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Fallout Online Website Arises Amid Legal Battle

Rumors of a Fallout MMO have been swirling for years, made all the more credible by hints from the legal battle between Bethesda and Interplay over licensing for the franchise. Now, Interplay has quietly created a teaser website for Fallout Online, offering beta sign-ups. Quoting Massively: "Currently, there isn't much there, just a brief glimpse at a workshop desk with various Fallout references to the Master, Brahmin, and Nuka-Cola before a form obscures the screen. ... It looks legit, too: Interplay is promoting Fallout Online from their main website, and the new teaser site is indeed registered to Interplay Entertainment Corp."

16 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by zerospeaks · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well it looks like InterPlay is trying to make a come back. GOOD! I say. Once upon a time Interplay was awesome.

    --
    http://wwww.zerospeaks.com
    1. Re:Well... by Qantravon · · Score: 2

      Interplay WAS awesome. Some of the best games of the 90's were Interplay. And they managed to put out a few good Star Trek games, which alone wins a degree of my loyalty. Here's hoping it pulls through and is awesome.

      I signed up for the beta literally seconds after finding out about the site.

    2. Re:Well... by Enderandrew · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Interplay had some great development houses. The upper-level management of Interplay screwed them, didn't pay their bills and ran into bankruptcy. Those developers have all gone elsewhere. Interplay barely exists in name and is clinging to IP they own. They want to make a comeback, but without good developers they are nothing.

      They've been talking Fallout Online for probably 5 years with absolutely nothing to show for it.

      --
      http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
  2. Re:Post Apocalypse by zwei2stein · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You might be interested in this: http://fonline2238.blogspot.com/

    --
    -- Technology for the sake of technology is as pathetic as eschewing technology because it's technology.
  3. Re:New MMO's by Thrymm · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What "precedence" did WoW set for MMO's except make getting to max level easy, and raid content an almost given win even if a few people couldn't play their way out of a tin can?

    EQ, UO set precedences, WoW dumbed things down, but has better graphics and youtube rage videos.

  4. Re:Interplay or Bethesda's website? by mlk · · Score: 3, Informative

    Bethesda bought Fallout® from Interplay but as part of this deal Interplay retained the licence to create a Fallout® MMO.

    Fallout® belongs to Bethesda, but the MMO part is Interplay.

    --
    Wow, I should not post when knackered.
  5. Re:Not ready for public yet? by thomst · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wanted to sign up but the page doesn't seem to work.

    That's because you haven't completed the quest, yet.

    --
    Check out my novel.
  6. Re:New MMO's by delinear · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't be churlish - no matter what you may think of the game, the precedent of WoW was bringing the MMO to the masses (even the non-gaming masses and media), and that's what GP is talking about. No matter how good FO is (and god I hope it's good), it will struggle to put a dent in WoW's numbers, we just have to hope the bottom line is profitable enough that it doesn't get canned before it gets a chance to take off.

  7. Re:New MMO's by Luckyo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What "precedence" did WoW set for MMO's except make getting to max level easy, and raid content an almost given win even if a few people couldn't play their way out of a tin can?

    EQ, UO set precedences, WoW dumbed things down, but has better graphics and youtube rage videos.

    WoW set the precedence that MMO can function on it's end-game content rather then leveling, and then did what blizzard always does - polished the hell out of it, making so that no one comes even close. This is why pretty much all other MMO's largely die off a few months after release now - leveling part ends, and people notice that end-game is non-existent in comparison to WoW, both in quality and in quantity. So you have massive influx of new players at start, they spend a few months leveling, and then they go back to WoW once again appreciating just how good they have it in WoW.

    As for difficulty, mind you, if you seriously think that you can take heroic Lich King on, all's good for you. Most servers in the world still don't have ANYONE who downed him. Hell, many still struggle with heroic Putricide, which isn't nearly as hard and vast majority of players is barely doing any hard modes. So yes, it's hard, unless you count top five percentile, and call everyone else dumb.

  8. Re:Not ready for public yet? by mcvos · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Fallout Tactics? Please. No, Fallout 2 for me. But really, FO1, FO2, it's a close call. They both had more than their fair share of really cool bits. Maybe FO1 was more fun during the second half of the game. Hm...

    In any case, I signed up for the beta (from Netherland).

  9. They did not dumb things down by aepervius · · Score: 4, Insightful

    they lowered the grinding, they opened MMO to a much wider non-fanatical-hardcore audience. The only people I ever hear saying they dumbed it down, are the one which think grinding 10231312 mobs for an uber armour or grinding 21312 hours for a level is "skill". Face it, in NO MMO whatsoever there is any skill. You need skill for chess, you need skill for throwing a disk far away, you don't need skill for an MMO, you only need to read what previous tactic-of-the-month was developped by one person and use it for your own grinding, or you need to read what wiki or previous person found as tactic for a mob. There isn't much to think about. I have done all role in many MMO (except UO, all major MMO since EQ) and they are not a game of skill, they are games of patience with trickle reward.

    --
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    1. Re:They did not dumb things down by XMode · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Welcome to eve. Where if you think someone is doing better than you, kill him and take his stuff.

  10. Re:Post Apocalypse by X0563511 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... words cannot describe how much thanks I send your way...

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  11. Re:New MMO's by X0563511 · · Score: 3, Funny

    lol, I never managed to push myself past level 50. I always got stuck trying to beat heroic Yawnmeister.

    --
    For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
  12. Re:New MMO's by wildstoo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Caveat: I never played UO, but I bought EQ just after its launch and played for years.

    Maybe WoW's precedent is that all content should be available to almost all players, not just the unemployed catasses who can afford to grind 16 hours a day.

    WoW's success stems from the designers' decision to make most content accessible to the majority, rather than the minority of players. Yes, that means that some stuff is easier, takes less time and less "skill" (though i'd argue there was, if you look at it objectively, less skill involved in EQ's gameplay than in WoW).

    Your argument basically boils down to the "catass" or "hardcore raider" argument; the elitist view that only those who can dedicate the majority of their time to the game deserve to see the high-end content. That attitude just won't fly in 2010. I don't see the harm in giving people easier versions of the same raid with lesser rewards. As someone who doesn't want to spend 8 hours a night raiding, that's a very good thing.

    At the moment, even most "hardcore" guilds are still trying to get their first Lich King 25 Heroic Kill, a feat still only within the grasp of a tiny fraction of the playerbase. If you're not one of those people, don't complain that the raid content is "too easy" or "a given win".

    EQ's "vision" didn't align with what most players actually wanted from an MMO, but thanks to being "the only game in town" for a large part of its lifespan, it maintained its popularity.

    What WoW did was show the world that not only could MMOs be "casual-friendly", there was no harm in giving the players what they wanted (a lesson EQ learned only after everyone stopped playing).

    Don't get me wrong, I liked EQ and had a lot of fun playing it. But ask me which MMO I'd rather play today and, nostalgia aside, it's WoW every time.

  13. Re:OT: Old school Interplay cred - fail by mcvos · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There's no shame in being worse than Planescape Torment. Everything is.

    Baldur's Gate was not as good as Fallout either, but still pretty good.