You may remember we posted about Nuka Break's trailer and the the short movie proper, and now, after the team managed to put together some funding, the Fallout-inspired fan film has been made into a series, the first episode of which has been released on Youtube. It's roughly 9 minutes of slapstick humor and Fallout 3 and New Vegas references, making it "not for everyone".

JE Sawyer has been answering a ton of questions on the Gun Runners' Arsenal item pack over on his Formspring.

Hypothetical situation: game releases a number of DLC's, and the last DLC is released at the same time as an item pack containing items that could have easily been included in the DLC, but wasn't for the sake of profit. Ethical, in your view, or not?

If you're talking about the weapons in GRA, they would not have been included in LR. GRA contains over two dozen weapons, plus new ammo subtypes, plus new challenges and achievements. The content in GRA was always developed as part of a stand-alone DLC. They took separate development resources and separate testing resources.

About the GRA: If new ammo subtypes are being added to existing ammo types - say, 40mm grenades and their incendiary variants - would that conflict with weapons added through mods which use the current 40mm grenade ammo list? What about the DLC weapons?

Okay, here's the deal: initially all of the new ammo subtypes were added to their respective lists via script. Unfortunately, we found a load order bug that would cause indefinite hangs if a weapon were hotkeyed with an ammo subtype from GRA -- basically it was a dumb side case but it was real and serious and bad, so we had to add the new ammo subtypes directly to the ammo lists in GRA. That is, the GRA ammo lists *overwrite* the stock ammo lists. Not ideal, but there you go.

Gun Runners' Arsenal sounds great, but please tell me you put some emphasis on Energy Weapons. They're in bad shape compared to guns.

There are some doozies in there.

I know your not sinking to EA'snickel and diming for clothing and weapon packs that cost a few bucks each but still not a road I want Obsidian to go down. One day just like Mass Efect 2 you'll charge $3 for a few diff clothing options.

I specifically asked to make GRA because I wanted to show players, publishers, and developers that you could make a reasonably-priced weapon pack that added more than two retextures.

Well, that and because I wanted to add some more weapons and ammo types.

In any case, I feel that players will get a very good value for GRA. There's a lot of cool stuff in it.

I think it's worth noting that The Witcher 2's patch 2.0 offers an update that adds substantially more stuff than GRA for free. Worth reflecting on.

Great.

GRA question, are there gonna be new Unarmed weapons? If so, could you name one?

Yes. There will be new weapons for every skill category. All of the new items are available at merchants *only*. The weapons are a mix of the following:

* Unique versions of core weapons (e.g. the Nuka-Breaker is essentially a unique Rebar Club and the Bozar is a unique Light Machine Gun).

* Brand new weapons that have no current base equivalent in the game. Many of these are created with recipes.

* "GRA" versions of core game weapons that previously had no mods. E.g. if in the core game a weapon (for example, fictional weapon Super Laser) had no mods, you may see that merchant has something like Super Laser (GRA). The (GRA) signifies that it can be altered by mods with the same weapon name and (GRA) suffix -- e.g. Super Laser Focus Optics (GRA). The (GRA) mods will not work with weapons of the same name from the core game. Sorry, just a limitation of how we had to structure the data due to potential .esm/.esp conflicts.

* Non-unique versions of unique core game weapons that had no base version.

Jason Bergman confirmed that there were 27 new weapons in the GRA pack, does that include the already existing weapons that now just have GRA in the title to allow for modding? or are the 27 all completely new?

That figure is all-inclusive: some unique, some completely new, some mod-able GRA versions, and some non-unique versions of unique core game weapons.

Aren't equivalents of most items in GRA already available as mods?

I'm sure some are, but I doubt most are.

Why is the GRA pack being added and not put it in with the stock game? Time constraints or for profit?

Because it took more than a small bit of time to develop and test.

Can you explain what you mean by "Non-unique versions of unique core game weapons that had no base version." ? Like a generic "This Machine" ?

Like that, yes.

I was wondering what type of challenges will be given in Gun Runners Arsenal for Fallout New Vegas. Can you shed any light on what type of challenges will be given? Are they going to be fetch challenges, kill challenges, find challenges, or what?

They are combat challenges. The one star (*) challenges are quite easy to pull off. The two star (**) challenges are moderately difficult but nothing too crazy. The three star (***) challenges are generally quite demanding.

We have waited quite a while for this announcement, but it appears Bethesda finally announced the release date for Lonesome Road on their blog: September 20th. There's apparently more though, as some of the "other interesting FNV-related items" promised by senior producer Jason Bergman have been announced, and they consist of two item packs DLC: Courier's Stash, which essentially includes all the pre-order DLC packs, and Gun Runners’ Arsenal, which adds more weapons and mods to the Mojave Wasteland, coming September 27th for $/€ 1.99/3.99 respectively. Here's the PR:

The Courier’s journey ends this September.

We’re excited to share that Lonesome Road, the fourth add-on pack for Fallout: New Vegas, will be available for download on Xbox LIVE, PlayStation Network and Steam on September 20th.

In Lonesome Road you are contacted by the original Courier Six, a man by the name of Ulysses who refused to deliver the Platinum Chip at the start of Fallout: New Vegas. Ulysses promises the answer as to why he didn’t take the job, but only if you make one last journey into the hurricane-swept canyons of the Divide, a landscape torn apart by earthquakes and violent storms. It’s up to you whether you take the job or not.

But wait! There’s more!!

Today we’re also announcing two additional DLC packs, Courier’s Stash and Gun Runners’ Arsenal, which will be available for download one week later on September 27th.

Courier’s Stash (Xbox LIVE for 160 Microsoft points, PlayStation Network and Steam for $1.99) gives players immediate access to four content bundles previously available only through pre-ordering Fallout: New Vegas. The Caravan Pack, Classic Pack, Mercenary Pack and Tribal Pack each offer unique weapons, apparel and aid advantages that will help you throughout your journey.

Gun Runners’ Arsenal (Xbox LIVE for 320 Microsoft points, PlayStation Network and Steam for $3.99) increases the range of unique weapons, weapon mods, ammo types and recipes waiting to be uncovered in the vast Mojave Wasteland. Check out a sampling in the screenshots below…

GRA introduces 27 new weapons, plus new ammo subtypes, plus mods, plus challenges and achievements. This is not a "lovely item pack".

Up to the Challenge Completed any three Gun Runners' Arsenal (GRA) one star (*) Challenges.

Master of the Arsenal Caused 10,000 damage with Gun Runners' Arsenal (GRA) Weapons.

Combat Veteran Completed any three Gun Runners' Arsenal (GRA) two star (**) Challenges.

Pros Only Completed any three Gun Runners' Arsenal (GRA) three star (***) Challenges.

Curios and Relics Caused 10,000 damage with unique Mojave Wasteland weapons.

This is a modding project that has been ongoing for some time now, but at this point is really worth sharing with all of you. Here is a presentation video (a series of renders and screenshots) and some screenshots of a Russian modding project, crafting a brand new (free) game from the Fallout 2 engine. It looks pretty different compared to the Fallout 2, and looks damn great. The title will be set in a post-apocalyptic future, in Silicon Valley USA in the year 2207, with different factions trying to get into the fortified skyscraper "Olympus".

We're in no shortage of Chris Avellone interviews lately, but in case you're interested in another Q&A session with Obsidian's creative director and co-founder, El Pixel Illustre offers an English translation of a Spanish interview they conducted with him recently, including an unexpected ending. Here's a few Fallout-themed snippets:

-You’ve worked in quite a few games now. What project are you most proud of?
Planescape and the Fallout DLCs (Dead Money, Old World Blues, and Lonesome Road) are the titles I’m most proud of – on all four, I was effectively Project Director and had the most freedom, so the fact that you own your mistakes as well as the praise generates a certain amount of pride.
Also, almost all of them were under the radar, so they didn’t come under as much scrutiny as other titles going on at the time – Torment because of Baldur’s Gate, and the DLCs because no one gives a shit about DLC as long as it can boost sales of the original, blocks rentals and sell-backs-to-the-store, and be potentially rolled into a larger edition and make more money, so you have more freedom over the narrative, release dates (digital release is sooooo much better than physical copies when it comes to putting out a game, and I’d argue it makes for a better game as well as helping the environment), game titles (there is no way we could ever named a triple A sixty-buck title “Old World Blues” and gotten away with it), themes, and playing around with game mechanics to try out new ideas.

[..]

-Have you checked out the “Fallout 2 Restoration Project” patch? Are you happy with all the cut content finally seeing the light of day, or maybe you would have preferred it to remain unseen?
I have not, unfortunately, and if Killap was brave enough to try and resurrect any of that content, more power to him – we certainly couldn’t get to all of it, but I don’t think the game suffered from it (and we were still able to put parts of the Fallout 2 stuff in FNV and the DLCs, although it’s mutated quite a bit since when we first imagined it). I am glad that someone was able to make use of the editor we worked hard to get released a long time ago – I was worried no one would do anything with it.

After interviewing Chris Avellone twice (and there will be a third!) and our very own Tagaziel, ever-hardworking Will Ooi turned his attention to Jason Bergman, senior producer for Bethesda on Fallout: New Vegas, for another installment of "Unmasking the Gamers". You can find the interview on his blog or on Gamasutra. Here's a sampling:

WO: Several of the DLCs for New Vegas have had their releases pushed back, quite notably with the final one, Lonesome Road, being delayed on the eve of its intended release date. You mentioned that there were "lots of factors" involved - are you able to perhaps shed some more light on this?

JB: Releasing DLC is a somewhat complicated process, in which the publisher, developer and first parties (Microsoft, Sony or Valve, depending on the platform) all have to work together. I can’t really go into detail on what happened to Lonesome Road, but as I said, it had nothing to do with the game itself.

It was really unfortunate that we had to delay Lonesome Road’s release. And it was personally painful, because I had been so adamant on the forums that it was going to come out in August. And even worse, my post about how it was coming out in August was picked up as a news item on some fan sites just days before we had to delay it (even though I had actually posted it weeks prior to that). So to someone reading those sites, one day I’m assuring the fans, then later in the same week I’m out there saying it’s not happening. Some of the comments about me weren’t very nice after that, and I don’t blame those fans who want to pin it on me personally. But it happens, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

After that bit of hubris, I absolutely refuse to even remotely suggest the month, week or year that Lonesome Road will be coming out. Our marketing team will announce the release date, but I won’t even hint at when that announcement, a trailer or our other FNV-related bits of news will be coming. It just seems like tempting fate.

WO: What are your thoughts on New Vegas' DLCs in terms of what they've each offered, along with your opinion of how they've added to the vanilla release?

The goal with the DLC was to create four totally unique expanded experiences for the game, and in that regard I think they’ve all been really successful. One of the big complaints people have with expansions is that they’re too similar to the base game, so it’s really to Obsidian’s credit that they have created such interesting and different add-ons. I also find it interesting to read which ones are people’s favorites, because they are all so different from each other, from a gameplay and storytelling standpoint.

Personally, I enjoy them all. I think Honest Hearts has the best environment, Lonesome Road the best weapons, Dead Money the most intense gameplay, and Old World Blues the best characters. And the perks and weapons all carry over to the main game (not to mention the increased level cap), which is cool. Also, there’s a decision in Lonesome Road that affects part of the Mojave wasteland when you’re done with the quest. That’s really fun to play with.

During a talk at GDC Europe, J.E. Sawyer - lead designer on Van Buren and project director and lead designer on Fallout: New Vegas - discussed and exposed five hard lessons on RPG design he's learned over the years. It's a fairly interesting, if debatable, read, so here's a snippet:

3.) Strategic failures feel really bad -- In an extreme example, he mentioned that The Bard's Tale, a 1980s classic, required you to have a bard in your party to progress past a certain point -- something that was not telegraphed by anything but the game's title.

More relevantly, Icewind Dale and Temple of Elemental Evil required the player to create entire parties at the adventure's outset. "The games were tuned for D&D veterans. There are tons of ways you can make strategic errors. There are tons of ways you can make bad parties. What happens is 20 to 30 hours into the game, you can't go any further."

"Yes, the player made the error but we placed a high demand on them," Sawyer said.

In Fallout 1 and 3, specializing in "big guns" was not that useful, as there were few such weapons and they didn't show up early in the game -- neither of which the player could know at the point of character creation. "In Fallout New Vegas, we got rid of the big guns skill and pushed those guns into other gun categories."

"We kept the idea, we wanted the experience, but we didn't want them to have to deal with the weird system," he said.

"I don't see a compelling reason to not" let players re-spec characters that aren't suited to the gameplay design in an RPG, he also added.

We've already covered the first part of Will Ooi's Unmasking the Gamers feature with Chris Avellone, of Fallout 2 and New Vegas fame, so on with the next installment (both available on his blog and on Gamasutra) in which Chris talks about the parts of him that ended up in the characters of Father Elijah and Ulysses and Fallout: New Vegas' voice acting among other things. Here's a generous snippet:

WO: Is there any character that you’ve written which has been based on you, or shared aspects of your own personality?

MCA: There's a little bit of my take on religion with Kaelyn the Dove in Mask of the Betrayer. I don't generally try to write based on my personal views outside of gaming or based on anyone I know, I feel it muddies the point of the character and doesn't help the narrative. Plus, I'd feel weird about incorporating elements of someone I knew into a character, since I feel it ends up being distracting to your evaluation of the character as you're implementing it and can sometimes feel "off" to someone who encounters the character in game.

There are a few exceptions, and these were all done in the context of questioning their world or questioning game mechanics: One is Kreia in Knights of the Old Republic 2, who captures a lot of the questions about the Force and Star Wars, another is Elijah in FNV DLC1: Dead Money, who is speaking about my frustration with hand-holding in RPGs, but considering both are franchise and/or game mechanic opinions directly related to the universes they are trapped in, I feel they get a pass. Lastly, Ulysses in Fallout New Vegas DLC4 (Lonesome Road) and his intentions there categorize how I feel the Mojave and the West should be dealt with in Fallout.

WO: Who are some of your own favourite companion characters in games you have and haven't contributed to? And have you ever worked with a voice actor who was absolutely perfect for any particular character?

MCA: So our audio department at Obsidian (Mikey Dowling, Scott Lawlor, Andrew Dearing, Justin Bell), are aware of the type of games RPGs are, how much dialogue is in them, and how important it is that that dialogue comes across well. We were also fortunate that in Fallout New Vegas, our Bethesda producer Jason Bergman, took the voice acting budget and did something new in (1) contracting Blindlight, (2) spreading out the budget amongst a number of prominent actors (Danny Trejo, Felicia Day, Kris Kristofferson, Wayne Newton) for various roles rather than hooking it on to one central voice actor only.

I've also had the fortune to work with a lot of great voice directors: Chris Borders, Jamie Thomason, and most recently, with Blindlight and Wes Gleason. If we can't get a performance, they'll make it happen or get a new actor who can do what we need (although that's pretty rare).

There is one wrinkle in the process, however, and that's sometimes, once we get an audition that we really like, we will rewrite a character or change their tone because we think it'll compliment the actor better. Ulysses in Fallout New Vegas changed as soon as I heard Roger Cross's voice, and I kept his audition playing in the background while I was writing, and it helped me give direction for the character. In addition, once we got James Urbaniak for the role of Dr. O in the Think Tank in Old World Blues, I rewrote Dr. O from the frenetic, hyperactive newscaster personality I intended and had more fun with doing a scientist-whose-aware-he's-not-brilliant-or-valued, which I thought might be a nice change from the Venture Brothers, where Rusty Venture's arrogance tends to blind him to that realization 99.9% of the time.

Sometimes, we'll need to change an actor when a character's role in the story changes (which is rare) - when we did the overhaul to Alpha Protocol, this happened with a few of the roles once we needed the cast to assume different roles in the story (this was mostly Mina and Parker).

And we take chances on new talent. Veronica Belmont surprised me in Old World Blues (I don't think she'd done any voice acting up to that point). I had no idea how she'd be in the studio, but she really delivered her lines well, and we were lucky to have Roger Cross in the studio at the same time so they could do their lines between each other, which works much better (and is rare to be able to pull off). Jace Hall was brought in initially as a skit for the Jace Hall show to be bad and then fired, then we went ahead and recorded him for real, and people seemed to enjoy his character in Old World Blues a lot.

But to answer your original question: For games I haven't contributed to - some of the "companions" that jump to mind, although they're not the same type of companions we usually set up for games: Wheatley (Stephen Merchant) in Portal 2, GLaDOS (Ellen McLain), SHODAN (Terri Brosius), just about the whole cast of Arkham Asylum (we got the pleasure of working with Mark Hamill in Icewind Dale), and HK-47 from KOTOR 1 (Kristoffer Tabori).

While we wait for Bethesda to announce a release date for the last DLC for New Vegas, Lonesome Road, a few more reviews for Old World Blues have cropped out, keeping mostly in line with the positive reception it has received so far.

According to Strategy Informer it's "one of the best add-ons for any game ever", 9.5/10.

In the end I knocked it down a little because yes, assets do get reused (no matter how imaginatively), it’s very talky in parts (no matter how good the talking) and to be fair there will be Fallout players out there who will hate it just because it chucks realism and grittiness out the window. You will love it though if you chose the Weird Wasteland perk, loved the Vault filled with Garys in 3, or just don’t mind playing through an extremely funny and well-written DLC pack that throws interesting surprises at you all the time, rewards exploration greatly, and packs more imagination and play-time in it than nearly every other full-priced game out there.

Oh, watch out for your brain though. He’s a dick.

Fallout is at its best when you can talk characters around and manipulate the game to achieve your goals without killing anyone, but most of Old World Blues sees you desperately gunning down stupidly tough hordes of monsters and running away from gimpy super-humans.

No matter how interesting the locations, and their little backstories, Fallout isn't a shooter and the combat is unresponsive and annoying.

When you're shooting some bloke in the head five times and he's still running at you swinging a saw, it just gets stupid.

At times you can talk the characters around, negotiate with them and bully them, but it just isn't enough.

Old World Blues is very enjoyable, often hilarious, but less combat would have been better.

Like any good story, it’s the characters that make OWB a fun place to play around in, and these are better-written characters than any previous Bethesda Fallout, which are perfectly integrated into the Fallout ethos. It’s like the writers at Obsidian made a careful study of all the Fallout minutia and built a believable set of quests and plot points around characters that were derived from that study. If you love the world of Fallout and would like to get more detail on the backstory and mechanics, you’ll love OWB. But even if you’re a casual fan of the series, or just someone looking for a quality RPG experience in general, you won’t be disappointed. This is one DLC pack that does everything right – hell, it’s even got the challenge level and the number of hours it’ll take to beat it (about 8) down perfectly. Money well spent.

Old World Blues was a very fun time for me and I haven’t had this much fun in a Fallout DLC in a while. It’s certainly up there as one of my favorite DLCs of the Fallout universe and one that’s definitely worth the $10 that Bethesda is asking for. I have to admit, Old Worlds Blues has me looking forward to the Lonesome Road, the DLC where you meet the other Courier after hearing more about him in Old World Blues. If you’re wanting a good DLC for Fallout: New Vegas, look no further than Old World Blues.

Now, as with every other DLC, this expansion offers new perks, weapons and enemies to play with and some of them are quite fun. The humour transcends even to here with some of the weapons being both productive, in terms of turning things squishy, and amazing to look at, whilst doing it. On the other hand, mostly in terms of enemies, impressed wouldn’t be the word of choice. Most items in DLC are recycled from the main title whilst others are just “variations” that seem cheap. This is true for even Big MT and all its surrounding as well - overall they give off no new vibe different from any other parts of New Vegas which really is a shame. With each DLC you want something to really sink your teeth into and bring out the wow factor but unfortunately, this time, it just didn‘t land.

Old World Blues is a nice addition to it’s companion DLC packs, but at the same time adds it’s own voice and feel to the lore of the Mojave and the Fallout universe. Don’t let the comical characters of the Robotic Think Tank or the humorous dialog of the evil Dr. Mobius fool you. Old World Blues is a challenging addition to New Vegas, but is also rewarding to those with the fortitude to survive and explore the mysteries of Big Mountain and the Big Empty.

All in all this DLC isn’t horrible but there is much room for improvement, especially in the questing area of things. I don’t play a lot of RPG’s but when I hear Bethesda’s name tossed around I expect great things. Playing this I feel those expectations weren’t really met and at no point was I really entranced by the DLC as I have been by others. It’s cute and quirky and a failry decent way to kill time but not much more.

Leonard Boyarsky, a man who needs no introduction for a self-respecting Fallout fan as he was a member of the original team, has been interviewed by Gamasutra on his role in the development of Diablo III, but a few of the questions deal more or less directly with Fallout. Here's a snippet:

Several years ago, you mentioned some dismay over seeing Fallout be "sold to the highest bidder," but said that it was too early to judge. How do you feel about what Bethesda and Obsidian have done in resurrecting the franchise that you helped birth?

LB: I don't like to comment on other people's games. I liked the Fallout 3 stuff that was done. One of the most interesting aspects of it... I started as an art director on Fallout 3 [the cancelled version known as "Project Van Buren" at Interplay], and I did a little art on it, so it was interesting seeing a lot of art that I had done recreated in this different space by different artists, but, you know, they obviously bought this license, and they had a love for it.

They put their heart and soul into it. It's not easy making games. [laughs] You know, I'm not going to come along and second-guess what other people have done. The people who made Diablo before me could say the same thing about what we're doing with Diablo III, so I wish them all the best of luck with what they're doing with it.

Perhaps it sounds a bit cliché, but it's often said that adversity and strife build character. In past interviews, you've said that the writing was on the wall at Interplay and it was a major reason that you moved on to co-found Troika, which was undoubtedly quite the experience. What is Blizzard providing you?

LB: A very creative atmosphere. You know, they've let us pretty much guide the development of the project. It very much has the kind of game development culture that we tried to create at Troika, and feels like old Interplay did, when Interplay was doing really well. It feels like the teams have control of their destiny, and they were making games because we think these are the games we want to play, we think these are the games our fans want to play. So, it's really a creative culture, and it's really just a great environment to work in.

Judging by the e-mail I (and presumably everyone else registered) received from Bethesda, their forums have been hacked. It goes without saying that if you're registered there and using the same password anywhere else, you should change those passwords too too, just as Bethesda itself reminds us:

Dear Bethesda Forum User,

We have identified a potential breach of our forum user database that occurred Friday morning, Aug 12. We have reset your forum password as a precaution, in the event that any encrypted forum user passwords were compromised.

When you next try to login to the forums, your old password will not work. Click the "I've forgotten my password link" underneath the login boxes, and follow the steps to setup a new password for your account.

We recommend you do not use your old password or a password you have used for other sites. Further, if your old forum password was used for any other online purposes, we recommend changing the password on those accounts as well.

If you have any concerns, visit the following link:
http://www.bethsoft.com/eng/contact_email.php

Who are you?
I’m not one to just give my full name freely to the Internet. But nor am I one of those extra secure paranoid types. I’ll at least give you a first name – Paul. The p in killap is actually taken from this. And no, I’m not a rapper.

What do you do outside of modding
My occupation is that of a software developer and my work ranges from programming displays in electric cars to building websites. I often find myself coding in several languages throughout the day – which is bad for the brain, btw. One could say I’m one of those programmers whose work is actually being used for good. Besides work, I enjoy the outdoors and I’m a big film buff.

How did you get into Fallout modding?
It all began summer of my junior year in High School. I was playing Fallout 2 for the first time and I was running into some nasty bugs. I went searching for patches and came across an unofficial patch by someone named Seraph. I found it really cool that someone had taken the time to patch the game on his own. I thought I would get in on it too and there went a big part of my summer.

When FO2 was released on steam, an earlier version of your patch was embedded without any of your documentation or any credit given (as well as Timeslip's SFall). How did this make you feel?
Honestly, I wasn’t too bothered by it. I just assumed that since they had the rights to the actual game, any mods, etc to it could be used as they saw fit. Still, it wouldn’t have been that hard to include my readme files or even a list of thanks to the Fallout modders out there. It’s the least they could have done. I did feel honored though that they thought my work good enough to include for sale. If only they had actually contacted me, I could have given them a newer version of my work.

The restoration project is pretty much a standard install these days. Many new and old players add Restoration information to the canonical wiki all the time, as they confuse it with vanilla content. You must be proud of the seamlessness of your project?
I always do laugh when I see people mistake Restoration Project (RP) content for vanilla material. Either things flow that well or no one truly remembers the original game. Haha. I can understand it though. A great deal of time was spent in the RP 2.x series to make sure all the new locations, quests, dialogue, etc fit in with everything. That was one of the main goals of the project – keep everything as close to the original game as possible. I think another big reason for the false content reports is that in addition to new locations/quests, there are actually many little extras here and there that I made sure were restored. It’s these types of things that wouldn’t have been remembered from the original game anyway, but do help flesh out the game overall. But yeah, I do feel proud that my work has become such a standard. It makes all the time put in worthwhile. While the RP did just start with me, credit must be given to the rest of the RP team. They were key in getting the project to where it is today.

Where do you find inspiration for this?
The fans are a big source of inspiration. But really, it just feels good to be able to make a great game even better.

Do you plan on adding content not within the remit to the project in the form of optional installations, such as New Vision?
The RP has always been about restoring original content. The optional section of the installer does allow users to get around this rule – to some extent. However, I do like to think all the options actually make the game better and would probably have been part of the original game in some form. I don’t plan to include every mod in this section though and it’s more reserved for scripts and graphics that improve the game in some manner. So no, New Vision or other such mods won’t be finding their way in the RP. Modders are of course free to base their mods off my work, to ensure compatibility.

Do you have any plans for your "own" mods in future i.e. mods that are based off of your own stories and ideas?
No, not at this time. I feel that my modding days are behind me and I don’t really have the time anymore to put in the hours needed to make a really great mod. However, I do plan for at least one more release of the RP. It’s mostly a maintenance release, but there are some minor content additions.

Have you played any of the other fan mods? what is your favorite?
To be honest I haven’t played too many other Fallout mods. I guess I was just so busy with my own modding work. I did play parts of MegaMod, Mutants Rising demo, and Wasteland Merc from way back. My favorite? Hmm, each has their own merits. Any Fallout mod is good in my book.

Although your patch has been flagged as "final" a few times now, it keeps getting updated. How many more bugs are there left to fix?
Haha, yeah I guess I have been throwing around the word “final” pretty loosely with my work. It’s the perfectionist (or wannabe one) in me that keeps pulling me back. It’s tough with a game like this, since there are so many ways to do something and it’s such a big game overall that you may not find a bug until someone does a dozen specific steps to uncover it. Will the patch ever be truly final? Probably not. Will there be a point where I say it’s final. You bet. The bug fix list does get smaller and smaller though. One more patch update is expected with the next RP release.

Who is your most influential modder?
Quarn and Kivan for the Elder Scrolls series have always impressed me with the dedication to their work. Then there is Qwinn for Planescape, Drog Black Tooth for Arcanum, and Wesp for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. There are tons of others. I can’t say I have one modder that inspires me the most. Anyone willing to spend countless hours to make a game better is an inspiration.

Any advice for newcomers to the modding scene?
I’ve given this advice before and really, it applies to most anything you do in life: shoot big, but start small. I’ve seen countless posts about some grand project but more often than not, nothing ever becomes of it. You want to create an entire new world for players to explore? Great! But first, create a small town. In fact, start smaller. Create a single building for that town. Don’t have the mapping/graphic skills needed to create that building or don’t have the programming knowledge to write a script to make that building interactive? Seek help from others then. Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance. But don’t expect all the work to get done for you. You need to be able to show others that you’re committed and that you’ve actually done something. You’ll be surprised how many people come out of the woodwork when they see a project with potential. And most importantly, don’t burn yourself out. Pace yourself. Starting small allows for you to finish a project and not get discouraged that it’ll never get done and there is no end in sight. And be prepared to take criticism. Not everyone will love what you’ve done, but that doesn’t mean you should give up. Listen to the public and see where you can improve your work. Like I said, life lessons galore.

Where do Fallout 1,2,3,NV rank in your all-time favorite titles?The Fallout series is definitely up there on my list. I don’t have a single number one favorite for anything in my life, but this series is without a doubt in the top echelon.

Who is your favorite Fallout character and why?
This is a tough one. Every Fallout character is great in some way. One of my all time favorites is probably Dave, "Mr. Depression” from Vault 13. The humor was right up my alley. Most memorable to me though is probably Sulik. He’s the first NPC you get and I always made sure he stuck with me to the very end.

What do you think about FNV?
Actually, I haven’t had the time to play it yet. From what I’ve read and seen though, it looks like a step in the right direction from where the series was headed. I do plan to play it when time permits.

What's your take on modern RPGs?
They’re too dumbed down. And there is too much focus on “freedom to play” and the whole “sandbox” concept. There are RPGs where you can spend 50+ hours playing and not even advance the main storyline. *cough* Oblivion *cough*. The days of insanely hard puzzles in mainstream games seem to be over. You gotta look to the Indie market if you want something like that. Then again, I haven’t really been following the RPG market recently, so maybe things are changing.

What would you prioritize if you survived a nuclear war? (water, procreation, Saviour of knowledge or finding shelter)
First thing I would do is go to my parent’s house and start running a market from it. There is so much stockpiled there I’d be set for years in terms of things I could both use and sell. I’m a practical guy, so food, water, shelter would definitely be top priorities for me. I’d wait a bit before venturing out and exploring the Wastes.

I actually missed this yesterday when it was tipped to us, so apologies for that, but it appears that Bethesda has appealed the court ruling that denied their second request for preliminary injunction. Here's from the court filing:

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND
Southern Division (Greenbelt)
BETHESDA SOFTWORKS LLC,
Plaintiff/Counter-Defendant,
v.
INTERPLAY ENTERTAINMENT CORP.,
Defendant/Counter-Plaintiff.
Civil No. 09 CV 2357 (DKC)
NOTICE OF APPEAL
Notice is hereby given that Bethesda Softworks, LLC, plaintiff/counter-defendant in the
above-captioned case, hereby appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth
Circuit from the order denying its motion for preliminary injunction stated in open court on the
record by the Court on August 4, 2011.
Date: August 9, 2011 Respectfully submitted,
FRIED, FRANK, HARRIS, SHRIVER &
JACOBSON LLP

We didn't even have a release date, and Jason Bergman had just argued that people who didn't believe the last Fallout: New Vegas DLC, Lonesome Road, would be coming out in August were paranoid, that Bethesda announced on their forums that it won't come out this month after all.

Hi everyone,

We just wanted to drop in here and let you know that due to circumstances beyond our control, Lonesome Road won’t be out this month. This isn’t due to any major issue with the code or content, but there are lots of factors involved in releasing these things, and one of those is causing us to slip past our intended release date.

We don’t have an exact date yet, but we’re working to get it out as quickly as possible. We’ll be announcing the final date, along with a couple of other interesting FNV-related items in the near future.

Thanks,

The teams at Bethesda and Obsidian

It appears that the achievements for Lonesome Road, the last Fallout: New Vegas DLC, have been released on Steam, which is all the more notable considering we have no release date or screenshots of the DLC yet besides a vague indication that it will be released this month by Bethesda senior producer Jason Bergman.

So, without further ado, here's the achievements (as always, avoid them if you're sensitive about spoilers):

Warhead Hunter
Detonated all of the warheads in the Divide.

Rocket's Red Glare
Fully upgraded The Divide's signature weapon.

ED-Ecated
Found all of ED-E's upgrades in the Divide.

Condemned to repeat it
Decided the fate of all the Divide dwellers.

Hometown Hero
Completed Lonesome Road.

Today kicked off the last daily deal for Bethesda's QuakeCon sales, and as probably many of you expected, it's time for the Fallout franchise (or rather, the Bethesda-published part of the franchise) to shine, with Fallout: New Vegas and its DLCs 50% off which makes them $/€9.99 and $/€4.99 respectively and Fallout 3 both normal, GotY edition and DLCs 66% off which makes it $/€9.99 for the GotY edition and $/€6.75 and $/€1.69 respectively for the base edition and DLCs, just in case you really don't want to play Mothership Zeta.

You may remember that Bethesda filed for a temporary injunction to stop Interplay from working on Fallout Online again, after their first request was dismissed, claiming as motivation the fact that Interplay didn't have the right to use anything but the Fallout name and that they were actively trying to undermine their work.

Well, The Vault reports that this request has too being denied, meaning that, as of now, Interplay can continue to work on Fallout Online. Here's a summary:

Motion Hearing held on 8/4/2011 [114] and [115] MOTIONS for Preliminary Injunction filed by Bethesda Softworks LLC - Argued - "DENIED" for reasons stated on the record by Chief Judge Deborah K. Chasanow. (Court Reporter: Sharon O'Neill) (td, Deputy Clerk)

To celebrate QuakeCon kicking off today, Bethesda has cut the prices on all of its title on Steam by 25%, including Fallout 3: GotY ($/€ 22.49), Fallout: New Vegas($/€ 14.99) and all of its DLCs ($/€ 7.49) . The sale will run until the 7th, and include a new daily deal each day, so it may be wiser to take a wait and see approach.

No Mutants Allowed's Tagaziel has penned Old World Blues' review, and notes that while the tone of the add-on may not be for everyone, the excellent environmental story-telling, exploration and gameplay make the DLC a worthy addition to the base game.

There is a lot of background information and side stories hidden across the Big Empty, but only a minor part is directly related to the conflict between the Think Tank and Mobius. A majority of the information serves to provide context for the events in other downloadable adventures (or foreshadowing for Lonesome Road), background for the various previously unexplained phenomena of the Mojave wasteland or uncover the Big MT's sinister past. Old World Blues is perhaps the most important of all the downloadable adventures, as it binds them all together and forms the root of all Old World misery seen in them, from the Divide to the Sierra Madre.

The delivery works well and the stories told are very solid, with one exception: the brain. The entire subplot related to the brain extraction starts as merely goofy, but still relatively in line with the Science! aesthetic of the add-on. However, once Mobius is confronted and the brain can be retrieved, it becomes goofy and completely nonsensical, fit more for comedies or parodies than a serious science-fiction game. Even in the context of the add-on, it is a completely superfluous element of the plot that feels included just for the sake of laughs, rather than any real purpose (other than ham fistedly explaining the no-weapon zone in the Think Tank lair, that is). It is the only major piece of criticism that can be levied against the brilliant mesh of stories weaved into the Big Empty.

Some might also criticize the tone of the add-on as goofy, however, said goofiness isn't included for the sake of goofiness; it underlines the madness of the scientists that once worked there and provides a counterpoint for all the remnants of debauched, unethical experiments and crimes against humanity are scattered across the Big MT, preventing Old World Blues from sliding into the rather hilarious GRIMDARK! aesthetic permeating New Vegas' predecessor.

We are at our 9th round-up of reviews for Old World Blues, Fallout: New Vegas' Science!-themed add-on and the latest released so far, which keeps garnering praise for its atmosphere and humor and criticism for its glitches.

GamrReview, 8.1/10.

Unfortunately, Old World Blues suffers from the same bugs known by anyone who has played New Vegas since its launch back in 2010. Such things as doors disappearing, getting stuck in between rocks, enemies mindlessly trying to run towards you when they’re stuck - it’s all here in Old World Blues. That being said, however, these issues never really bothered me much; I was too busy being sucked into this marvelous expansion pack that had me bursting out with laughter at some parts.

I spent a good 10-12 hours with Old World Blues, and I still hadn’t discovered all the secrets of Big Mountain, let alone all 35 locations. If you’re a regular New Vegas player, or are looking for an excuse to play it again, you simply cannot go wrong with Old World Blues, especially with its shockingly low price of 800 Microsoft Points ($10).

Some of the stability issues that plagued so many people in New Vegas, finally reared its ugly head for me in this add-on. The worst of these was a frustrating crash that happened when initiating fast travel. These all sought not to dampen my experience as you might expect, but further make me realise how enjoyable Old World Blues is, in that I kept returning to play as much as I could in-between crashes when I usually lack the patience required for dealing with such bugs.

So the story soon pulled me back in, with its pure insanity and ability to cultivate the desire to find my brain. I found mine, and you’ll find yours too. Ending in typical Fallout style, the 12 or 13 hours you have spent in Big MT do not feel wasted and the add-on never feels rushed. With the ability to return to Big MT anytime after completion and the lure of places that lay unexplored calling you back, Old World Blueswill keep pulling you back in like a Tractor Beam, its colourful inhabitants and mysteries always there to greet you in your wait to hit the road in the next add-on, The Lonesome Road. After the last two add-ons fell short of the charm and quality of the main game, Old World Blues surpasses it in every single way, with only a few bugs and a handful of mundane quests preventing it from being absolutely perfect.

Still - despite the zaniness of this new content, there is also something quite touching about it too. The title, Old World Blues, hasn’t been arbitrarily assigned; as mentioned in an excellent Bethesda blog post, it refers to those who are so “obsessed with the past they can’t see the present, much less the future for what it is.” It’s about the failure of science to make the Fallout world a better place, both before the apocalypse, and after.

It’s sad, scary, kooky, weird and wonderful: everything that we love about the Fallout universe.

The DLC and its missions are balanced, offering appropriate weapons and equipment to deal with new enemies, and letting you uncover more information about characters and abominations seen or mentioned in the main game or previous DLC. Upon completion, which should take around six hours, players will be able to travel between the Mojave Wasteland and the amenities of the Big MT home base at will, adding flexibility to players that favor crafting instead of scrounging. Old World Blues will let you raise your level cap by five, but new weapons and equipment are few and unexciting at best. Still, your $10 price of admission will guarantee you a deep story and more laughs than the rest of the Fallout games combined.

Once again the level cap has been risen by five levels which really makes it more worth it at you try to max out your skills. You’ll travel across this previously unknown place, completing mission and you don’t even need things like your brain, spine or heart. You actually get perks for running around with out them! I’ll stop there on that subject for people that really want to be surprised. The whole area here is unique and scientific looking as some of the weapons show some true technological advancements whether it comes to a plasma gun or a lead chucking machine. You will come across force fields, robot scorpions and of course the main inhabitants who were able to sustain them selves during the fallout, just certainly not in the way you would expect. The inhabitants are trapped in fear of a Dr. Mobius, one of the same ..race I suppose you could say but the real fun in this third DLC installment is the interactions you have with these things, they are hilarious and they don’t even know it.

Other than that you pretty much do what you usually do in Fallout, with its typical missions. Of course there is the suit that talks to you and room full of appliances that all have their own personalities. They all talk as well and the light are in an eternal quarrel, so I would stay clear of them. All of these appliances though, even the very angry talking toaster, have special things they can do but all require you to go on a scavenger hunt to find their missing parts in order to do them. The juke-box can equip one of your new weapons with specific emitters and the auto-doc can even give you permanent implants that give you bonuses. But it all comes down to the end when you realize your own brain is much smarter than you think it is. One down side of the content is it is rare to come by a stim-pack and parts can become very difficult, so you will have to rely on food as well as drinks to keep your health up. You can definitely approach situations in different ways, now more than ever considering you skills should be rather high by now and I suppose there could be altered endings but I think it was meant all in all to end happily ever after. In the end the moral is, well I’m not sure what the moral was, but this DLC was extremely funny and you can return at any time… as long as you don’t lose your transporter.

Hearing the perspective of a non-RPG-lover on a role-playing game has become increasingly common lately - and quite infuriating when it comes in the form of a review - but it's still interesting to read this piece from Gaming Lives titled "Falling for Fallout?". In the article the writer describes her experience with Fallout: New Vegas as a role-playing newbie, and how she ended up considering the title one of her "favourite game experiences" and decided to play Fallout 3 thanks to it.

I struggled with the combat side of things for quite a while and was regularly fleeing from feral ghouls or a lone Radscorpion. It was only in my panicked state one time that I hit a random button and ended up in VATS mode. It truly was a lightbulb moment. Where I was trying to empty dozens of bullets into a creature while running away, suddenly I could freeze time and BOOM, headshot. I’m sure this must have been covered in the tutorial somewhere and I’d missed it, or perhaps it’s simply karma for me being a moron and not reading the manual. Either way, that and Veronica – my arse-kicking first companion – made my travels across the Mojave much easier.

Slowly, I found myself starting to care about some of the characters I met. I ditched Veronica for Cass as I felt bad for her, stuck drinking all alone everyday. She’d be running in and picking off enemies before I even saw them and that’s always a good way of winning my affections. I also loved Lily the mutant and felt genuine concern over her storyline; I hoped none of the choices I was making would be detrimental to her already… ‘fragile’ state. Local gang The Kings were also a highlight. Maybe for the humour involved with such a group or because they reminded me a little of the Elvis impersonators in Grand Theft Auto 2. Either way it’s fueling my new imaginary campaign to get a bunch of Elvis-a-likes into all games, let’s make it the new ‘zombies’! However, one character I never warmed to was the friendly cowboy robot. He creeped me out and even at the very start of the game I didn’t trust him one iota.

As the hours I was pouring into the game quickly melted away I found myself getting more and more into it. Instead of turning on the Xbox and spamming friends to come and play Halo with me, I was burying myself in Fallout: New Vegas. Most things came to me quickly, I realised the error of my ways regarding clipboards and I sold my collection of burnt books. I focused on levelling up in lockpick, speech and science, which I found most enjoyable. Once I figured out how hacking a computer terminal worked I couldn’t get enough and I found speech to be one of the most useful skills when progressing through the storyline dialogue options. For once in a game I wasn’t focused on simply shooting the crap out of things and other acts of sadistic violence; I preferred the satisfaction gained from sneaking through a previously locked door or diffusing a tricky situation using words alone. I was in love with the game. What made it such a joy to play was the open world nature. I could roam virtually anywhere and discover little shacks or caves that could have been so easy to miss. Most hours were spent ignoring the main story and, instead, wandering away from the roads and investigating a lone farm to piece together what happened there, thanks to notes scattered about or a grave in the back yard. As I neared the end I could use my skills to enter buildings that were full of raiders or booby-trapped with turrets and be rewarded at the end with a fantastic weapon.

The Team Fortress 2 wiki lets us know the latest updates contains the Pip-Boy as a promotional item available to Engineers. Get more details here.

Yet another batch of reviews for Old World Blues, yet another batch of positive reviews.

FPSGuru, 9/10.

To put it simply, Old World Blues is easily the best of the available DLC for Fallout: New Vegas, and quite possibly the best DLC for the entire revamped Fallout franchise. It just brings so much fun and entertainment and personality to the table. Of course there’s the standard five level cap raise we’ve come to expect, and tons of new and very useful gear. But what really puts it over the top for me is the story, the environment and the personality. If you’re only going to buy one DLC, this is absolutely the one to buy in my opinion.

The decisive factor in players’ judgment of Old World Blues will probably relate to how much they enjoy dialogue. The verbal wordplay and characters are very inspired, but I personally found the script extremely longwinded. There were several instances where I zoned out and began button-mashing just to get the chance to start actually doing something. I also didn’t mind dying repeatedly, but I understand how that could be rather annoying to some, and unfortunately, it’s pretty much unavoidable.

Old World Blues is the first downloadable add-on to New Vegas that gets a thumbs up from me. It’s clever, creative, different and most of all, fun. Go out and give it a try!

Full of creativity, an engaging story, and some downright hilarious dark humour that the series is known for, Old World Blues is a fantastic entry into the Fallout universe, a highpoint that the fans have been waiting for for what seems like too long. The series has never been terrible by any means, but this latest chapter is one of it's most impressive no doubt. In typical Fallout fashion though, it does have it's fair share of bugs, random crashes, texture loading, flawed trading, and in particular a fast travel glitch that seems to have a 50/50 chance of crashing each time. All are as infuriating and annoying as every other Fallout bug we've seen, of which there are many, but none of them really detract from the enjoyment you'll get from this add on. Old World Blues is a great piece of DLC that provides some memorable moments, fantastic value for money, one that extends the ever impressive appeal of the main game, and raises the bar for the fourth and final piece of DLC to follow.

Overall, if you’ve enjoyed the New Vegas experience so far, then Old World Blues should be right up your street. The strength of the script alone makes it stand head and shoulders above not only the other two DLC packs but arguably a lot of the core game. While there’s little new in terms of features, odds are if you’ve beaten New Vegas already you won’t be bothered by just a little bit more fetching for random scientists. Glitches rear their ugly heads once again, but that shouldn’t stop you spending some time in Big Mountain.

The new Big MT area that is added with the Old World Blues DLC is not too large but it has a lot of building and areas to explore. I actually really like this about it. You don’t have to walk too far to get to any building, but there are still a lot of areas to look for fun stuff. After completing the DLC you do get the option to go back and forth between the main game world and the Big MT whenever you want. It is nice to be able to go back and explore or use the auto-doc there.

Overall, I think Old World Blues is worth picking up. The new equipment is a lot of fun to use, and if you like exploring the game world there are a lot of fun little buildings to dig through.

Here's another round-up of reviews for Old World Blues, confirming the positive reception the add-on has received so far.

Blistered Thumbs, 8/10.

The only fault that the gameplay has is that the experience seems to be tailored to a specific skill set. Granted, if you’re playing at a really high level (my playthrough saw me hit levels forty through forty three) you’ll have quite a bit of skills in every area, but for lower levels it won’t be the same. Specifically, it feels necessary to be good at stealth, and it’s nearly a necessity to be skilled in medicine, science, energy weapons, and speech. Now, I’m not saying that you can’t complete it without said skills, but you will have a much harder time of it. This also won’t be an easy task for people who play in Hardcore mode either, considering the shortage of food and places to rest in the Big Empty. You will be given a central headquarters, but sometimes you just don’t want to go traipsing back every time you need a nap or have a boo-boo.

Despite the two gripes that I have with the DLC, Old World Blues has quite a bit to love. There’s lots to explore, lots to blow up, and quite a bit to discover. Quite frankly, I think that it will serve as a solid way to spend time before the story of the Courier ends while meeting Ulysses at the Divide. It’s by no means the deepest experience that you will find in the wastes, but it’s easily the most comedic. Most people should get a kick out of this little slice of downloadable pie, so I say pick this one up once you can spare the cash.

Its ironic that the most likable of casts in New Vegas should be without any living beings at all, but great voice acting and writing help to sell the DLC’s witty and surreal universe. It’s chunky too, with a massive area to explore and a good eight or so hours of content on offer. Of course, it’s subject to New Vegas’ very own kinks — yes, the game locked up on us once and the engine still looks abysmal compared to recent standards — but at least the Old World Blues has the personality that previous Fallout expansion packs have lacked. If you’re still looking to get more out of New Vegas, this is certainly your best option.

Above all, Old World Blues is certainly a huge step up from Honest Hearts. Although its narrative barely holds a candle to Dead Money’s, the escapade at Big Mt. should be regarded as the former’s significant other; bringing complete closure to the Sierra Madre experience and vice versa. The journey most certainly has its challenges, but the rewards more than compensate for the time spent enduring another one of the Old World’s forgotten nightmares. No doubt, this is one venture that any Mojave traveler shouldn’t go without. Let’s give it up for Science!

Old World Blues is by far the strongest expansion for Fallout New Vegas yet and will delight the regular wastelander with everything on offer. Some of the quests are weak, but the terrific voice acting and range of characters make the DLC stand out from the crowd.

Aside from an uneven difficulty, Old World Blues is an absolutely golden experience. If you own Fallout: New Vegas, go buy this piece of DLC. It's a fantastic romp for science fiction fans and I enjoyed every second of it. Despite all of its humor and wackiness, however, it still has an ability to be serious and emotional when it needs to be. It looks like Obsidian and Bethesda have figured out exactly what a piece of DLC needs to be – and it's going to be very tough to top this one.

CVG has penned one of those popular features wishlist articles for the successor of Fallout: New Vegas, which they call "Fallout 5". The features listed in the article won't come out exactly as a surprise, but here's a snippet anyway:

We want deep customisation for our vehicles, then, but we also want it to be extended everywhere else.

In Fallout, customisation has been defined more by the items you pick up on your travels rather than being able to actually tweak character traits and appearance to your liking directly.

We want to have more control over our face (doesn't everyone?). There are plenty of games in the world with really sophisticated character customisation suites and, if you ask us, being able to tweak every eyebrow hair only serves to make you feel more connected to your character and, therefore, the game as well.

It can be taken further than threads and bone structure though, customisation shouldn't end when you leave the creation station.

We've always felt that the Fallout Karma system could be a little less stark and - in a related way - the dialogue mechanic could be more complex.

We'd like to be able to craft our character's personality and the way he or she is perceived through both our words and our actions. While Fallout has always had different dialogue options pointing towards different personality traits, none of them really seem to have that much lasting effect.

Maybe it's just that folk in a post-apocalyptic world have to be more understanding (radioactive times are hard) but it seems you have to nuke a town before its inhabitants will look at you with a burning glare. Burning for two reasons.

We'd like interaction systems to be more subtle and more significant at the same time.