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Welcome to the '''Nukapedia News Digest''', brought to you '''[[user:The Gunny|The Gunny Sign Company]]''' ''A sign of the times and a Sign of things to come''...
In ''your'' digest this week
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==From the Administrative Enclave==
[[Forum:Chat_Rules_Review|We're still talking about Chat Rules Reform]]. They'll like be a vote go up this week some time, so get your say in. Contrary to popular belief we do listen to your views, and only those who speak will be able to help shape any changes that are made.
We're also still talking about sprucing this old place up, I've suggested an addition to the front page in addition to the background and banner stuff. [[http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:Proposal:_Addition_of_a_new_background_%26_banner.|take a look here]].
==Jessie Heing==
[[User_blog:Tagaziel/Jesse_Heinig_hospitalized,_ChipIn_campaign_started_to_help_him|Tagaziel has written a piece]] on [[User:Jesse_Heinig|Jesse Heining]], one of the Fallout 1 developers, as well contributing to Star wry Online, Vampire: The Masquerade, and more. Looks like there was a mess-up as a part of some medical care he had been receiving. Please contribute to the Chipin if you can.
{{clear}}/.
[[User_talk:Jesse_Heinig|He has a talk page here too if you want to leave a message]].
==News from the wastes==
{{quote|Hey cool... I now have 9,999 followers…|Brian Fargo, Twitter}}
Not much in the way of wasteland news, although Brian is apparently please with the way the writing is going.. Lets see that gameplay video again though.
_q3bk5os1eQ
==Pete Hines VS Frank Gibeau==
You may not have heard of Frank Gibeau before, but he's one of the head honcho's at EA. This week he was quoted as saying this:
:Electronic Arts' games label boss Frank Gibeau has revealed that he's not let any solely single-player games pass through his gates, ensuring that absolutely every single title the company publishes has an online component.
:"We are very proud of the way EA evolved with consumers," he said. "I have not green lit one game to be developed as a singleplayer experience. Today, all of our games include online applications and digital services that make them live 24/7/365.
This dew a swift reply from Pete Hines, VP and head of PR at Bethesda…
{{quote|And, conversely, I'm proud we do.|Pete Hines|Twitter}}
So, who do you think is right?
[[Poll:Should_all_games_have_an_online_component]]{{clear}}
Also from Pete's Twitter, [http://www.goldenjoystick.com Skyrim is up for a Golden Joystick or 5]. Best RPG, Best DLC twice (Creation kit and Dawnguard), Top Gaming moment and ultimate game of the year. TES:O also gets a mention in One to watch (No, Fallout 4 is not there.. Guess the team was too busy at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheers Cheers] to get their application in).
==Tim Cain Speaks==
Famed Creator Tim Cain spoke to [http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=8416 RPG codex]. Here's some clips.
;How would you describe the atmosphere and company culture at Interplay when you worked there, and how did it develop into the situation that prompted you to leave the company?
:When I started at Interplay in 1991 as a contractor, there were less than 40 people there. In fact, when I got hired the next year, I was employee number 42. That small number meant we all fit in one building, everyone knew everyone else, and you knew about every product being made. The company felt almost like a family.
:When I left Interplay in 1998, the company had over 600 employees, spread over multiple buildings and several countries. Games would ship that you never even knew were in development, and licenses were purchased and developed in secret. Lots of development was outsourced to outside development studios, so Interplay felt more like a factory than a family.
:I left when I felt like I had lost control of Fallout. So many people took over after Fallout 1, when they changed their minds about the IP and suddenly it was a AAA game. Before Fallout 1 shipped, we had been overshadowed by D&D and Star Trek, so we were left alone to develop it our way. After it shipped, people were suddenly dictating content, box art, advertisement assets and everything else, so I walked away from it. I was proud of the game and happy that people were so passionate about it, but I realized it wasn't mine anymore and never would be.
;Given that you left Interplay midway through Fallout 2's development, how did the resulting game differ from the original design you had in mind for it?
:I don't remember the specific details of my plans for Fallout 2, but I do remember playing the game and seeing it was different from the storyline I had proposed for it. I think my biggest disappointment with the game is that each area was made in almost complete isolation from the others. There was no over-arching theme and no attempt to make sure the different areas were cohesive. It felt like a lot of Fallout-y areas, placed adjacently and connected with a storyline. Those areas were individually well-done, but they suffered from the lack of a strong central design.
;You claimed to enjoy Fallout 3, and I'm going to assume you also enjoyed Fallout: New Vegas. From a design standpoint, how would you compare Fallout 3 and New Vegas? What did New Vegas do differently from Fallout 3, in your view?
:I did enjoy both Fallout 3 and New Vegas. I know that surprised some of my fans, who wanted me to hate the games and rail against their design choices (which I have repeatedly pointed out were different than the ones I would have made), but there is no arguing that more people enjoy the modern versions of the franchise than the older ones.
:If I were to compare the two games, I would say that Fallout New Vegas felt like it captured the humor and style of the Fallout universe better than Fallout 3, but I have to hand it to the FO3 designers for developing VATS, a cool twist on called shots for a real-time game. I also loved the set decoration FO3. There was so much destruction, yet obviously everything had been meticulously hand-placed. So much story was told entirely through art. I ended up naming these little art vignettes and creating side stories in my head about what had happened. There was "The Suicide", a dead guy in a bathtub with a shotgun, and I figured he just couldn't handle life after the bombs. There was "Eternal Love", a couple of skeletons in a bed in a hotel room, forever embracing each other. There was "My Last Mistake", the corpse in the temporary one-man fallout shelter which obviously didn't do its job of keeping out the heat and radiation. My favorite was "Desperate Gamble", where I found a feral ghoul in an underground shelter filled with lab supplies and lots of drugs... except for Rad-X. I imagined that a scientist found himself irradiated and desperately tried to synthesize some Rad-X to cure himself before he succumbed, but he was too slow. I did notice that whatever was left of his mind sure did seem to enjoy toilet plungers.
:If I had to pick something I didn't like about FO3, I would pick its ending. I hated the ending. There, I said it. I didn't like the sudden problem with the purifier, and I especially didn't like the lack of real, meaningful multiple endings beyond what I chose in the final few minutes (FEV or not, me or Lyons, and that was it?). But the worst thing about the ending was there was no mention of the fate of places I had visited. In my head I had already imagined slides for Megaton, the Citadel, Rivet City, Underworld, GNR, the Enclave or the mysterious Commonwealth. But I got... pretty much nothing.
:I liked FONV's ending much better. It had a nice set of slides at the end of the game. They covered everything I was wondering about. I went with Mr. House at the end... and that seemed a worse choice after the slides, but still OK. It led to a law-abiding but somewhat impersonal Vegas. I wish I didn't have to kill the BoS, but I want House to control the future, so I had to do it. It was a great morally ambiguous choice, and the decision made me pause. That's a sign of good design, right there.
;Given that you are currently working on Obsidian’s South Park RPG, does the "casual" nature of the title influence the way you approach it? Generally, how do you think one should approach designing a more "casual" kind of CRPG?
:I am not in a designing role on the South Park RPG, and as a programmer, its casual nature doesn't influence me in any way. And as a Mature-rated RPG, it feels more like my old Troika games than a Teen-rated MMO.
:As for casual RPG's, if I were to make one, I would lean towards making it simpler, both in character systems and in the UI, so that players who are not interested in stat juggling and character design could enjoy the game too. I'd like to think that someone who played and liked a casual RPG would use it as a stepping stone to richer and more complex RPG's, but for many people, you have to make that leap as easy as possible.
==Fallout: Lanius==
A lot of excitement for "Fallout: Lanius" from Chris Avellone, and Brian Fargo, a Fallout fan film based on who else, but Legate Lanius. MCA and John Gonzales have apparently contributed notes to help keep the character true, and Mitch Lewis, voice of Lanius in New Veags is signed to the project… It sounds too awesome. [http://www.indiegogo.com/FalloutLaniusFanFilm Will take your bottle caps] if you want to help make it happen.
==Project Spotlight==
Two Spotlights this week… First, to Victor the Securitron with a message from our sponsor….
===Walkthrough Chart Project===
Are you tired of the same old, quick walkthrough sections on New Vegas quest pages? Do you find them hard to read? Are they, quite simply, inadequate to explain how to properly perform a long quest? Well fret no more! With the brand new [[Fallout Wiki:Walkthrough Chart Project|Walkthrough Chart Project]] from your friends here at Nukapedia, that won't be a problem much longer! The chart template is the thing of the future! So don't get left behind! Join the project today, lend a helping hand to your friends here, and most of all, have fun editing!
===New User Network===
It's Graduation time at the New User Network… Who will it be this week?
{{Present
|name =A stylish Editors red pen
|image =Chrisdesign red glossy pen.png
|message =For all your hard work on the wiki to date - hey, do you know how hard it is to find a working pen in the wastes?
|signature =[http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout_Wiki:New_User_Network The New User Network Team]
}}
It's a double graduation this week. [[User:Denis517|Denis517]] and [[user:Theodorico|Theodorico will be issued with the ever sought after "Editors Red Pen" issued to all of our graduates. Congratulations and thanks for your hard work so far.
==Wrap==
===Relic of the War that wasn't===
In our runup to 15 years of Fallout, I've included for your pleasure this week "Civil Defense handbook No. 10 - Advising the householder on protection against nuclear attack". This would have been issued to every household in the UK in the event of war seeming likely. Pay attention, this just might save your life.{{clear}}
Relic - Civil Defence Handbook no. 10 0.jpeg
Relic - Civil Defence Handbook no. 10 1.jpeg
Relic - Civil Defence Handbook no. 10 2.jpeg
Relic - Civil Defence Handbook no. 10 3.jpeg
Relic - Civil Defence Handbook no. 10 4.jpeg
Relic - Civil Defence Handbook no. 10 5.jpeg
Relic - Civil Defence Handbook no. 10 6.jpeg
Relic - Civil Defence Handbook no. 10 7.jpeg
Relic - Civil Defence Handbook no. 10 8.jpeg
Relic - Civil Defence Handbook no. 10 9.jpeg
Relic - Civil Defence Handbook no. 10 10.jpeg
{{clear}}
(This is made available under the Open Government License, UK Crown Copyright).
I'm hoping to reveal more UK Government nuclear war secrets as the month goes on.
Many governments issued similar documents, if you can obtain a copy of one, I'll be glad to feature it in an upcoming relic.
===Sounds of the Wasteland===
I'm looking at the possibility of creating a Fallout-styled internet Radio station. The Station would broadcast music from Fallout 3 and New Vegas, and other songs from the same artists, as well as a few news pieces (and hopefully a radio serial too); who knows we might even be able to get a talk show or two going. The catch is its going to cost money for music licensing… So the second question for the news this week is would you listen to it, and would you contribute to its upkeep?
[[Poll:Would_you_listen_to,_and_contribute_to_a_Nukapedia/Fallout_Radio_station]]
If you're interested in possibly getting involved in such a project, please hit me up on my talk.
===Your Next Nukapedia News digest===
Should be next Friday or saturday, until then Stay Safe, take your Rad X, and don't hog the stimpacks. [[User:Agent c|Agent c]] ([[User talk:Agent c|talk]]) 20:59, September 8, 2012 (UTC)
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[[Category:September 2012 news]]
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