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New Vegas Director: Next Fallout Should Focus On Choice

Ben-Dutka 7 Comments

Choice. It's an ongoing trend in video games, and one director wants to see more of it.

Fallout: New Vegas designer and project director Josh Sawyer says he hopes the new Fallout entry will force players to make some difficult decisions. Speaking during a recent Eurogamer interview , Sawyer said for this particular series, choice is critical:

"Fallout games are best when the choices are – and this applies to role-playing games in general, but Fallout is a more desperate world – more agonizing. They feel more appropriate to the post-apocalyptic genre. So I hope that whatever twists and turns the story takes, it's more nuanced than a black-and-white choice."

Sawyer added that while some players "want to go through the wasteland like a tourist," he'd rather be challenged to make tough choices, and he imagines a lot of players feel the same way. For the record, although it's widely believed that Bethesda's new game is indeed Fallout 4 (rumored to feature a post-apocalyptic Boston setting), the announcement won't happen any time soon .

But when it does come down the pike, are you most interested in an adventure full of significant choices to make?

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How Many Studios Get Bonuses For Hitting Metacritic Goals?

Ben-Dutka 25 Comments

Well, isn't this interesting.

Analysts always say that higher-rated games tend to sell better and of course, that's definitely true. So maybe this news shouldn't come as any big shock…just like we probably shouldn't be surprised that NFL teams often put "bounties" on opposing players.

Anyway, it seems Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment – which recently suffered a round of layoffs and the cancellation of a future project – was in line to receive an unspecified bonus if New Vegas had scored higher on Metacritic. One point higher, to be exact. Obsidian co-founder Chris Avellone Tweeted the following:

"FNV was a straight payment, no royalties, only a bonus if we got an 85+ on Metacritic, which we didn't."

No, but you came close; the game is averaging an 84 on Metacritic. The PlayStation 3 version didn't help their cause, as that iteration scored a couple points lower on average (and we didn't help , either). Money is a hot topic at Obsidian after 30 staffers lost their jobs, and that South Park RPG was ditched.

EA often makes statements citing review scores, in that they keep striving to put out "90+" products, and when gauging the success of a title, the review scores are often the first thing they mention. Other publishers do the same, and there's no doubt that the better reviews you get, the more money you're likely to see. But a bonus for hitting a certain average score? That really is interesting.

Related Game(s): Fallout: New Vegas

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Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition Hits February 7

Ben-Dutka 22 Comments

If you missed Fallout: New Vegas and you always regretted it, circle a day in February.

Although it has been over a year since the game launched, Bethesda Softworks thinks it's time to get more gamers involved. Therefore, they've announced the Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition , which is scheduled to launch for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC on February 7 in North America and three days later in Europe.

It'll come with all the downloadable cotntent released thus far; that's four packs: Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, and Lonesome Road. Furthermore, it'll boast Courier's Stash (four smaller add-ons used as pre-order bonuses) and the Gun Runner's Arsenal, which has a variety of weapons and weapon mods. Bethesda typically creates epic, in-depth experiences and Fallout: New Vegas is no exception.

Of course, you might be spending your money on the team's newest title on November 11…

Related Game(s): Fallout: New Vegas

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Three DLC Packs For New Vegas

Ben-Dutka 21 Comments

If you're a Fallout fan, you're always on the lookout for expansion content. The more the better, right?

Today, Bethesda Softworks has announced three new downloadable packs for the critically acclaimed Fallout: New Vegas , which will be released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, starting on May 17.

The first is Honest Hearts, which brings you to the "unspoiled wilderness of Utah's Zion National Park." Things take a turn for the worst when your caravan is ambushed by a raiding party, and this kicks off a war between tribes; the decisions you make "will determine the fate of Zion." In Old World Blues, which will be ready in June, you'll learn how some of Mojave's monsters came into being…how? Um…you become a lab rat in a science experiment gone screwy. Lastly, there's Lonesome Road, set for July, which "brings the courier's story full circle when you are contacted by the original Courier Six." This mission will take you to the hurricane-swept canyons of the Divide, and few return from such a trip alive.

All packs will be available for $9.99 on the PlayStation Store and Steam, and 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live.

Related Game(s): Fallout: New Vegas

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The Honorable Route In New Vegas: No Killing Ever

Ben-Dutka 43 Comments

You may have already seen this story on other sites; it's because as gamers ourselves, journalists and critics are always amazed at…well, amazing gaming feats.

Okay, so how's it going with Fallout: New Vegas ? How many people have you killed thus far? Did you kill somebody in the first ten minutes? Have you been trying to abstain but you just can't help yourself every now and then? Well, meet the person who finished the entire game without taking a single solitary life: it's Water_Wendi, who posted a screenshot of his final stats over at the NeoGAF forums . As you can see, zero people and zero creatures were killed during the whole quest…and that's just insane. Fallout has never been my thing but it's not difficult to understand how hard this must be…so who wants to give it a try? Maybe the designers should add a special Trophy for such an accomplishment. Hey, if one person can do it, others can too, right? We're just not sure who will be able to suppress the urge for so long; isn't it against standard gamer instinct, or something?

Well, anyhow, that's worth some attention. Anybody do anything extra special in New Vegas we should know about?

Related Game(s): Fallout: New Vegas

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Rumor: Bethesda Keeping Low Fallout Scores Quiet

Ben-Dutka 101 Comments

'sigh' Not this again. Pretty soon, no gamer is going to trust any review anywhere.

You may remember the whole Gerstmann/Eidos/ Kane & Lynch fiasco from a few years back and although this is slightly different in nature, the same unethical business practices sit at the root of the matter. It seems that Bethesda has been trying to keep less than favorable Fallout: New Vegas reviews from hitting the Internet. This as noticed by Duck and Cover citing Dan Hsu's recent Tweets. Hsu is the former Editorial Director at 1Up and now works at Bitmob. Here are the Tweets in question:

"One site was forced to pull its Fallout Vegas review because advertiser Bethesda was unhappy w/ score. Sad this crap still goes on."

"Heard (but haven't confirmed) two more sites delaying publishing poor review scores for Fallout Vegas until Fallout ad campaign is done."

"To clarify, the site's boss pulled that review because advertiser wasn't happy, against writer's wishes."

"RT: JustinHaywald @bitmobshoe To be clear, 1UP has not published a review because both the reviewer and I felt he needed more time with the game.

"@BenKuchera I did get a 2nd, independent confirmation on this, tho. The review was pulled by CEO, then put back up when ad campaign was over."

Advertising. Reviews. Both are necessary for everyone to stay alive and healthy. Without ad campaigns, you guys get nothing. Well, you might get something but it won't come from paid professionals, that's for sure. It's all well and good to talk about integrity and decency in business but then someone says, "don't publish this for a week or two until the campaign is over…everyone will have their money by then. No big deal." We understand why sites respond.

Whatever. We're hovering at that point where we're big enough to matter but not big enough to matter to most publishers. So if we want to post a less-than-glowing review of New Vegas or any game in existence, we'll do just that. …just have to look for other ad campaigns, that's all.

Related Game(s): Fallout: New Vegas

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