-for-console-users."
OXCGN writer looks at the history of Fallout the series. The changes, what is new, what is missing, the changes and the additions.
Includes a 15 min history of the franchise that is well worth watching by any gamer wanting to know more about this excellent game.
So head on over to the site now and check it out, when you compare our games of today to the ones of "yesteryear" - most gamers will stop complaining - hopefully.
We all know of the news that Elder Scrolls V will be hitting the shelves by 2010 and even a Fallout 4 before 2018 but it seems people are somewhat confused by all this.
Many people around the internet are worried that Bethesda Softworks are going to rush ESV due to having only a two year gap between the release of Fallout 3 and the alleged release date of ESV. This is not the case and allow me to explain but in order to do that, you must first understand the concept that Beth Soft employs ...
"Historically, the Fallout franchise has rested quite comfortably on its RPG laurels. Players not only loved the rich, ironic, post-apocalyptic landscape that they were provided to explore, but many also found that the exhaustive selection of choices in the game provided a unique voice for nearly every player. Whether you wanted to sell your companions into slavery, or bring down the local gangs in New Reno, there were plenty of dialog options to cover the gamut of emotive responses. Some play..."
What do gamers do when people in America are going to the booths to vote? They hold their own elections, for video game characters of course!
Take your pick from the likes of Sackboy, Tom Nook... and even 12-Pack! Even gamers like a good old beer now and then, right? Each candidate has a badge, their promises and their slogan.
So who gets your vote?
In today's modern age, it seems absurd that one person can hold up a democracy. Especially when what they are holding up, is something that would help 'protect children' not harm them.
It seems that is the case for Australian gamers, who's average age is now 30yrs old, yet the highest game rating available is just MA15+. Meaning many 18+ games either get banned or worse, censored. Some publishers don't even bother taking their games to Australia - Shellshock 2 is just one example.
Check...
"Mandatory installs come from complications developers meet when switching from DVD to Blu-ray. Blu-rays have more space, but they have a different way of reading data that causes longer loading times when given exactly the same data DVDs use. Installs fix the problem, at a cost, but alternative methods are being devised. Fallout 3 has enough space on the Blu-ray disc to copy the game's assets over more than once on the disc, which reduces load times significantly. This kind of innovation is n..."
With the economy crashing down and people losing their jobs, gamers in October and Christmas won't be able to buy that extra game they could before. With so many highly anticipated games coming out, (LittleBigPlanet, Fallout 3, etc) you probably won't be able to play every one you want.
Whenever you scrounge up some extra money for games, is it really worth playing if you can't experience it to the fullest?
"It never fails: every time I get an open-world game, I follow the missions for a little bit, but then wind up ignoring the storyline and simply running around testing the limits of the world. When playing Grand Theft Auto, I tend to just see how high I can get the police radar and then survive as long as I can. That's fun for a few hours, but after I get done, I really feel no reason to return.. The same goes for Assassin's Creed. I made it to the very first town, and after doing a few assass..."
So I was shocked when I heard all the commotion and received an AIM message to head over to the lunch room for a photo opportunity. Bethesda sent us one of the Brotherhood of Steel Power Armor statues popping up at retail outlets across the country. Pictures included, enjoy!
"We here at XboxOZ360-gamer are all quite excited about Bethsedas upcoming Fallout 3. Here are our top 5 reasons that you should share our excitement.
5 Reasons To Be Excited . .
5. Classic series revitalized.
The fallout series has a massive following and they are definitely classics by anyones standards. Yet understandably they are fairly dated and not really suited to the current generation of gamers desires, so the series being revitalized by the kings of the sandbox rpg genre ..."
"Oblivion had tons of girlie things for me to do. I could pick pretty flowers, collect pretty crystals and buy pretty clothes. Fallout 3 is distinctly un-pretty, but what did you expect from an irradiated post-apocalyptic Earth? The only flowers you’ll find here contain death, and you can forget those fancy brocade gowns.
After being filled in by Manfriend, I was able to take a look at Fallout 3 and judge for myself if it has more in common with Oblivion than it does with Fallout. And after..."
Christmas is almost around the corner, and as with every Christmas, the best games are looking to be released in time for parents to go out and buy their kids games. However, GamerChip who previously stated that there may be too many games being released for christmas, have now put together a list of games that they think will succeed and some that they believe will fail. Lets take a look at a few of them...
GameInformer, the popular magazine about all things gaming that has somewhere near three million subscribers, always has a different game on the cover each time. MTV wanted to see if there was a GI cover curse, so they looked back into the past and pulled out magazines from 2-3 years ago.
One game titled Superman Returns didn't so well, receiving 6/10's. That's nothing compared to Fear and Respect, which was at one point on a GI cover, but ended up being canceled!
All in all, the game...
"Fallout 3 is downright misleading. How so? Spin Offs have occured: see Fallout Tactics, (but do not see Fallout Brotherhood of Steel). If any of those games were called Fallout 3, god help me, we would not have to have this debate. This game is no different. Besides mythology there is no similiarity. My envisioning of Fallout 3 is that it should have the same isometric view, but take advantage of all that fancy smancy technology of now - I am talking about blood stains that stay forever, the ..."
""At least when Microsoft developed Halo Wars, an RTS, they didn't call it Halo 4, because its a different game that uses the Halo world. Same goes with Fallout 3, they should call it Fallout V.A.T.S. (the added 'Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System), something that's unique about this particular game. Don't ruin a great series by mixing genres and titles.""
"Summary of games on the list:
Age of Conan (PC/360)
Frontlines: Fuel of War (PC/360)
Sins of A Solar Empire (PC)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (PC/360/PS3)
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty (PC/360/PS3)
Fallout 3 (PC/360/PS3)
Ghostbusters (PC/360/PS3)
Tiberium (PC/360/PS3)
Operation Flashpoint 2 (PC/Wii/PS3/360)
Space Force: Captains (PC)"
Fallout 3 is a hotly anticipated release on the PC, as well as the 360 and PS3. But a recent interview, the developers said something that really got me going. It was rather irritating. It was a discussion about how Bethesda was cutting down the dialogue paths, so people would not miss out on a story branch.
![Box shot of Fallout 3 [Europe]](http://i.neoseeker.com/boxshots/R2FtZXMvWGJveF8zNjAvUm9sZS1QbGF5aW5nL1NjaS1GaQ==/fallout_3_frontcover_small_dwmznojmoUlkTsq.jpg)