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Fallout 3 Launches Amidst Controversy
Earlier this week, Bethesda released Fallout 3 after a long campaign of defending and protecting the game's reputation from claims that it contained inappropriate content. Ads for the game in Washington DC's subway system were pulled after they upset some touchy travelers over the depiction of post-apocalyptic Washington landmarks. Shortly before the game's release, early trailers were removed as well. Earlier this year, the game was banned in Australia for its in-game use of morphine, causing the drug's name to be changed to Med-X. On the issue of sensitive content, Bethesda's Emil Pagliarulo wrote in Edge Magazine about the design decision to disallow the killing of children in the game. Gamasutra ran an opinion piece on the same subject, and the Washington Post discusses the role of Washington DC in Fallout 3. On the DRM front, the game does come with SecuROM, but Bethesda says it's only used for a disc check. Reviews for the game have been overwhelmingly positive so far, despite reports of bugs with the save system and occasional lock-ups.
Whoa whoa whoa, who said the ads were pulled? I was just in Metro Center yesterday and I can assure you, the Red line platform is still decked out with "Vault Life" and pictures of the Capitol and Washington Monument in apocalyptic splendor.
Even the article quoted only references a letter to the editor saying the ads should be pulled, nothing says they were.
I agree there is some controversy, but lets not go too far.
Funny thing. The SecuRom is only on the launcher. You can instead use the setup.exe on the DVD, which is clean, to install the game. Then use Fallout3.exe instead of FalloutLauncher.exe to run the game. You don't even need to have the disc in the drive that way.
Bethesda hasn't been evil so much as plain silly on this one...
should be, why didn't they finish the game?
For an RPG it has huge immersion breaking holes in it. You can shoot someone's bodyguard right in front of their eyes, strip their store of everything not nailed down, and they'll still greet you with "Oh, hi, you're the new guy! So nice to meet you!" less than a second later.
Save a guy's life? He'll be eternally grateful during the scripted conversation afterwards. Talk to him again immediately after the event ends and he might go "Speak punk, before I put a bullet in you".
It's almost as if Bethesda never made one of these games before. Or never thought of a concept like a state machine for the conversation/reaction trees. I find it quite baffling.
This thing is begging for an enhanced edition like Witcher got. I bet it won't get it though :(