Bethesda has released their second Fallout 3 fan interview as a post on the game’s official forums. Answering 25 fan-submitted questions, they provide quite a few interesting bits of insight into the upcoming sequel. Three new screens, which you can view in the below, were also released in the post.

As I began reading this Q&A, my eyes were all but magnetically drawn to question #9 -- possibly due to my PC Editor senses activating -- which announced that the PC version of Fallout 3 wouldn’t include any tools for mod creation. Wait, what!?

“It will definitely not be included on the disk,” stated executive producer Todd Howard. “If and when one is available, it will be a free download. I wish I could promise that an editor will be coming and when, but I can't. Our focus is first and foremost the game, and it's a major undertaking getting an editor ready for release, and making sure the game plays nice with the data users create. That being said, we'd love to see it happen.”

Ok, so it’s looking likely they’ll release it some time after launch as a free update. That certainly puts my mind at ease, as mods have always been a big selling point for PC games. Howard also adds that while the PC version could see mods at some point, it’s highly unlikely that the PS3 and 360 versions will. They are in talks with Sony and Microsoft about it, though.

So what, then, has Bethesda so occupied that they’ve been unable to scrap together an editor? Maybe it’s implementing the 40,000-plus lines of dialogue that contains plenty of “slavery, children, drugs and addiction.” And while there will be children in Fallout 3, you can’t kill any of them, which I know was your first thought upon hearing about their inclusion, you violent, violent gamer, you. Head on over and read the forum post in its entirety, as it’s got quite a few interesting tidbits. Is Fallout 3 shaping up nicely in your eyes?

[Via Shacknews -- Thanks, Joe and dyslixec]