Gamernode has a very extensive Fallout 3 writeup, with a lot of direct quotes from Bethesda devs. Definitely word a read-through as an accurate step-by-step description of the demo:<blockquote>"The game does start in the underground vault," Todd tells us. He also made it known that what we're seeing isn't the official beginning portion of the game; just the right area. When the screen loads up in first person, Todd continues. "People always ask us: ‘Why are you doing this, why are you ruining Fallout by making it first person!'" He went on to explain that for them, first-person is the only way to truly make the game come alive.
"This chair is in Fallout 1, for example, 4 pixels high," he tells us. "But here it is. Same with this vent you can click on to make it go rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle." The crowd chuckled slightly when he mentioned that first-person also helps them as developers, because they get very anal about making their world right.
(...)
We were then treated to a demonstration of how the Pipboy works in Fallout 3. According to Todd, one of their main goals in upgrading it for Fallout 3 was to make it entertaining for gamers, since they'll spend a lot of time in its menus. Part of how they did that is the humorous animations; skills and stats have their own picture and description, and most of them are pretty damn funny. One of them, science, features a bespeckled toon sitting in front of a giant retro computer. "This is our actually our lead developer, this is what he looks like," Todd jokes. "And this is a very early PS3 devkit."
(...)
It was at that point we ran into Mr. Handy. "Good day new sir!" the cheerful robot chimes. "If I may be so bold the blue in the bolt suit contrasts BEAUTIFULLY with your eyes!" As Mr. Handy moves away, he mutters, "you stupid git." Oh, Mr. Handy!
(...)
Once inside, the sheriff greets us, and we're shown how you can choose two radically different paths. In this instance, Todd can either be peaceful and friendly with the sheriff, or enter the town mocking his hat ("Nice hat, Calamity Jane"); guess which he picked?
After mocking the hat, the sheriff is peeved, and Todd has the choice to try and make things okay again, or keep pushing the sheriff which will end in a fight. Todd ended up switching his mind, so we entered the city proper.
(...)
The robots are scattered throughout, and most of them will be a benefit to you (notice that Todd said MOST will be good).
Exiting the metro, Todd was met by a group of human soldiers who helped him fight off a squad of mutants, and escorted him to his meet-up. There he was attacked by a giant mutant, but before it could kill him, he stole a nuclear catapult and laid waste to it (and a few friendly troops, most likely). He then went to the roof of the building (how Mr. Burke made it no one will ever know, and even Todd couldn't offer an explanation), and blew up Megaton. The city erupted in light as a giant mushroom cloud rose, and several seconds after the initial blast the shockwave hit, knocking Mr. Burke backwards and sending debris flying past the main character as the demo ended.</blockquote>Providing extra comments on our forum, Brendon notes:<blockquote>Brother None, I don't know how much VATS will help percentage wise when it comes to hits. I do know that they fixed the percentages extremely high (as high as 99% for headshots) just to show off the position-based damage. I have a quote somewhere about what he was saying...let me look for it.
Here it is. "For this demo, we've changed the percentages. Obviously, you won't always have a huge chance to make a shot, especially a headshot. We wanted to have things like headshots be a last ditch effort. The whole 'I'm screwed, time to take a shot and pray it works!' feeling, basically. You'll be able to hit extremities fairly regularly, but the critical points won't be smart to go after frequently."</blockquote>Link: E3 '07: Extensive Fallout 3 write-up on Gamernode.
"This chair is in Fallout 1, for example, 4 pixels high," he tells us. "But here it is. Same with this vent you can click on to make it go rattle-rattle-rattle-rattle." The crowd chuckled slightly when he mentioned that first-person also helps them as developers, because they get very anal about making their world right.
(...)
We were then treated to a demonstration of how the Pipboy works in Fallout 3. According to Todd, one of their main goals in upgrading it for Fallout 3 was to make it entertaining for gamers, since they'll spend a lot of time in its menus. Part of how they did that is the humorous animations; skills and stats have their own picture and description, and most of them are pretty damn funny. One of them, science, features a bespeckled toon sitting in front of a giant retro computer. "This is our actually our lead developer, this is what he looks like," Todd jokes. "And this is a very early PS3 devkit."
(...)
It was at that point we ran into Mr. Handy. "Good day new sir!" the cheerful robot chimes. "If I may be so bold the blue in the bolt suit contrasts BEAUTIFULLY with your eyes!" As Mr. Handy moves away, he mutters, "you stupid git." Oh, Mr. Handy!
(...)
Once inside, the sheriff greets us, and we're shown how you can choose two radically different paths. In this instance, Todd can either be peaceful and friendly with the sheriff, or enter the town mocking his hat ("Nice hat, Calamity Jane"); guess which he picked?
After mocking the hat, the sheriff is peeved, and Todd has the choice to try and make things okay again, or keep pushing the sheriff which will end in a fight. Todd ended up switching his mind, so we entered the city proper.
(...)
The robots are scattered throughout, and most of them will be a benefit to you (notice that Todd said MOST will be good).
Exiting the metro, Todd was met by a group of human soldiers who helped him fight off a squad of mutants, and escorted him to his meet-up. There he was attacked by a giant mutant, but before it could kill him, he stole a nuclear catapult and laid waste to it (and a few friendly troops, most likely). He then went to the roof of the building (how Mr. Burke made it no one will ever know, and even Todd couldn't offer an explanation), and blew up Megaton. The city erupted in light as a giant mushroom cloud rose, and several seconds after the initial blast the shockwave hit, knocking Mr. Burke backwards and sending debris flying past the main character as the demo ended.</blockquote>Providing extra comments on our forum, Brendon notes:<blockquote>Brother None, I don't know how much VATS will help percentage wise when it comes to hits. I do know that they fixed the percentages extremely high (as high as 99% for headshots) just to show off the position-based damage. I have a quote somewhere about what he was saying...let me look for it.
Here it is. "For this demo, we've changed the percentages. Obviously, you won't always have a huge chance to make a shot, especially a headshot. We wanted to have things like headshots be a last ditch effort. The whole 'I'm screwed, time to take a shot and pray it works!' feeling, basically. You'll be able to hit extremities fairly regularly, but the critical points won't be smart to go after frequently."</blockquote>Link: E3 '07: Extensive Fallout 3 write-up on Gamernode.
. But they do want to make it feel more like an RPG than an FPS, which means a lot of looking at stats, examining equipment, watching skills, etc. Most of the menus/descriptions/items were written with entertainment in mind rather than just telling you X Strength, X charisma, X skill in guns, etc.
Don't depend on Bethesda for information dissemination.