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Fallout 3 Launches Amidst Controversy

Posted by Soulskill on from the or-fallout-one-might-say dept.

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.

2 of 397 comments (clear)

  1. That's all great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    But why are they using paying PC customers as beta testers?

    If you look at the forums, there are hundreds of people that can't play because of crashes, installation issues and other nasty problems.

    The PC version should have obviously been delayed and tested, now more than 50% (judging by the forums) of people can't even play the game.

    This is following the disaster that is Far Cry 2 for the exact same reasons.

    Enough with the rushed console ports! When you release something, release it in a working state!

    Especially if you expect people to pay for it, and support you in the future.

  2. I still won't get it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    The ability to kill children was this game's primary appeal to me. The design decision to remove it totatally killed my only reason for buying this game.

    *sigh*

    I guess I will have to get my child-killing fix in some other way...