Bethesda and Spash Damage hope to fuse single player, co-op, and multiplayer, into one seamless experience in their latest digital endeavor Brink. The first-person shooter is an ambitious project indeed, but from an art standpoint, we absolute love what we’ve been seeing so far.

Released today are these four glorious shots from the game, and needless to say, we’re excitied, but with a release date of only “TBD” we won’t be playing this one for a while.

Now, Fallout 3’s protagonist has one more frontier to conquer: Space!

Mothership Zeta, Fallout 3’s fifth and final Downloadable Content, takes the Lone Wanderer on a galactic adventure filled with Aliens, spaceships and, best of all, advanced weapons.  However, with many other DLCs to compete with, how will Bethesda’s most recent Fallout 3 add-on stack up against the competition?

Mothership Zeta opens like most other DLCs; with a mysterious radio signal that ultimately reveals a new location on your map.  The location, aptly named Alien Crash Site, is where a small round ship called Recon Craft Theta had crash-landed in the Wasteland.  Upon arriving at the location, the Lone Wanderer will notice that there is fairly heavy radiation surrounding the ship.  Eventually, when players approach the ship, the Lone Wander is beamed up to Mothership Zeta.

Once the Lone Wander teleports to Zeta, players find themselves trapped (and stripped of all armor and weapons) in a holding cell with a Waster named Somah.  Somah doesn’t know much more than you when it comes to general information about the ship, but she has learned that your Alien captors would prefer to keep their human specimens alive.  With this in mind, Somah suggests that you should fight her, making the Aliens have to open the cell and break up the scuffle.  Once you agree to the plan, it is executed perfectly and the escape begins.

One of my favorite parts about Mothership Zeta is the unique cast of characters you meet during your attempt to escape.  First, the Alien enemies on the spacecraft were very cool.  Each Alien looks similar to what we all imagine an extraterrestrial would look like: small, green and with a big head.  Still, even with this classic interpretation of extra-terrestrials, the natives of Mothership Zeta are quite interesting because of their beautifully animated armor and masterfully recorded voices.  These aspects alone were probably two of the best things about this DLC.

Also, the Aliens of Mothership Zeta seem to have been in the abducting business for quite a while, judging by the types of folks you encounter.  The Aliens cryogenically froze many different types of NPCs, good and bad.  Some of the frozen enemies that are frozen (and possibly unfrozen) include Slavers, Super Mutants and those ever-pesky Feral Ghouls.  The allies you meet on Mothership Zeta are from Earth’s present and past.  Characters such as a cowboy, a little girl who survived the Great War (and is very helpful throughout the DLC) and a medic from the liberation of Alaska.  My favorite NPC was a cryo-frozen Samurai, complete with ancient Japanese armor and weaponry.

Speaking of weapons, the Aliens on Mothership Zeta really know how develop some tools of destruction.  In addition to the massive device called the Death Ray (useable only at the end of the DLC), the fallen Aliens usually leave behind impressive loot.  Items such as the Shock Baton and Electro-Suppressor serve as viable weapons for melee characters.  The Alien Atomizer and Disintegrator are found often throughout the DLC and do considerable damage against your extra-terrestrial adversaries.  My favorite weapon in Mothership Zeta was the Drone Cannon.  This weapon, which is found on the Aliens’ security robots, fire large spheres of energy that bounce around and eventually explode.  This was especially helpful when I wanted to eliminate enemies who were hiding around corners and behind objects.

Sadly, the characters and the weapons were the only things I really liked about the Mothership Zeta DLC.

The great thing about Fallout 3 is the fact that it is driven by such an interesting storyline.  Unfortunately, Mothership Zeta fails to provide anything resembling an intriguing plot.  I found myself becoming bored with this DLC very quickly, not caring about whom I talked to or what information I uncovered.  Instead, I seemed to just be playing Mothership Zeta so I could get my character to level 30 and be done with it.  Though I was able to get to that pinnacle level, I still wasn’t happy with the story that got me there.

Similar to the plot, the quests in Mothership Zeta were quite bland.  Many of the tasks that the Lone Wanderer must complete tended to be tedious and uninteresting.  There was no real problem solving during the quests.  Instead, the Lone Wanderer is forced run from one location to another, having no say in the way he or she completes the task.  Fallout 3 is all about making the right or wrong choice.  However, for the developers of Mothership Zeta, it seems that this DLC is all about making *their* choice.

Not helping the entertainment value of the quests was the confusing nature of the spacecraft’s environments.  Though each room and hallway on Mothership Zeta looked clean and futuristic, I found it very easy to get lost while trying to find important points of interest.  The use of teleportation pads came in handy quite often, but they often made things much more confusing than they needed to be.  I applaud the effort by Bethesda, but they just didn’t do anything for me.

Blast Factor: Overall, Mothership Zeta was a real letdown for me.  Though the characters and advanced weaponry in this DLC were a pleasure to interact with, important aspects such as the plot, quests and environments were either flawed or just plain boring.  If $10 means little to you, Mothership Zeta may be worth purchasing if you have all of the other Fallout 3 DLCs and would like to reach level 30.  However, if you’re still lacking any of the previous DLCs, I suggest you invest in those first.

Mothership Zeta is currently available exclusively on Xbox Live and Games for Windows for 800 Points / $9.99.

As you can see in the screens, stumbling upon this crashed spaceship grants you access to something much larger. We’ll have more info for you as Bethesda unveils it, and eventually a review of this latest batch of DLC.

However, in the video game world, mainly in the Fallout universe, it doesn’t mean just any carnival.  Remember, this is Fallout 3, where only the creepiest of carnival settings will suffice.

Welcome to Point Lookout, the newest addition to Fallout 3’s downloadable content.

Point Lookout takes the Lone Wanderer on a foggy, swamp filled adventure to the previously-unknown-to-me bayous of Maryland’s marsh country. In this DLC, players will encounter interesting quests, interesting characters and one very cool psychedelic drug trip.

Like most of Fallout 3’s DLCs, Point Lookout begins when the Lone Wanderer receives a radio transmission indicating that a ferryboat called the Duchess Gambit has docked at the Riverboat Landing location in the Capital Wasteland.  Upon arrival, you meet two non-player characters named Catherine and Tobar. Catherine reveals that her daughter, Nadine, recently stowed away on a ship to travel to the mysterious settlement of Point Lookout and begs for you to find and return her.  Tobar, a coastal trader and owner of the Duchess Gambit, provides safe transit to Point Lookout for the price of a ticket… running at $330 a piece.

Still, even with the hefty price tag, traveling to Point Lookout is well worth the cost, as the action begins right away. As you travel to Point Lookout for the first time, you watch a cinematic cut-scene (a medium I feel is underused in Fallout 3), which shows smoke rising from a mansion, later revealed to be a major location in the DLCs main quest. Once landed on the docks at Point Lookout, the Lone Wanderer talks to Tobar and the adventure begins.

Point Lookout has no lack of intrigue within its storyline. Once the Lone Wanderer lands at Point Lookout, he finds himself in the middle of a conflict between a surly ghoul named Desmond Lockheart and the native people of the region called Tribals. From there, players are called upon to complete quests for both sides, eventually evolving the storyline into one of the most morally gray adventures available in the world of Fallout.

One of my favorite moments in this DLC is when the Lone Wanderer goes on an incredibly bizarre hallucination after collecting the seeds from a giant plant. In this psychedelic trip, the Lone Wanderer walks through the mysterious swamplands of Point Lookout, having strange and sadistic visions of some familiar faces of his past. The environment is turned upside-down (literally) in this short offshoot in the plot, creating an important time of reflection for both the Lone Wanderer and the player himself.

There is no lack of side quests in Point Lookout either. In fact, some may argue that some of the side quests are actually more fun than Point Lookout’s main quest. Though I wouldn’t necessarily agree, I do feel that Bethesda really went above and beyond when it came to writing the plot for this DLC.

Point Lookout is unique in that it has a very unique ambiance when compared to the other available DLCs. There is a certain old Louisiana feel to the environments, full of haze, swampland and, of course, mutated hillbillies. The NPCs have a different crusty flavor to them, delightfully contrasting themselves from your basic Fallout Waster.

The folks living in the tattered carnival region of Point Lookout are as diverse as the services they offer. In the belly of the swamp, on the other hand, is where a few new breeds of characters reside. Some of the most interesting and unique enemies you will find are called the Swampfolk. These radiated marsh dwellers resemble your classic country bumpkin stereotype, complete with buckteeth and aggressive behavior. Whether or not they are inbred is still unknown (take a look at an attacking Scrapper in the screenshot below). Also, keep an eye out for the previously mentioned Tribals: a group dedicated to the growth and preservation of Punga Fruit, a crop with precious healing properties that is exclusive to the region.

The variety does not end at the citizens’ local flavor, however. Point Lookout also offers an abundance of new weaponry as well. Basic arms, such as the double-barreled shotgun, axe, and lever-action rifle add to the already strong country feel to the game. Unique items like moonshine, fishing poles, and workman’s coveralls will make you feel like you are a real backwoodsman.

Blast Factor: Point Lookout’s plot is as interesting as it is different. Along with the diverse characters, weapons, and environments, Point Lookout is definitely one of the most creative DLCs available. With that said, however, I couldn’t help but ask myself how necessary this add-on was to the overall Fallout 3 storyline. With the base Fallout 3 game combined with Broken Steel (my favorite of the DLCs, which extends the level-cap from 20 to 30), there are definitely enough quests to get to level 30 without spending another dime. All things considered, Point Lookout is a fun addition to Fallout 3, but should only be downloaded by those who have already bought Broken Steel and are ready for some new, exciting content.

Point Lookout is available first on the Xbox Live Marketplace and Windows PC for 800 Points.

Beginning July 7 the two games will hit retail as one mega-awesome-must-have bundle priced at $39.99 for Xbox 360, and $29.99 for PC gamers.

Together, over 80 game of the year awards have gone out to both titles, and in case you haven’t played either, in July you can’t go wrong with this new M rated bundle.

Oblivion and Bioshock currently retail for $29.99 and $19.99 respectively on Xbox 360, so you won’t be saving a ton, but every little bit counts if you’re like me.

While we’re on the subject of great bundled gaming, you might want to consider The Orange Box from Valve. Games included are Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. That’s five games for $19.99 brand new. Wow.

Let’s get this out of the way right now: Eliza Dushku is so cool. She gives a firm handshake. She talks to everyone around her, even the burly security guard. And she gets really into watching people play her game.

Anyways, on with the beans we got her to spill.

BLAST: Is this your first video game?

ELIZA DUSHKU: No. I was in Buffy and and then the Yakuza game.

BLAST: What do you think of Wet so far?

ED: I’m into it, and I have a friend that came down to test out the game. He’s 14. His name is Kyle. He says it’s really good and I trust him.

BLAST: Is there a big difference between doing a video game voiceover and a movie voiceover and then just plain acting?

ED: Um. It depends. It’s just a whole different — it’s you, but it’s not. It’s kind of like for this video game I didn’t do all the body muscle stuff. I knew she already sort of had a rhythm, and I felt in a way more like I was getting into her established character and trying to find the right fit, you know what I mean, to give her.

I actually decided that I should smoke a few cigarettes each time we did it. My friend was like “your voice is so low,” and I was like “yeah that’s the cigarettes.” I quit smoking, but I was like “eh, it’s for work.”

BLAST: Have you had a chance to play through Wet and see yourself in action?

ED: Just a little bit. It’s awesome and I love, you know, that Tarantino, “Kill Bill” look to it — the whole 70s, grainy, the music. I think it’s really sexy. It’s sexy and it’s exciting and she’s a real working class Lara Croft, Jack Daniels-confident, tough, hard as nails, she’s international. She’s in Hong Hong and the UK, and she’s going wherever she needs to go to take care of business.

BLAST: Actors oftentimes say they put a lot of themselves into their roles. Are you able to do that in a video game role?

ED: Yeah. Every time, you know, she’s crazy I got to get crazy and hit record. It was a great anger release.

BLAST: Do you see yourself doing more video game roles now that you’ve got this one done?

ED: I was sort of holding off after the first two and then this one came to me. I like the idea of seeing this one sort of go farther and go deeper. I definitely feel a real identification with [the character].

BLAST: Did you play video games growing up?

ED: Not as much as I wanted to, because I was a little sister. I liked Metroid, and I liked Mortal Kombat, and I liked the Mario Bros.

BLAST: I want to talk about Dollhouse a bit. What was the most challenging thing about season one?

ED: Well if you asked me like three weeks ago I’d say the Friday night time slot. Because, you know, it’s Friday night, the people weren’t necessarily showing up and seeing it on their TVs on a Friday night, but then when they woke up we were the most DVR’d show in history or something.

I started realizing how many people were watching. Now it’s just kind of gravy that we get to go back and do anther season. We don’t have to worry sort of about what the numbers coming in on Friday are. We’re reaching our audience, you know?

BLAST: Does your producer role change your relationship with Joss Whedon at all?

ED: Yes. We’re so serious. We’re so business oriented there’s no fun and games anymore. (laughs) Not even. I think I’m going to go back and bring them all pizza. He just texted me last night and said “we’re officially en fuego.”

BLAST: What’s been your favorite imprint so far?

ED: I had a lot of fun playing the assassin. I fought FBI agent Ballard in, what was it, (episode) six, “Man on the Steet.” That’s also the episode where the show really picked up and found its voice. That was like a high episode.

It’s also cool in the end, “Omega,” where I played like 38 personalities at once.

BLAST: Do you ever feel that the show is too risque?

ED: No. I have three older brothers, and they saw the whole dominatrix opener one day and were like “really sis? Really?” but, you know, it’s part of the “we give the people what they want” on the show, and they want that.

BLAST: What are you looking forward to in season two?

ED: I feel like we really found a groove toward the end of the season and we just have so many stories that we want to tell and so many places we want to go and now we just get that chance and now we just get to make the show we want to make.

BLAST: Is there someplace new you want to go with the show in season two?

ED: There’s a little bit less of the dumbed-down doll and a little more of this young woman now being able to figure out what she’s going to do.

BLAST: So you’re filming in Boston soon. Boston’s trying to become this like Hollywood East. Do you like filming at home with us becoming more of a hub of the entertainment industry?

ED: I love it. Boston’s my favorite place on earth.

Eliza said she’s filming a psychological drama in Boston with Ben Barnes based on what she called “a really beautiful script.”

She is also dating somebody. No, she didn’t say who, but the Boston Herald announced today it is ex-Celtic Rick Fox, and we’re pretty sure we caught a glimpse of him playing Wet before the interview.

She currently owns a Nintendo Wii and is addicted to BrickBreaker on her Blackberry.

Blast Magazine staff writer Kellen Rice contributed to this report.

Due out Spring 2010 for Xbox 360, PC, and PS3, Brink is an immersive first person shooter that somehow blends single-player, co-op, and multiplayer into one helluva game in which your character can be fine tuned throughout.

The story of Brink surrounds the fact that a  man-made floating city, made up of thousands of islands, dubbed the Ark is simply put, on the brink of war and preparing for the worst. After 25 years of social unrest, the people of the ark have had enough, and it is up to you and the character you decide to play, to determine the future of the city and its human race.

Compelling? Yes, especially given the fact that Bethesda is behind it.  The Fallout and Oblivion series’ were pretty well crafted if you ask me.

Take a look at the first screen shots from the game to be revealed and head on over to BrinkTheGame to learn more.

Brink is a product of collaboration between Bethesda and Splash Damage that was initially announced over a year ago, but even after watching this trailer we still have zero idea what the game is going to entail.

All we do know is that the artists on the job are fantastic, there will be shooting in one form or another, and that the game is due out Spring 2010 for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

No worries though because Bethesda has pulled an Honest Abe and promised juicy details at E3 concerning the mysterious title. Stay tuned for our E3 2009 coverage beginning Monday!

No Sony fans, Bethesda did not forget you and your love of Fallout 3, they just had to wait until the right time to show that love…er something like that.

Operation Anchorage will release via the PlayStation Store next month in June followed by The Pitt and Broken Steel 4-6 weeks apart.   As always, nothing is set in stone and Bethesda promises forthcoming details of the more solid nature.

Furthermore, Bethesda continues their barrage of DLC with Point Lookout and Mothership Zata arriving in late June and July respectively and exclusively for PC and Xbox 360 with the PS3 version inbound after all three previously unavailable packs become available.

All DLC opportunities are priced at $9.99/800 MS Points.  That Fallout love is starting to hurt the wallet yeah?

But wait, there’s more, kinda.

Fallout 3 Add-on Pack #1 (The Pitt, Operation: Anchorage) arrives on disc at retail May 26 and Pack #2 hits shelves in August with Broken Steel and Point Lookout inside.  Sadly, as Bethesda puts it, “retail versions of the game add-on packs for PS3 are not possible” and can only be purchases digitally.

However, come October,a Fallout 3: Game of the Year edition will arrive on retail shelves bearing a $59.99 price tag for Xbox 360 and PS3 ($49.99 on PC) and will contain all five DLC expansions.

Personally, the slew of DLC available for Fallout 3 is a tad intimidating, and with my birthday in October, that Game of the Year SKU sounds right up my alley.

No, Broken Steel is not the name of a new drink, or a taco topping, rather the third installment of DLC for the popular RPG that hit digital shelves today.

Available for 800 MS Points/$10, Broken Steel you play as the character you’ve so lovingly built as you work with the Brotherhood of Steel to destroy the Enclave for good! Hopefully.   Broken Steel also raises the level cap to a mighty 30, brings new weapons and the ability to revive your canine companion, and most interestingly extends the title to infinity and beyond removing any ending the title ever had.

Gamers take the good with the bad, and again, there is some bad to be had with Broken Steel.

According to Kotaku Bethesda has recognized the following error message PC Fallout fans have encountered and is promising a thorough and timely examination and ultimate fix of the issue.

“Not a cryptographic message or the cryptographic message is not formatted correctly. (Exception from HRESULT: 0×8009200D)”

No complaints regarding the Xbox 360 version however and your download can be started here (even if you’re at work or school) via the Xbox Live web marketplace.  Happy hunting!

WET is a third-person-shooter featuring highly stylized animation that incorporates a myriad of ways to eliminate enemies.  Main character Rubi Malone, a gun-for-hire, incorporates acrobatics, gun-play, and the cold steel of swords-womanship into the experience.

The game-play will feature a blend of humor, over-the-top violence in a retro art style, and an interestingly chosen 70’s soundtrack.  WET is wading into the uncertain shooter-action waters and aims to resiliently make it safely to the other side.

Check out the screens to the right if the above made no sense to you.

Bethesda Softworks, creators of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion today announced a partnership with Del Ray Books to publish and release two novels based on the fantasy worlds of The Elder Scrolls.

Greg Keyes, author of the New York Times bestselling Star Wars novels will handle the writing responsibilities for the original stories based on the video game.

“We’ve been big fans of Greg’s work for a long time, and we’re thrilled he agreed to bring his talents to The Elder Scrolls,” said Pete Hines, vice president of public relations and marketing for Bethesda Softworks. “We see these books as a natural extension of the franchise and think fans will love the stories and characters Greg has created.”

The first of the series to be released, “The Infernal City” is set after the events of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and places the citizens of Tamriel again in the center of an doubtful future.  Looming high above the land is a massive city that casts a shadow which in turn kills those it touches and turns them into the living dead.  The improbable duo of a seventeen year old girl named Annaig and the Emperor’s juvenile son Prince Attrebus are tasked with saving the kingdom from certain doom.  Along the lengthy and precarious quest, Attrebus and Annaig encounter elements from The Elder Scrolls universe and add to the already rich storytelling experience garnered in the video game.

No word on a release date for “The Infernal City” but Blast will keep you in the loop.

Broken Steel comes exclusively to Xbox 360 and PC (sorry PS3 fans, you must smell bad or something), raises the level cap to 30, and eliminates the games’ ending.  Closure is overrated anyway.

Available for 800 MS Points, Broken Steel will introduce your character to an entirely new environment outside of the Wasteland and bring new weapons, enemies, and perks to the fray, one in particular that that allows for the summoning of your deceased canine companion.

Furthermore, Broken Steel drops you into the latter part of the title, changes the way the original title ends, and expands the storyline unendingly.

Speaking with Brian Crecente, managing editor of Kotaku.com, Pete Hines of Bethesda said “Broken Steel has no ending, there are no more endings, we got the message.”

As far as length is concerned, Hines stated that the total duration is a “bit longer than The Pitt, coming in at about four to five hours of gameplay, and that it also adds a bunch of sidequests which each take 30 minutes to an hour to complete.”

Now that we know Broken Steel ups the level cap to 30, what about more difficult enemies and the effort needed to reach the cap?

“Enemies are a lot tougher,” Hines said. “You start seeing new enemies at level 18.

“Advancement from 20 to 30 takes a ton of experience points.”

There you have it folks, Fallout 3’s latest DLC drops in two weeks, brings a slew of new features and quests to the experience, and eliminates any sense of conclusion.  Just what could Bethesda possibly do next? Oh that’s right, the company recently revealed Fallout Vegas with scant details. Let the hype begin!

via Kotaku

In the beginning, Bethesda Softworks took gamers on an exciting adventure through the Nuclear Wastelands of Washington DC in Fallout 3.  Next, Bethesda took patrons back in time to witness the liberation of Alaska from Chinese Communists in the Fallout 3 downloadable content pack Operation: Anchorage.

Now, the company that brought you these two exciting bits of content is now taking you on an adventure in…

Pittsburgh?

Yes, Pittsburgh.  Though it seems like an odd idea, The Pitt seemed to have the potential to be the most interesting and entertaining DLC for Fallout 3.  The only question was: would it reach that potential?

The Pitt puts the Lone Wanderer in the middle of a skirmish between the large network of Slavers and their large slave population.  From there, players are posed with morally ambiguous decisions while encountering numerous new characters, weapons (including the hyped AutoAxe) and enemies.

After downloading The Pitt, players will shortly find a message pop up in their HUD stating that there is a distress call being broadcasted on the radio.  Soon after reading this message, a quest will be added as well as a marker designating the location where the message is being broadcasted.

At the broadcast station, you find a man named Werhner who has been ambushed by Slavers. Once you help him, he explains the message he broadcasted across the Wasteland’s airwaves. In short, Werhner says that he needs your assistance to help free the slaves (or “workers” as the leaders of The Pitt would say) and to remove the evil monarchy running what’s left of the war torn city.

The first step in the plan, as Werhner explains, is to, not surprisingly, enter The Pitt. To do this, you must look like a slave. This means that you must wear slave clothes. You also cannot have any of your weapons, armor or anything of value on you when you try and get into The Pitt. If you do try and smuggle your items into The Pitt, a less-than-charming Slaver name Mex takes all of your items (which you will eventually be able to recover later in the quest).

Once you actually get into The Pitt, you are told to meet with a slave named Midea. Midea, who is noticeably cleaner and more polite than many of the other NPC you will encounter in The Pitt, plays the role of a sort of leader and representative of the slaves. Once you tell her that you are the one who is helping Werhner, she tells you to work in the Steelyard. There, she explains, you will be able to blend in with the other slaves while also staying out of sight of the Slavers. However, she fails to tell you (well, initially anyway) that working in the Steelyard is actually the most dangerous job in The Pitt, putting the Lone Wanderer in the middle of a breeding ground of the Trogs, a demented once-human life-form looking to attack you at any moment.

From there, you slowly work your way up the slave/Slaver food chain, gaining more power and access around The Pitt as you go. How you use this power, however, is entirely up to you.

The Pitt is brilliant in it’s writing and the morally grey choices that it presents (including taking a page out of Amalia Tabata’s book giving players a choice to kidnap a child). The DLC, unlike many that I’ve encountered in the past, did not seem forced into the overall storyline nor did it seem like it was made just for Bethesda to get some extra revenue.  The attention to detail with the character models was superb.  The slaves looked convincingly affected by the harsh working conditions and heavy radiation.  The dialogue was also excellent.

In short, the Pitt had purpose and was fun at the same time. However, The Pitt had its shortcomings as well.

The first release of The Pitt, as you might have heard, was a bit of a disaster. Customers of version 1.0 reported terrible glitches and lagging within the game. Also, some users even had their entire saved game file corrupted, causing some completely lose upwards of 40 hours of work.

I, luckily, waited until Bethesda (who, to their credit, quickly took off and replaced the bad version) posted a new and improved version of The Pitt on Xbox Live. But, when I downloaded the DLC, I was still disappointed with how The Pitt ran.

The game was virtually glitch-free after the update.  I was very satisfied with how well Bethesda cleaned up The Pitt in a relatively short time.  Sure, it would have been nice if it worked correctly the first time, but I’d take a delayed-but-working game over a never-going-to-be-fixed glitchfest any day.

However, beyond the quality of the game’s programming, some of the quests within The Pitt were flawed. Within The Pitt’s main quest, players will find themselves running back and forth between areas that were quite distant from each other to have very short conversations with other characters.

The Pitt, though flawed, still makes for a decent DLC. I’d say that this DLC beats Operation: Anchorage hands down.  The Pitt will last for as many hours as it’s users want it to. With the decent number of side missions and moderately complex main quest, this DLC will last you somewhere between 3-8 hours. If you’ve got an Xbox 360, a copy of Fallout 3 and a spare $9.99, The Pitt will be a worthy investment.

According to Kotaku, details on the new game are scant, but Bethesda’s Pete Hines confirmed that Obsidian Entertainment (KOTOR 2: Sith Lords) has partnered with the publisher to work on a new title, Fallout Vegas.

Fallout Vegas is not a sequel to the award winning Fallout 3 of 2009, and will embody the similar role-playing experience fans of the franchise admire.

Stay connected with Blast, and as more information surfaces we’ll be sure to bring you the gushy details.

Tim Schafer, legendary game designer hosted the event, as major titles Fallout 3, and LittleBigPlanet took home most of the hardware.

Media Molecule’s crazy-popular, user generated content oriented LittleBigPlanet took home four awards for Best Game Design, Best Technology, Best Debut Game and Innovation.

Bethesda Softworks received the Game of the Year and Best Writing awards for their latest post-apocalyptic endeavor, Fallout 3.

Not all the nods went to the games themselves as Hideo Kojima, creator of Metal Gear was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his twenty years of dedication and work on the Metal Gear series and others.

Finally, Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, co-developers of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises accepted the Pioneer Award for their undying enthusiasm and dedication to their work.

Full list of winners at the Game Developers Choice Awards below.

Game of the Year
Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks)

Best Game Design:
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)

Best Writing:
Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks)

Best Technology:
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)

Best Visual Arts:
Prince of Persia (Ubisoft Montreal)

Best Debut Game:
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)

Best Handheld Game:
God Of War: Chains Of Olympus (Ready at Dawn)

Innovation Award:
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)

Best Audio:
Dead Space (EA Redwood Shores)

Best Downloadable Game:
World Of Goo (2D Boy)

Recipients for the evening’s special awards were:

Lifetime Achievement Award
Hideo Kojima

Pioneer Award
Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy

Ambassador Award
Tommy Tallarico

via GamaSutra.

The Pitt allows your character to travel through the destroyed remains of Pittsburgh, ravaged by time, neglect, nuclear radiation, and moral degradation.  New weapons, enemies, shady NPC’s, and morally grey choices await you in Bethesda’s latest digital offering.

The trifectas of screens are Arena, Attacked, and Pittslave, each with unique and intriguing visual components.

All three are dark and ominous, as would be expected in such a desolate metropolis, and while Trog’s and hacksaws are great, Arena appropriates great lighting and texture elements scoring my vote.

The Pitt DLC hits Xbox 360 and PC March 24 costing you 800 golden Microsoft Points.

Still, I have always thought that Fallout 3 was missing something… I just could never put my finger on it. There was some element, some ‘thing’ that was keeping Fallout 3 from evolving from a very good game to a great game.

Enter Operation: Anchorage, the first downloadable content for Fallout 3, and the solution to the equation that has bothered me for the last month.

Operation Anchorage starts when you hear a distress signal from Defender Morill, a member of the Brotherhood Outcasts, the separated faction of the Brotherhood of Steel. Upon hearing the signal, the quest becomes available for you to pursue.

When you arrive at the Outcast Outpost, Defender Morill and Protector McGraw greet you, though with cautious hostility. However, eventually McGraw and Morill let you in on the Outcasts’ plans due to your character being the perfect subject for a certain simulation. Why, you ask? Because of the special device attached to your arm called the Pip-Boy 3000.

It is explained to you that the Outcasts would like to gain access into a secret vault. However, to get into the vault, the Outcasts need someone to complete a simulation of the rescuing of Alaska from Communist Chinese invaders AKA the Liberation of Anchorage. The Outcasts warn you that if you die in the simulation, you die in “real life”. However, if you complete the simulation successfully, you will be able to get a cut of whatever was inside of the vault.

After being jacked into the program, Sergeant Benjamin Montgomery greets you in “Alaska”. He leads you to see General Chase (probably one of the best-named characters in video game history). General Chase explains to you the operations you need to complete to finish the simulation. From there, you select from an array of military personnel to form your strike team (which turned out to be fairly useless) and head out.

As you start to fulfill your duties, fight various amounts of enemies, use many types of weapons, and visit some interesting locations, all of which are unique to the DLC. One of the coolest enemies were the Crimson Dragoons, invisible Chinese super soldiers who attack you in a variety of ways: sword, rifles or sniping. However, you’re not defenseless against the Dragoons. Within the simulation, you get to use the “old technology” of the time of the Liberation. Though you will often see classic firearms like the Silenced 10mm Pistol, you will also run into weapons such as Trench Knives and the always useful Gauss rifle. You also will have ammo and health replenishing machines that you will find along the way.

Overall, Operation: Alaska is a success. It achieves an experience that I could not find in the original content of Fallout 3. As a good karma character, I was able to kill almost everyone I saw with little to no consequences: a simple, but necessary pleasure in a FPS such as this.

Minor spoiler warning. We’re not giving away anything vital.

Every once in a while, a game comes along that plays out like so:

You sit down at 5:30 in the afternoon to play the game. You open a box of Cheez-Its. You figure on playing the game for an hour or two and eating a few handfuls of crackers.

Suddenly the sun is coming up, the box is empty, and you’ve just gotten started in the game.

This caloric description doesn’t even begin to do justice to Fallout 3. Not only is Fallout 3 the best game of the year, but it’s one of the best games ever made.

That’s a lofty statement, but you’re reading a magazine that has a track record of telling the truth. So listen up.

The game takes place in post nuclear apocalyptic Washington D.C., and you’re one of the lucky few that got to live in the secure Vault 101, free from the radiation, deadly super mutants and certain death in the barren wasteland outside.

You begin Fallout 3 at the moment of your character (male or female) is born, and you age through the game in quick chapters until you one day when you wake up to discover your father, a scientist and doctor, has inexplicably left the Vault – a big no-no. Now the Vault director is after you, and your life is in danger.

Right from the start, Bethesda shows you the sheer volume of choices, side-quests, and adventures in Fallout 3. As you’re escaping the authorities, you’ll find that an infestation of giant radioactive cockroaches has swarmed the vault. You’ll run into a childhood bully begging you for help because his alcoholic mother is being attacked by the roaches, and he’s too scared to do anything about it. You’ll find that your father’s assistant – who was like an uncle to you – has been murdered for information about dad’s disappearance. Seeking revenge, you’ll find the vault director, but wait, he’s the father of your potential love interest and childhood best friend.

And that’s all before the game really even starts.

Leaving the vault, you’ll then spend the next, oh, month of your life exploring and re-exploring a visual masterpiece. Washington D.C., the surrounding area, and all the monuments have been reconstructed and then devastated by nuclear war. It’s eye-popping to walk through this virtual world and see the Washington Monument in ruins as you approach it and the museums of the Smithsonian in various stages of decay, squatters taking up shelter in their strong construction. It’s not just up-close either. From far in the distance, you can see the Washington Monument or the Capital Building, and it’s eerie.

Let me tell you what else is eerie: listening to the radio stations in the background. From the start, you’ll have your choice of Enclave Radio, the propaganda channel for a faction that claims to be the resurrected United States Government, and the rebel free radio wasteland station and its eccentric disc jockey, Three Dog.

You have the choice to be good or bad. You can be a hero, defending the helpless, saving cities and having townsfolk shower you with gifts (that does happen). You can walk into the slave trader’s village and kill all the slavers. Or you can be an asshole. You can exploit children, beat up women, destroy towns. You can be evil, corrupt, and terrifying.

That all starts when you’re a kid or when you’re escaping the vault. Your best friend steals a gun from her father to “aid” in your escape. When the childhood bully begs you for help, you can help him, save his mother and be the hero.

Or you can shoot him in the head and put two in the mother for good measure.

These are your choices, and don’t let emotion get in the way — yes, it’s just a video game, but we’ve all been there.

Even your own health is a series of carefully balanced choices. If your hit points are low, you can drink water from a stream or sink or even down a soda from a vending machine, but this increases your radiation level, which is bad for you in the long run.

You will also encounter a variety of drugs and chemicals that will raise HP or boost your abilities temporarily, but if you take too much, you’ll get addicted and dependent on the drug. If you run out, you’ll go through withdrawal and lose abilities.

The game is bloody, gory, violent, and full of sexually suggestive and explicit dialog. But the game doesn’t include swears in the same way that Kane and Lynch did — just for the hell of it. Fallout 3’s dialogue is tactfully woven together.

There are a lot of little things that I would have liked to have seen built up more, like sitting at a bar and ordering a drink, settling up two lovebirds and then going to the wedding, going to restaurants. These features all happen, but could have been a bit better designed. You don’t have food delivered to you or a drink poured for you; you just buy it and it appears in your inventory.

The game’s inventory system works exactly like Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls titles. You can carry items up to your strength limit, and then you have to drop stuff strategically.

The game world is massive. It takes many, many hours to go through it, and you can bet that expansion packs and downloadable content is coming.

Now, I’ll admit, I’m a little biased in favor of the post apocalyptic genre. I grew up playing and reading Shadowrun for Genesis, Super Nintendo and tabletop — still have all the books. I number Blade Runner, Escape from New York and Escape from L.A. in my list of favorite movies.

But forget about the genre for a bit. The visuals are unparalleled and the audio is sublime. Walking down a bombed out road in Washington is that much creepier when “America the Beautiful” is playing in the background, seriously. The controls are intuitive and can be inverted or adjusted for sensitivity. The plot is complex and gripping.

When I discovered Interplay’s Wasteland in the early 1990s, this was how I imagined the game would look in real life. Technically Fallout 3 is the fourth installment in the franchise. Interplay made Wasteland and then Fallout 1 and 2, as technical sequels. They also made two spin-offs: the combat-heavy Fallout: Tactics on the PC in 2001 and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (the first console Fallout title) in 2004. Interplay started making Fallout 3, (see Van Buren) but they were broke and struggling. Bethesda scooped up the Fallout franchise last year for just under $6 million. Bethesda completely threw out Interplay’s work and built this game from scratch.

It does use the same gameplay engine as The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

Fallout 3 is artistic and timely. It has a message to it — a frightening message. But unlike other games with a social context, Fallout 3 doesn’t push these factors down your throat.

It is, however, a quiet indictment of corrupt politics, unscrupulous foreign policy and an increasingly insular American populace.

Blast tested the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. Joe Sinicki and Terri Schwartz of the Blast Magazine staff contributed to this report.

Motorbike racing sims have been a staple of video gaming culture for years. From Road Rash to MotoGP to Super Hang-On — heck, Excitebike — the motorcycle is fun to virtually race.

Enter Ducati Moto from Bethesda Softworks. In the 1960s, the Ducati bike became the fastest 250 cc bike in the world. They are sick bikes, indeed worthy of their own video game.

And Ducati Moto goes the legend some justice. First, it’s a relatively simple game, but there’s a lot packed into the small DS package including 11 bikes and five play styles including time trials and stunt challenges. Really though, especially with WiFi multiplayer, this is a game you can just pick up and play.

The game has basic graphics with some bells and whistles like street and dessert scenes (see screen shots). It does kinda feel like an old arcade racer. Simple controls let you push the gas and go without worrying as much about turns and braking.

Overall, Ducati is a good little game. It doesn’t try to do too much, but it does just enough to keep players occupied.

We witnessed a revitalized Atari, a ballsy Electronic Arts and the peak of the music game fad.

Here’s what we took away from the conference:

BEST GAME
Fallout 3
Bethesda Softworks
Xbox 360/PlayStation 3
September

Bethesda built a winner from scratch with an amazing looking Fallout 3. Blast played this game, Blast loved this game. You won’t see a more visually and audibly appealing video game this year. This game is a massive project for any developer, but Bethesda, who saw huge success with “The Elder Scrolls” role playing game series, seems poised to release a game of the year candidate in the fall.

BEST ONLINE GAME
DC Universe Online
Sony Online Entertainment
PlayStation 3, PC
TBA

Comic book legend Jim Lee was the Executive Creative Director of the game and created the visual world DC Universe would be set in based on art from the entire history of DC comics. You get to team up with or fight against Superman and Batman. How cool is that?

BEST HANDHELD GAME
N+
Atari
Nintendo DS and Sony PSP
August 12

With 300 puzzling levels to explore, plus many hidden unlockable ones, N+, based on the hit Flash game, was the best handheld game at E3, and E3 agreed by giving it best in show in the DS and PSP categories. N+ led the charge for a revitalized Atari Inc.

GUARANTEED BEST SELLER/BEST PC GAME
Spore
Electronic Arts
PC
September 7

Within 18 days of the release of Spore Creature Creator, there were over 1.7 million “Spores” created. That’s more than the 1.589 million actual species known to exist on earth, Will Wright pointed out at the EA press conference Tuesday. And that says something about the anticipated impact “Spore” will have when it’s released in September.

BEST WII GAME
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party
Ubisoft
November

First game you can play with your ass.

BEST MUSIC GAME
Rock Band 2
Harmonix/MTV Games
Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii
Fall

No real competition at E3. Guitar Hero: World Tour will be awesome too, but Activision wasn’t there this year.

GUTSIEST PROJECTS

Dead Space
Electronic Arts
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
October 21

Mirror’s Edge
Electronic Arts
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Holiday season

Good work, EA. You managed to stretch your legs and come up with both a bloody horror flick and a FPS where you don’t have ever fire a gun. Both games will either be home runs or total flops (leaning toward an extra base hit) but they’re ballsy! Nice!

M.A.G. Massive Action Game, 256 player online multiplayer
Zipper Interactive/Sony
PlayStation 3
TBA

Another crap shoot. If Zipper does this game right, and we mean JUST RIGHT, M.A.G. could be one of the good ones.

MOST IMPROVED: Atari

BIGGEST LETDOWN: Nintendo

“This office will publish games in Japan from Bethesda — Star Trek: Conquest, Star Trek: Legacy, and Fallout 3 — as well as games from other publishers, including Bully (PS2), Bully SE (Xbox 360), and Major League Baseball 2K8 (PS3/PS2/PSP/X360),” said Pete Hines, spokesman for Bethesda.

“Establishing operations in Asia is very important to us as we continue to expand our presence in markets outside of North America,” said Robert Altman, ZeniMax CEO. “In addition to ZeniMax Europe Ltd., our direct relationships throughout Asia allow us to bring exciting titles like Fallout 3 to gamers across the globe.”

The Asian operations of the Company will be headed by Tetsu Takahashi, General Manager, ZeniMax Asia KK. “We are happy to be part of the ZeniMax family,” said Tetsu. “Extending their direct reach throughout Asia is an exciting, new phase in the Company’s expansion and we look forward to building upon their excellent reputation.”

Bethesda Softworks has released new screenshots for the upcoming postapocalyptic RPG sequel that they resurrected after the demise of Interplay.

The game is coming to the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms at the end of the year.

Fallout 3 pits you against hordes of irradiated mutants as you seek out your missing father. It was a cult classic in the Interplay days and looks to be a top holiday season title this year.

The game is a feeble attempt at entertainment. The game is so simple that it completely fails at holding any type of storyline, maps or anything. Bethesda disappointed many “trekkies” with this one.

The gameplay is turn-based strategy, which in the proper element can be good, like in a Mario Party game. However, this was not the proper element.

You find yourself in the middle of a universe surrounded by a bunch of baddies. You move one space at a time in a map that is quite large and one space at a time doesn’t really cut it. Your enemies also move one space, and once you finish hearing their speech (which never changes) you get to make your next move.

After you move, you find yourself some trouble with enemy ships. You have the choice of simulating it, or entering arcade mode.

SIMULATING?

If all I elected to do was “Sim This” I would be watching a little ship move space by space, until it gets to an enemy. Then I’d let the game play with itself.

In arcade mode you will be surrounded by several ships, and you have to take them out. Why? Who knows! There is no storyline! So you destroy them, because everyone in this universe hates each other. No plot. No intrigue. No intergalactic politics. No Star Trek.

The graphics are remnant of the old Star Fox 64 with some advances. The graphics aren’t necessarily awful, and there are some moments where the ships look pretty cool and the planets look bright.

That’s about it for the graphics — stars and ships. I guess it’s pretty hard to screw that up.

The controls are awkward as you move the Wiimote to select targets. The guns are hard to aim, and unless you hit right on target you won’t be doing anything but flying around in a circle, aiming your Wiimote, trying to make something happen.

Online Play? None. Would have been a possible savior of this game.

Storyline? None. Everyone in the universe hates each other, so they shoot each others’ ships down.

Soundtrack? Bad. No voiceovers from the actors. No Star Trek music.

Star Trek: Conquest doesn’t belong on the Wii; at best this is a 25 cent play at your local arcade, and that’s being pretty generous.

If you’re enough of a Trekkie and a fan of the series, maybe pick it up for rental.

Quick hits:

Publisher: CBS Consumer Products
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Platform: Wii
Genre: Turn Based Strategy/Sci-Fi
Players: 1

Playability: 2 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 2 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 3 out of 5 stars
Overall: 2 out of 5 stars

“The enthusiastic response we’ve received to our downloadable content has been overwhelming, and we’re excited to bring Oblivion fans a full expansion,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “The world we’ve created for Shivering Isles is unlike anything you’ve seen or played in Oblivion and we can’t wait for folks to play it.”

Most gamers are familiar with Shivering Isles, which hit shelves in March for the PC version. The Xbox 360 version was released on Xbox Live Marketplace, for 2,400 Microsoft Points ($30). The expansion was originally announced on January 18, but here we have the PS3 version on November 20. We also saw the Knights of the Nine, another expansion, earlier.

Shivering Isles adds 30 more hours to Oblivion and is optimized for HD video at 480p or 720p.

The isles are Mania and Dementia with a whole new lot of side quests and dungeons. New creatures include the Gatekeeper, a collection of body parts sewn together and the Knights of the Order, which are made up of tree roots.

Shivering Isles is about 1/4 the size of Cyrodiil, the Oblivion main map, according to Bethesda. Your existing character will work fine with it, and you can breeze between the worlds back and forth.

If you’re an Elder Scrolls fan, you don’t need me to tell you what to do here.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Platform: PlayStation 3 (Xbox 360 and PC versions previously released)
Genre: Role-playing game
Players: 1
Launch Date: November 20, 2007

Playability: 5 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4 out of 5 stars
Sound: 5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars

• See a world created in Sheograth’s own image, one divided between Mania and Dementia unlike anything you’ve experienced
• Battle the denizens of Shivering Isles, a land filled with hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, amphibeous Grummites, and many more
• Find and wield new weapons and armor or have new ones forged for you
• Explore a bizarre landscape filled with twisting, vast dungeons buried within the roots of the trees themselves
• Requires Elder Scrolls IV: Obilivion software to play