Okay guys, the aliens in Fallout were an Easter Egg…

Hardcore Fallout fandom at No Mutants Allowed cuts to the chase in showing how they really feel about the latest DLC announcement for F3.

That’s, um, pretty much how I feel about this latest announcement myself.

You can catch that and more over at No Mutants Allowed but be sure to have your flameproof waders on. The site is home to the truly hardcore Fallout fans out there as well as an impressively detailed repository of all things Fallout related which should come as no surprise. It’s a great site and a resource for all things Fallout and while I don’t entirely agree with some of their views on the franchise, Bethesda’s latest announcement of what the next two pieces of DLC are going to be like haven’t made me all too excited.

The first one is the reputed “Point Look” which had been rumored but never confirmed, until now. The only details that we have of what that one is supposed to be like is that it will take place in a swampy land with new dangers. Okay, doesn’t sound too exciting there. I never did like swamps in any game I had played, there’s just something…blah…about a swamp populated with the requisite bad guys, as if the marshy, malaria-infested humidity that they usually come with isn’t enough of a challenge. Still, I’ll likely be snagging that one up if it sounds interesting enough. It could be a swamp…with a GIANT MISSILE SILO IN THE MIDDLE OF IT FILLED WITH HALF ROBOT WAR MACHINES. Or not, I don’t know yet.

But the next one has me taking a fork to a lump of mashed potatoes and wishing that I was Richard Dreyfuss…”Mothership Zeta” will pit the player against, you guessed it, aliens. That’s right, the big eyed, ray gun toting, extraterrestrial inhabitants of outer space as opposed to the homicidal, acid spewing variety found on corporate space ships and colonies. I really don’t want to sound negative about this since on one hand, it does sound like it could be silly fun. On the other hand, it also comes off…from a veteran’s perspective…as overkill for something that started out as a random encounter in Fallouts 1 and 2. Like when the Coneheads became a movie. Augh…

Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating just a bit, but still…Fallout’s universe has its own, understated humor…always had with the first two games by picking up on a thread here and there, subtle nods to the things we take for granted today but spun to make you chuckle when you least expect it. Kung fu fight in Fallout 2? A box of water chips in the sequel mocking those of us that fought to find just one in the first game? A sadistic Secret Service supermutant?

But this? Ahh…hmmm…. Over the top, sure, but Fallout has always had something of a serious side to itself that the small pieces of random humor within its narrative had only brought out, coloring each event that it was found in and giving the player something to smile about before focusing on how they were going to tie up all of their loose ends before their home ran out of water. I took the aliens and their velvet painting of Elvis from the original series with a large amount of humor filled salt, not even considering that it might be something that could become its own campaign sometime later.

Bethesda doesn’t need to give the hardcore crowd any more ammunition than they already have collected, but even as a huge fan of the series, I don’t think the ‘canon’ really needs this ‘twist’.

Besides, the better choice would have been King Arthur and his merry band of knights. They were in Fallout 2, also, along with a lot of other geeky goodies. Guardian of Forever, anyone?

You won't 'officially' see the Guardian of Forever in Fallout 3, unless someone mods it in, because it would just be plain weird. That, and Bethesda might draw the ire of Paramount's secret army of assassin lawyers this time.

Broken Steel up and after all the bugs, it was worth it

Broken Steel went up yesterday and I’ve been plugging away at it…and you know what? It’s really good.

But first, the things I learned while waiting for the DLC and in getting it to work:
1) GFWL still seems to be a work in progress for PCs
2) I still had to copy the mod files into my game directory
3) If the expansion still doesn’t start up after the ending rolls (you should get “Two Weeks Later”), turn off all of your other mods other than the official ones from Bethesda (Operation Anchorage and the Pitt). I had to turn off my custom repair mod which seems to have gotten Broken Steel to work for me. Mod boards are also filled with quite a few posts about community add-ons no longer working after updating the game to 1.5 with the pre-patch for Broken Steel.

After figuring all that out and getting it to work, I am happy to report from the wastes that it was worth the trouble.

I like it a lot more than I did the Pitt…it just felt more complete and the side-quests were pretty creative ranging from having to deal with a snake oil salesman to slumming with a gang and going so far as to challenge the leader for control. And the ending? Wow…you can really be an evil schmuck if you want to.

The way that it shows off the results of your actions after activating Project Purity added even more lore to the game in the way that clean water has changed the landscape. Just listening to the Scribes bicker at the Project, or listen to the comments that the Brotherhood makes concerning the current operations against the Enclave were also part of the fun.

Now that the three DLC are created, there’s only the rumor about the fourth one…codenamed “Point Look”. But I also can’t wait to hear more news as to what the crew over at Obsidian have planned with their own spin on Fallout when they take players back to Vegas!

They also do little plastic bottles, too, but without charging people. If only that were like the real world...

Ready for more Fallout 3 DLC? Here’s a few new pics for Broken Steel.

The Pitt wasn’t exactly the most fun that I’ve had with Fallout 3 given the technical issues riddling its broken landscape, but the upcoming Broken Steel sounds like it could be just the thing to help get past it.

Here’s a short list of what Bethesda is promising to flash blind players with once it hits on May 5th:

• raising the level cap from 20 to 30 along with including a new perks, two confirmed so far:
  Steel Nerves – speedier regeneration of AP points
  Puppies! – If Dogmeat dies, he’ll come back as a puppy that can be recruited again at certain points in the game. Neat.
• New monsters including the armored Ghoul Reaper, Overlord Super Mutant, and a new Enclave soldier with a flaming personality
• New quest involving the Brotherhood of Steel fighting against a revitalized Enclave across the DC Wasteland
• New areas to explore including a Presidential Metro line running beneath DC and the Enclave’s new digs
• New weapons such as the awe-inspiring Tesla Cannon which can apparently down a Vertibird in one shot. Yeah, you’ll need that.

Since work on this DLC was mentioned to have begun in December of last year, I have high hopes that this won’t have the kind of issues that The Pitt suffered from. Aside from changing the ending allowing the game to be more open ended, depending on what you chose to do at the climax of the adventure the Wasteland will reflect your decision in whether you followed the “good” side or snuck in something special for “evil”.

And here are a few juicy pics to show off some of the new stuffs:

The Brotherhood of Steel and their valiant superweapon, Liberty Prime, bring their arsenal of freedom to the oppressed masses of the Wasteland!

The Enclave won't be happy to see you again after what happened the last time you visited one of their hangouts.

As you can see, our newest Super Mutant, the Overlord, epitomizes our focus on crushing their foes into bloody paste and then pulverizing them some more just to be safe.

Here's a Presidential Perk that will come in handy.

If only you thought about attaching those pipes to a bottling plant first, but noooooo. You had to activate it "for the good of everyone". Pffft.

Finally, my Big Guns skill won't feel so useless anymore!

Life after the Pitt

I finished the Pitt earlier this week, but…what happened to the quality control?

There were more than just one or two ways in which players could easily break some of the logic in the game, whether it’s taking a path less traveled or simply running away from your enemies. None of the DLC for Oblivion gave me nearly as many issues as the Pitt did. I’m not even going to touch the problems that Xbox 360 owners have experienced already, requiring Bethesda to pull the DLC and then re-upload it.

That said, when it works, there’s a pretty decent story and some nice loot found within it. Modders should be able to have a field day in populating their own ideas of what the rest of post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh should look like since what is available feels like one tiny block. But I hope that Broken Steel, the last DLC and the one that changes the ending, raises the level cap, and delivers one whallop of an adventure in clearing out the Enclave from the DC area, won’t have as many bizarre problems as this one did.

I do have a bit more faith in that it will be a bit more solid, though. Bethesda’s Jeff Gardiner has noted that they had started working on Broken Steel shortly before Christmas last year, after they wrapped up work on Fallout 3, meaning that it may have gotten a much longer lead time in development than the other two had. With the high level concepts that they’ve been juggling around for this last piece of DLC, I’m hoping that’s the case.

It's not a bad place to visit as long as you can overlook the problems that go beyond the new tenants

The pitt does it again

So I’ve downloaded the Pitt, whipped out my rad-away and packed some extra ammo, and once again, Windows Live screws up.

Yes, it doesn’t work. Again. So I did what I had to do with Operation: Anchorage and copy the files into the game directory for it to work right. Wish me luck.

So Operation Anchorage won’t run on your PC…

Aside from having to fix this, it's actually quite fun if you love new items and story material.

Disclaimer: By following these steps, you take full responsibility for whatever happens next. It’s a simple process, but thanks to so many years in IT, I know that there are people that can screw up a copy/paste out there. If you have any doubts, find someone that can help you.

If you know how to install a mod from a site like Fallout Nexus, then the process is pretty much the same thing with only you having to read the steps as to where the DLC was saved on your PC by Games for Windows Live and then copying and pasting the files to the Data directory. All done!

I had this happen to me. After downloading the content and watching the game say that it was loading it, nothing happens for about an hour until I give up. It seems that even though the game claims to have loaded it, one some machines the quest simply doesn’t start. There is a way to force/fix it, though, but it requires you to do a little jumping through a few technical hoops as I found out after trying to track down some information on this.

If you’ve installed a mod in Oblivion before, then this will seem like cake. If not, I hope my steps are as clear as they can be in case you run into this.

The following steps are for Windows XP so don’t blame me if you try this under Vista. I’m not sure how different the steps are.

After you’ve purchased the content via Games for Windows Live, it will have downloaded it to a default location. First, make sure that you can see hidden folders. If you already can, you can skip these steps. If not and are not sure how to:

1) Double click on My Computer

2) Double click on your C: drive

3) You will see a list of folders.

4) In the menu bar at the top of the window click on Tools -> Folder Options

5) Under Folder Options, click on View

6) Under View, you will see an option marked “Hidden Files and Folders”

7) Double click on “Hidden Files and Folders”

8 ) Click on the radio button next to “Show hidden files and folders”

7) Once you’ve done that, Click on Apply. You should now be able to see hidden folders.

If you can already see hidden folders, or if you’ve followed the steps above, follow this path on your C: drive:

C:\Documents and Settings\MyUserName\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\XLive\DLC

1) “MyUserName” is YOUR user name

2) Under the DLC folder, keep drilling down until you get to a folder called Content

3) Double click on the Content folder

4) You should see three files with the Anchorage name. Highlight all three and right click -> Copy

5) Go to the folder where you installed Fallout 3 (it will usually be: C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Fallout 3)

6) Double click on the Data folder under your Fallout 3 folder

7) Right click -> Paste; this will copy the three files over

8 ) Start up Fallout 3

9) Click on Data Files; you should see the Fallout 3 file checkmarked and see the Anchorage entry

10) Click on the empty box next to “Anchorage” to checkmark it

11) Start the game and wait a few minutes for the radio signal

That should do it. If it still doesn’t work for you, I’m not sure what to say since these instructions are what worked for me.

A Top Ten List of Fun Games

As 2008 draws to a close, so does another year of gaming. So what was great and what wasn’t this year?

A lot of these are multiplatform releases, but I indicated which version I played in parenthesis.

1) Fallout 3 (PC version)
Die hards can nitpick all of what went wrong with this game…I can, too…and miss out on the long term benefits of it having resurrected the franchise in today’s cutthroat market. Fallout 3 is fun, delivering a unique experience to today’s players that may have never heard of the franchise, and has a few things that even a veteran scavenger like myself can appreciate. For someone that occasionally fires up Fallout 1, 2, and still has his original disk copies of Wasteland somewhere in this clutter, Fallout 3 manages to do more things right than wrong and that’s always a good thing. After all, it could have become like Microsoft’s Shadowrun.

You'll shoot your eye out, kid.

2) Metal Gear Solid 4 – Guns of the Patriots (PS3)
Hideo Kojima’s magnum opus in closing the story of one of gaming’s most respected icons is the kind of title that can only come out after twenty years of incredible success. It’s a game that actually makes you feel proud to own a PS3 and as a Metal Gear fan, is filled with all of the answers to the questions that the series had started off with, confusing us with endless speculation and debate on what is really going on. After the weirdness of MGS2 and the redemption of MGS3, the twisted, unexpectedly fourth-wall breaking, PMC commentary of MGS4 has finally capped everything off without sending anyone to the psyche ward this time around. Rest easy, Snake. You’ve earned it.

This warrior's fight is over, but the series will likely live on.

3) Dead Space (360 version)
Dead Space was a huge surprise for me. I wasn’t immediately blown away by its initial announcement last year by yet another “survival horror” title or by the screenshots of the banded armor that the guy was wearing, until I actually sat down and started playing the thing. It comes off as a huge mashup of bits and pieces of games such as System Shock and Resident Evil while layering it with a little celluloid from Event Horizon and Aliens. The final result is a scary, action packed adventure in the bowels of space that bodes well as a new IP for EA. I couldn’t get into the RE5 demo as much as I loved RE4. Dead Space clearly improved on its approach to third person controls.

The game isn't above throwing mutant babies at you, either. Mutant BABIES. Parasite Eve, is that you?

4) Tales of Vesperia (360)
The 360’s RPG offerings have been improved significantly this year with an incredible number of holiday releases focused on the console. Namco Bandai’s “Tales” series makes its debut on Microsoft’s box with a fantastic entry into the storied franchise with “Tales of Vesperia”, one of the best RPGs that newcomers and veterans both can have fun with. With a solid, if predictable, story, charming characters, and a host of upgrade options and skills that they can collect to create a party of infinite power, it’s also a JRPG that delivers an entertainingly fresh perspective on the traditional hero model with an older, more seasoned, protagonist than previously leading roles in the series had been. A brilliant entry into the series for fans, but the action formula is getting a bit long in the tooth.

Sure it's cutesy, but the gameplay and character interactions are worth the sugary feeling your eyes get.

5) Mirror’s Edge (360 version)
I’m putting it on this list despite its gameplay issues because when it works, it’s an incredibly unique experience to play through. It plays off as a first-person, free running simulation, with all of the slides, jumps, and clambering over obstacles that you should expect while being able to see your appendages instead of feeling like a floating camera. The setting is a bleached city with deceptively clean buildings and streets, a controlled world where information is monitored and the only people that are free are those that can leap from rooftop to rooftop on their own two feet. I can still pick up and use weapons in the game, but it’s a lot more rewarding in playing the role of a runner trying to stay a step ahead of the heat in using the environment against them.

Mirror's Edge won't help with your fear of heights, but makes it fun to pretend that you don't have any.

6) Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
This was an unexpected, but very much appreciated, surprise from Sega this holiday season. Valkyria Chronicles’ unique approach to its third person strategy coupled with a tear-jerking cast of memorable characters (including cameos from Skies of Arcadia) help embellish its storybook aesthetics in creating a stunning and unforgettable experience for PS3 owners. Unfortunately, as sales figures for it were disappointingly low…likely owing to its presence in the US as a new IP lost amidst the regular retail rush for FPSs, sports, and familiar names…its future as a possible franchise is in heavy doubt on this side of the ocean.

Unfortunately, the market demands those shooters, sports titles, and sequels to popular properties because those are what most of the purchasing public votes for with their dollars. Valkyria Chronicles is a stunning achievement from Sega, but you can’t convince a shooter fan or a sports nut that it’s what they should add to their weltanschauung if they only want more of the same.

Sega has announced the porting over of the DLC from Japan that introduces new campaigns and a different side to the story, so fans can continue to enjoy one of the best internally developed releases that Sega has had this year.

Interpersonal conflicts are only a small window on the war in Valkyria Chronicles

7) Grand Theft Auto IV (360 version)
As a major chapter showcasing Rockstar’s technical prowess in delivering a living, breathing cityscape for the next generation, it is a roller coaster ride from start to finish with all of the gunplay and open-world possibilities that the franchise has created a reputation for. I liked GTAIV’s action packed free roaming gameplay and its technical merits are a preview of what Rockstar has planned for the franchise going forward in much the same way that its PS2 offering had advanced it. What I didn’t like so much were the baby steps that it took to further distance itself from the somewhat tongue-in-cheek approach that its previous iterations were known for by moving ahead with a Sopranos-like adherence to its story and characters. Bowling, darts, and socialization were made key components to the design, overriding some of the more flamboyant elements such as property purchases, or neighborhood defense which made sense in terms of what the game wanted to be, but weren’t all that fun in practice. What’s the point of earning all that dough if there’s nothing to spend it on…unless you want to burn hundreds of thousands of dollars at pool and, uh, darts.

Niko is in town to enjoy the American Dream and steal cars with Brucie

8 ) Gears of War 2 (360)
Comic book writer and author, Joshua Ortega, was brought onboard to help flesh out the characters and the plot, making it more noticeably focused this time around with less caveman talk and more dry commentary from Damon. The ferocious action and the twisting revelations unraveling in this third-person shooter along with Horde multiplayer make it a tremendously exciting trip on the 360. It can feel like it’s more of the same, but if you love Gears and can’t get enough of it, Cliff Blezinski and his crew at Epic ring up plenty of gory holiday treats with the sequel.

The COG declares total war on the Locust. Dueling chainsaws included.

9) Resistance 2 (PS3)
Not to be outdone, PS3 fans have a lot to celebrate with the sequel to Insomniac’s Resistance. The theme this holiday season is war, and Resistance 2 drops you down into a gripping campaign and some of the most thrilling multiplayer that you might ever experience on Sony’s console. With co-op missions, rankings, in-game experience, and classes to choose from along with a healthy number of gameplay modes supporting up to 60 players, Resistance 2 is a remarkable achievement even with how buggy it can get. Too bad that the best parts of the story were turned into “collectables” instead of integrated into the ongoing campaign, or that much of the single player feels formulaic, but it manages to pull ahead of its shortcomings by providing plenty of eye candy and entertaining action that kept me plugging on until the bitter end.

This may only be an artist's rendering of the invasion, but it's not far from what you'll see in the game. The Chimera weren't too happy about what you did in the first Resistance.

10) Persona 4 (PS2)
The PS2 isn’t dead yet, but with Persona 4 ringing out the year on the console, it’s given a deservedly solid sendoff with one of the most compelling JRPGs to come out for it. Persona 3’s addicting blend of social sim and RPG makes another comeback with its sequel, set with different characters and in no way directly related to its predecessor making it a stand-alone story that newcomers and veterans can enjoy without having to worry about what happened before. If you haven’t played any of the Persona titles before, you’re in for a real treat.

Exploring streets, stores, chatting up NPCs, and befriending others will build up your social links...and you ability to wield powerful Personas to do battle with.

Honorable Mention
Yakuza 2 (PS2)
I loved the first game and the second one delivers even more curb stomping, face punching, sign smashing action taking players deep into a fictionalized account of a former Yakuza strongman’s quest to find answers on the streets of Japan’s underworld. It’s another Sega production that dares to be different, with an all Japanese, subtitled voice track and its connection to the real-world with a setting ripped straight out of a Japanese atlas for Osaka. It’s a unique title that will also likely go unnoticed in the face of more popular offerings, but as a gem of a release with nothing else really like it, and if you feel the need to dance on the wild side as a legendary gangster, you might want to pick this up with all five fingers.

You might dress like you're out of the eighties, but you also have the ablity to smash people's faces with your snakeskin boots.

Download a GECK today!

As another piece of Fallout news, Bethesda has made the GECK available for modders to build new dreams within the wasteland. No, not the one that you can use to turn your dead yard into a lush, green happy field in the middle of winter, or your annoying neighbor into a tree. This is the editor that potential modders can use to bring their ideas to life in Fallout 3, much like how the editor for Oblivion gave us new quests, buildings, clothing, and everything else from the sorcerous to the sordid. Or a combination of both with the appropriate age gate.

You can grab it from their official site and add your own missions, items, quests, or whatever else your mutant mind comes up with. I can’t wait to see what modding projects are started up with this one.

A better world for tomorrow exists today!

Could that be…the gauss rifle?!

IGN has posted a great interview with Jeff Gardiner, the lead producer for Fallout 3, talking about the DLC “Operation Anchorage”. I had guessed that they would use some kind of simulation angle to get the player into a battle that happened two centuries earlier and I was right, and the new art looks great! Check this shot out from IGN’s site:

It might be a simulation, but the interview says that we'll be able to use new toys in the main game. Hopefully, they will include THIS.

Mmmm, the Gauss Rifle… Anyways, it’s a good read. The points that stuck with me from it were:

• a new perk called Covert Ops
• focus on combat/stealth combination
• new weapons, armor, and acheivements…I guess it’s not all in your head
• four to five hours in length
• involves the liberation of Alaska from Chinese occupation; sounds like you’ll also be leading and commanding tactical teams of NPCs in helping accomplish this…sweet.

The interview also touches in the next two DLCs, The Pitt (taking place in Pittsburgh), and Broken Steel which will somehow work your character back into the main game. If you’ve seen the “heroic” ending of F3, you’re probably asking the same question I am…how?!