Todd Howard questionnaire at Next-Gen

Ratty Sr.

Ratty Sr.

Ratty, except old
Moderator
Orderite
Next Generation posted a Todd Howard questionnaire yesterday. Though reasonably uninteresting, it contains two noteworthy bits.

In the first one, Todd mentions that Bethesda are busy working on an alpha build of Fallout 3.
<blockquote>1. I'm currently working on...

Fallout 3. Another big-open-world RPG. We’re still in preproduction building our first playable of the game and it’s very exciting for us. This is the most fun part of a project.</blockquote>This ought to calm those who are concerned that Bethesda is sitting on the Fallout license doing nothing.

In the second one, Todd describes his novel approach to game project management.
<blockquote>2. My favorite part of the working day is...

I have a few hours in the middle of each day when I play the latest builds of everything. The rest of the time is meetings, some of which I love, some not-so-much. But it’s the private time to play a build and make notes that is probably the most 'fun'. As a project gets further along, those play sessions involve more people at once, watching me play so I can just yell out comments, and those are the best. 'Great games are played, not made', is my office motto, so I love when we’re playing our game and adjusting it as we go.</blockquote>Methinks Todd is interpreting the term "gaming industry" a bit too literally.

You can read the entire questionnaire here.

Spotted at RPGCodex.
 
I wonder when the first screens will arive.....
some concept arts, renders would also be cool.
 
Trojan Horses

Trojan Horses



The theme of the site that featured:
Next-Gen People: Bethesda's Todd Howard
is glamourous commercial "SHO-BIZ' infotainment.
Ads grace most banner positions in these last days of the 'pay as you go' era. Where we all stand after the last dagger in the back, the last cup of poison,
when the Machiavellians have channeled the world wide, ... network into media empire brands, we will not consider, ...
... only that Bethesda's brand statue is ripe for product placement exploitation.

Synchronicity.

After the warm and fuzzy T-Howard profile, the next feature for all you Masters of (Business Administration) the Universe was:
MARKETING: Measuring In-Game Ads
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3327&Itemid=2&limit=1&limitstart=1
Page 2:
... By as early as next year, Interpret will introduce a technology solution that will allow them to track gaming habits of gamers from the video game itself. While at Nielsen, Dowling experimented with an undetectable audio signal that was encoded on game discs. ...
Click to expand...

Just in time for FO 3 ?

After all the double speak and over reaching business-babble / jargon of this article, expect the worst. The EULA will "'legally" justify the installation of spy ware by game producing corporations more interested in profit vectors and brand enhancement than the alleged entertainment content.
Games will no longer be entertainment software but a quasi legal conduit for, at best advertisements, at worst, identity theft and the compromise of any personal financial information with in electronic reach.

If up to the nano second product placement updates are not infiltrated during on line game-play, perhaps each new patch, or the latest suit of horse armor, will bring in the nex- best commercial endorsement and an up load of player mouse clicks.

Trojan spy ware. This 'modern' profit source may go beyond the mere counting the eye balls per second per second.

It can further confuse the 'mission statement' of producers of entertainment software.
It could justify even LESS quality assurance for block buster media events like Bethesda's Oblivion.

Those rushing to apologize for a company, like Bethesda, that 'can' put a game in the box, could still question their true corporate moral intent when confronted by the scaling fault and the comic demystification of Radiant AI. When did Bethesda CHOOSE that the OB game mechanics were ''good enough ... for who it's for''?

Why the group experience of bitter after taste at 60 to 80 hours of OB game play? This is not an isolated phenomenon. It's documented in many forums.

So is the hysteria of OB junkies.

When games are hyped like other blockbuster media, the whisper campaigns of 'third party' native guerillas, are too LUCRATIVE a scheme to not ignore. This is less focus on quality, and more resources for gloss, glamor and .... brand image.

Glamor sells Nike's, I-Pods, SUV's, and Bethesda ACTION (r)PG's.


After visiting the Next Gen site, please consider,
the product in the box will no longer be a game, but 'product placement'.



4too
 
I have my fears about Bethesda and FO3... Oblivion kept my interest for about a week and then blah. One of my biggest conserns is the NPC's. Oblivion (as far as i played in which time i visited most places) had ONE single interesting character and that was Martin. (a lot of the credit goes to Sean Beans great voice acting)

Please Beth dont screw it up. Or I'll have to consentrate compleatly on Afterfall.
 
Fo3..
Absolutely a hard way from a name of great game to the insanely perfect game that would shake the foundation of the rpg itself. I believe in Fo3, may your dreams guides bethesda, and the hope of touching Fo3 cd covers appears in real life not only in a dream. Just think about, the era of new fallout is coming.. I am waiting for this game so long. I never gived my hope away. If Fo3 will come, it cant be worse than clasics.

We deserved Fo3, let the old and new generations feel the greatness of the legendary name..
 
vsionazlo said:
Fo3..
Absolutely a hard way from a name of great game to the insanely perfect game that would shake the foundation of the rpg itself. I believe in Fo3, may your dreams guides bethesda, and the hope of touching Fo3 cd covers appears in real life not only in a dream. Just think about, the era of new fallout is coming.. I am waiting for this game so long. I never gived my hope away. If Fo3 will come, it cant be worse than clasics.
Click to expand...
:roll:
 
vsionazlo said:
Fo3..
Absolutely a hard way from a name of great game to the insanely perfect game that would shake the foundation of the rpg itself. I believe in Fo3, may your dreams guides bethesda, and the hope of touching Fo3 cd covers appears in real life not only in a dream. Just think about, the era of new fallout is coming.. I am waiting for this game so long. I never gived my hope away. If Fo3 will come, it cant be worse than clasics.

We deserved Fo3, let the old and new generations feel the greatness of the legendary name..
Click to expand...

See, what you need to do is stop putting the pussy on the pedestal...
 
Mr. Ratty i was obsessed with a thought that I actually gonna play it.. Someday.. DId that confused you much..
 
Roshambo said:
Todd: "Fallout 3. Another big-open-world RPG."

BZZZZZZT! Try again, MO-RON!
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm surprised no-one has picked up on that yet. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but does this imply that Fallout 3 will have a TES-type gameworld, instead of the 'location based' approach from the classic Fallouts?
 
Midwinter said:
Yeah, I'm surprised no-one has picked up on that yet.
Click to expand...
i think we're mostly preparing ourself for the Bethsoft propaganda offensive by simply ignoring most of the stuff we hear now.
 
Midwinter said:
Yeah, I'm surprised no-one has picked up on that yet. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but does this imply that Fallout 3 will have a TES-type gameworld, instead of the 'location based' approach from the classic Fallouts?
Click to expand...

Well, to break it down into metaphors...Todd's playing the part of the mildly-retarded President, while Pete is the one giving Snow Jobs.

If only either knew what they were talking about.

Coming up next week, Pete thinks up the buzz-word "gritty"! :D
 
Hi everyone... first time poster, long time fan!

I don't want to start off on the wrong foot here, but can someone explain to me why there is so much anger directed at Bethesda? I don't know the full story, but as I understand it FO3 would have been lost to us forever if it hadn't been sold. Maybe Bethesda won't be the company to appease the current fan base; maybe they won't make a game which is true to the originals (I think that's a given!). But isn't it good that someone is making FO3 rather than have the series die off entirely?

Having played Oblivion I know it's not perfect, even though the game has it's own rabid fan base that thinks it is. Nonetheless I'm looking forward to seeing FO3 in some form, just in the off chance that it might be ok. Maybe I'm being too nostalgic, or too hopeful, but I want to play another Fallout game, even if to just bring back memories of those days when I played FO1 & FO2.

By the way, I also liked FO:Tactics, so maybe I'm just a slut for anything Fallout!
 
It`s kind of like if the Backstreet Boys bought the rights to make the next album as "The Doors". I know what you`re thinking, but trust them they`re big fans. Except truth be told The Doors heyday was a long time ago and really needs a fresh approach. And the whole psychadelic 60s thing isn`t really what the Backstreet Boys do best. They already have some wildly popular albums and will use them as a foundation, while of course remaining true to what the Doors are all about (i.e. the singer will swear and reel drunkenly on stage truly the essence of the Doors).

But wait a minute, Morrison is dead, and Manzarek and Kreieger are off doing their own thing (which despite not being called the Doors is more Doorsy then anything else could possbily be). You can`t possibly have the Doors without them can you? So it`s just gonna be another Backstreet Boys album right? So why bother callling it "The Doors"? Oh, musical credibilty, the BSB have none. So this new album will be as vapid as all the other BSB albums, but they`ve purchased this exploitable commodity that will be hyped ad nauseum - the snake oil salesmen will be out in full force peddling the new Doors album. Then one day you`re on the subway reading a book of Morrison`s poetry while you overhear some JHS kids explain "Dude it`s the Doors, the singer wears black leather pants and he`s drunk and says fuck and falls down a lot."
Sound fucked up? It`s not.



You know, in some strange self-fullfilling prophecy, Fallout has become it`s own protagonist, the savior of the RPG wasteland, exploited for all it`s worth, but never embraced and eventually shunned because of the fundamental methods it employed to keep a genre alive.
 
I understand what you're trying to say, I understand the analogy, but whose fault would it really be if the BSBs bought the rights to "The Doors" name? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to point the finger at the people who sold the rights? Personally I think the management at Interplay have a lot to answer for.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to champion Bethesda's cause, but I don't see how being angry at them is productive in any way considering they just bid on a licence that should never have been for sale in the first place. If Interplay hadn't fucked around and grossly mis-managed the company we'd now be happily discussing FO3, 4 & 5. Instead they went off on a tangent twice with FO:Tactics and that unmentionable piece of shite for the Playstation. From what I've read at one point they'd even started production on FO:Tactics 2. So who should really be the blame for this debarcle?

I'm hoping Bethesda produce something worth playing. I'll probably buy it just because it's Fallout. If it sucks big time then I'll just go back to reading my Deathlands novels and commit Fallout to being a good memory from the past. What I can't do at this stage is get angry at Bethesda just for being opportunistic. At least Troika didn't buy the licence or else the game really would be dead and we'd never see another Fallout.
 
Hating Interplay for selling the rights is kind of like making a "I hate Hitler" badge if you're Jewish. We do already hate what Interplay has become, in particular what Herve has done through his incompetence. In fact, there was plenty of ire towards Interplay back when this was announced.

Please search and lurk before you post, please.
 
I'm not going to search through previous posts on the forums. I've been reading No Mutants for a long time now, mainly the news items and FAQs, and I think you guys run a good web site, albeit a little cynical. I have read all the interviews with the developers as well as the FAQ on FO3, but I just don't have time to traul the forums due to having a young family to look after.

Let's just say I understand our feelings are mutual regarding Interplay, but I cannot be angry with or blame anyone else who was involved in the sale of the Fallout licence, simply because I don't believe the bidding parties had a hand in the demise of Fallout at Interplay. If the general consensus at No Mutants is contrary to mine regarding this then I'll keep my opinion to myself in future. I don't want to get off-side with you guys having just found out about the forums. :)
 
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