Fallout 3

Fallout is an iconic game and almost rates as a perfect game to me, however, times have changed a lot since fallout was released. Gaming has changed a lot since fallout was released and the games that gamers play have also changed a lot since Fallout.

Fallout was a part of the Black Isle Role Playing gaming lineup. Unfortunately, Black Isle ran in to some financial difficulty and ended up selling the rights to develop a single player game to Bethesda. However, Interplay retained the rights to develop a Fallout MMO. This is what Pete Hines (Bethesda) had to say about the Fallout franchise in a Shacknews interview this year, "Internally, we're a bunch of Fallout geeks. There is nobody [here] who hasn't played that game and enjoyed it. I have that game on my laptop, I take it with me and play it. But it's definitely different, because it's not really considered ours, the franchise. We didn't start it. There is a little bit of that sentiment out there that we have to prove that we're worthy to be the guys to make Fallout 3." When this was first announced fans of Fallout were unhappy because they believed that Bethesda would turn fallout in to a First Person based Role Playing game similar to Morrowind and Oblivion. This was speculation and Bethesda responded by saying that they were all big fans of the game and would look at keeping the game as close to the original as possible. Unfortunately, development of Fallout 3 did not start in earnest until Oblivion was completed. Fallout 3 now has a full development team working on the game. While Bethesda has said that they will try to keep the game as close to the original as possible the reality is that isometric turn based games don't sell very well any more.

Pete Hines said, "We are the right guys to be doing this franchise, we do take it seriously, and we do want to make it a powerful force in roleplaying in terms of what these games can do and be. We hope that when we show people what we're up to, they'll agree. Some folks will, and some folks will say it's not what they wanted. At the end of the day, we respect that, but we have to do what we think is right. Again, you can't make the game that everybody wants because you'll get ten different answers about what that game is."

Turn based game play is a big turn off for gamers. The majority of gamers don't tend to spend their money on them. While Fallout is an iconic franchise gamers tend not to buy this type of game and developers are reluctant to release them. Jagged Alliance is one of the few ongoing series which promotes turn based gameplay. UFO also uses it, however, you don't have to play the game turn based. The greatest speculation about this game leading up to the initial details being released about it's gameplay will be what style will the game take. Pete Hines has said that details about the game should be released this year. Until that point in time all the gaming community can do is to speculate.

Hopefully, Bethesda will create a high quality addition to one of the great gaming franchises. It doesn't matter to me if Fallout 3 is first person or third person, as long as it is set in the fallout universe I will be playing it.