Bethesda have been a pretty busy company lately. So busy in fact, that you shouldn’t expect any new announcement (such as the fabled Elder Scrolls MMO) from the company at this year’s E3.
Chatting with Joystiq recently, company VP Peter Hines made it clear that we shouldn’t hold our breaths for any major announcements from the firm at E3 next month, emphasing that if we’re looking for hot announcements, Quakecon (August 12 – 15) is where we should focus our gaze towards.
Ah, Bethesda, you spoil us so. To celebrate the The Elder Scrolls’ 15th Anniversary, Bethesda has generously decided to release The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall as a free download.
Hit the link to get your miserly fingers on this classic gem.
As you can probably guess, the game requires DOS to play, which hasn’t been a standard part of Windows in years. Check out the perfectly legal DOSBox emulator, which will go a long way in helping you to get this (and many other old games) running smoothly on modern PCs.
Now, everyone say thank you to the nice people at Bethesda!
Bethesda has finally confirmed what all PS3 users have been wanting to hear, that the Fallout 3 DLC packs, are finally coming to them. Released on the PSN from June, starting with Operation Anchorage, with the other two being released 4-6 weeks apart, say Bethesda.
In addition, there are two new DLC packs that are planned for all platforms. Both of the new packs will arrive on PS3 after the originals have been released, so, PS3 owners will have to wait. But hey, at least they’re getting it!
“Point Lookout” a “Massive new swampland area” With new quests and content,
“Mothership Zeta” which apparantly lets you “experience an alien abduction first hand, and find out if you’re tough enough to survive”
Both packs will be out in late June for Xbox 360 and PC for 800 MS points, (£6.80)
Broken Steel was the last in the announced list of Fallout 3 DLC, but it may not be the last, according to Bethesda’s Peter Hines in OXM.
“Whether it’s the absolute last one remains to be seen, because it’s been hugely successful,” he said. “Operation Anchorage vastly exceeded our expectation. It was like, ‘Holy shit, we did how many?’ And the Pitt was really successful, after a bit of a false start.
“But Broken Steel is the one that… everyone has been bugging us the most about, because it removes the ending and changes the level cap and lets you play more in that world.
“I think it’s going to be hugely, hugely popular.”
Well, that was fast. Bethesda has just announced a new Fallout game, titled Fallout: New Vegas, at its London showcase today.
The game will be in the same style as Fallout 3, an open world RPG. Fallout: New Vegas is currently set for a 2010 release for PC, 360, and PS3, and is currently being developed by Obsidian Entertainment.
The choice of developer, Obsidian Entertainment, is an interesting move by Bethesda to make. Obsidian Entertainment is made up of a number of staff from the now defunct Black Isle Studios, who were heavily involved in the development of the first two Fallout games.
This is going to be one to watch. We’ll keep you updated.
As some of you might know, the second Fallout DLC to be released – The Pitt – was released containing a ton of bugs and glitches. Developer Bethesda pulled the content from Xbox Live, fixed it, then re-released it.
But as it turns out, it’s still broken, according to Bethesda themselves:
Since The Pitt went back up on Xbox LIVE last Wednesday, we’ve received feedback that some folks were experiencing freezing issues while trying to access The Pitt. We’re working with Microsoft to get a version of The Pitt up that corrects the aforementioned freezing issue. Once the content is up and available, we’ll let you know.
We’d like to thank all our fans who generously and methodically reported what they were seeing on our official forums, via email and on this blog. This data was immensely helpful in tracking down these issues.
Thanks again to everyone for their support, patience and feedback.
[UPDATE] Bethesda has just responded to the issue:
“As of now it looks like the file for the English version on Xbox Live was somehow corrupted. We are currently working with Microsoft to remove the existing file off of Live to prevent any further downloads. Our plan is to replace it with a new file as soon as possible. We hope to have another update for you shortly.”
Consider this an advance warming; if you were considering downloading the latest Fallout 3 expansion pack “The Pitt”… don’t!
Countless reports have been coming from all of the internet of major crashes, bugs and strange problems with the new DC, including warped textures, constant freezing issues, and giant exclamation points appearing all over the place.
“Textures and graphics are glitchy and bugged. There are these box exclamation points all over The Pitt map. I think someone screwed up because it’s completely bugged out. It’s like not playable after the bridge because it freezes. If you manage to get past the bridge part you’re pretty much in glitch city. Good Luck.”
This appears to be problem in all downloads, so your safest bet for now would be to leave it alone until Bethesda fixes the problem. We’re contacting them now for some clarification, and we’ll keep you updated.
Bethesda Softworks owners Zenimax ZeniMax Media announced in a press release today that it was entering the next phase of a large recruitment drive for staff on a planned MMO by the company.
“We’ve added some great people to the team so far and continue to look for experienced, talented developers in all areas to join the team and help us create the next great MMOG,” said Matt Firor, president of ZeniMax Online Studios.
Nothing about the game is known, its franchise (an Elder Scrolls MMORPG, perhaps), the number of staff on the project, or when it would be released.
For now, we’re just going to have to speculate.
A lot of people know, that once you’ve finished Fallout 3, that’s it, no more continuing the game, or doing side quests.
All that is about to be changed with a new patch. 360 and PC gamers will now be able to continue playing the game’s quests (and the new DLC, obviously) even after the game’s ending, thanks to the new patch.
What about the PS3? When asked if PS3 players will get the same patch Tod Howard, the game’s executive producer, replied:
“Not at this time, no.”
It sucks to be a PS3 Fallout player right about now.
Although the Fallout 3 1.10 patch fixes a larger number of bugs and glitches, reports have been coming into us from gamers (as well as on the official forums) that this patch has also introduced some new problems, most commonly on the PS3. See below for the full details.
After applying the patch, some players’ saved games have been reported to be missing items – including but not limited to keys for important locations, on random occasions. Furthermore, some gamers have noticed that the game has an increased chance of freezing after loading an area.
[UPDATE] Gamers have bee reporting some problems with the new patch.
Bethesda confirmed today that the first in a series of three Fallout 3 DLC packs, Operation: Anchorage, will be available from the Live Marketplace, on 360 and PC, on January 27th.
Operation: Anchorage will set gamers back 800 Microsoft Points, and will allow players to enter a simulations of “one of the greatest battles of the Fallout universe”, the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska from invading Red Chinese troops in the late 21st century. It will introduce a new squad-based combat system to the game, and includes a number of extensive new quests and new achievements.
Bethesda has also released a patch in preparation for the expansion pack, which also fixes a host of existing bugs and glitches.
PC gamers can dowload the patch from here, whilst PS3 and 360 owners can download the patch simply by loading up the game whilst logged onto the internet with their consoles.
You can read the full list of patch changes after the cut.
