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'Fallout 3' Gets Midnight Release

by Jarrett Martineau | October 28, 2008 at 08:46 am

797 views | 2 Recommendations | 9 comments

Last night at the stroke of midnight, Best Buy stores across the U.S. were open for business to launch the release of Bethesda's hotly anticipated Fallout 3 game.

By early accounts, Fallout 3 is being hailed as "one of the year's best gaming experiences".

Have you played it yet? Let us know what you think by posting your reviews and comments below.

Bethesda's Fallout 3 is the next game to get the midnight launch treatment--the game industry equivalent of a red carpet premiere. The game is buzz-heavy, to be sure, but lacks the clear mass-market appeal of Halo or GTA, and is the kind of talky, drawn-out, plot-driven role-playing game that usually appeals mostly to serious gamers, not the adrenaline-fueled, trigger-happy masses.

Best Buy stores will be opening at midnight on October 27 in Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Dallas, and Chicago. The New York event is being held at the same midtown Best Buy that hosted last year's Halo 3 launch, which featured, massive TV coverage and a visit from a full squadron of costumed characters from the game.

Having spent the last week playing Fallout 3, we can safely say it's one of the year's best gaming experiences. Built around the same game engine as Bethesda's 2006 hit Oblivion, Fallout 3 keeps the same wide-open world and morally gray decision-making, but trades the swords and sorcery for guns and high-tech gadgets in a post-nuke Washington, D.C.

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cybogoblin

at 10:53 on October 28th, 2008

A life-size statue of one of the Fallout 3 characters was on display at the recent Armageddon Expo in Auckland, New Zealand.

cybogoblin has contributed a photo to this story.

Jakub Bozanowski

at 11:28 on October 28th, 2008

The photo was taken at the 2008 Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany. The lines were huge every time and, unfortunately, I didn't get to actually see the Fallout 3 presentation, as I was a bit short on time, having just a few hours to see everything. The bunker and all the decorations were impressive even from the outside, though.

Jakub Bozanowski has contributed a photo to this story.

DannyWillis

at 12:06 on October 28th, 2008

Taken at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. For more Fallout 3 coverage go to http://www.ibabuzz.com/videogames/

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Karol.K

at 14:04 on October 28th, 2008

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choch0408

at 14:38 on October 28th, 2008

I have eagerly been awaiting Fallout 3 and can't wait to get my hands on this RPG!

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naragov

at 15:04 on October 28th, 2008

Fallout 3 will rock your socks off.

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Farva (not verified)

at 18:08 on October 28th, 2008

Why would you wait in line at midnight? Just go to a video game store without contracts, you would've had it days ago.

LSKnight (not verified)

at 06:09 on October 30th, 2008

Played the game some last night and I wasn't very thrilled with the 'gaming' experience. I am a fan of the Fallout series and all the other products in the line wowed me right out of the box, but this title fell short of the mark. I'm not sure if it is the new 3D world or if it is the feeling that this is a watered down version of what the game should be. I know Bethesda has made choices in their designs to allow them to expand to the console market and it clearly shows when playing this game on the PC -- always a sad thing to see because most of the PC players play games on the PC because of the added level of control you get from a mouse and keyboard compared to a dinky controller.

Anyhow, I will keep playing Fallout 3 and give it a fair shot at impressing me (it is still early in the game yet), but if it only maintains the current level of wow-factor I may get bored with it and play something else.

Just wanted to give people my perspective in case it helps you decide on when you may or may not want to buy this game.