Sorry about not keeping up-to-date, things have been pretty hectic, and probably will be until next Saturday. I'll do my best to keep solid news flowing, though.

kotaku Australia has reported that our Aussie friends will receive "2 Different Fallout 3 Collector's Editions, Kinda." - which can be read at their website here

Thanks to briosafreak, there's an interesting take on war, from wordpress.com's blog "The Space Oddity" - which can be seen here - a little comparison from the blog between Metal Gear Solid 4 and the Fallout franchise -

“War. War has changed.” - Metal Gear Solid 4

“War. War never changes.” - Fallout 2/Fallout 3

The recently released Metal Gear Solid 4 purports to have a lot to say about the nature of war, which can be summarized by the first line in the game, uttered by an aging and grey Solid Snake. “War has changed,” he claims, referring to the game’s constant reminder that wars are a business, perpetuated by private military contractors and the forces behind them. On the other hand, the upcoming Fallout 3 (lifting a line from the previous game in the series) takes the opposite opinion: “War. War never changes.”

Despite a post-apocalyptic settting filled with nuclear mutants and savage survivors, the Fallout series makes the claim that at its heart, war is always basically the same. What should politically aware gamers make of the fact that two two ultra-high-profile games releasing in the same year are taking diametrically opposing positions on the nature of war?

Wired.com has an article up about apocalyptic vehicles, with thanks to Killzig via briosafreak, which the first page can be seen here. (Sorry, page wouldn't load up for me, hopefully it's my 'net acting up again and not a bad link...)

IGN.com has an interview up with none other than Todd Howard, one of the Bethesda bigwigs. You can read the full article here, or read a few excerpts below:

We recently had the chance to give Mr. Howard the Hot Seat treatment in the hopes of learning about his inspirations and interests in gaming and beyond. Here's what he had to say.

IGN: What's something you tried to do in your life that you failed at? How or why did you fail?

Todd Howard: I have tried several times to skateboard. I failed because it turns out – I suck at skateboarding. I think I could be the world's greatest luger though, but I've never tried it. How do you know if you are really good at the luge? I think you only truly know if you are born in Lake Placid.

IGN: What's something you do that you wish you didn't? Why?

Todd Howard: Doing interviews after a "night out." It's unprofessional and gets me in trouble.

IGN: Does your work say anything about you?

Todd Howard: That I've never really grown out of my love of the 100 hour adventures of my Apple 2 days. The ones I would go to bed dreaming about solving. I crave moments of discovery in games, the moments of "can I do this?" and the sense that I have found something no other player has. I want my games to have that. I want length and depth and hint books that can kill a child if dropped on them.

IGN: What movie do you hate?

Todd Howard: The Polar Express. A staggeringly magical book turned into, basically, what I can only view as a horror movie. It actually works as a horror movie. I still don't understand how Zemeckis whiffed on that one, because he's great.

IGN: If you had to choose someone to interview you, who would it be?

Todd Howard: Stephen Colbert.

IGN: What was the last scary thing that happened to you?

Todd Howard: Local blackout in our area a few days ago. Building dark; stop lights out. Jeff Gardiner, one of our producers, drove a few of us to Starbucks. He drives through a non-working stoplight the same time as a truck. About 10 inches from our deaths, it turns out Jeff drives like Jason Bourne and does a double-fishtail, misses the truck and gets us back in our lane. He never missed a beat. I thought it was Gran Turismo – awesome, until I realized I wasn't wearing my seatbelt.

So much material, so little time. This interview has nothing to do with Fallout, and they might as well have interviewed JoeBob off the street about his views on whatever.

This spotted at briosafreak's Fallout 3 blog - a bunch of magazines with screenshots and some small feedback about Fallout 3. Warning: Epic Quote coming up. French magazine Joystiq had a chance to preview Fallout 3 and do an interview with Emil Pagliarulo and Todd Howard. Briosafreak gives this little tidbit:

They hated having to go to all that cinematic moments in VATS, or how you can’t gain XP with sneak, but all in all they are very impressed with the “immersion” of the game.

Here's something: Keith Stuart does a blog over at The Guardian and had a chance to interview Todd Howard about "his vision for an interactive post-nuclear wasteland". There is actually quite a bit of interesting material in the interview, which can be read in it's entirety here, and a little glimpse into Fallout 3 I don't think I've read before -

Keith Stuart: In what ways do you feel you've captured the minutiae of survival in a post-apocalyptic landscape - will the player have to search for food/shelter in the game?

Todd Howard: I think it's the minutiae of the Fallout world. Say you are hurt in the game, and you come across a destroyed grocery store, and inside you find an old vending machine with some Nuka-Cola, you can drink the cola to heal yourself, but then the bottle cap also acts as the game's money. So you heal a bit and get a "cap" that you can use to trade. Just that tiny event is grounded in the reality of the world you're in.

and thanks to Brother None, anyone who doesn't have google can get their Fallout 3 walkthroughs, cheats, etc in paperback form via Amazon.com - The Official Strategy Guide goes on sale October 7. Seems Gamestop was right, after all.