Bethesda to develop and publish Fallout 3

[Otis]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040712/dem038_1.html

Interplay Announces Fallout 3 Licensing Deal With Bethesda
Monday July 12, 4:00 pm ET


IRVINE, Calif., July 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Interplay Entertainment Corp. (OTC Bulletin Board: IPLY - News) today reported it has entered into a licensing agreement that will allow Bethesda Softworks to develop and publish Fallout 3, a sequel to the highly popular Fallout role-playing game franchise. The deal awards Bethesda exclusive worldwide rights to publish the title for PC, console, and handhelds with the rights to develop and publish future sequels. Interplay retains all online gaming rights for the Fallout franchise, as well as ownership of the Fallout intellectual property. The company announced last month its intent to enter into Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming with titles including Fallout.
 
Commenting on the announcement, Interplay Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Herve Caen said, "This is a good agreement for both companies and for gamers. Although we had a high level of interest in licensing Fallout among several parties, we are most impressed by Bethesda's execution of role-playing titles. Bethesda is an ideal steward of the Fallout franchise."

"We're extremely excited about this opportunity and what it means both for Bethesda and for Fallout fans around the world," said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. "Fallout is one of the great RPG franchises. Millions of Fallout games have been sold worldwide, and fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of a Fallout 3 title.

Bethesda Softworks, one of the premier creators of entertainment software, has been producing quality games since it was founded in 1986. As part of the ZeniMax Media Inc. family, Bethesda has won every major national and international software award for its sports, action, and role-playing games.

Interplay Entertainment Corp. is a leading developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software for both core gamers and the mass market. Interplay currently balances its development efforts by publishing for personal computers as well as current and next generation video game consoles. Interplay releases products through Interplay, Black Isle Studios and its distribution partners.

This comes to me, at least, as outstanding (and surprising) news. While there's always cause for concern when any license gets handed off to a different developer, I've always held immense respect for Bethesda's approach and care when creating their RPGs. Here's hoping they can extend the same for the Fallout setting.

[Rasix]

If it ends up being in first person, I will eat the first born of each developer that even breathed on the game. If they turn this into a post apocolypic Morrowind, I WILL GET VERY STABBY.  

Sorry, I'm just a bit skeptical that the game studio that perfected empty repetitive dungeons and fed ex quests up the wazooo can pull of a good Fallout game.  The game has to be very very plot driven and written by people that aren't complete gibbering retards.

On the other hand, if they can manage to keep the game true to it's core while fixing some of the inefficiencies that plagued the first two titles in the series, I will shower them with baked goods and praise.

[Sky]

One thing is for certain, good or bad, you'll hear the bitching here.

[HaemishM]

Wait... Interplay, a publisher in their own right, is either 1) getting paid to let Bethesda develop and publish a game or 2) paying Bethesda to develop and then publish a Fallout 3 game.

If I was Bethesda, I'd have told Interplay to go fuck themselves unless they were willing to sell me the IP rights to Fallout lock, stock and barrel. Of course, depending on how much Bethesda has to pay, this may be a good thing. A few months' salaries, probably. Just long enough to sucker... I mean cut a deal with some idiot investor to pay for development on the Fallout MMOG.

How the fuck do people this stupid stay in business?

[Otis]

Yeah, I wholly agree that a first-player, real-time Fallout just wouldn't feel like Fallout. Ditto for the extremely open-ended nature of the Elder Scrolls games not really matching up so well with Fallout's focused story. I have confidence that the people at Bethesda can tell a good, elaborate story, but at the same time it cannot be in the same format as used in TES if they want to market to the same fanbase. (Morrowind, afterall, had an overwhelming amount of content in backstory, dialogue, and literature--but it was in a discombobulated arrangement, all of it.)

I would hope that Bethesda can respect the originals enough to remain faithful to their design concepts, since these are what players returning to the series are going to be looking for in the first place. Additionally, it doesn't seem wise to copy TES's approach to the RPG--they still have TES IV to release sometime in the future.

[geldonyetich]

Bethesda could do Fallout.   Seadogs and The Elder Scrolls are radically different.   It doesn't have to be first person at all so far as Bethesda's talents are concerned.

Of course, the Elder Scrolls and Seadogs are notorious for being games with fantastic scope and equally fantastic lists of bugs attached to them.

So I'm expecting a hella impressive Fallout implementation rife with bugs.

Hmm, I wonder if they did decide to do Fallout 3, Morrowind Style, if I could forgive them if they include with it a fantastic world editing kit.

[HRose]

J. posted the link:

HomeLAN - How much input will Interplay have in the development of Fallout 3? Can they say "yes" or "no" to things like game design, story, etc?

Pete Hines - We have complete creative control over the development of the game.

HomeLAN - Will any team members from the previous Fallout games be involved in Fallout 3?

Pete Hines - Too early to talk about stuff like that.

HomeLAN - Ok. Final question..has development of Fallout 3 actually begun and can you give us any idea of a release date?

Pete Hines - I'll take the last one first. WAY too early to talk release dates. Yeah, we've started pre-production on Fallout 3 development.

[Rasix]

t
So I'm expecting a hella impressive Fallout implementation rife with bugs.

It wouldn't be Fallout if it didn't have a plethora of incredibly annoying bugs upon release.

Hmm, I wonder if they did decide to do Fallout 3, Morrowind Style, if I could forgive them if they include with it a fantastic world editing kit.

Good construction tools don't make up for a shitty game, no matter how you slice it.  NWN has a nice toolkit, but at least their 2 expansions' single player content didn't blow donky dong like their initial offering.  I'd wager about 0.5% of someone that buys a game with a great construction set actually buys it for the construction set.  Probably about a quarter of them will even produce anything. (numbers pulled neatly out of my posterior)

Anyhow, unless they go for the obvious shortcut and give us "Fallout 3: We Promise No Cliffracers!", this game is minimum 2-3 years off.  We should save our hate, doubt and disappointment so we can have some once they produce something as heinous as DE2.

[WayAbvPar]

Of course, the Elder Scrolls and Seadogs are notorious for being games with fantastic scope and equally fantastic lists of bugs attached to them.

I like their 'reach for the stars' attitude, but they could definitely schedule some more QA time into the development cycle. As well as more content playtesting; any play tester who wasn't comatose would have had "GET RID OF THE FUCKING CLIFF RACERS KTHX" written in blood at the top of every bug report.

I don't think is bad news at all. Better than "No Fallout 3. Ever."

[Otis]

Bethesda could do Fallout.   Seadogs and The Elder Scrolls are radically different.   It doesn't have to be first person at all so far as Bethesda's talents are concerned.

For the record, I believe it was actually Akella that developed Seadogs 1&2 and Bethesda just published them.

[geldonyetich]

Right you are.  That does poke a minor hole in my optimism.

However, Bethesda has developed several games in the past.  Most of them were somewhat crappy (hello Redgard, Terminal Future Shock!) but the thing is they've got experience.    It's not like Morrowind was lousy on a technical level, even though the gameplay needed another couple months of refinement.

From what we're reading here, Interplay (what's left of them) will be heavily involved in the development of Fallout 3 as well.   Of course, when we've got both Lionheart and (I forgot the name of that one sierra developed fantasy/steampunk game) "Developed by the makers of Fallout" it's fairly clear that a certain amount of Fallout talent was no longer with Interplay.

[Trippy]

From what we're reading here, Interplay (what's left of them) will be heavily involved in the development of Fallout 3 as well.   Of course, when we've got both Lionheart and (I forgot the name of that one sierra developed fantasy/steampunk game) "Developed by the makers of Fallout" it's fairly clear that a certain amount of Fallout talent was no longer with Interplay.

That was Arcanum by Trokia Games, Tim Cain's company.

[SurfD]

I believe the sierra game you are thinking of was Arcanum.

Unfortunately, from my limited experience with it, it was the single most UGLY looking game I have ever head the displeasure of playing.  It may have had a great story, interesting gameplay, and whatever else, but cripes, I have seen 16 bit console RPG's that looked better then that.  It was juut downright hideous looking.

And I dont even consider myself to be much of a graphics whore either, but when your game is so bad it makes origional diablo look good, you know you have problems.

[Rasix]

The game was also buggy, the combat system sucked and the plot kinda blew as well.

Yah, I bash Arcanum every time I get a chance. It really was a horrible underachievement.

[Jain Zar]

The good news is the RPGcodex guys and all the big Fallout sites will be whining, crying, screaming, and generally making themselves more annoying and in your face than any sane gamer will be able to stand.  

Yet again, I will be completely embarrassed to be a fan of Fallout..  :(

[Krakrok]

I'd wager about 0.5% of someone that buys a game with a great construction set actually buys it for the construction set.  Probably about a quarter of them will even produce anything.

Who DIDN'T buy NWN for the construnction set? Raise your hand so I know who to laugh at.

I'd be happy with just multiplayer Fallout: The Construction Set.

[geldonyetich]

Hmm, if I had a copy of photoshop I'd locate the box art from the old "Racing Destruction Set" (a commadore 64 game) and modify it to say "Fallout Construction Set".  Throw a mutant and laserchain or two on the front and I'd have a new avatar.

[Sable Blaze]

Fallout 3 is more than I could have hoped for.

However...I hope to GOD they don't use that miserable piece of garbage known as the NetImmerse engine. A pox on that tumor. A pox, I say!

[ajax34i]

Well, I guess that Bethesda, at this point, has at least the reputation that it can make ONE kind of game, and perhaps what they're looking for is to convince the public that they're not a one-hit-wonder.

We'll see what happens; they've barely started on it.

[Alluvian]

IMO, bethesda has never made a good game.  Ever.  I hated all the elder scrolls games, and those are the only rpgs I can think of that they actually developed.  Daggerfall alone should have been enough to have them flayed and murdered.  Morrowind was bland and soulless with the worst player avatars I have ever seen in a modern game.  Scratch that, tied with Arx Fatalis.

[Riggswolfe]

While I enjoyed Morrowind (the first single player MMO!) and Daggerfall they didn't have much in the way of interaction. Fallout lives and dies by the hilarious NPC interactions and other trademarks. This is perhaps my one and only worry. If the NPCs are the static Morrowind kind Fallout3 will not be any fun.

[schild]

Odds are Bethsoft bid on Fallout 3 so they could continue the tradition of fallout games. They are a more than decent company to do this. I mean who else would you have wanted to do it? Obsidian can't with their Star Wars licenses. Bioware would have used the Aurora engine, which just wouldn't have been good, at all. I'm content with them making it. Hell, I'm content anyone is making it.

[daveNYC]

Odds are Bethsoft bid on Fallout 3 so they could continue the tradition of fallout games. They are a more than decent company to do this. I mean who else would you have wanted to do it? Obsidian can't with their Star Wars licenses. Bioware would have used the Aurora engine, which just wouldn't have been good, at all. I'm content with them making it. Hell, I'm content anyone is making it.

Now you have me thinking what a Fallout themed KOTOR type game would have been like.

[Sky]

While I enjoyed Morrowind (the first single player MMO!) and Daggerfall they didn't have much in the way of interaction. Fallout lives and dies by the hilarious NPC interactions and other trademarks. This is perhaps my one and only worry. If the NPCs are the static Morrowind kind Fallout3 will not be any fun.

Glass half full: Maybe this will help them learn to make better npcs and The Elder Scrolls will benefit.

['ST]

Odds are Bethsoft bid on Fallout 3 so they could continue the tradition of fallout games. They are a more than decent company to do this. I mean who else would you have wanted to do it? Obsidian can't with their Star Wars licenses. Bioware would have used the Aurora engine, which just wouldn't have been good, at all. I'm content with them making it. Hell, I'm content anyone is making it.

Well, Troika has two of the main people from Fallout 1, Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky.  They were instrumental in making the decisions that made Fallout what it became.  Also, Troika apparently had the highest bid for the rights to make Fallout 3 before Bethesda came in.  Tim Cain had been talking ever since F3 was canned at Interplay that he'd love to do Fallout 3.  They were poised to do it until Bethesda came in.

I'm hesistant.  I'd rather that Troika could have made it, but I'd like to see where Bethesda is going.  I couldn't get into Morriwind; I tried playing it several times, but I would only get so many hours into it before getting bored.  Nothing grabs you; it feels like I'm in a vast, static, unorganic world.  Tons of people liked Morrowind, but I prefer Gothic, a game that many can't get into, because it had such a compelling sense of atmosphere and very compelling, distinct characters.

I guess I'm just hesitant about trusting Bethesda to create a deep, dynamic world that reacts to player choices.  I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, though.  I suppose we'll hear some design elements after they figure them out.

Edit: Just as a caveat, Bethsoft didn't know about any other bidders.  Further, they apparently have been wanting to do Fallout for years because they thought they could do it well.  That, at least, gives me some hope.

[Sky]

I also liked Gothic better, even with the wonky controls and inventory.

[Rodent]

I also liked Gothic better, even with the wonky controls and inventory.

People keep saying this, what's wrong with the standard wsad and a mouseclick to pick things up?

Hrm... Now I'm stuck thinking what would F3 look like if Piranha Bytes made it? Strange southern voice actors and lots and lots of weed? Hey, it might just work!

[Comstar]

Hey it could be worse. It could be Serek Dmart threating to buy it, but it looks like he's just after the Freespace brandname.

(Found off Corpnews)

[daveNYC]

Hey it could be worse. It could be Serek Dmart threating to buy it, but it looks like he's just after the Freespace brandname.

(Found off Corpnews)

Fuck me.  Listen, if Smart can get together enough cash to make a play for the Freespace IP, we should be able to get enough scratch together to have him killed.

[WayAbvPar]

Hey it could be worse. It could be Serek Dmart threating to buy it, but it looks like he's just after the Freespace brandname.

(Found off Corpnews)

Fuck me.  Listen, if Smart can get together enough cash to make a play for the Freespace IP, we should be able to get enough scratch together to have him killed.

I think it would be more fun to stick him in Magneto's cell from X2 and then slowly scroll message boards past him on the walls, with no way for him to respond.