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Fallout DLC Only Two Weeks Away!

Vault-Tec Workshop is the new Fallout DLC

Just when we though we were out of the Wasteland, the Fallout DLC pulls us back in.

Vault-Tec Workshop is going to be the new Fallout DLC. It will be released on Tuesday, July 26th, and it features a lot of awesome and fun new ways to spend time after the apocalypse. Bethesda live-streamed the announcement along with a brief presentation of what the new expansion will be all about.

The Fallout DLC and Vault 88

The expansion will start out with the protagonist receiving a radio signal. Following the signal will lead to the new area in the game, Vault 88. The vault, which coincidentally may or may not be the number chosen for a certain Shelter on a certain tablet, is going to initially be an abandoned location. An automated Overseer will be in charge of Vault 88, and she will ask you for help in regards to the completion of several experiments. GLaDOS, is that you?

While Bethesda has not said anything more than that about the actual questline, players expect it to be brief.

After finishing the miscellaneous length questline, Vault 88 will be the new playground where players will be able to try out making all sorts of neat stuff for their dwellings. While Vault 88 will be the main playground, players will be able to put their creations inside their Vault.

Other Nifty Features

The Fallout DLC is more than Vault 88, however. The Vault Population Management System is going to be new console. The system is pretty awesome, as it allows tracking companions and settlement inhabitants. The Vault Population Management System will also aid players in controlling the actions of inhabitants.

Vault-Tec Workshop is also bringing Vault construction pieces which will be easy to place and connect. Some of the rooms include Overseer offices, nurseries, generator rooms, and atriums. Rooms will be able to connect to a second floor through overhead walkways. Vault construction will, however, be limited and players will not be able to set up Vaults anywhere they choose.

Clean furniture will also be arriving to the Wasteland with the Fallout DLC. Players will be able to furnish their Vault with brand new comfortable looking beds, snazzy dressers, and a lot more. Bethesda also revealed some neat posters and signs.

Finally, the Fallout DLC improved the way players can see what expansion brought what items. The Vault Workshop has a gear icon, the Wasteland Workshop has a Deathclaw head icon, the Far Harbor has a boat icon, and the Contraptions Workshop has a factory building icon. Happy building!

Image Courtesy of Bethesda Game Studios and Flickr.

New Quake 1 Episode Released for 20-Year Anniversary

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The new Quake episode can still be played, as the game is compatible with the operating systems of today.

For Quake’s 20th anniversary Bethesda’s gift was a new Quake episode. Happy birthday, Quake!

Machine Games, the development team behind Quake, surprised the fans with a free update to the original game. The update is a whole new Quake episode. Quake is seen by most as one of the first-person shooters that began making gaming history two decades ago.

On June 22nd, 1996, id Software released a game called Quake for MS-DOS. Designed by John Romero and American McGee, with music composed by Trent Reznor and the Nine Inch Nails, Quake is one of the rare examples of gaming that would be considered good and would still sell considerably well even if it were to be released this year for the first time.

The setting presented a dark fantasy world, with beautifully designed levels which evoked a gothic, medieval style filled to the brim with Lovecraftian atmosphere and elements.

The anniversary new Quake episode stays entirely true to the design, but the pace of the action seems slightly adjusted in an attempt to be brought up to today’s standards.

The goal of the original Quake was straightforward – kill the invading enemy or die trying. The plot was focused against a very powerful entity discovering humanity and deciding to test out the resilience of humans by sending scores of invading demonic aliens at them.

Ranger, the protagonist, happened to meet the invasion head on and decided he would stop the invading forces or go down taking as many of them as possible.

1996 was a time of simple and straight-forward plot ideas for shooters. Protagonists did not receive much character development. Dialogue most revolved around boss-level enemies taunting the character.

There were no plot twists or surprise endings. The story of the game was learned by playing it, by observing the setting, by listening to the music, by taking a good hard look at enemies as they tried their hardest to stop the player from reaching the end.

Technology and storage space did not allow for elaborate cinematics or scores of audio dialogue, and so shooters revolved mostly around their namesake – shooting everything. Enemies have to tell their story from their design. Players would figure what enemies did by learning the hard way – repeated trial and error.

While many could argue that in today’s world with today’s expectation that can be seen as too little to go on, games like Dark Souls can most often prove them wrong. Quake is an honest title. It does not pretend to be something else.

At this year’s E3, Bethesda announced a new Quake title. Quake Champions has a trailer with great music, atmosphere, and pace. While some choose to see the anniversary episode of the original title not just as a simple gift but as a promotional tool. Quake players will not mind and gladly accept the offering. Marketing genius or not, Bethesda has made a lot of gamers happy with its new Quake episode for the oldest Quake out there.

Image Courtesy of AMB.

Bethesda E3 2016 Was Everything We Hoped For

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The main presentation banner of the Bethesda E3 2016 showcase, with a Dragonborn and Fallout mascot.

It wasn’t the Bethesda E3 2016 showcase we deserved, but it was the one we needed.

One of the most anticipated showcases of the weekend was Sunday’s Bethesda E3 2016 showcase. Gamers had repeatedly been teased with news regarding, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and last but not least, Dishonored. After an entire year since its first official trailer release, a majority of voices cried out for more Dishonored. No pressure, Bethesda.

“Yes, Quake is back.”

Those were the first words said at the Bethesda E3 2016 showcase. Simple, elegant, effective. And then the trailer for Quake Champions was played.

Quake Champions was presented as competitive arena-style PC shooter. And Bethesda did not oversell the word “competitive”. Quake Champions boasts with running with unlocked framerates, a feature which should be a staple in all first or third person games. As it is coming exclusively for the PC, concerns in regards to porting to or from consoles do not exist.

Bethesda also announced that they plan on expanding their Quake e-sport support at a global level. Hopefully, Quakecon will still be around and will also be the event where the Quake Champions World Finals will be held. Competitive indeed.

The Elder Scrolls: Legends

Interested parties had previous opportunities to have a look at what The Elder Scrolls: Legends is all about. Bethesda E3 2016 played a brilliant trailer for the new strategy card game, half of which made several watchers reminisce of 300.

Bethesda still plans for The Elder Scrolls: Legend to be a free-to-play game. They’ve also teased about both single-player and multiplayer modes. If the single player is going to be anything like HearthStone’s Adventures but with The Elder Scrolls lore, then it can’t come quick enough. When Legends does arrive, it is scheduled to do so on PC, Android, and iOS.

Fallout 4

Announcements for Fallout 4 (and Fallout Shelter) followed. Bethesda will be giving the survivors of the apocalypse Contraptions, a lot of different fun devices such as Sorting Machines.

Nuka-Wolrd postcard showcased at Bethesda E3 2016

The Nuka-World mascot is creepier than the entire plot of Prey.

Players will also be getting their own Vault, because ever since it was released people just wanted to play Shelter in first person. Finally, everybody is going to Nuka-World, Fallout’s very own fun park!

Skyrim Special Edition

The Skyrim remaster boasts new graphics and effects. Skyrim Special Edition will be coming out exclusively on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Prey

Arkane Studios will be working on the new Prey title, Bethesda announced, along with the new trailer.

Gorgeous visuals and sound aside, the trailer does pique a lot of interest. The plot seems to be similar to “Groundhog Day”, but in space, and horrifying. What’s not to love?

Doom

Bethesda E3 2016 announced that for the week following E3, the first level of their new Doom game will be free to play. The gesture is nice and hints at a nostalgic time when demos, shareware, and 3½ “ floppy disk drives were a daily occurrence.

The Elder Scrolls Online

The Dark Brotherhood is coming! It’s going to be the next big expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online. So much backstabbing!

However, before that happens, the “One Tamriel” update is scheduled. The update will enable all players to explore any part of the world. Character level and power will scale accordingly to match the zone or group they’re part of. The developers also stated that no other MMO is doing anything similar, so that’s always a good motivator to check things out.

Bethesda VR

Attendees of the Bethesda E3 2016 showcase got to preview both Fallout 4 and Doom in VR. Personally, I can’t imagine what’s scarier in virtual reality, giant radioactive cockroaches or hellish ghouls. Bethesda also announced that in 2017, Fallout 4 will be available for the HTC Vive.

Dishonored 2

One year and one whole showcase after the first trailer, Bethesda showed us the gameplay trailer for Dishonored 2.

Emily, Corvo, and the Outsider all look amazing in this dystopian dieselpunk-esque sequel. The flow of the graphics is still in the visual style of Arkane Studios, but the contrast has been increased to something mildly reminiscent of Bioshock Infinite.

With the Bethesda E3 2016 showcase coming to its finality, the crowd hype was overwhelming, and we were all left wanting for more. Prey and Dishonored 2 look amazing. Quake and Doom brought back the nostalgia in a right way. Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, the Bethesda classics at this point, also stood their ground.

What’s your favorite, or least favorite, game of the Bethesda E3 2016 showcase? What were you hoping they would announce but didn’t? What took you by surprise? Let us know.

Images and Videos Courtesy of Bethesda SoftWorks’ YouTube Channel.

Bethesda Was Sued by a Disgruntled Player

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The Russian player demands monetary compensations from Bethesda.

There’s no one out there who can dismiss the fact that Fallout 4 has become quite a hype. Everyone is getting buried in their consoles or PCs, slashing Deathclaws and searching for lost sons. Fallout 4 has proved to be an earth-shaker, a heart-breaker and even a marriage-breaker. Bethesda was sued by a disgruntled player after he lost his job and his wife due to his addiction toward the open-world game.

It does not come as a surprise that an individual can become engrossed in a video game. In face, we can say for sure that engrossement is the trademark of an authentic computer game, and a standard all game developers should be looking forward too.

But engrossement could easily transform into something unpleasant. We are, of course talking about addiction. Such is the case of a man from Russia who decided not to face his personal issues, but rather to put the blame on Bethesda for making such an addictive game.

The Russian player, hailing from the Krasnoyarsk, bought his copy of the critically-acclaimed RPG some time ago, and since then we turned away from friends, family and job. As a result of his addiction, the man lost his job, due to extended leaves of absences.

After a while, the man found out that his wife filed a divorce, complaining that ever since her husband bought the game he began ignoring her and their children.

Learning this, instead of facing the consequences and making amends, the game decided he should take another course of action. As so, the Russian player actually sued Bethesda for losing his job and his wife because they made a game that’s too addictive.

Moreover, the man demands monetary compensation for his loss. According to his claims, Bethesda is to issue a formal apology and to pay the sum of 7000 dollars.

The man also made a press comment in which he explained his gestures. He declared that if he knew that the game was so addictive, he would have waited until the holiday season in order to play it or he would never have bought it in the first place.

Furthermore, the Russian player urges the company to pay more attention with their labeling. He said that Bethesda should label their games as being addictive.

Bethesda released no official comment regarding this situation, and we are unsure if the trial is to take place or not. But something tells us that when the heat will pass, the man might find out who is exactly is to blame for his „unfortunate” situation.

Photo credits:www.flickr.com

Nuke Cola Quantum and Fallout 4

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Target announced that on the 10th of November they will release the Nuke cola quantum beverage.

Starting on the 10^th of November, Target Company will stock up their stores with the new Nuke-Cola Quantum, a soft beverage inspired by the Fallout franchise. Nuke Cola Quantum and Fallout 4 will go live on the same date. Fallout 4 will be available for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

As a friendly reminder, nuke-cola is a rare trinket you could pick up in Fallout 3 and his sibling Fallout: New Vegas. Remember when you rummaged through desolate old buildings or abandoned tunnels to search for some extra bottle caps? Yes, the bottle caps ultimately proved to be useful when you wanted to buy some new piece of armor or to repair your stuff after a rough encounter with some super mutants, but Nuke-Cola gave you that extra kick in battle.

Nuke-colas were very effective when you were level 5 or 6 against sturdier foes. How many shots you used to punch in a mirelurk at level 5 in order to bring him down? Quite a lot of them and some of them were misses. You would run around hoping the monster won’t swing a critical hit on you and then you would probably try again to shoot it.

What’s cool about Nuke-cola: you can totally deplete the power of your VATS, chug in a bottle of that sky-blue mysterious drink and then resume the killing. Not only were you able to obtain an edge in battle, but the more Nuke-cola’s you consumed the more bottle caps you received.

Trouble was that you had to look a bit for those bottle of nuke-cola. Usually, they can be found inside locked chests which you could open only if you had enough skill points invested in pick locking. That can cause a lot of frustration, but the results were worth the effort.

Remember Operation Anchorage, more specifically, the end of the mission, where you get to choose the reward after opening the vault for the Brotherhood of Steel? After a couple of hours, after befriending you, everybody tries to kill you. A nuke-cola could sure come in handy at this point in order to reduce the number of bullets you spend in taking down a soldier with power armor on.

Nuke cola quantum and Fallout 4 are both crowning achievements of Bethesda’s merits in innovating the market of RPG games.

Image source: deviantart.net