The Guardian has an interview with Todd Howard.<blockquote>Can you tell us how your vision of an apocalyptic environment has changed since previous Fallout titles?
I think it's changed only in terms of, this one is on the east coast. We wanted to have a large, expansive wasteland, but also a dense, destroyed urban jungle of rebar and concrete, complete with all the major DC landmarks. I might say Fallout 3 has more survivalhorror elements in it then the previous ones. I think it needs to be scary sometimes.
Where does your inspiration come from? Are there specific books or films you've looked to for inspiration?
Well, obviously most of it comes from Fallout 1 and 2, but we also took a look at more recent works that do some great visual things, like Children of Men. The book The Road is excellent too. Lots of stuff that looked at survival, sacrifice, and general loneliness. But we also looked at other things that were reborn, like Batman Begins, or Battlestar Galactica. I was very interested in how something like Galactica did such a great job of making itself new again, and I think Fallout needed that. [I'd say the screenshot above also shows the influence of I Am Legend, Mad Max II and even early Don Johnson movie and Harlan Ellison novella, A Boy and His Dog]
Have you looked into the science of post-nuclear survival/destruction at all? How?
We actually did a great deal of research on how older nuclear bombs worked and acted. The level of destruction is very interesting, from what the actual blast causes, and then the giant fireball, and finally the sonic destruction, which is actually larger. The initial blast isn't what destroys most things; it's the fireball and wind. Looking at Hiroshima was enlightening and sobering. There's a movie called White Light, Black Rain that is excellent. Terrifying, but excellent.</blockquote>Link: Interview: Fallout 3 and the problem with Armageddon on the Guardian.
Spotted on F3:APNB.
I think it's changed only in terms of, this one is on the east coast. We wanted to have a large, expansive wasteland, but also a dense, destroyed urban jungle of rebar and concrete, complete with all the major DC landmarks. I might say Fallout 3 has more survivalhorror elements in it then the previous ones. I think it needs to be scary sometimes.
Where does your inspiration come from? Are there specific books or films you've looked to for inspiration?
Well, obviously most of it comes from Fallout 1 and 2, but we also took a look at more recent works that do some great visual things, like Children of Men. The book The Road is excellent too. Lots of stuff that looked at survival, sacrifice, and general loneliness. But we also looked at other things that were reborn, like Batman Begins, or Battlestar Galactica. I was very interested in how something like Galactica did such a great job of making itself new again, and I think Fallout needed that. [I'd say the screenshot above also shows the influence of I Am Legend, Mad Max II and even early Don Johnson movie and Harlan Ellison novella, A Boy and His Dog]
Have you looked into the science of post-nuclear survival/destruction at all? How?
We actually did a great deal of research on how older nuclear bombs worked and acted. The level of destruction is very interesting, from what the actual blast causes, and then the giant fireball, and finally the sonic destruction, which is actually larger. The initial blast isn't what destroys most things; it's the fireball and wind. Looking at Hiroshima was enlightening and sobering. There's a movie called White Light, Black Rain that is excellent. Terrifying, but excellent.</blockquote>Link: Interview: Fallout 3 and the problem with Armageddon on the Guardian.
Spotted on F3:APNB.
OS had been titled FO3. Putting it in the sequence of the numbered games like that would make it much harder to ignore or overwrite in terms of canonical 'lore' and such. Even people who didn't like FO2 can't marginalize it in any practical manner and ignore (or write off as non-canon) The Chosen One, the Enclave and all that jazz. However, it's easier to do this with FOT and FO:BOS due to how they were handled in terms of naming conventions.