Post I.T. interviews Todd Howard

[Brother None]

The Washington Post technology blog Post I.T. offers an interview with Todd Howard.<blockquote>Q: What sort of audience are you trying to reach with Fallout 3?

Howard: Ourselves? [Laughs] I think, it's people who are really into video games. We cut a pretty wide arc among people who are gaming fans.

It's got a lot of depth to it, it's fairly easy to pick up and play, if you play video games. But I think people who don't play a lot of our stuff, or things like this, are very shocked at how much you can do in the game and how much depth there is and how big it is. There are very few barriers, compared to other video games.

Q: Do you think a casual audience picking up your game might be intimidated by the number of decisions you have to make?

Howard: Potentially at first, yeah. Yeah, I think they would. At first, people want to be told, well how do I win? And so there's this moment of, well, it's really up to you,
Some people just want to know how to win, but I think the game does a pretty good job of teaching itself. But there is definitely a hump to get over... they need someone to push them and say, you should try this out.</blockquote>

 

[thefalloutfan]

Q: Do you think a casual audience picking up your game might be intimidated by the number of decisions you have to make?

Howard: Potentially at first, yeah. Yeah, I think they would. At first, people want to be told, well how do I win? And so there's this moment of, well, it's really up to you,
Some people just want to know how to win, but I think the game does a pretty good job of teaching itself. But there is definitely a hump to get over... they need someone to push them and say, you should try this out.

If only he wasn't bluffing.

I demand the game to be decent *crosses arms and sulks*

 

[TychoXI]

Please, Todd, be a dear and spare me the marketing "we're making a game for everyone" talk.

I wish games were still made by geeks in basements who have a basic grasp about game theory and not by the industry's equivalent of Michael Bay.

Also, first.

Ye wish games were still made by gamers for gamers...?

 

[TheRatKing]

He is TRYING to make a game for everybody, and in the process alienating the people who he should have been making the game for.

 

[victor]

I demand the game to be decent *crosses arms and sulks*

Dude, I've played it. Don't even bother with the rental.

Man, Fallout 3 is going to get crushed to bits by competitors in this year's holiday lineup.

Where does Bethesda even get all that money to buy reviewers and advertisers? Rockefeller fund? I guess they don't make a lot of money from their games considering what they cost to make.

 

[TheRatKing]

Um like everybody bought Oblivion, EVERYBODY. The thing about Bethesda games is that they always seem really awesome at first, then you realize that they suck. Oblivion got stellar reviews, so I bought it. I played through and read some forums and slowly but surely came to the conclusion that it sucked in all ways. Boy was I mad when CGW gave it game of the year. Fallout will, and has, gotten good reviews, and I believe it will sell just as well as Oblivion.

Also, the part about their games costing lots of money? F3 is using SO much from Oblivion: Same engine, same graphics, same gameplay/mechanics. Not a lot of F3 is original and it couldn't have taken that much money to make.

 

[Moving Target]

Where does Bethesda even get all that money to buy reviewers and advertisers? Rockefeller fund? I guess they don't make a lot of money from their games considering what they cost to make.

ZeniMax's deep pockets and ties to various entertainment industries. ZM's board of directors is a "who's who" of bland mass-marketed pablum makers.

The board thinks of Fallout 3 like they think of the movies that quite a few of them have backed before: If they can get the initial sales to be insanely good, it won't matter if the game is panned even a week after it's released; they'll have made their money back, if not more.

Hopefully gamers can prove them wrong, but I seriously doubt it.

 

[victor]

Also, the part about their games costing lots of money? F3 is using SO much from Oblivion: Same engine, same graphics, same gameplay/mechanics. Not a lot of F3 is original and it couldn't have taken that much money to make.

I meant having to pay off legions of reviewers to make the game look good.


How fun it is to see an entire industry turn into a marketing spin of lies and deceit. They've gone from costumer-oriented to profit-oriented in just, what? 8 years?

I also like how E3 grew from being a small games summit to a massive, bulging sporesack of bile and cancerous capitalism. Imagine the Nancy Drew series turning into a series of sex novels about a promiscuous slut who fucks everyone (even the guy who fetches coffee) in the police station to get ahold of crucial evidence. All in an effort to "appeal to a younger, hipper crowd of pre-teens and CASUAL READERS. You'll get an idea of what has happened to the gaming industry. Ah well, I guess it was only a matter of time before real life with it's materialistic principles and values caught up with it.


Also, POWERTHIRST, POWERTHIRST, POWERTHIRST!

 

[Brother None]

Also, the part about their games costing lots of money? F3 is using SO much from Oblivion: Same engine, same graphics, same gameplay/mechanics. Not a lot of F3 is original and it couldn't have taken that much money to make.

Oblivion used a licensed engine, and I don't know what you mean by "same graphics", because that's not the case.

I'd wager this game, like most AAA games, cost 25-30 million, factoring in the license purchase. Which means it has to sell well over a million copies to break even, like most AAA games.

 

[TheRatKing]

@ Brother None
Ok I didn't really mean that both games have the same graphics, but you must admit they look very similar. Also isn't F3 using the same engine that Oblivion used, not too sure about the name (gamebryo)?

@The Overseer
This has been discussed before but Beth isn't directly bribing anyone. If the reviewers give a bad review than Beth will not give them exclusive previews/reviews/whatever. The reviewers are simply trying to get on Beths good side however they can.

 

[Brother None]

Ok I didn't really mean that both games have the same graphics, but you must admit they look very similar. Also isn't F3 using the same engine that Oblivion used, not too sure about the name (gamebryo)?

Yes. I'm just saying, they didn't make the engine for Oblivion, they licensed it and changed it. Now I assume they made less changes this time around, and in that sense there's a good chance Fallout 3 was a bit cheaper than Oblivion, but whatever they saved on this kind of material is compensated by the 6-million licensing deal.

 

[FeelTheRads]

But I think people who don't play a lot of our stuff, or things like this, are very shocked at how much you can do in the game and how much depth there is and how big it is.

And that is why, kids, a lot of people think Bethesda's games are complex. They just don't know any better.

 

[MrBumble]

Does Todd think he just came with the new installment in the X-universe franchise or something ? How is THIS a game with a lot of depth ? Because you can customize your character with pretty unbalanced perks ? Because you have binary choices ( the consequences of which are made very clear to you from the beginning ) ?

 

[PerfectLife]

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