That's the PS10 Solar Tower in Spain. Just a quick example of one of the real life versions of the Helios One that's going to be found in Fallout: New Vegas.
Read all about it with a bunch of great pictures over at this CNN article.
* Dialogue should inform and entertain players -- inform them about the world and quests, entertain them with interesting characters and prose. If you aren't informing or entertaining, think hard about what you're trying to accomplish. * Write an outline. Really. Just do it. You should have an idea of where you are going before you set out. If you don't know where you're going when you write your conversation, chances are the player is going to get lost at some point. * Always give at least two options. At a bare minimum, you should always have an option that says, "Let's talk about something else," that leads back to a node where you can say, "Goodbye." You may think that your dialogue is riveting and no one could possibly want to stop reading/hearing it, but believe me -- someone out there does. * Never give false options. Do not create multiple options that lead to the same result. It insults players' intelligence and does not reward them for the choices they make. * Don't put words in the player's mouth. With the exception of conditional replies (gender, skills, stats, etc.), phrase things in a straightforward manner that does not mix a request for information with an emotionally loaded bias ("I'd like to know what's going on here, jackass."). * Keep skills, stats, gender, and previous story resolutions in mind and reward the player's choices. If it doesn't feel like a reward, it isn't; it's just a false option with a tag in front of it. Note: entertainment value can be a valid reward. * The writing style and structure are the project's; the character belongs to you and the world. As long as the dialogue follows project standards and feels like it is grounded in the world, it is your challenge and responsibility to make the character enjoyable and distinct.
Some great points, and refreshing to see this approach be brought back to Fallout. Remains to be seen how his approach actually manifests itself.
Thanks to a Duck and Cover reader named JT who emailed these to us, we present to you the first full size Fallout: New Vegas screenshots (at least that I've seen). Click on the thumbs for the full version:
The OXM US issue featuring Fallout: New Vegas has hit the stands. Here's the low-down:
* Character creation is virtually identical to Fallout 3, with cosmetic changes like the Gene Projector being replaced by ReflectionTM, "You're SPECIAL!" by Vit-o-Matic machine and GOAT by a psychological test * The local super mutants are pretty tough and will keep you from wandering aimlessly in the early portions of the game - they tend to be tougher even than deathclaws * Sunny Smiles' dog is named Cheyenne. She'll assist you with the Powder Gangers in the Ghost Town Firefight quest if you help her kill some geckos. * The Varmint Rifle is a low-power .22 that does significant damage to limbs and has a high critical bonus * If your Barter skill is high enough, Chet the shopkeeper give you the 9-Iron golf club and some weapon mods * Every skill will have use in conversations at various points * Each firearm has a maximum of three modification slots. Once you affix a mod to a gun, it's permanent. Hunting Rifle modification examples given are scope, custom action and extended clip. * Temporary followers, like the Goodsprings folks that can help you defeat the Powder Gangers, will also be controlled through the companion wheel * Concept art of Hoover Dam and screenshots of the Black Mountain radio tower and the character standing inside the mouth of Dinky the Dinosaur shown * With high local reputation at Goodsprings, you'll get a free bed to sleep in and a discount at the store * Neil, a super mutant who hates Tabitha, can help you storm the mountain * Tabitha is actually a male super mutant gone completely insane * "Skill magazines" you find in New Vegas will only temporarily boost your skills * There's a rollercoaster in Primm * The gameplay was tweaked to be more first-person-shootery
A fellow by the name of Lukasz Wasilewski stopped by to let us know about a new post-apocalyptic game that's in the works called Slincer: Preludium. I'll let him do the talking:
Hello.
Recently I finished first track for the game (working title - Slincer: Preludium) I’m scoring. Using few concept arts from this game I made short video presenting my first track from sountrack:
Slincer: Preludium is supposed to be FPS/survival horror, taking place in very small area of post-apocalyptic Warsaw, developed by Disturbia Games. Our plan is to create story driven action RPG title Slincer where gamer would be able to explore big part of ruined capitol of Poland. However, because we are young and small studio, we decided to firstly work on much smaller project - Slincer: Preludium which, nevertheless, is going to be as atmospheric as his "bigger brother". What is important is fact that at this moment Slincer: Preludium is going to be freeware.
Duck and Cover has obtained Interplay's latest filing in the ongoing legal struggle between Interplay and Bethesda. The filing is confusingly called "Interplay Entertainments Corp.'s Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Reply to the Opposition of Bethesda Softworks, LLC to its Motion for Attorney's Fees and Costs; Declaration of Rochelle A. Herzog." For those who have no idea what that means, this filing is basically a document detailing why Interplay says it deserves its court fees from Bethesda, as well as how they say Bethesda is basically the evil Empire.
Here are the general points that Interplay makes:
Bethesda's Statement of Facts Contains Inaccuracies
Bethesda's Actions Reflect Bad Faith
Interplay is a "Prevailing Party"
The Attorney's Fees Requested Are Reasonable and Consistent With the Court's Standards
The document itself is 23 pages long, and I've gone through and highlighted the most relevant and interesting points. From what Interplay says, it seems that Bethesda opposed Interplay's first motion for court fee reimbursement, arguing basically the same things which the court struck down in the Preliminary Injunction hearing. For example, Bethesda said that Interplay did not deserve the fees because "Interplay had not secured any kind of financing for the [Fallout] MMOG...within the required two year period and its license automatically terminated." Interplay argues that not only had they already presented evidence of a financing arrangement that was made within the timeframe, but that the entire argument is without merit in this motion for attorneys' fees:
"In any event, Interplay's Motion is unrelated to Interplay's financing for the MMOG or Interplay's financial circumstances. The Motion is based solely on Interplay's successful defense of Bethesda's PI [Preliminary Injunction] Motion."
Interplay also claims that:
"not only was the preliminary injunction unnecessary and pursued in bad faith, Bethesda's filing of the lawsuit is a bad faith attempt to deny Interplay the merchandising rights to which its entitled under the Asset Purchase Agreement ("APA") and the MMOG rights it is entitled to under the Trademark Licensing Agreement ("TLA").
This means they believe Bethesda never intended to honor any part of their agreement with Interplay.
Interplay provides more claims that Bethesda is trying to bully them into submission - basically bleeding them dry:
"Bethesda continued to pursue the PI Motion while continuously emphasizing Interplay's negative financial situation. Bethesda was keenly aware that Interplay could not fund expensive, protracted litigation. However, even after discovery was conducted and Bethesda knew it could not prevail because it had insufficient evidence to carry its burden of proof, it nevertheless continued to press for the injunction which it knew would increase the expense of litigation and delay the case."
There is quite a bit of legal precedent that Interplay's lawyer cites, and I found this one to be interesting:
"Bethesda's oppressive litigation tactics qualify this case as "exceptional" thereby entitling Interplay to attorney's fees and costs under the Lanham Act as the prevailing party."
Now for meaty bits:
"The same arguments made before the Court at the hearing of Bethesda's PI Motion are reiterated in the Opposition [to Interplay's request for court fees] and have no more merit now than they did on December 10, 2009. Interplay disputes many of the alleged "facts" asserted in Bethesda's Opposition. More specifically:
Interplay did not forfeit its rights to use the Fallout mark upon termination of the Trademark Licensing Agreement ("TLA") as alleged by Bethesda, because it did not breach the TLA and hence, no termination occurred. Since there was no breach, Interplay did not forfeit its rights and could not have infringed the Fallout mark."
...
"Interplay contends that Bethesda has evidence ongoing bad faith in connection with the PI Motion and that the entire lawsuit is an attempt to deny Interplay the benefits of the APA merchandising rights and the TLA MMOG rights."
The basic major argument from Interplay is that despite not having a case, Bethesda still continued with the lawsuit in order to bleed Interplay dry through legal fees.
It will be very interesting to see how the court decides here. Rest assured that the decision, no matter which way, will have no effect on the development and scheduled release of Fallout: New Vegas.
Europe is apparently Bethesda's, with European gaming magazines being the first and most numerous to have Fallout: New Vegas editions - not to mention the fact that Brian Fargo did a press tour of Europe for a rumored Bethesda game. Here's the word from the Bethblog:
Over the past couple weeks, we’ve shared some of the magazine covers coming out for Fallout: New Vegas, and I thought I’d share this one with you — it’s the latest issue of LEVEL, a Turkish magazine that came out this week.
In addition to LEVEL, here’s a few European mags to be on the lookout for:.
Despite being embroiled in a lawsuit with Bethesda over the fate of their Fallout MMO, Interplay has updated their website to show that PV13 - the codename for the Fallout MMO - will be released in 2012.
If it will actually be released as a Fallout MMO and not a new IP depends on the outcome of the court case with Bethesda.
I decided to interview Mad Max RW who occasionally posts on the forums and here was the result;
1. How did you get started in the Fallout community?
I lurked after getting addicted to the PC Gamer demo where the only purpose was to go around punching junkies (I thought they were old people), which I thought perfectly mirrored my real life experiences. Became a regular at DAC when it was Gamespy hosted and Vault13.net around the time Fallout 2 came out. I worked at DAC for a while then lost interest like everybody else eventually does.
2. What did you like most about Fallout?
The graphics, sound and music, turn based combat, collecting guns, tons of choices and character design, story, setting, voice acting, everything. To me it was the perfect game in every aspect.
3. You were heavily involved in the Aliens versus Predator community at one point, what did you like about those games?
I was obsessed with the movies growing up (and still am). AvP1 was like the harder and much cooler alternative to Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament. For a couple years I was a pain in Fox Interactive's and Rebellion's ass about releasing the editing tools and source code to keep the game alive much like its counterparts had. By the time they got around to it, Monolith's AvP2 was around the corner and was a huge success with the mapping and mod community. I helped run AvPCenter, which really took off. Then everything went to hell a year or so later with the collapse of MGON. People came to the realization AvP1 was the better game and the AvP community as a whole pretty much dissolved.
4. What did you think of Fo3?
Nice looking but too boring. I was surprised to find I didn't hate the "VATS" combat, but there was so damn many things attacking me everywhere I went it felt like a watered down FPS or STALKER-lite.
5. What are some of your most memorable moments at DAC? Who are some of your favorite members of past or present?
The war with Gamespy and Interplay when Killian revealed news about FOBOS/Fallout Fantasy/Lionheart. The terrible video interviews with the Fallout Tactics QA team. I swear they were straight out of Deliverance. Megatron's antics. Pooperscooper. Where for art thou Kreegle?
6. What games are you currently playing or looking forward to?
Trying to enjoy AvP3, but it's so damn consolized and shitty. I keep going back to AvP1 and mods for Fallout 2.
7. You have become well known on IRC as being very emotionless and tough like many other veteran Fallout fans, why do you think so many Fallout fans are assholes?
Blame Obama and his liberal progressive agenda.
8. I was surprised to have seen you coming back to IRC since many old fans usually join and then leave after a bit. What has drawn you to keep coming back to #fallout and becoming a rockstar among the natives?
I stopped getting laid regularly and have a lot more time on my hands late at night. And you.
9. What are your thoughts on Fallout: New Vegas?
Lost interest 2 seconds after reading the first preview. It'll be more of Fallout 3 with thirst and hunger attached. No thanks.
10. How are you able to get women when you seem to be so emotionless online?
Because I'm emotionless in real life. Gosh.
11. What do you think of the current state of PC gaming and its future?
The era of big blockbusters is winding down. You can either punish yourself with shitty console ports or follow the shitty indie dev scene. So in short, shitty. 12. Do you consider yourself an avid RPG player or are the Fallout games just exceptions?
I used to be. Unfortunately, good RPG's are few and far between. The only one from the last decade I really liked was Space Rangers 2.
13. What do you see for the future of the Fallout community?
More of the same and weird interviews like this. Expect a ton of console exclusives.
14. What are some of your favorite memories on #fallout?
When Rex Exitium/Sol Invictus/Stinky McFishface had ops and he banned me when I said I loved his supple red Angelina Jolie lips (in a totally non-gay way of course). During a dev chat with Black Isle about Lionheart I asked why does this game suck shit or something along those lines. Instead of an answer Saint Proverbius kick/banned me. And every word you type is a new favorite memory I will cherish forever.
DAC's own BryanR has created a multiplayer mod for Fallout 3. Now, you'll be able to take out those pesky radscorpions in teams! While still in the early stages of testing and implementation, the mod promises to dramatically improve the replay-value of Fallout 3. Check out the test video below:
Here's the rundown from BryanR:
Basically I have a server and client built just for the purpose of multiplayer Fallout 3. The client program I made reads from a special .esp file which I am using to do my dirtywork of collecting information on players. This information is forwarded to the server. The server then forwards it to the other clients, and then the script variables are written to to reflect changes.
DAC will keep you updated on any new developments.
PC Gamer US, in yet another "world exclusive" has previewed Fallout: New Vegas in their latest edition. Here's the bullet-pointed summary:
* The box on the first page of the preview names Bethesda as both the publisher and the developer, while the article text itself gives due credit to Obsidian and discusses the devs' work on Fallout, Fallout 2 and Van Buren.
* New California Rangers wear modified LAPD riot armor. The trenchcoat guy from the teaser is identified as one in the article.
* Gun modifications will increase damage, ammo capacity, accuracy, rate of fire and more
* The player will be able to have two or three companions in their party
* With Raul the ghoul in your party, you'll start to pick up clues that he's more than just a simple mechanic
* Unsurprisingly, deathclaws and radscorpions are mentioned
* From the screenshot, Fore! indeed looks like an attack on the head, not groin, as mentioned in an earlier preview
* The dinosaur casino is identified as Dinky the Dinosaur
* NCR is described as large and powerful but bureaucratic.
* Chris Avellone: "It's a very amusing location design-wise. Vegas is like a whole city-wide amusement park. We can play on different themes, different styles. It's fun for the artists, it's fun for the designers... I don't know how much fun it's going to be for the programmers"
* J.E. Sawyer: "The Karma system is mostly the same as in Fallout 3, but checked less often. Mostly we rely on reputation, because that's what people know. Karma is just a general indicator of how much of a sonofabitch you are. If you murder people in secret, your reputation doesn't go down because no on knows you did anything, so you can maintain a good reputation but your karma has tanked really heavily. Karma does influence some things, but reputation is usually what most people in the world base their opinions of you on."
* Avellone: "We recognized that one of the strengths of Fallout 3 was that so much of the game revolved everything around Washington, D.C. That's your signature city. And to be honest, adventuring in post-apocalyptic D.C. is interesting. You're like, OK, I get it. I know what D.C. is like in the real world, I'd like to see what it's like in the real world when mutants are running around in the streets. So, if we have a western version of Fallout 3, what's a key signature city that people will immediately gt when they hear the title. And also, what's interesting to us? So individually, Vegas came up for a number of people without a community discussion about it. That kept coming up. So we said, OK, if within this small sample group that city keeps coming up, and we understand why, that's the city to use."
Brian Menze, one of the artists from Fallout 2, posted the following image up on his Deviantart page - the only Vaultboy image to be cut from Fallout 2:
From Brian Menze:
This image was unused and the only Vault Boy image to ever be cut from Fallout 2. (I'm sure you can figure out why) I remember when I got the request to do a perk illustration for "child Killer" that there would be no way to keep in from being offensive. I mean really! how do you make an illustration of "child killer" and keep it from being offensive? Anyway for some reason, I thought this was the least offensive way to do it. I have no idea what i was thinking. Even the designer who requested it realized it was a bad idea, so we nixed it. Looking back on it now, I can't beleive I drew this.
It seems Bethesda was bullying people again, however, as the image has been removed from Deviantart.
Duck and Cover has obtained the filing schedule for the upcoming year in the Interplay v. Bethesda court case. Suffice it to say that we won't see an end to the case anytime this year, unless the two parties settle out of court. Here's the breakdown:
Motion(s) for Joinder of Parties and Amendment of Pleadings to be filed by: February 28, 2010 Requests for Production and Interrogatories to Parties to be served by:1 March 30, 2010 Third Party Discovery to be taken by: July 2, 2010 Fact Depositions to be taken by: July 16, 2010 Rule 26(a)(2) Expert Witness Disclosure to be served by: August 13, 2010 Rule 26(a) (2) Expert witness depositions to be taken by: September 30, 2010 Requests for Admission to be served by: October 8, 2010 Rebuttal Expert Report(s) to be served by: October 22, 2010 Rebuttal Expert depositions to be taken by: November 19, 2010 Summary Judgment(s) Motions to filed on or before: December 3, 2010 Bethesda to circulate draft pretrial order: December 10, 2010 Interplay to comment on draft pretrial order: December 17, 2010 File draft pretrial order to be filed by: December 30, 2010
I'm not a lawyer, those last few lines say "pretrial." So does that mean the actual "trial" isn't going to take place in 2010? Whether by intention or not, Betheda could be effectively killing Interplay's Fallout MMO with time. By the time the trial is finished, the tech that Interplay is building PV13 on could become old and unmarketable.
