Halpin, the Entertainment Consumers Association's president, deployed the lightning bolt with ruthlessness on fellow racers attempting to jump the gorge on the stadium track. "Like my character [Wario], I rarely hesitated in sending other racers off the cliff," Halpin answered.

Todd Howard, the executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, came up with a failsafe against his men getting mind-controlled by aliens in X-Com. Since they dropped their weapons under an alien spell, he equipped them with live grenades that, when dropped, went boom. No more mind control problem. No more soldiers, either, but that's their problem.

Of course, there's a lot of evil done in the Sims (a franchise with a capacity for cruelty unlike many others), Knights of the Old Republic, and plenty of RPGs, for that matter. One guy even gratuitously shot up all the cows in Call of Juarez. Check it out. And tell us about all the innocent people you've wasted with a headshot, down in the comments.

The Evil Things We Do [Bitmob]

The game is "getting closer," the Fallout and Oblivion game director told me during our interview at QuakeCon in Dallas.

"I put some of that on hold, because I knew we would be doing some stuff with id." That "stuff" was Bethesda parent company ZeniMax's June purchase of the renowned first-person shooter development studio. id co-founder John Carmack has been aggressively working on the iPhone platform, now promising an iPhone game just about every other month. He remembers thinking, "I'll wait and see what John has to say about it."

The game is not a personal Todd Howard project. Think of it as a Bethesda game, though Howard wouldn't offer gameplay details or subject matter. I asked if it would be a Fallout or Elder Scrolls project, but he'd only remind me that "those are things we really like."

Carmack willing, it seems, the game will proceed. "It's one of those things where I wish it would happen sooner," Howard said, "But we're definitely going to do some stuff."

The developer's Pete Hines posted a statement on the Bethesda Blog today, clarifying Howard's comments regarding the future of the Elder Scrolls series.

That was not a direct quote from him. That was someone's interpretation of what he said. I know, I was there. At his QuakeCon talk he was asked when TESV is coming out and Todd replied, "Don't look for a new Elder Scrolls game in the near future." He also went on to say how much the franchise means to us and that it definitely will continue. He just wasn't going to provide any timeframe on "when." This should not be news to anyone that has been paying attention. Both Todd and I have said repeatedly that, of course, we're going to do another Elder Scrolls game. The last one was enormously popular. So was the one before that. You get the idea. So do we.

In other words, the fate of the series isn't in question, and it shouldn't be.

Hines goes on in his post to clarify statements Howard made about an Elder Scrolls MMO, pointing out that neither Todd nor anyone on Todd's team worked on MMOs, and when the studio that does work on them - ZeniMax Online - is ready to show what they are creating, they'll show it.

I am trying to imagine an angry Pete Hines here, and it terrifies me. Just believe the man and move on before anyone gets hurt.

Clarifying About Next Elder Scrolls game, MMO, etc. [Bethesda Blog]

The August release of the fifth downloadable mission-pack for Fallout 3 wrapped up a hefty mid-year helping of new content for one of the most acclaimed games of last year.

The game's executive producer, Todd Howard of Bethesda Softworks, told me last week in Dallas at QuakeCon that he's happy with the roll-out. "We knew we wanted to do three initially and we'll see where that goes," he said. " I kind of had in my mind that the upper limit was five. Part of that was what I think people are willing to continue to pay for a game. And a lot of that is our own internal bandwidth."

With the launch of Mothership Zeta, Bethesda's met Howard's goal. Five game-expanding pieces of content, each granting players about four hour' worth of game time for $10, are now out on the Xbox 360 and PC. The packs are planned for a PlayStation 3 release this next month, with, according to Howard, about one new one per week, starting with the game's end-changing and level-cap-raising Broken Steel.

The DLC packs began development as work on Fallout 3 wrapped last year, about two months' prior to the game's late October shipping date. Howard recalled that he had two groups out of his 90-person development team working in parallel on the first two expansions, Operation Anchorage and The Pitt. "About half the team goes on to the next big game," he said, making no attempt to hint at what their next project will be. "The other half, which is mostly a lot of artists and designers go on to DLC stuff."

The creation of the DLC is the fun part, Howard said as the designers are freed from having to wrestle with technology and have fun. That liberation produced the early suggestions to throw aliens in, but Howard delayed that desire until Mothership Zeta. "That one kept coming up: 'We should do alien abduction, we should do alien abduction.' I thought it was hilarious, and I said, 'We should wait. That isn't like the classic Fallout. You kind of want to keep the footprint of aliens in Fallout small.'

"But once we got to the fifth one, it's like: It's really funny. It's a cool concept. We should do it.' And the reason I like it is I do like the DLC to feel like something new. And that one, just on the surface, is instantly: this is different. It's not more of the same, I'm out in the wasteland."

Howard called out Point Lookout, the fourth DLC, as one of his favorites, referring to it as "one of the biggest and best DLCs." That one, which brings the player to a spooky new island to have an adventure that plays as a microcosm of the original game was developed by Joel Burgess, lead level designer of Fallout 3 and Nate Purkeypile, one of the game's artists. "We knew we were going to do a fourth DLC, I said to them: 'I think you guys should do this,'" Come up with some ideas and pitch us. And that's what they did. That was on the case that, on a bigger game, they wouldn't have gotten that opportunity."

The single design directive for Point Lookout, Howard said, came from something he thought the first DLC releases lacked. "It it felt like the other DLCs didn't do what the game does best, which is give me a wide-open area to explore. So let's do a DLC that gives you that in a new way."

The DLC's now done, all available for PC and 360 users and soon playable on the PS3. Bethesda's moving on. Five got the job done.

The next announced Fallout project is Fallout: New Vegas, currently in development at Obsidian Entertainment.

Answering fan questions on the subject, Howard said that there are "no current plans" for a fifth game in the Elder Scrolls series.

A little disappointing, true, but remember, "no current plans" only means no current plans. Plans change. And hey, maybe he's just being coy, and they're working on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion II!

QuakeCon 2009: Todd Howard keynote highlights [Big Download]

The actual topic of discussion was whether hardcore gamers should fear the Wii. The answer? Good luck getting a definitive one from this vid. You could read it as a "No" with a "but" or a "Yes" with a "well" – your choice.

The bottom line for Levine and Howard is clarifying whether or not a Wii or DS release is by definition a non-hardcore game. Game developers aren't out to make games based on the platform; they're out to make games period, Levine says.

The highlight of the panel for me is the Teddy Ruxpin references. Anybody remember that toy? Why doesn't Levine make a game about him? For the Wii, of course.

Ken Levine And Todd Howard On Whether Hardcore Gamers Should Fear The Wii

Howard dropped the news of pursuing Apple's portable platform during today's "Vs. Mode Live" panel, in which he, BioShock lead Ken Levine, Newsweek's N'Gai Croal and MTV's Stephen Totilo flapped their gums about games to the delight of Comic Con masses. Croal dropped word of the reveal on his Twitter, offering no further info.

For all we know, it could be Fallout Touch. Bethesda is no stranger to portable development, publishing The Elder Scrolls Travels for Java-enabled cell phones and Nokia's N-gage.

Additional highlights from the panel can be reviewed at MTV's summary of the roundtable.

Ken Levine, Todd Howard Highlights From Our Comic Con Panel [MTV Multiplayer]

As part of an interview with MTV Multiplayer, Fallout 3 executive producer Todd Howard very briefly mentioned two important lessons he learned from making the game that he would carry with him as the franchise moves forward to Fallout 4 and beyond.

“Greatest lesson? Don’t let the game end, and don’t have a level cap,” said Howard.

Bingo! Spot on the nose, Todd. Xbox 360 and PC players are getting the ending removed and the level cap raised in the upcoming Broken Steel downloadable content pack, so I'd say Bethesda has learned those particular lessons rather well. Good show!

Bethesda’s Big Takeaways For ‘Fallout 4′ [MTV Multiplayer]

Other locations hosting midnight openings can be found in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and Minneapolis. Lines start forming at 3PM for some god awful reason, so I dunno...bring a tent maybe? Hit the jump for a full list of all twelve participating locations.

Bethesda Softworks and Best Buy Bring Fallout 3 to Fans with Midnight Launch Events Across the Country

Fans to Help Usher in One of Year’s Biggest Videogame Launches

October 24, 2008 (ROCKVILLE, MD) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax Media company, and Best Buy Co., Inc. have announced that in response to huge demand for Bethesda’s award-winning upcoming game, Fallout® 3, there will be midnight openings at Best Buy stores across the country the evening of October 27. Best Buy customers at select stores in the Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Dallas and Chicago metropolitan areas will be among the first to play one of the most anticipated videogames of the year.

“Fallout 3 has been a labor of love for the team at Bethesda and we can’t wait to get the game into the hands of consumers,” said Todd Howard, Game Director for Fallout 3. “We’re looking forward to celebrating the launch of Fallout 3 with the fans.”

The Fallout 3 team’s hometown Best Buy in Rockville, MD will serve as the flagship location of the midnight events, with special festivities including game kiosks, giveaways, contests and a live broadcast from the event with DC 101 FM. Game director Todd Howard will be on-hand along with other key members of the development team to sign copies of the game and chat with fans. In addition to the Rockville event, 11 Best Buy stores across the country will be hosting special midnight sales events.

Midnight sales event lines will begin forming at 3 pm local time, October 27 at the following Best Buy locations:

Washington, DC area

· Rockville, MD - 1200 Rockville Pike

· Tysons Corner, VA – 8449 Leesburg Pike

New York Area

· New York, NY – 44th And 5th

· Westbury, NY – 1100 Old Country Rd.

Los Angeles area

· Glendale, CA – 2909 Los Feliz Blvd.

· Pasadena, CA – 3415 E. Foothill Blvd.

Chicago area

· Chicago, IL. – 1000 W. North Ave.

· Downers Grove, IL – 1432 Butterfield Rd

Dallas area

· Plano, TX – 2800 N. Central Expy.

· Fort Worth, TX – 6750 West Fwy.

Minneapolis area

· Roseville, MN – 1643 Country Rd. B2

· Richfield, MN – 1000 W. 78th St.

Fallout 3 will be available on store shelves and online in North America on October 28, in Europe and Australia on October 30 and in the UK on October 31. Developed at Bethesda Game Studios – creators of the 2006 Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® – Fallout 3 is slated for release on the Xbox 360®video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and Games for Windows.

Fallout 3 features one of the most realized game worlds ever created. Set more than 200 years following a nuclear war, you can create any kind of character you want and explore the open wastes of Washington, D.C. however you choose. Every minute is a fight for survival as you encounter Super Mutants, Ghouls, Raiders, and other dangers of the Wasteland.

Hailed as one of the most anticipated games for 2008, Fallout 3 has already won numerous awards including Best of Show from the official Game Critics Awards at E3 2008 and a perfect 10 out of 10 from Official Xbox Magazine.

Fallout® 3 has been rated Mature by the ESRB. For more information on Fallout 3, visit www.BestBuy.com/Fallout3, http://fallout.bethsoft.com and www.prepareforthefuture.com.

Community FAQ - 20 questions [Bethesda]
[Thanks, Patrick]