Worried that Fallout 3 may be a little too dumbed down for your tastes, PC fans? Course you are. The same allegations were levelled against Oblivion, if I remember correctly. Bethesda would have heard your cries, but the sound of millions of dollars in Oblivion sales kinda drowned you out. As for Fallout 3, no, they're not worried about dumbing down a PC game for console gamers at all. Well, they are, but they're equally worried about making a game too complex for console gamers! Classic rock/hard place scenario. Fallout 3 lead Emil Pagliarulo isn't worried about rocks or hard places, however, telling Next-Gen:

People like myself and some people that work here actually grew up as hardcore PC guys, and now we're older, we have kids, we don't have that much time, so we've transitioned. We're console players now.

But we still have those PC game sensibilities. Those are the games we like. So I think BioShock has a little bit of that too. You can definitely feel the old System Shock roots in that game. So hopefully there's a trend there.

Gamasutra currently has an in-depth interview with Bethesda marketing VP Pete Hines all about Fallout 3 and just how the team plans to meet sky-high expectations for the game. Hines says that while you can't please 'em all, they try to think of the fans as much as they can:

I think that we do have a pretty good understanding what all of the different sections of our fan base are interested in, but it comes back to the thing of, you know, gotta make the game that we think is the best. Certainly, try and take those things into consideration, but there are people in the office who spend 14, 16, 18 hours a day making this game, and sometimes, if you're going to break a tie, you go with our instincts.

The virtual worlds within RPGs are getting bigger by the day, but as an ex-girlfriend once asked us, how big is too big? Fallout 3 is reportedly building a world that, off the cuff, is about 50%-80% the size of Bethesda's last opus, Oblivion. While I enjoy exploring as much as the next guy, given the size of Oblivion, that 50%-80% sounds plenty big to me.

But what would you prefer, to explore humongous, varied worlds with a little content in each place, or a smaller, more compact world with more a higher quest/location ratio?

Fallout 3 [Gameplayer via GamingToday]

It's always interesting when designers disclose what they are playing, and Bethesda recently listed a boatload of games their team was playing, broken down by occupation. Overall AAA trends include exactly what you would probably predict: Mass Effect, Rock Band, Orange Box, Super Mario Galaxy, Assassin's Creed, etc. You can also spot a dead Xbox 360, boardgames and plenty of popular (and even some older) RPGs sure to be influencing these good Samaritans who are making what will hopefully be my next favorite infatuation for a while (Fallout 3). Also of note: nobody's playing Fallout 2...at least not during weekend hours...though Oblivion is in at least one rotation.

What we're playing: Playing Catch Up with the Holiday Hits [via n4g][image]

We've received a few tips from readers today who have been contacted by their local Gamestop drones bringing them bad news—The Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion has been canceled for the PSP. Rumors about the game's cancellation have been swirling since... well, since it didn't ship in the Spring of 2007 as previously planned. However, strong rumors indicating that the game was finally kaput were hinted at this summer.

We've not heard word from Bethesda Softworks, but the game has indeed been removed from Gamestop's online store. We're waiting to hear back from the Elder Scrolls developer on the matter and hope to dash your dreams officially soon.

Thanks for the tips, Ryan and Paul.