Fallout 3 Has Over 200 Endings

It seems Bethesda's changed plans for Fallout 3 quite a bit since I first got a glimpse of the game in action back in June of last year. When they originally stated they were going for 9-12 endings, I was seriously impressed, imagining the sort of replay value that would generate. Now Bethesda's Todd Howard has appeared in the latest OXM podcast, saying that the game now has more than 200 different endings as of last week. 200 endings? That doesn't even seem like a real number, does it? Considering he's also saying the game is twice as long as they initially estimated (40 hours with side quests), I am pretty sure you could play the game forever. Todd says the game is finished and on track for Fall 2008, but needs a ton of testing and polishing. Hit up OXM below for the full story while I try to wrap my head around the whole 200 ending thing.

KOXM Episode 107 [OXM Via Fallout 3 Post Nuclear Blog]

We tried, at this year's GDC, to have a quiet sit down with a number of different developers. And for a number of different reasons, many of them fell through, but I was able to beg 2K into giving me 15 minutes with one of the developers who probably most adversely effected my college career: Sid Meier. If it weren't for Civilization it probably wouldn't have taken me six years to get my two bachelors degrees... OK, that's probably not true, but I did spend a shocking amount of time playing his games in college.

In this 15 minute chat we talk about the death of the PC gaming market, how GDC has evolved and what type of character he plays in WoW... among other things.

Blizzard Launches First BlizzCast

As announced back on December 24th, Blizzard has delivered the first episode of the BlizzCast today, their new podcast series that promises a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the company as well as news and information about upcoming projects. In the first episdode, rapmaster Karune talks concept art with art director Samwise Didier, and DJ Jazzy Drysc talks to lead designer Jeff Kaplan about World of Warcraft patch 2.4, which introduces the Sunwell Plateau raid dungeon and tier 7 armor. What's odd about the video podcast is that there is indeed no video. One of those newfangled audio-only video podcasts perhaps? I do find it vaguely amusing that the transcripts have Karune and Drysc's words in a blue font. Otherwise the community wouldn't bother reading it, right?

BlizzCast Episode 1 [Blizzard]

Incessant rambling! Recently, I appeared on Capcom's Bionic Commando podcast to discuss game journalism, gaming in Japan and why the hell Capcom should ditch the hot dog arms. The discussion got heated, and Capcom promised to fix hot dog arm in Bionic Commando if we fix the spelling mistakes. No sweat!
Listen Here [Official Site]

J Allard Returns, Wishes Xbox Live A Happy 5th Birthday

We miss J. Since moving on to the Zune side of things, we've hardly seen hoodie nor hair of the Microsoft exec. His signature "chillax" moves and online foresight added much needed spice to the Xbox brand—and we felt better for his presence. For those who miss the man who has been described as "the father of the Xbox"—at left, enjoying a massive slice of cake during the Japanese launch of Xbox—he sat in on Larry Hryb's latest podcast to talk about the origins and future of the Xbox family.

Allard discusses topics such as the "billion dollar decision" to include a hard drive as standard with the original Xbox, pushing voice chat features via Xbox Live, and the beating of acceptance expectations for Live. He also touches on future Zune and Xbox 360 integration, including theoretical Xbox Live Marketplace to Zune transfers, plus the online enabled evolution of games.

I found J's thoughts on the Wachowski brothers attempts to expand The Matrix franchise to as many mediums as possible. Something tells me we'll see more of that kind of brand extension in games sooner rather than later.

Live is 5: J Allard [Xbox]

TGS Boozecast: Episode I: Don't Call It A Podcast

No, we're not planning on becoming regular podcasters, but we were drinking, decided to continue to drink, then found ourselves strangely attracted to my Olympus digital voice recorder. It just happened. Our podcasting etiquette sucks, we talk over each other, and we can't stay on topic to save our lives, but essentially we figured "Why the hell not?" Honestly, though, we had so much fun we're doing it again tonight. While drinking. A lot.

TGS Boozecast: Episode I [MP3]

Luke Smith Leaves 1UP For Bungie Gig

Microsoft Explains High 360 HDD Pricing

Lionhead Video Diary Coming

Insomniac Kicks Off Podcast Series

Drunken Podcast: Master Debaters

Dean, Clive, Kent and Crecente Talk Last Gen Gaming

Rumor: 1Up Podcast Claims Oblivion is a PS3 Launch Title

App Chews up PC HD Space, Knocks Out Podcasts

Gauger on Weekly Geek Show Podcast

VGM Daily Celebrates 100 Podcasts

Sony Online Entertainment Podcast STINKS