http://n4g.com/News-192016.aspx

So I can't say I didn't see this coming, but it still hurts to actually see it up there.

These men are so dead set on stamping their image on Fallout that, in the end, I'm betting we'll end up with more B-Fallouts than originals.

Arrgh.

Look, howsabout throwing us a bone, Bethesda? Switch off...one TPS then one turn-based. Sure, a game that looks and plays anything like it's predecessors is naturally doomed to failure (those poor bastards at Blizzards don't know what they're in for), but using the ancient technology that they used for the first two you could probably knock one off in a couple of hours.

Is that so much to ask?

I watched the Microsoft Pre-E3 conference on G4 this evening, and they made a very good point; the V.A.T.S. system was clearly bogging down what could be a KICK ASS FPS!

Basically, in case you haven't seen it, the demo saw Todd Howard strolling around DC, shooting people who were, y'know, there. It looked cool, but something was bothering me and finally the G4 people pointed it out beautifully...every so often the action would stop for a few seconds and Todd would have time to THINK! I mean, come on! This is a FPS, man; no think, just shoot!

Seriously though, is this truly how far we have fallen from the originals? TV journalists suggesting that even the minute amount of strategy one can wring from V.A.T.S. is too much of a drag? Are people REALLY this flighty? Turn based tactics/strategy games are my favorites, but evidently the very idea that someone would even take the time to pause a game to aim rankles the mainstream. It sure doesn't fill me with confidence for the future of gaming, at least the future of games I actually want to play.

I wish that I had good things to say about Fallout 3, I really want to like it, and, hell, deep down I actually do like a lot of what I see....but....well, frankly, I just plain feel betrayed and insulted by Bethesda. It's like at every turn they've gone out of their way to say to me that all the things that I hold the most dear from the first two Fallouts are old fashioned and not fun.

Now, to be honest I may not be any fun, and I'm certifiably old fashioned, but I know what I like, and I can tell the difference between what is innovative and what is merely crass pandering. Turn based tactical games are not everyone's cup of tea, sure, I get that, but just because everyone and their cousin is making FPS' or TPS' (third person shooters), it hardly means that is the only viable or fun choice. Look, I really enjoy the FPS genre...I even have enjoyed the rare TPS...in point of fact, my favorite FPS games are those that blend in some RPG elements. However, that doesn't mean that I want every single game I play to feature bobbing weapons in the bottom right of the screen. Innovation does not mean cut-pasting every old franchise into the newest genre.

Ultimately I guess this isn't that big of a deal. I mean, certainly the big picture on this is that it's just a damn game. Why should I get so worked up about it then? Well, look at it this way; it's already taken, what, 10 years to get a sequel produced? Fallout 3 has the press and, annoyingly , the (misguided) dedication and creative force behind it to make it (and any sequels Bethesda makes) a success, and it's taken about 2 years to make. So what that means is that if (when) FO3 hits big we'll have to wait through at least another 2 years for a sequel, then another who knows how long for people to clamor for a true sequel. If, somehow, it flops, that would likely be worse...FO would become anathema, and it we'd likely see a new Planescape:Torment game before it reared it's head again. That's the worst thing about this whole debacle; not only is it not the game I want, the fact it is even being made means the game I want will never exist.

Feh. Well, at least I can look forward to the Wasteland remake (you know, with the wisecracking Ranger that breaks the fourth wall while mindlessly Contra-ing it up through hordes of enemies and being frowny face to people).

Now a quick list of REALLY annoying things that people who defend FO3 like to say:

1."It's too early to judge!" Just give me the go ahead when I can start judging the information I've been given about this game, ok? Thanks.

2. "Turn based combat isn't that important to what is Fallout" Sure, and pieces and a board aren't all that vital to chess, really. I can't wait for Bethesda's Chess 2, with a first person king running around whacking pawns with a scepter.

3. "Bethesda is shaking things up! Why do you want the same thing but in 3d?" This one is kinda cute, because they are essentially making a blessing out of raw change, as if to suggest that the absolute best game they could make would be the game that was as diametrically opposed to the original Fallout as possible. I say, please Bethesda, go make that game, now...and as a topper call it something other than fallout, so someone can make an evolutionary game from my favorite franchise, not burn it down.