"Demakes" have become a trend in the last couple of years, thanks to things like TIGSource competitions and Eric Ruth's "Pixel Force" games. Now that trend has officially entered the mainstream, as Bethesda has released an 8-bit style demake of its own game, Fallout 3.
Well, sort of. The Japanese Fallout: New Vegas website is designed as a Dragon Quest-style RPG, presenting the menu and links as areas on a pixelated map of Fallout 3's Capital Wasteland, with each link leading to an amusing faked gameplay segment, along with a Japanese-language explanation of that particular game element.
It's designed to introduce Japanese gamers to the "Freestyle RPG" design of the Fallout games, but it also has the side effect of being awesome.
#demake
Bethesda beats any potential fan-made Fallout: New Vegas demakes to the punch by creating its own for the Japanese New Vegas website. It's all in Japanese, but old school role-playing is the universal language. More »
Dead Money - the first DLC pack for Fallout: New Vegas - is now available 'sclusively on Xbox Live (but for how long?). If you're getting caught up, here's the short version: You're wearing a collar bomb and you need to steal the treasure of the Sierra Madre ... casino. Consider us all in.
#dlc
Dead Money, the first batch of downloadable content for Fallout: New Vegas, is now available on Xbox Live, and we've got a lovely screenshot gallery so the PC and PlayStation 3 gamers can play along. More »
While Bethesda and developer Obsidian Entertainment are busy taking a plasma rifle to the countless bugs still present in Fallout: New Vegas, devoted -- and programming-savvy -- fans are putting out mods for the PC version of the game that improve its texture maps and lighting, sometimes dramatically. Couch Athletics took a look at three of the more promising additions in its most recent "Mod Madness" feature.
First up is the Arenovalis Weapon Retexture Project which, as its name suggests, replaces the textures on the game's weapons -- 11 of them so far, all of which look far better than the "stock" guns, and the mod's developer is continuing to add more. Then there's the Detailed Normals Texture Pack, which features improved normal maps for some of the world textures (ground and rocks, most prominently) that make them more 3D-looking, though sometimes very shiny.
The most impressive of the new mods, however, is FNV Enhanced Shaders, which makes the game's lighting more realistic and adds a depth-of-field effect, among others, which are all player-adjustable. The results of combining these mods can be seen in the video we've posted after the break. Now, if only someone could make a "Bug-Free Pack" -- and we don't mean one that kills off all the mutated ants and radscorpions.
There are lots of reasons that wastelanders set out across the post-apocalyptic United States -- to find rogue droids, locate a lost parent, or perhaps simply to escape the shallow grave they woke up in. The three folks in this debut trailer of fan-made Fallout short film "Fallout: Nuka Break," however, are simply in search of a refreshing, cold Nuka-Cola.
The crew in charge of F: NB are known as Wayside Creations, a team of Fallout fans who wanted to make a non-profit film based in its world. No further information is given as to when we can expect to see the completed work, but we're hoping Bethesda doesn't shut down the production before that can happen. Check out the trailer in full after the break.
To celebrate the holidays, we're having twelve straight days of giveaways up through Christmas day. And while we say it's to celebrate, really ... we're simply getting rid of some of the larger packages around the ol' office.
And for our third giveaway, we've got a massive Fallout: New Vegas neon sign that showed up on this writer's doorstep this very morn'.
Bethesda - can we call you Beth? - the goal of this exercise (in addition to generating holiday cheer and all that muck) is to reduce the number of oversized packages containing things like neon signs from our collective living spaces. And readers: The only thing New Vegas-related at this Joystiq outpost is this sign, so you'll have to make do without the game. But hey, if you're thinking about putting this up in your home, it's probably safe to assume you've already got a copy, right?
#xbox360
A quest for an NPC you'd just rather shoot than talk to, for a payoff that's probably disappointing, if not a lie? That's classic Fallout. Except in Dead Money, Fallout New Vegas' first DLC extension, you don't have a choice. More »
The first Xbox 360 "exclusive" DLC for Fallout: New Vegas, dubbed Dead Money, lays out all its cards in a new trailer. The add-on sees you caught in a dangerous deal, where saying "no" puts you on the bad end of an exploding collar. Okay, so there's no badend to a circular object, but ... oh, oh, got it: you're being collared in the middle of an explosive situation. Nailed it.
Dead Money will be available next Tuesday, December 21, on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 MSP ($10). Best start planning how you're going to break into the Sierra Madre casino and make off with all its ill-gotten riches.
#fallout
After over a month of various technical woes, particularly on the PC version of the game, it seems as though Fallout: New Vegas may actually be fixed soon. Maybe. More »
Wow. Obsidian overlooked a dynamite opportunity to integrate Kinect into Fallout: New Vegas. But! This dance mod for the PC version, courtesy of creator "umpa," gets us halfway there. Now, Kinect hackers, take us all the way!
Late next month, Obsidian will launch the first bit of DLC for Fallout: New Vegas. That DLC, according to issue five of the Bethesda newsletter, will take players to the Sierra Madre, "an opulent and extravagant resort that was supposed to be the greatest casino in the west -- except that it never opened." Turns out that whole apocalypse thing really put a damper on the festivities. Who woulda thunk a silly thing like atomic bombs could be such a buzzkill?
The vaykay-spot-that-almost-was had a pretty bitching security system, thus locking the complex up tight following the nuclear holocaust that befell America. As time went on, the climate control and air conditioning system starting pushing toxins out into the nearby area, surrounding it with a mist of poison and making the adjoining city impossible to navigate. A small band of survivors, dubbed the Ghost People, have only managed to scrape by, seemingly resorting to capturing healthy people outside of the plume of pollution surrounding the Sierra Madre. You know, to eat them.
And that's pretty much all we have to go on right now. You can download "Dead Money" for Fallout: New Vegas on December 21, exclusively on Xbox Live, for 800 MS Points ($10).
#dlc
In Bethesda's latest newsletter, a designer on Fallout: New Vegas spills details on the upcoming "Dead Money," the Xbox 360-exclusive DLC extension to Fallout: New Vegas due on Dec. 21. More »
Bethesda has dated the first Fallout: New Vegas add-on -- the one "exclusive" to Xbox 360 -- for December 21. Dubbed "Dead Money," the 800 points-priced (that's $10) DLC will challenge players to retrieve the "legendary" treasure of the Sierra Madre ... Casino.
Dead Money will include "new terrain, foes and choices," as well as "three other captured wastelanders" (new Companions, perhaps). There are currently no announced plans to offer the add-on for the PS3 or PC version of the game -- though you'd be a fool to bet against it.
[Pictured: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948); source: IMDb]
#screengrab
A welcome mat suitable for any New Vegas saloon. Made by commenter WT Crafts (Etsy page). Side effects don't include kidney damage, nausea, loss of visual acuity, dizziness, nosebleeds, joint inflammation, tooth decay, sore throat, organ rupture and halitosis. More »
#salesget
The most exciting new addition to this week's Japanese game sales chart is the appearance of Fallout: New Vegas. Looks like that "protest" against Japanese role-playing games campaign worked. More »
#clips
What's better than a gun that launches wee nuclear bombs? How about one that fires a few thousand per minute? One enterprising Fallout: New Vegas modder created the Mininuke Minigun to see just how fast a nuclear holocaust can happen. More »
Bethesda has announced that the Fallout: New Vegas launch garnered "record sales" last month. While the company didn't disclose precisely what those sales were, it did note that 5 million units were shipped to retailers worldwide. Combined with "a heavy volume" of digital downloads, the game has generated over $300 million in sales.
Meanwhile, war keeps changing as the Bethesda Blog has posted an update on the upcoming updates for Fallout: New Vegas. The company notes that it has "come up with solutions" for the Xbox 360 save issues (amongst other issues) and that "a comprehensive patch" for the PS3, Xbox and PC versions of the game is currently in the final testing and certification phase. Further details should arrive "in the coming weeks."
Furthermore, a patch should be issued for the PC version within the next week. Said patch should correct some save corruption issues and problems with companions. It will also improve performance for users with NVIDIA graphics cards and clear up some (presumably chaotic) Havok problems.
Bethesda has announced that the Fallout: New Vegas launch garnered "record sales" last month. While the company didn't disclose precisely what those sales were, it did note that 5 million units were shipped to retailers worldwide. Combined with "a heavy volume" of digital downloads, the game has generated over $300 million in sales.
Meanwhile, war keeps changing as the Bethesda Blog has posted an update on the upcoming updates for Fallout: New Vegas. The company notes that it has "come up with solutions" for the Xbox 360 save issues (amongst other issues) and that "a comprehensive patch" for the PS3, Xbox and PC versions of the game is currently in the final testing and certification phase. Further details should arrive "in the coming weeks."
Furthermore, a patch should be issued for the PC version within the next week. Said patch should correct some save corruption issues and problems with companions. It will also improve performance for users with NVIDIA graphics cards and clear up some (presumably chaotic) Havok problems.
#sales
Bethesda Softworks is calling Fallout: New Vegas' launch a success, with more than five mission copies shipped since the game's release, with retailers calling for more. Now all they have to do is fix it. More »
#screengrab
Something Awful, on target as always, skewers side mission premises in Fallout: New Vegas. Eight more ads are at the link. Seen on Something Awful. More »
#wiki
Fallout: New Vegas released 18 days ago. That's 432 hours. Since then, more than 475,000 hours have been spent reading and editing the Fallout: New Vegas wiki. That's 58 years. More »
