Shacknews interview on Fallout 3 with Pete Hines

[xu]

It kind of has that same feel, that people are saying, "Yeah, I liked Oblivion, and you guys are good at roleplaying, but you have to prove that you aren't going to screw up this beloved franchise."

Hello? People are saying "Yeah, i hated Oblivion, and you guys are incapable of doing roleplaying, but you don't have to prove anything, because we already are aware of your "fuck-up franchise" skills." No?

Bethesda is a good company, making great games.

They make pretty games which are "fun" to play, not good games.

 

[SuAside]

so, FO3 is to the Fallout franchise what Morrowind was to TES? hehe, teh funneh.

Oblivion and good roleplaying in the same sentence? ugh...

then put BG before FO & PS:T?

and turned down original FO devs? hah, great!

we're so doomed...

I wonder what Ron Perlman thinks about all this?

i wonder if it'd be too much to ask for him to punch Hines in the face?

 

[Bunkermensch]

They make pretty games which are "fun" to play, not good games.

[brainwashed]*xu made negative comment on Bethesda. have to eliminate xu!* "Come here xu! got some cookies here... eheheh"
"And now all buy the funny games of Bethesda that they become richer!"[/brainwashed]

 

[jfreund]

I completely understand why Bethesda has been so quiet the last couple years. Every time they open their mouths, they dig their hole a little deeper....

As usual, this interview with Hines revealed a whole lot of nothing. It does at least show some glimmer of awareness that they are being watched. On the other hand, "you can't make a game to please everybody" sounds like a cop out excuse for making a shitty game for X-tards and PS lemmings.

Bethesda's words are meaningless. Just a single, top-down screenshot would do a lot for them.

 

[Dracon M'Alkir]

I completely understand why Bethesda has been so quiet the last couple years. Every time they open their mouths, they dig their hole a little deeper....

As usual, this interview with Hines revealed a whole lot of nothing. It does at least show some glimmer of awareness that they are being watched. On the other hand, "you can't make a game to please everybody" sounds like a cop out excuse for making a shitty game for X-tards and PS lemmings.

Bethesda's words are meaningless. Just a single, top-down screenshot would do a lot for them.

Speaking about that, I'm also about 85% sure that yevinorion is affiliated with Bethesda in some way. He might be a dev, might be a PR spy, might be the PR *cough*, I'm not exactly sure what division but I'm slightly sure that he's here by Bethesda to see our responses to their proposals. Also: His avatar is a drawing of Vault 13 that I have never seen yet. Since Bethesda is developing FO3, they would have to draw concept art and that looks like some concept art for Vault 13.

In any case, I'd say it would take alot of courage to express their opinions here period, and that to make sure to be careful about what we write because they do read our forums

 

[Puu]

I guess at the end of the day, we'll just have to cross our fingers and pray for the best.

More like raise our fingers

Anyone got some Polonium-210 we could send Bethesda?
T0ddClawz would be k0000l

 

[Briosafreak]

I'm slightly sure

That's not enough, we know him from an Oblivion fansite that closed down and a Star Wars Galaxy fansite, and we can't connect him in any way to Beth, at least for now, if you know more do tell us.

Edit: And Ballerium, from all things...

Anyone got some Polonium

No, we do have a lot of Polish people though.

 

[RPG of the year!!]

Speaking about that, I'm also about 85% sure that yevinorion is affiliated with Bethesda in some way.

...

What are you, kidding?

Bethesda's fan interaction consists of shouting how unimaginably überlegen their mere sneezes are, while delivering great retribution upon the troublemakers who dare not tow the company line, both in and far outside of where they can actually get away with it.

Petey has also made it quite clear that only team players provide input for Fallout 3, and if Oblivion doesn't give you a literal erection for being the greatest cRPG in the history of human achievement, then you are not a team player. Calling it an "action game with adjustable stats" alone qualifies yevin as a dangerous enemy of The Fatherland, whether or not he actually enjoys Oblivion for what it is.

Your suspicions could(and most likely would) have held water before Bethesda was turned into a munchkin village, but with Todd'n'Pete running the show, the only way to really be 85% sure that anyone here is affiliated with Big <s>Brother</s> Bethsoft is if they do subtle hint-dropping such as "OMG tERnBASSED iz DED u dinosaurz!! LOL!" or "We regret to inform you that NMA is in violation of our forum policies. Cease and desist your mindcrimes immediately."

 

[dev]

he could just say "it will be isometric and turn based" - thats all.

it would make ONLY positive things in fallout community

but he didnt say it, why? ...

 

[Lexx]

but he didnt say it, why? ...

Because nobody from the "new-gaming-fools" want to play such a "old" thing.

 

[Sorrow]

Hmm...
BG was RT+P, NWN was RT+P, Moronwind was RT, Oblivion was RT.
They could hype TB with groin-shots as innovative.

 

[jfreund]

You CANNOT convince me that top-down and turn-based are not commercially viable. EVERY RTS game ever made uses a top-down view. Some let you zoom in and even take a 1st person view, but top-down is where the meat of the gameplay takes place. Diablo, Dungeon Siege, and Titan's Quest are all top-down view. None of them is a good example of a deep cRPG, but they are all successful action RPGs (i.e. click-fests).

Civilization, one of the most successful franchises in gaming history, is all turn-based. They even used the same base engine as Oblivion for Civ IV. I've never played a Heroes of Might and Magic game, but there is a historically successful franchise with turn-based combat.

The only excuse to not do top-down and at least have an option for turn-based combat is that it's tough to sell to konsole kiddies. With RTS games trickling onto consoles the top-down excuse is evaporating.

Sidebar: What exactly is the relationship between Bethesda and 2K Games? Beth claims to self-publish their titles, so why is there a 2K logo on Oblivion?

 

[Briosafreak]

Sidebar: What exactly is the relationship between Bethesda and 2K Games? Beth claims to self-publish their titles, so why is there a 2K logo on Oblivion?

They made a distribution deal late in the development process, don't remember for what territories though, it's been a while.

 

[Dracon M'Alkir]

Speaking about that, I'm also about 85% sure that yevinorion is affiliated with Bethesda in some way.

...

What are you, kidding?

Bethesda's fan interaction consists of shouting how unimaginably überlegen their mere sneezes are, while delivering great retribution upon the troublemakers who dare not tow the company line, both in and far outside of where they can actually get away with it.

Petey has also made it quite clear that only team players provide input for Fallout 3, and if Oblivion doesn't give you a literal erection for being the greatest cRPG in the history of human achievement, then you are not a team player. Calling it an "action game with adjustable stats" alone qualifies yevin as a dangerous enemy of The Fatherland, whether or not he actually enjoys Oblivion for what it is.

Your suspicions could(and most likely would) have held water before Bethesda was turned into a munchkin village, but with Todd'n'Pete running the show, the only way to really be 85% sure that anyone here is affiliated with Big <s>Brother</s> Bethsoft is if they do subtle hint-dropping such as "OMG tERnBASSED iz DED u dinosaurz!! LOL!" or "We regret to inform you that NMA is in violation of our forum policies. Cease and desist your mindcrimes immediately."

Strange, this topic on the main page just popped up:

http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34719

Community Manager

Responsibilities:

*Actively manages all aspects of fan communities for all key titles, including The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Rogue Warrior, Star Trek, etc.

*Supports PR initiatives for all projects

*Administers and participates on official and fan forums related to all products

*Monitors and participates on external forums and sites and provides regular updates on fan interest, feedback, competitive information, etc.

 

[taxacaria]

His avatar is a drawing of Vault 13 that I have never seen yet. Since Bethesda is developing FO3, they would have to draw concept art and that looks like some concept art for Vault 13.

hm - we should ask him about the souce of this artware.
perhaps we can get more of this stuff...

 

[aries369]

2K games published the game, Oblivion, in Europe.

Bethsoft's selfpublished in North America.

 

[yevinorion]

lol you guys are hilarious! I don't work for Beth, and am in no way affiliated with them. I'm just a gamer who only recently got into Fallout and it's sequel.

As for the source of my image, it's from a google search for "Vault 13 door" and is some fanart I found on the net, with a bit of photoshop editing. It's not some fancy, pre-production concept art from Bethesda.

I just find it so amusing that because I'm a new poster, have an av you've never seen, and am not 120% negative about Oblivion, I must be a Beth spy!

 

[Brother None]

I just find it so amusing that because I'm a new poster, have an av you've never seen, and am not 120% negative about Oblivion, I must be a Beth spy!

Please do not ascribe said opinion to either the site or its staff.

We're slightly less silly.

That said, subject closed. This isn't McCarthy's America, and we're not going to go in that direction either

 

[yevinorion]

Please do not ascribe said opinion to either the site or its staff.

We're slightly less silly.

Rest assured, that was directed solely towards those who expressed such opinions. I in no way was trying to accuse the staff or other posters of having these assumptions. So no hard feelings?

And my apologies for being the cause of this topic getting off track.

 

[Brainleak]

The only excuse to not do top-down and at least have an option for turn-based combat is that it's tough to sell to konsole kiddies. With RTS games trickling onto consoles the top-down excuse is evaporating.

I don't know if Xbox and Playstation can be considered very different kind of consoles, but Final Fantasies, particularly the newer ones, have been (unfortunately) popular on PS and on other non-XBox consoles. And I've understood they're all turn-based and non-FP. And enjoyed by many console kiddies.

So I guess that offers some proof of the idea that real-time action is not a definite prerequisite for a succesful console title.

Don't get me wrong though. FF-like combat in a game nullifies all other Fallouity of a Fallout title quite efficiently.

The real excuse is, turn-based just is not "something [they] do well". And not interested (or capable) to learn?

Despite their all said fondness of the Fallout series, I bet both Howard and Hines swithed to real-time combat as soon as they tried Tactics.