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Rumor: Bethesda Looking to Buy Valve?

Nathan Grayson — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:11:29 -0500

If you just dropped a massive chunk of change on Doom creator id Software, what would you do next? Huh? Did you just say “Buy Valve”? No? No takers? Yeah, we’re not exactly waving our hands about and shouting “called it” on this one either. But, according to the latest stink-raising piece of scuttlebutt over at Eurogamer, Bethesda could very well be in the market for the house that Gordon Freeman built.

“However, it's also worth watching closely what happens to Steam in the coming months. Unconfirmed industry scuttlebutt suggests that Zenimax - the parent company of Bethesda, which made headlines back in June when it acquired legendary PC studio id Software - is still on the acquisition trail, and has been making eyes at Half-Life creators Valve across the bar,” reads the article.

We’ve contacted both Valve and Bethesda for comment, but so far, our questions remain unanswered. We’ll be sure to let you know if we hear more.

Bethesda Drops Legal Bomb on Interplay over Fallout MMO

Nathan Grayson — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:23:57 -0500

Another day, another videogame-related legal battle. This time, it’s Bethesda that’s putting on its hockey mask and revving up the litigation machine while Interplay attempts to avoid paying an arm and a leg in return for what Bethesda calls “willful infringement.”

The gist of it goes like this: Current Fallout publisher Bethesda says that Interplay never acquired the proper rights to re-release earlier Fallout games digitally or in any other form. Interplay, who sold the Fallout series to Bethesda back in 2007, has been distributing Fallouts 1, 2, and Tactics for quite a while now – apparently against Bethesda’s will.

Bethesda’s also taking aim at Interplay’s still-unconfirmed Fallout MMO, supposedly codenamed “Project V13.” As part of an agreement, Interplay was supposed to have raised $30 million and entered “full-scale development” on the game by April 4, 2009. Bethesda contends that Interplay failed to reach this milestone, thereby terminating the agreement.

Interplay, however, claims that everything’s fine and dandy as far as the agreement’s concerned, and that Bethesda had no reason to terminate. Bethesda, meanwhile, also takes issue with Interplay’s unapproved Project V13 funding agreement with Masthead Studios. To this, Interplay simply replied that V13 is a different project, separate from its Fallout MMO.

And that’s only the short version of this extremely convoluted tale. If you’d like to know more and have nothing better to do for, oh, the next 4,234 years, you can read all about it here.

Interplay’s Fallout MMO Close to Being Autoaxed by Bethesda

Nathan Grayson — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:11:13 -0500

A giant world of post-apocalyptic intrigue – bombed and obliterated to perfection by Fallout lead designer Chris Taylor, no less – seems like an excellent setting for an MMO, no? So it’s with a heavy heart that we bring you word of said MMO’s potential cancellation, courtesy of the dream-destroyers over at Bethesda – who may or may not be within their rights to drop the axe.

See, back when Bethesda first nabbed the Fallout property from Interplay’s hobbling, not-quite-dead-yet form, Interplay retained the right to develop a Fallout MMO – but only under the condition that it somehow amass $30 million and enter full scale development within two years. That agreement was made two years ago. Unfortunately, Bethesda’s calendars seem to be in working order.

“Interplay recently received notice that Bethesda Softworks, LLC (‘Bethesda’) intends to terminate the trademark license agreement between Bethesda and Interplay which was entered into April 4, 2007 for the development of FALLOUT MMOG. Despite the fact that no formal action is currently pending, Bethesda claims that Interplay is in breach of the trademark license agreement for failure to commence full scale development of same by April 4, 2009 and to secure certain funding for the MMOG,” reads an Interplay performance report.

“Interplay adamantly disputes these claims. Although the potential damages are currently unknown, if Bethesda ultimately prevails and cancels the trademark license agreement, Interplay would lose its license back of the ‘Fallout’ MMOG and any damages resulting therefrom are unknown at this time.”

According to a recent SEC filing, Interplay entered 2009 with little more than tumbleweeds in its bank account, so things aren’t exactly looking good. Then again, the potentially penniless publisher recently entered into a partnership with Masthead Studios, so at least something’s brewing over there.

Here’s hoping – and really, this is about the only time we’ll ever come to our deity of choice with this particular wish – this terrifying vision of the nuclear apocalypse eventually sees the disheartening, gray light of day.

Fallout 3

Will Smith — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:15:58 -0600

No one makes a big open-world role-playing game like Bethesda. That’s what the Elder Scrolls games are famous for, and that’s what the company has brought to the post-nuclear-holocaust milieu of Fallout 3. The game takes you to the world outside Vault 101, the charred remains of the Washington D.C. metro area 200 years after the nukes flew. Truly, Bethesda has built an amazing world.

And this world is the star of the game. Fallout 3 is massive—closer to a single-player MMO than a traditional, linear single-player RPG. As you explore the Wasteland, which surrounds D.C., you’ll meet hundreds of people, many of whom have their own stories to tell, and find hundreds of locations to explore. These range from fully fledged towns to survivalist outposts to ammo caches to camps for the various factions that populate the land. As in Oblivion, you control your progress through the game. Should you choose to skip the main quest, you can explore the world and look for adventure, completing quests and reaping the rewards along the way.

The combat system is equally astounding. Fallout 3 lets you switch between the VATS and a real-time system that’s closer to what you’d find in a first-person shooter. In the real-time mode, you point your weapon at the target and fire. Hits are registered on different areas of the enemies’ bodies, doing different amounts of damage based on such factors as accuracy, movement speed, and environmental awareness. VATS mode lets you target and queue your shots at specific areas of the enemies’ bodies—legs, head, arms, torso, etc.—as well as increase the chance of a crit, which will do extra damage. The catch is that you can queue only a limited number of shots in VATS mode at once. Each VATS shot costs AP, which regenerates slowly over time. Successful players will end up using a combination of VATS and real-time combat. Both of which are very satisfying.

The world is astounding, there are dozens of side quests, and the combat is fun. Unfortunately, Fallout 3 is far from perfect. This may sound a bit whiny, but the main quest just doesn’t feel special. Part of the problem is that the side quests are universally of a very high quality. Still, we expect the main quest to deliver the most drama, excitement, and wonder in the game, and it doesn’t.

Our other complaints are more technical. The first is that the game has a very low level cap. While the level 20 cap ensures that our characters never became godlike, we reached the cap after only a few hours of play, which removed much of our opportunity for character advancement. The big problem, however, is stability. Fallout 3 crashes more than any other AAA title we’ve played in the last year. Were the game stable, it would undoubtedly receive a Kick Ass award. As it is, we can’t give it more than an 8.

GOG Weekend Deal Does 15% Extra Damage against RPGs

Nathan Grayson — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:04:09 -0600

Well, select RPGs, anyway. Still though, this weekend’s Good Old Games promotion trims the pointy edges off quite the haul of excellent role-playing games. Standouts include Fallouts 1, 2, and Tactics, Arx Fatalis and Gothic.

In order to reap the sale’s benefits, you need only peruse GOG’s list, drop selected games into your cart, and enter the promo code “PROMO1” for 15% off whichever RPGs you purchase. Or not. Alternatively, you can damn The Man and his Rules by ignoring the list and forcing the promo code to dance its wicked, mostly forbidden mating ritual with random games until you find something that works. It’s your promo code now; use it however you please!

The deal ends at 23:59 EDT on Monday. Follow the link for the full list of applicable games – but only if you’re a total bore and a bit of a killjoy.

Good Old Games Adds Unreal Series, Keeps Things DRM-Free

Nathan Grayson — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:45:22 -0600

With the phrase now appended to read, "I'd rather get a root canal while playing a DRM'ed game [than date/know/look at you]," the time is right to take a stand against DRM -- and also brush the dust off a few classic games in the process. So, if you haven't already, definitely point your web browser in Good Old Games' direction. Especially now that the totally DRM-free service has added Epic's Unreal series to its ranks.

Already, Unreal Gold and Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition are offering their services in exchange for low, low prices, with Unreal II: The Awakening and Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor's Choice Edition arriving "in the coming weeks."

"We know that a lot of gamers have been waiting for new deals," said GOG managing director Adam Oldakowski. "We're sure that the Unreal games will satisfy their lust for alien blood and intense multiplayer action... DRM-free, of course."

GoG also boasts games like Fallout, Gothic, and MDK, for prices ranging from $5.99-$9.99. Now go check it out! Show publishers that you'll be good boys and girls -- even without DRM's far-too-watchful eye looming heavy. If nothing else, it's a much more effective statement than complaining in our comments section (which we still encourage!).

Bethesda: Elder Scrolls V to Arrive in 2010

Nathan Grayson — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:22:05 -0500

Dust hasn't even began to think about settling around Fallout 3's cushy new spot on store shelves, but developer Bethesda already has the coordinates set for its next megaton's drop date. According to publishing exec Paul Oughton, Bethesda plans on releasing another title in its sprawling, freeform Elder Scrolls series of RPGs -- in only two years, no less.

"At the moment we've got Fallout 3 for this year and potentially there's a new Elder Scrolls title in 2010," said Oughton.

So, there's the "what" and "when," but how about the "where"?

"At the moment we're not that interested in the Wii. We're going to stick to PS3, Xbox 360 and PC," he noted, giving gamers everywhere one less thing to worry about.

Considering Fallout 3's boundless expanses, as well as Bethesda's potential plans for dog armor, d'awwwwdorable dog feet pajamas, and other downloadable things of the like, 2010 sounds like the perfect time to unravel a new Elder Scrolls. We do have one question, though: how can you follow up expeditions into and subsequent ass-kicking of hell itself? Kind of nuked the fridge there, we think.