Fallout 4

[Ed Anger]

Southies. I'll pass.

Why?  They're funny.  I also hope they included the Chili Guy, who also hangs out in front of Fenway all the time:

"WHOSE BUYIN WHOSE SELLIN WHOSE BUYIN WHOSE SELLIN"
"COUPLEABEAHS!  NO BEAHS!  CHILI!"
"BUFFALO BILLS WON DA WORLD SERIES"

serious answer: no time

Non serious answer: I loathe Boston, even in nuked form

[Syt]

More info. And release date: 10-NOV-15

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/06/15/fallout-4-release-date-announced/

Nuclear winter is coming. I don't know if that wordplay worked given the Boston setting for Fallout 4 [official site] seems pretty balmy but you'll have to make your peace with it because it's the best this jetlag will produce. As for *when* it's coming, the answer is 10 November, 2015.

Fallout 4 was the big finale game at the Bethesda E3 conference, with Todd Howard revealing that the studio had been working on it properly for the past 4 years, although design started in 2009, pretty much as soon as Fallout 3 was done. At the event the company showed off a lot of artwork from the game as well as sharing more detail on some of the game's mechanics, systems and setting.

The game begins pre-nukes. There's a character creation section which involves you and your partner staring into the mirror (switching between them is the gender selection option) and giving you a bunch of features to play with. As someone who is notoriously bad at character creation I'm hoping that the way you drag the features with the cursor to resculpt them might make for fewer "OH GOD I WAS IN A HORRIFIC ACCIDENT" protagonists which I then have to explain to people watching me stream. Information given to a door-to-door Vault-Tec sales representative is how you set up your character's traits and so on.

Obviously, as well experiencing this domestic, ice-cold Nuka Cola drenched bliss, you also play in the post-apocalyptic version of the world which begins as you emerge from Vault 111 two hundred years in the future. But it's okay. Codsworth, your pre-nuke robo butler, is still sort of there AND you get a dog to whom you can issue context-sensitive demands.

Here's a fact about Codsworth – apparently Bethesda has recorded voice lines for 1,000 of the most popular names so you can hear your chosen character name as you play. Obviously this only works if you name your characters things like John and not "You Jerk" or "Bananas Coleslaw" or "Nebuchadnezzar". Or "Philippa", I suspect.

ANYWAY. At this point you're given the freedom to start exploring and doing Fallouty things. Play is first person and third person and the VATS system is back along with familiar inhabitants of the landscape like Molerats, Radscorpions and Deathclaws.

The aspect Bethesda seemed most keen to discuss at the event was the crafting system. The junk you collect as you roam will be useful for that system, yielding crucial materials – handcuffs or a globe converting to screws, for example. With these you'll be able to build and customise your things. On the weapons front there are 50 base weapons and 700 weapon mods (the bladed aluminium baseball bat caught my eye from that section of the conference). That customisability also applies to your power armour.

Then there are the settlements. Other items you craft are used to build up and furnish your own home and surrounding area. Some of that will be prettying up your house but there are also food crops and water pumps to offer sustenance, generators which you can wire up to other items to power them, terminals to govern the activity of other units and defence options like sentry turrets for protecting your settlement from raiders. You can set up bases in various locations and also set up caravans to travel between them.

These building elements were billed by Howard as being optional, by the way, although from what was said I think building up your base attracts NPCs who sell some of the best items in the game so it's probably better to try your hand at doing so.

Oh, and the Pip-Boy is back, because obviously it is. There are some in-game developments such as the ability for it to play games you might come across – I was rather ticked by a Donkey Kong-style game called Red Menace – but it'll also feed into the Collector's Edition. Y'see that will come with a model Pip-Boy into which you can insert your smartphone and use the specially created app as if it were a real Pip-Boy.

But yes, Fallout 4. 10 November.

[Monoriu]

I prefer The Elder Scrolls, but I'll settle for this.  I'll probably use this as an excuse to convince myself to upgrade my desktop. 

[Syt]

http://www.geek.com/games/fallout-4-gets-a-release-date-and-real-pip-boy-collectors-edition-1625217/

The Collector's Edition comes with a real Pip-Boy for your wrist.

While a real Pip-Boy alone is cool enough, Bethesda has gone a lot further than just making a plastic collectible. This Pip-Boy is meant to house your smartphone, and on that smartphone will be a companion app (iOS and Android) recreating the in-game Pip-Boy experience. It will even have a few games to play.

[Caliga]

Yeah I saw that.  The Pip-Boy itself looks retarded though.

[Valmy]

Yeah I saw that.  The Pip-Boy itself looks retarded though.

How dare you! It looks like genuine Fallout tech and...ok I see what you mean.

[Syt]

Pipboy gagdet aside, I'm not a big fan of tie in apps for games, but this is one that kinda makes sense.

[Caliga]

Don't get me wrong, it's a really great idea... I'm just saying the physical design of the Pip-Boy looks stupid.  Maybe they'll clean it up before releasing it.

[Syt]

It looks too bulky/plastic for me.

[celedhring]

If they released a pipboy fitness app, I would probably be all over it.

Also, November 10? They have been developing this for quite a while then. Damn, I need a new computer soon.

[Valmy]

At the rate I am going I expect to just barely be done with my Dragon Age playthrough in time for Fallout 4 to be released 

[Caliga]

Also, November 10? They have been developing this for quite a while then. Damn, I need a new computer soon.

Since 2009 IIRC.

[jimmy olsen]

Btw my older kid is into Minecraft now.  I think he's just doing it to confuse the hell out of me.  What is the point of that game???

Yeah my eldest kid loves it to. I have no idea.

It's like legos isn't it? A sandbox game.

[derspiess]

Apparently PC mods will be made available on Xbox One somehow.  They didn't seem quite sure how they were gonna do it, but said it would happen.  Also I've been playing that little Fallout Shelter game on my kid's iPad.  Surprisingly addictive.

[Solmyr]

Apparently PC mods will be made available on Xbox One somehow.  They didn't seem quite sure how they were gonna do it, but said it would happen.

Probably by making them cost money like they tried with Skyrim, and making them available for DL? I have no idea how Xbox works with downloads, though. It's likely though that many mods will still be difficult to use together due to needing compatibility patches, and for that you'd probably have to hit the Nexus and learn a bit about how modding works. I expect on Xbox it would be similar to how you have Skyrim with Steam Workshop, subscribe to too many mods and there will be conflicts.